 Hi, we're back again and hopefully my eyes are better today. We would be discussing my personal workflow how I prep from commercials from prep to delivery. I'll just take a case study from a sample project that I've done and we'll walk through all theories that you need to know. So usually this will cover my processes and these are basically my thoughts. They are not like the golden standards. Everybody has a little bit of way to do the as you get because it's always about optimizing your process and improving on what you on iterations of what you do because some jobs you get and you find out why you don't get them and improve on where you have found lacking and you just keep adding the blocks till hopefully you don't get to do all the jobs because I don't know that could lead to a burnout but at least you get a good chunk to keep you at bay and keep you happy. So basically in the process as a director for commercials what you usually do you are a paid executor. It's not like a film. The film will bring your intentions and you are you have like a lot that you have writing on you because in this case it's like for film processes from the director's idea his vision to screen but from with this you're working with a brand an agency who would have thought towards the best and the agency seeks out directors that they think are perfect for the execution of that spot or for the sake of um this video call it for the brief. So you're lucky enough you get an email in your inbox it start with a brief. In this case I'll be using this um the script that we worked on for a youtube spot which is called the Hero 9J script. So you receive a script that has like this sample and you take your time and you go through the script and you look at all there is sometimes they come they don't usually come like this some come with visuals and some do not come with visuals but in this case this came with visuals that gives like pointers and ideas on what you're supposed to do. So you go through the script and you look at everything that there is to offer for the script and um you make sure you digest it and then you go to the next phase I will not try and read through this but you can screenshot it and like take a pause and read through for yourself right. Then you go to the next phase which is the most interesting one whereby you get like asked questions. So the first question you get to ask so after you finish digesting the script is first of all is this script approved? Because sometimes agency could send you a working placeholder script that just to get them an estimate of what the budget could read and they could rewrite the script if the budget is over what they're looking at or if it's under what they're looking at. So first of all you have to confirm is this an approved script right. The next question you need to know is what is this job is it a tvc is it an information a documentary an animation a dub a cut down um an end frame edit etc you have to put that in your question if you have a conversation with the agency then you could like jump on the call with them and sort this out if not a good email detailing these questions would be great you get um apart from the script do we have a storyboard sometimes agency provides storyboards that makes you like this is how it's supposed to be and based on your real is what you're choosing to become the executor of this script and if they have a storyboard that adds to your understanding of how they see the world and how they perceive it. The next important question you have to bring to the table is when is the deadline for you to submit your quote because sometimes depending on the script you may need to do some research get the prizes of um of several aspects of the script whether from production design your art department to be able to know and put together like a very well rounded costume that accounts for all the variables and this also includes um knowing the duration you would need to actually complete the entire spot. So the next question you get to ask is when is the deadline for the treatment and the reason why this question is important is you will need to know how much time you have to put together research resources and all the things that you require to actually get the treatment done and that could vary from sometimes it could be as shortly I've been dealt days of pull out a treatment within 24 hours you get and could be as generous as you have two weeks so there's no like set rule you just have to negotiate the amount of freedom and sometimes these are these factors also determine whether you're up for the job you're prepped for the job or you think it's just too much rush of your work to be able to deliver your best the next question is what's the guide slash benchmark budget we have to work with sometimes it is usually usually very helpful if the client says we have x amount of money we have six million there we have 10 million there we have 40 million there we have 70 million there and that's what we're working with that will help you to maximize value you're bringing to the table in terms of how much you can put on screen how much you know that okay if the project is on the front there are creative ways you can use to achieve this without actually breaking the bank since you already know that client budget is not enough because technically every client all this is we're working on the budget there's never a day you at least from my experience I've never got a client that says here you go what you access what you get is always that negotiation conversation and it's a three way conversation because you have negotiation with the agency negotiation with the client so you talk to the agency the agency push back to the client and there's this like back and forth here all you guys wish like a consensus but if usually there's a number you could easily decide from the back that this is going to work giving your own working style or it's not going to work the next question you would that would need to be in that middle that you be saying to them is do we need cut downs cut downs like when you're done with like 60 seconds version of the commercial do they get to create the 30 seconds for an instagram or a vertical for like a real section of tiktok and instagram or they have a 15 seconds for the non-stoppable over five seconds for the non-stoppable ad sections that youtube has so are they going to be cut downs because that would also affect your post-production budget to be able to account for all of those details then other questions you ask do we do you need a quote for still photography there are jobs whereby both still and video happen at the same time if you be responsible for that if your production company be responsible for that you would need to know do we need to quote for music score or jingle or music library right if it's going to be a custom reading that's going to go with the spot you would have to account for that if it's just going to be some music license you're pulling off an at least the whatever you would also have to account for all of that in your costume if it's a foreign shoot and are we using foreign voices or we're using local voices it happens you get nivia does some at least in the region and some of their voiceovers are usually foreign you get and other local brands like abanor magi or whatever they could use like local voiceovers for it to be able to get like across in terms of paging in terms of the entire conversation that they would intend to be having so these are like part of the questions you would have to ask how long would the usage be for and what's the medium this question actually is very important because what you're speaking to is the rights of the usage of the talents faces on screen or billboard whatever medium so if they're paying them is that payment going to be like for a year is it for like three years it's going to be for five years is this subject to renewal and what are the mediums you be using them for you're going to be using for billboard prints tv social media and whatever the medium exists like what does that um negotiation cover for in terms of um screen right usage for the talents that will be appearing on the spot what channel will the tvc be flighted on where will eat or what region of the world will it be used so this is where it's also related to talent issues because if you're using like a very high-profile talent um if you're not negotiating like global right usage in your contract right you would also have to specify if it's going like okay it's only limited to your country which is terrestrial usage you get if it's global right does that involve that may incur more cost you get if it's going to be like for certain regions and does not cover certain regions which is regional right there's also that those kind of conversation influence the quote which is why you have to send all this mail to be willing from when you're coming up with a quote what language will the tvc be broadcasted in you get and do we need quote for various voiceovers so is there going to be adaptation of there's an english version a pigeon version yoruba house are evil all this kind of versions you would also account for that in your budget or sometimes the agency may take up that responsibility and split the bill in terms of they handle the responsibility of outsourcing the views while you handle the responsibility of working on production it depends on the relationship or what kind of platter you served are any cast ambassadors or celebrities if the answer is yes do we need to cost for them that's important because some brands have the already ambassadors that they are bringing to the spot in that case the brand usually gets to handle most of the costing fees that's related to that conversation that's related to the brand you get if they are not and you're the one hiring then you have to be at the responsibility of the cost and negotiations with the talent you be using you get and that covers like the entire question so when you send off all this email and put in a very nice polite way and send it all off to the agency the agency gets to reach back to you hopefully within a 24 to 48 hours window and you get all these details and now and because it includes your quote deadline and every other stuff now you're well informed to know how much time you have to actually do your research come out with quotes and move to the next phase of treatment so if you like this content and it's been useful to you please leave a thumbs up and if you like to watch more of this kind of content subscribe to the channel where we actually get to like put on more