The Crosspatch Times 6 - On Client Relations, Pt. 1: Pre-Production

Coined in the 19th century by Field Marshall Helmuth von Moltke, one of my favorite sayings when it comes to video production is, “No plan survives contact with the enemy.”

Of course, it begs the question: why plan at all? But von Moltke wasn’t saying we should abandon planning and just wing it. He was stressing how important it is to plan the right way–in an elastic way. Planning teaches you to think through your options, to be flexible and adaptable, to recognize when things aren’t going according to plan and know your resources well enough to make an educated correction.

This is the first in a trilogy of posts that detail my thoughts on client relations in the video production industry. I think the ideas here are universal as long as you’re answerable to a higher power who controls the money, but most of my experience lies in commercials, branded content, and television. I have a lot of thoughts on this, and it mostly boils down to one central question:

When the plan inevitably doesn’t survive, how do you make your client, instead of cursing your name, say “thank you” for all your hard work?

Real photograph of a 19th century Prussian battle plan.

When I started in the industry, I knew nothing about how to interact with clients but, for better or worse, I was put in a position to do so rather quickly. Of course, I had time as an intern and during my first few months of employment to watch and learn how more experienced producers did it, but I was given few rules by which to abide, and in retrospect, my superiors dropped out of the nest pretty early. I admit, I’m grateful for that–it gave me confidence that I could handle it, and it taught me many important lessons.

When I’m talking about client relations in this post, I’m mostly talking about communications via email. Calls and in-person visits (more rare in the post-covid workscape) are obviously an important part of the process too, but the groundwork of a successful partnership on a video project is usually built over email. Wining & dining clients to get their business in the door is great, but no client will care how much fun they had at dinner when their project doesn’t turn out in the end.

Everything Starts in Pre-Production

Duh, right? It sounds obvious, but while everyone understands that pre-production is the start of everything, few people understand that it’s also when everything starts. You start sowing the seeds of your post-production experience at the same time as you’re putting together location decks and casting calls.

I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve come onto a project as an editor after the shoot and had a reaction along the lines of, “You told them we could do what in 3 weeks!?” Luckily, those days are mostly gone. But the point remains that, in pre-pro, you have to be acutely aware of your capabilities and your team’s capabilities through every step of the process. Once you know that, you have to (say it with me) COMMUNICATE THAT TO THE CLIENT!

Set Expectations

This is the single most important piece of advice I can offer to anyone embarking on a production journey. Clients hate surprises. In my experience, they’d often rather hear bad news (“We have to push the art deck deadline” “That actor is booked on another shoot that day” “The location you like isn’t within budget”) than no news, particularly if you come prepared with potential solutions at the same time. But truly, setting expectations starts earlier than that. It’s not enough to be transparent about the normal difficulties of pre-pro when they occur; you have to prepare your client for their appearance beforehand.

Some clients are experienced and understand that pre-pro is a complicated thing and you expect changes; you have backup plans and backup plans for those backup plans for a reason, and you’ll often have to use them. Other clients have never been through the process before and they’ll be nervous. In either case, transparency is key. 

Let them know that production is an inexact science and be clear that making the best possible video for them is your top priority–you, as a vendor, will be constantly evaluating the schedule and the deliverables and will set off a warning flare (read: send them an email or hop on a call) as soon as you see trouble on the horizon. Even if they ignore every suggestion you make, they’re still making an informed decision to do so. If you lead your client blindly into production and surprise them on the day with everything that went wrong on the way there, they will be MAD. AT. YOU. 

And rightfully so.

Be Honest & Empathetic

Treat others how you would like to be… I forget the rest.

Cover ups don’t work. Even if they seem to at the time, they always come back to bite you in the end. Most people get that making a good video, show, movie, whatever, is hard. They’re willing to accept that the vision they had at the very beginning probably won’t look exactly like they thought–at least, not unless they have near-unlimited money. And (spoilers) they don’t.

Many times, someone will come to you with $40K and cite things that cost $2M or $10M as their inspiration. They’re not going to assume they’ll get the exact same product unless a) They’re ignorant (in which case, educate them); b) They’re insane (in which case, still try to educate them, but be ready to run); or c) YOU TELL THEM THAT’S WHAT THEY’LL GET (in which case, you’re now on the hook for nearly $2M worth of production value if you want to keep working with them).

Sometimes, you just can’t win. No matter what you do, your clients will be unhappy. But, it’s important to remember that your clients are people. If you treat them like people, if you’re honest about the challenges you face and communicate clearly, you often go from a client who’s upset that their vision had to shift, to one who’s grateful to you for overcoming so many obstacles and getting as close as you did. 

If you think they’re acting crazy, try putting yourself in their shoes. Chances are good that there’s a reason for their behavior.

Be Brief

This is a tricky one, especially for those of us that tend to, um, carry on longer than necessary. You need to find ways to communicate updates to your client that don’t take 40 minutes to read and that don’t bury important points in long paragraphs.

When I first started, I was guilty of writing long emails to clients explaining every detail of my process and how I got to that point. Nowadays, I use bullet points both to increase readability and to remind myself not to overdo it.

I’ll give you an example. Say you’re writing a script for a client for a :30 commercial and you’re sending them the second draft. You need to tell them if you were able to address their feedback, and if not, what you did instead. You don’t need to say the following:

“To complete your note of describing your customer’s pain point sooner, I moved the third line of the script to the first line. Of course, when I did, I also had to restructure the middle section of the script so now it says “you” instead of “I”. I found this to be the best way to address the issue.”

