The short answer
A video production moves through development, location scouting, pre-production, shooting and post-production up to delivery. Textbooks usually name three phases: pre-production, production and post-production. Working producers split the first one, because finding the idea, finding the places and preparing the shoot are three different jobs.
1. Development
The project is defined and sold. For client work this means the brief, the creative proposal, the quote and the contract. For original work it means the script, the financing and the key people.
- Produces: an approved brief or script, a budget, a target delivery date.
- Typical mistake: starting to plan a shoot before the message is agreed in one sentence.
2. Location scout
Places are found, visited and secured. A studio shoot may skip this stage in a day; a documentary can spend weeks in it.
- Produces: confirmed locations, permits requested, a tech scout done.
- Typical mistake: visiting at a different hour from the planned shoot.
3. Pre-production
Everything is prepared so that the shoot only has to execute: breakdown, schedule, casting, crew, equipment, wardrobe, call sheets.
- Produces: a locked schedule, a booked crew and cast, a call sheet for day one.
- Typical mistake: leaving approvals of cast or wardrobe to the last two days.
4. Shooting
The images and sound are recorded. It is the shortest and most expensive stage, which is why the three before it exist.
- Produces: footage backed up twice, production reports, a wrapped location.
- Typical mistake: no margin in the day for the shot that takes twice as long.
5. Post-production and delivery
The film is edited, approved, finished and delivered in every format the contract lists.
- Produces: picture lock, sound mix, color grade, the full list of deliverables.
- Typical mistake: unlimited revision rounds because the number was never written down.
Following the stages in CrewDesk
CrewDesk uses exactly these five stages: Development, Location scout, Pre-production, Shooting and Delivered. Each production shows a five-segment bar, and the dashboard counts how many are in production. Moving a project forward is one click, and the whole team sees it.
Terms used on this page
Call sheetDeliverablesLocation scoutPicture lockPost-productionPre-productionTech scout