Join the Crew
Get the best resources for producers delivered to your mailbox
Get the best resources for producers delivered to your mailbox
Pre-production in film or television represents a major pivot point in the life cycle of any project. It’s during the pre-production stage that a project officially begins its metamorphosis from a concept that exists on paper to an experience that exists on screen.
In this post, we’ll explore the essential elements of pre-production in order to go beyond basic pre-production definitions and bring you an in-depth understanding of what happens during pre-production stages in film, television, and commercial filmmaking.
Let’s get ready for our pre-production checklist by first covering a few basic questions.
To properly define pre-production, we will distinguish the pre-production stage from the other stages that come before and after.
The pre-production process begins after the project’s initial development phase but before filming begins.
If your production process has a green light but hasn’t started shooting, it’s in the pre-production stage. Watch Ryan Connolly of Film Riot discuss the pre-production process for his short film.
However, pre-production does NOT include securing film financing or “finalizing” the screenplay.
If you’re still arranging for financing, your project has not exited the development phase.
As for the screenplay, it won’t be “finalized” until well into post-production. In fact, one of many recurring pre-production steps for the production department will be to keep track of script changes and communicate them to key crew. Making sure that everyone is operating from the same screenplay version from greenlight to wrap is an essential component of effective production management.
Pre-production in film production, television, or commercials aims to prepare the crew. The individual elements of pre-production are, therefore, those that connect the dots between ideas and reality.
Let’s clarify by focusing on some specific pre-production steps.
The pre-production stage can vary in length, depending on whether we’re talking about film, television, commercials, or some other production format. There can be very long pre-production timelines, just as there can be stressfully short pre-production timelines.
Regardless of the type or duration of production, there are basic tasks that underlie pre-production. The exact length of time allotted to the pre-production stage does not matter.
And what does that tell us about the elements of pre-production work from a practical point of view?
It tells us that different commercial, film, or TV pre-production steps frequently have to happen at the same time.
Typical definitions describe the pre-production stage as a straightforward, linear process. However, the reality is that different pre-production steps must often be performed in parallel to one another.
In this post, we’re breaking down pre-production steps in a loose order and mainly focus on the production department's overarching concerns. However, it’s vital to remember that jumping forward or backward to different elements of pre-production throughout the pre-production stage is not only acceptable but also will often be crucial to your project’s success.
As we explore various pre-production steps, we’ll occasionally point out critical differences between pre-production in film and other formats.
By the end of our post, you’ll be able to form your own answer to three big questions about the meaning of pre-production:
Pre-production is the backbone of a successful film project. It enables filmmakers to refine the script, cast the right actors, identify suitable locations, and plan the budget and schedule effectively.
In addition to aligning resources with production activities, pre-production also enhances teamwork and collaboration. It enables the team to come together to discuss ideas and collaborate on the project's direction.
This ensures that everyone is on the same page and that the final product meets the client's expectations.
Now with that in mind, let’s outline each step during this stage of a production.
Now we’re ready to jump in...starting from the top:
During the pre-production stage, everything stems from the script. Pre-production meetings revolve around the script. Pre-production teams constantly reference the script.
And that’s why the script breakdown is so critical for pre-production in film or television.
A script breakdown identifies and catalogs all the important elements of a screenplay. From locations to characters to individual props, the script breakdown builds an initial list of components required for your project.
As you might guess, the script breakdown will go on to inform countless tasks within the pre-production stage.
It informs everything from budget-building to casting, location-scouting, scheduling, and arranging the most minute details. It is the first of many documents critical to coordinating your crew, arguably second only to the screenplay itself.
The production department’s breakdown offers a detailed overview of the project, but it’s not uncommon for individual department heads to perform breakdowns focused on their specific areas of interest.
If you were to ask an assistant director, for instance, they would tell you their initial breakdowns focus on locations, characters, and page counts. Meanwhile, a production designer’s initial breakdown might focus on props and sets.
Contrary to film or TV pre-production, the script breakdown has a more casual role in the pre-production stage of a commercial.
Commercials are not generally built from a standard screenplay format. This implies the idea of a script breakdown as an individual document is often a non-starter.
However, the script breakdown’s basic functions will have to be compensated for with other documents, tasks, or communications. Even without a breakdown, your crew will need to remain on the same page and make sure that it is accounting for the totality of your project’s needs.