You shouldn’t need to tell the client you thought this was the best way to solve the problem. Obviously you do–if you don’t, why are you sending them this script? You also don’t need to say how you addressed a secondary problem their note created unless it’s major. Even then, they’re mostly happy if you address the issue they asked about. So try something more like this:

• Describe pain point sooner - DONE

Acknowledge that you saw the note and completed it. That’s all. If you can’t complete a note for whatever reason, then you can add a one sentence explanation and an alternate solution. 

• Add VO about history of business - I couldn’t do this because it made the spot read at almost 50 seconds long instead of 30. Instead, I worked in a few key details into the middle section and the tagline. Let me know what you think!

If you disagree with the note so strongly that you don’t think you should address it, try:

• Make the main character an octopus - In my professional opinion, making the main character an octopus would be distracting. It would also be challenging during production, with potential budget implications since the original concept involved human talent. Can we hop on a call to discuss?

Be Actionable

This isn’t the kind of action I had in mind.

What does actionable mean? It means that someone can read what you’re saying and understand that they’re required to do something in response. Busy people will often only look for the “action item” in any communication they receive. If it’s not obvious, they won’t respond to it. It usually works best to ask direct questions at the end of an update, like I did in the last example above.

If you need the client’s opinion on something, don’t just say, “We can do Option A or Option B.” Say: “Do you prefer Option A or Option B?” or maybe better, “I think A, do you agree?”

The last one lets the client know where you stand, saving them the potential step of asking you–if they happen to want your opinion. That saves time and energy, which everyone likes. Just make sure that you have a relationship with the client in which you feel comfortable making such assertions. If they ask your opinion once, you’re likely ok to give it semi-freely from then on.

If the client thinks you’re taking up more of their time than you should, they’ll be unhappy. 

Time is Money

Your time, that is. Talking about money and budget expansion can be uncomfortable, but if you’re doing your job and setting the right expectations, it shouldn’t be hard to point out to a client why the agreed-upon X costs less than the shiny new Y, and that if they want the Y, they need to spend more for it. Again: be honest. Don’t tell them they’ll get Y for the same amount as X if you know that’s impossible. 

When they want to change the scope–which happens frequently in pre-pro when clients see the tangible effects of their limited budget–tell them that their vision sounds great, and that you need another $15K to make it happen.

Will you have the occasional client walk away because of this? Yes! But that’s a risk you have to be willing to take. Plus, you would be shocked at the number of clients I’ve seen come back after trying to work with a cheaper offer and having a bad experience. As long as they know why you need the money, your odds aren’t bad.

Record Everything & Follow Up

This guy never misses a thing. He gets it.

Malicious people exist, but in my experience, they’re a very small minority. Even so, misunderstandings happen; people misconstrue things or misremember them (this can include you!). If someone asks you who approved a piece of wardrobe, or wants it replaced on the day, you need to be ready to point to the email where that item was approved.

As I said before, shoots are hard. Even the most well-intentioned people lose track of things, especially if they–as most clients are–are trying to be detail-oriented and maintain a 30,000ft view of the project at all times. Don’t approach recording meetings as a “gotcha” tactic–it’s essentially another method of taking notes. Make sure everyone is ok with it, and keep track of that transcript. It will help you and the client.

Having a record is the other reason to communicate your process clearly. You’re hopefully setting the right expectations, but in the event that your client doesn’t read your communications properly (or at all), you have a record of your emails that you can point to and show them where they were informed about whatever it is. If you don’t have a record, you only have your word against theirs, and since they’re writing the checks, you’ll lose that battle almost every time.

Respond Quickly

A simple but important rule that I was taught right away. The rule where I worked was to always respond to clients within 24 hours. Even if that response is “Hey, I need to circle up with the team and get back to you on that.” They know that you’re not ignoring them.

Admittedly, I have stretched this rule at times in the past, but it’s a good number to try to stick to. As the stock “I’ll get back to you” answer implies though, you’re better off taking the time to get your thoughts together and speaking to anyone you need to speak to, than you are firing off a half-cocked response just to get it done quickly. Just communicate about why it’s taking so long.

Be the Expert

Your client is coming to you for production work because they cannot do it themselves. Maybe they’re too busy, but more than likely they lack the depth of knowledge and skill you possess. Maybe the client knows a lot about one type of video but not another. No matter the particulars, it’s important to remember that you are an expert in your field. That’s why they hired you.

Don’t be afraid to give your recommendations or push back, as long as you do it respectfully and with the caveat that you know, at the end of the day, the client has the final say. When you take this approach, you can become a collaborator with your client, a partner, rather than merely a brainless lackey who follows their orders. If they have an idea they’re not sure will work (and they do) they’ll ask you about it, rather than just telling you to do it, or never raising it at all. If you like the idea too, then guess what? Your product just got better. If you occasionally push back or clarify certain points, the client will trust you when you say you think something is good. 

Everyone wants to work with smart people who think critically. But like I said before, keep it brief.

Read the Room

Constant vigilance!

The things I’ve said here are generalizations based on my experiences over 7 years in the industry. Your mileage may vary, and it’s important to recognize that while there are some universal truths (be respectful, be communicative, work hard), individuals may have different interpretations of what those words mean.

You may work with a client who very obviously does NOT want your opinion about the production. If that’s the case, put your head down and do the work unless money comes into the equation: don’t step on their toes, but don’t work for free.

Don’t adhere to a predetermined strategy when the evidence in front of you is telling you to do something different. Remember: you plan to be elastic and adaptable, like Helmuth von Moltke. If you do it right, it can seem like you were ready all along for the absolute craziest shit. Keep your core tenets in mind, but always be ready to improvise! If it sounds like common sense: it is.