Planning, budgeting and approval procedures between communication company and advertiser

Each Advertiser has his own approach to the production process when producing a commercial but in general; anyone involved in the production process has a good understanding of the audiovisual media industry and production costs as well as being capable to realistically estimate and evaluate time schedules.

First of all, when planning a production, the Communication Agency establishes a projection of costs (ballpark) by consulting the Advertiser. The budget will be adjusted as the project progresses.

The budget estimation (costs projection or ballpark) gives the Advertiser an idea on the production costs, at this stage – a ballpark can not be considered as the final offer made by the Production company. The production budget will be adjusted during the creative development process, accompanied by production notes – both created by the Production company.

It is essential to have one person nominated within the Advertiser’s team to lead, communicate, oversee the production, deliver and follow up on the production briefs and approve all stages of making the commercial film. If the decision-making process is being spread across more agency personnel, that usually leads to delays and extra production costs may occur as a result of this situation.

The Advertiser will supply and approve the following:

  • supply scripts (along with an indication of a production budget) before asking production companies for an estimate
  • approve the final offer of a Production company
  • indicate and communicate any change in the production schedule

Delays often result in extra costs. Not to create any disruption within the production schedule, it is essential to avoid delays on signing offs of all different stages of production.

 

Time schedule Production Planning of
a TV/cinema film

 

Phase 1 – CREATION

Phase 2 – COMPETITION (week 1-2-3)

  • Consultation
  • 3 production companies
  • Treatment director
  • Production budget

Phase 3 – PREPRODUCTION (week 4-5-6)

  • Go ahead on production
  • Casting / locations
  • Recalls / extra location
  • Ppm

Phase 4 – PRODUCTION (week 7)

  • Shooting

Phase 5 – POSTPRODUCTION (week 8-9)

  • Offline edit
  • TV/cinema…
  • Online edit
  • Sound design + music

Phase 6 – BROADCAST MATERIAL (week 10)

  • Delivery to broadcast stations

Phase 7 – BROADCASTING

  • #weeks

** Document 1: Production planning of a TV/Cinema film – Download Here