Whether you have good intentions behind delaying your project or your production delays are caused by unfortunate circumstances, these setbacks can have a serious impact on the success of your video project. Ultimately, production delays are never welcome and should be avoided at all costs for the sake of making the most of your budget, talent, and time.
With our years of experience, we’ve gained some critical insights into production delays, why they happen, and how they affect the project. Let’s deep dive into production delays to help you avoid these common pitfalls.
Types of Production Delays
The best way to avoid production delays is to prepare for common issues that can hold up the project during each step of the process. Overall, the more people involved in the project, the more potential barriers there are to sticking to your production schedule.
For example, the most common type of production delay we’ve seen is a delay in the filming schedule. Organizing filming days can be especially difficult because of the varying schedules of all the people involved.
Remember that the number of moving pieces in the production can cause delays as well. Do you need to use several different locations or share equipment with another party? These complications will make it difficult to schedule a video timeline that works for everyone.
If you have superiors or clients who must approve the project overall as well as the logistics and the script, each step of that process has the potential to delay the project. A last-minute script change, the hiring of a new voiceover actor, or a need to exceed budget could end up delaying the production for quite some time.
We’ve seen it all, and our best advice is to break down every step of your production and identify key areas that could cause delays. Then, make contingency plans or buffer your expectations for a timeline so that the delays are not unexpected.
How Can Production Delays Cost Me?
Unfortunately, production delays can alter the finished product, cause issues with the budget, and even cause a loss of conversions and sales. It’s essential to understand why production timelines are extremely important so that you can encourage your superiors and team to stick to the schedule.
Missed Sales
First, businesses and organizations that end up delaying their film production will lose out on sales and leads. For each day that your marketing and sales funnel is missing its key component, you’ll be missing out on lead generation. If you’re depending on lead generation to ramp up sales, then the last thing you need is to keep delaying your marketing campaigns.
Missed Deadlines
Second, businesses and organizations that depend on getting out key information before deadlines could miss out on an entire cycle of lead generation and conversion for those deadlines. For example, schools using general admissions videos to bring in new enrollment need those videos to go live well before enrollment season ends.
Losing Sync with Your Team
The longer projects go on, the more time passes between the original presentation of the project to your team and the actual day those plans are carried out. Production delays can lead to confusion about project expectations, especially when those delays result in the loss of hired actors, production team members, and locations. Contracts were signed, but if delays go on for months, you’ll need to reevaluate your priorities and consider how team members’ schedules have changed. Without everyone being on the same page, it’s unlikely the final product will make everyone happy.
Lost Passion
Making videos is fun, and the lighting and cameras can be exciting, but delays can cause lost satisfaction and excitement in the project. The challenges of delays can make teams lose steam and motivation, ultimately forgetting why they were passionate about the project in the first place. Suddenly, the production is treated as a chore, and tasks are rushed so that the project can finally be completed. Cutting corners, making mistakes, and not seeing errors during editing such as poor audio or distracting lighting can lead to a mediocre project, affecting your brand and proving to be a waste of time and money.
Avoid Production Delays by Hiring Professionals
Stick to the timeline and commit to getting it done – it’s not that easy, but it is that simple. You should do everything in your power to foresee potential delays and create plans that will help avoid them. Of course, there are always things you can’t avoid like scheduling conflicts and unforeseen events, but make sure you always have contingency plans.
If you need help with due diligence and making sure your video production goes off without a hitch, contact Monzo Media Productions.
