Thinking · Newsletter
The pre-production mistakes that cost the most
Nearly every expensive problem in a shoot was decided before anyone turned a camera on.
This piece is now part of a longer guide: Hooks and creative briefs: the complete guide.
Production problems are usually pre-production problems that were allowed to travel.
The costly ones
No decision on the opening. If the brief does not specify what the first second is, you will shoot a body without a head and discover it in the edit.
Casting to a demographic rather than a role. "Woman, 30s" produces a performance nobody can direct. "Someone who is sceptical and gets convinced" produces one you can.
Unconfirmed product. The product arriving late, wrong, or in the wrong colourway is the single most common cause of a reshoot.
No fallback framing. One setup, one angle, nothing to cut to. The edit then has no options and the variations you promised do not exist.
Approvals not sequenced. Script approved, casting not. Casting approved, location not. Each gap is a day.
The cheapest fix
A pre-production checklist that has to be signed rather than acknowledged. It feels bureaucratic and it removes most of the above permanently.