If a crew fails to do so, trust us, the client will let the producer know.
Next to the screenplay, what is pre-production’s second strongest driving force?
Money.
From the very beginning of the pre-production stage, pre-production planning must proceed within the constraints of the production’s budget. To do otherwise would create major problems for the project’s future production and post-production phases.
Pre-production in film carries the advantage of operating from a single budget that can evolve over time. That is not to say that building or tracking a budget for a feature film is easy, but it does allow for a certain simplicity of focus.
In TV pre-production, on the other hand, budgets have to be managed simultaneously with both individual episodes and entire seasons in mind. Going significantly over budget on a single episode early on, for example, might seriously impact production on the season finale. For that reason, budget-building during TV pre-production often requires a great deal of long-term strategy.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, the challenge of budget-building in commercial filmmaking is in its raw speed. The commercial pre-production stage moves fast. Initial budgets are built according to the AICP bid form as a prerequisite to contracts being awarded in the first place, meaning that entire productions are dependent, in part, on early budget precision.
Regardless of format, the budget will act as a critical guideline for making decisions throughout a project’s pre-production phase.
This is where you look for that film crew list template and start deciding what crew positions you need to fill.
Whether you’re entering pre-production in film, television, or on a commercial, you’re going to need to hire key crew members early on to get the process started.
If you’re a savvy producer, you’ll likely begin this effort with your core pre-production team.
That pre-production team usually includes some combination of a line producer, unit production manager, production coordinator, production accountant, and perhaps an office PA.
Next, you’ll focus on hiring department heads.
In coordination with the director, department heads will be the driving creative forces with whom you’ll strategize to get the project on screen on time and, preferably, under budget.
After that, department heads will largely take over filling out the rest of the crew leading up to the start of production.
Talent availability is a significant factor in determining the production’s shooting schedule no matter the production format. For that reason, some cast may be brought onto your project before it enters the pre-production stage.
In general, the casting’s role in pre-production in film versus television or on a commercial typically comes down to the timeline.
The vast majority of a feature film’s casting will likely be accomplished before the production schedule is set.
The casting of a commercial often happens very fast according to a pre-established timeframe.
And the casting of a television show can vary. Lead and recurring roles are generally cast before a season sets its schedule, while guest roles may be cast much closer to shooting dates, with some roles being cast while earlier episodes within a season are already in production.
Locations represent another major factor in determining a production’s schedule. They have an immense influence over a production’s logistical processes, making them one of the most important elements of pre-production in film, television, or commercials.
Choosing the right location is multi-layered and can take considerable time. To ensure your project’s creative needs remain the top priority, it’s best to start location scouting as early as possible. Locate the location and have those location release forms signed.
Once you’ve reached decisions on your various locations and their places in your schedule, don’t forget to obtain proper permitting. The Wrapbook blog maintains several resources to help you navigate that process in most North American production hubs:
And if you’re shooting in Los Angeles or New York City, Wrapbook has also put together comprehensive permit eBooks to guide you through the process step-by-step.
The shooting schedule will likely be one of the most hotly debated items in every pre-production meeting you attend.
Why?
Because the shooting schedule will act as the framework for the entire production. Similarly, there are uncountable factors that it has to take into account before production starts.
The casting director, line producer, cast, department heads, and more will all have unique constraints and areas of concern. Each of these concerns is valid and must be addressed in the schedule.
More than that, along with the budget, the schedule is a fundamental operating document.
From background talent bookings to special equipment rentals, there are a multitude of decisions that must be made in sync with the shooting schedule. And, in any form of filmmaking, almost every decision carries an associated cost.
Production schedules during pre-production in film or television can be a massive undertaking. However, scheduling a commercial is slightly simplified thanks to relatively short shoot durations. There is a trade-off, of course. Commercial schedules must be constructed faster and with less room for error than in feature films or television shows.
Fortunately, in most cases, the 1st AD is responsible for the most challenging aspects of scheduling. However, the responsibility for coordinating, communicating, and keeping everything up to date with the steady stream of schedule changes falls squarely on the shoulders of the production department.
As the creative vision for your project evolves, it may be necessary to create tools or documents explicitly designed to communicate that vision with various crew members.
