Deadlines are a necessary evil

I am all for hard deadlines, on almost everything especially when it comes to film. And for those of you reading this and just getting into the film industry you should try to get on a hard deadline system too.

The reason I say that I am for hard deadlines is that it keeps me in check, when it comes to getting projects done on time, and it doesn’t matter whether it is for myself or for client. The project gets done. These deadlines force me to prioritize my time in such a way that I make sure that the earliest hard deadline item gets done first, and then the next earliest and so on.

Hard deadlines also often times keep me from screwing around on the Internet, when I know I have work to do. They keep me from checking out Facebook 27 times in an hour for no reason, or they keep me from checking out reddit and digg to often, because even though the fake news can change in an instant. The important news that I really care about I can get when I need it.

I also have noticed that when people give me projects and ask me to edit it and say it doesn’t matter when it gets done, often times it takes me three or four times longer, because either I do the things listed above, or more often then not. These projects get put to the end of the list that never ends, and it’s not that they get put there once, but they keep getting bumped back by the new projects that have hard deadlines.

So after talking so much about hard deadlines, and what they mean to me here are some examples of hard deadlines that the production company two other individuals and myself are starting in regards from when we sell a package to a client and when we want it done.

Please note that all of these days are set for a short 1 day shoot at the client’s place of business or off site location.

Day 1: Meet with client

Day 3: Have script written for client

Day 7-10: Shoot script for client

Day 14-17: Have video edited for client

Day 20: Project done at the latest.

What this means is that within three weeks of meeting with the client we would like the commercial/shoot completely edited at the latest.