Producing cheap video is no way to live or market your brand. But sometimes it’s unavoidable.

Doing it on the cheap isn’t anything we ever want to do but it’s almost unavoidable lately.  And if you’re an agency producer there’s really only three ways to get cheap video done.

1) Have really great concepts and a great blue chip client with a decent media buy.  Production companies with talent they’re looking to build will be happy to help you out. Send out great boards and you’ll get lots of callbacks. Crap boards and well, nothing.

2) Call in favors. Let’s hope you’ve got a few in the bank and are loyal to the people you work with. We in the production business are constantly called upon for favors. We also know that promises of future work should be taken with a grain of salt by people we don’t have a track record with.

3) Think outside the box. Typically agency producers have two buckets they go to. High-end bi-costal prod cos. Or low end corporate flunkies with a track record of putting out the predictable. One is a no go and two leaves no one happy. (This is also when the Creative Director says, why don’t I just shoot the damn thing.)

It’s important to know what it is that costs so damn much to produce high-quality film and video. Sure, the cameras, lights and audio gear are expensive, but the line item that actually kills a line producer is labor.  It’s also the same thing that kills agency revenues and while we’ve all been asked to do so much more since the crash.

On a big budget union set there are things you just can’t ask people to do – just ask a teamster to move a c-stand one day. On an indie production folks are willing to chip in and wear multiple hats or go without an assistant. What it takes is a creative eye in managing budgets and people. And it also helps having experience working with less.

Need some help maximizing your production budget. Just reach out to us and help you make the most of you cheap video shoot.