The process of creating these documents is not the responsibility of the production department, but coordination and communication are always chief production concerns.
Traditionally, storyboards and shot lists are this arena's pre-production weapons of choice. However, the advent of new technologies is constantly opening doors to surprising possibilities.
Software like Backlot allows filmmakers to pre-visualize their projects before filming begins. This can save time and money and effectively change the situation when trying to win bids.
Throughout the entire process of pre-production, you’re going to be juggling an incredible assortment of details. Most of these details and information will require extensive documentation.
I’m talking about all of the little-but-critical tasks that tend to get left out of your average pre-production examples.
For instance, you’ll need to secure production insurance and a film equipment insurance policy within it so that you can issue COIs and rent the gear you need to shoot your movie.
You’ll need to prepare SAG Exhibit Gs and SAG Exhibit Bs. You’ll need to gather crew deal memos, location agreements, and talent agreements.
You’ll need to hire your favorite craft services company and arrange for payroll.
They may not be glamorous, but all of these steps (and more) are important. They’re the steps that get your production ready to roll in a safe, legal, and efficient manner. The production department must perform its due diligence with these little details and documents in order to set their project up for a successful production phase.
Of course, doing so is made much easier with Wrapbook.
Wrapbook is a powerful production management platform. It combines innovative entertainment payroll solutions with top-class production insurance and offers an array of unique features.
From Quickbooks integration to automatic union timecard calculation, Wrapbook is designed and refined by filmmakers for filmmakers.
Check out the demo and see for yourself.
Things are constantly changing throughout pre-production in film, television, or on a commercial.
The cast, crew, schedule, and even the equipment list change.
Everything changes until pre-production ends. Fortunately, there is a silver lining. There comes a time when the changes must stop and decisions must be locked in.
Services must be scheduled. Payments must be rendered. Commitments must be made.
This is the home stretch of pre-production and is often the most challenging part. It requires transforming abstract possibilities into definite choices. It’s where all the i’s are dotted, and all the t’s are crossed.
Locking everything in before a project enters the production phase requires effort and attention to detail. However, the process itself is self-rewarding. It signifies that the project is taking shape and provides the morale needed to keep going.
Before we wrap up our exploration of pre-production, let’s touch briefly on an outlier situation:
Pre-production in animation.
The lines between post-production, production, and pre-production are less clear in animation. However, the broad principles of pre-production still apply.
The main difference, however, is that pre-production in animation overlaps with other phases of a project’s life cycle.
As stated above, the lines between traditional production phases are blurrier in animation. However, this also extends to the development phase. There’s a clear cut from development to pre-production in most live-action filmmaking. However, development elements are often essential to the pre-production stage in animation.
Story beats, character designs, and aesthetic styles are all subject to changes great and small throughout the process of an animated film’s creation.
The best examples of this overlapping method are arguably found in the work of Pixar Animation Studios, a company that follows a famously in-depth creative philosophy.
What we’ve discussed in this post forms the bones of pre-production across multiple formats, but our list of pre-production steps certainly isn’t exhaustive.
The most important thing in getting any project ready for its production phase is being open to possibilities and vigilant against potential challenges. If you suddenly realize you must figure out how to start a production company to produce your next project, don’t panic; simply focus on the task.
The pre-production stage can vary in length, depending on whether we’re talking about film, television, commercials, or some other production format. There can be long pre-production timelines, but there can also be stressful short pre-production timelines.
There is no definite pre-production checklist since the development, pre-production, and production phases overlap in some production projects. However,
following the guide above can be instrumental in navigating through the pre-production maze.
Pre-production is the backbone of a successful film project. It enables filmmakers to refine the script, cast the right actors, identify suitable locations, and plan the budget and schedule effectively.
At Wrapbook, we pride ourselves on providing outstanding free resources to producers and their crews, but this post is for informational purposes only as of the date above. The content on our website is not intended to provide and should not be relied on for legal, accounting, or tax advice. You should consult with your own legal, accounting, or tax advisors to determine how this general information may apply to your specific circumstances.
The Wrapbook Team consists of individuals who are thrilled about building modern software tools for creators. We’re a team of compassionate and curious people dedicated to solving complex problems with sophisticated solutions. You can find us across the U.S. and Canada.
