5 Grounding Questions Before Producing Film & Video Content

1. What is your goal?

What is the purpose of this project? This is a great time to think about why you are embarking on this video production journey, and making sure that video is the right path to get to your goals. Video is not always the answer!

Who is your audience and what specific action do you want them to take after viewing this? Think about the specific ways you will be able to measure the success of your campaign or project whether it be a fundraising amount, event attendance, awareness or share-ability.

2. What is your style?

Gathering references to share with your prospective partners will help you get to a deeper understanding of the type of content you are looking to have produced and the feelings you will want it to emote. We know you want to be original and authentic but references can act as a great guide and starting point to exchange creative ideas and influences.

3. What is your timeline?

As we all know, time is money and the better you understand from the outset when you need to plan, shoot and deliver the final assets, the smoother everything will go once it's time to hit the ground running. Be clear about when you want to kick off the project in pre-production and planning, the potential film and shoot dates (how many and when) and your deadlines for all the final deliverables/assets.

4. What resources do you have to allocate towards this project?

Video production can be scaled up and down quite drastically depending on who the key players are and the investment that you are prepared to make. Determining what you are willing to invest in a budget for a video project is crucial before engaging with a prospective production partner. That gives you and your production partner an opportunity to discuss how the scale of production can be expanded or trimmed down without compromising your project goals.

An important thing to keep in mind is that the most important factor will usually be the number of physical shoot days. These are the days that crew is hired, equipment and locations are rented and the precious time of the talent is being used. It’s great to know the number of days you will have to shoot your project before your discovery call if possible.

5. What kind of production partner are you looking for?

I know that resources, time and capital will be what you are most likely to prioritize in your plan, but at the end of the day we are still all humans looking to engage and work with other humans that feed our creativity and are aligned with our purpose. Think of the traits you will be looking for in your project partner. Here are some to be on the lookout for: efficiency, communicativeness, adaptability, creativity, transparency, kindness, collaborativeness.