M+E Connections
Sohonet Details Ways to Cut Costs Without Creative Compromise
Story Highlights
No matter the reason why, when a production is delayed, it means over-runs: everything and everyone will be on set longer, equipment and edit suites have to be rented for longer than expected, and crew may have to be paid overtime.
But maybe even more important than the bottom line is that over-runs can hurt creative as well, with fragmented workflows, a loss of energy and focus, and the potential for more mistakes to be made, ones you may not be able to fix in post.
A new white paper from remote production and collaboration specialists Sohonet offers a quick guide to keeping productions on budget and on track, without hurting the creative process.
The new paper is a part of Sohonet’s Clearview “Realise Your Vision” campaign, which spotlights the skills and craft involved in each stage of the production process, and includes insights from Oscar and BAFTA winning talent around how they’re realising their vision in 2021.
“The pandemic has made a serious dent in global film, TV and commercial output,” the report reads. “From delayed release dates, productions on pause and straight-to-streaming pivots, several major features have been affected, including Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, the 25th James Bond No Time to Die, Fast & Furious 9, Mission: Impossible 7, and Disney’s live-action Mulan. Even as we start to get back on set, there are complicated and costly protocols for keeping people safe, adding a reported 10-20 percent on top of production budgets.”
The paper — “Five Ways to Cut the Cost of Delay – Without Creative Compromise” — details both the challenges and fixes for today’s productions and keeping them on track, including getting creatives and crew aligned early; securing communication between split units; keeping off-set teams in the loop; bringing people into the room for post; and finishing strong and final approval.
“We routinely see post weeks underestimated and under-budgeted. Post budgets get pillaged when a show struggles to get greenlit and post budgets are pillaged again during principal photography when production overages need to be covered,” the report reads. “When post extends, the weekly costs all get extended: editorial labour plus rentals times weeks extended. It’s less expensive to budget the appropriate weeks than it is to extend.”
To access the full report, click here.
