Requirements checklist
What to ask for when choosing software for ad-film companies.
A checklist built from how ad-film companies work, to print or save as a PDF and bring to any supplier meeting.
What the software should cover
Tick each one that matters to your business.
- Brief and bid register
- Job cost sheet
- Treatment and director roster
- Casting and talent usage terms
- Shoot plan and call sheets
- Edit versions and client approvals
- Cutdowns and delivery list
Roles that need their own access
Who logs in, and what each person may see or change.
- For the executive producer
- For producers
- For production managers
- For editors and post
- For accounts
Reports to ask for
Ask to see each one with your own sample data.
- Bids sent, won and lost by agency
- Job cost against awarded budget
- Margin by closed job
- Talent buyouts ending soon
- Edit rounds used per job
- Cutdowns and formats owed
- Supplier bills awaiting a job code
Systems it may need to connect to
Note which ones you already run.
- Accounting export
- SMS
- WhatsApp or other messaging
- Cloud file storage
- Calendar
Questions for any vendor
Put these to every supplier you are comparing.
- Is it for ad agencies or for the companies that shoot the films?
- Can a bid become the job budget?
- How are agency changes after the first cut handled?
- Can we track the terms of actors and voice artists?
- What happens at delivery?
- Does it manage crew and equipment hire?
- Can I enter day-end figures from the set?
- Will our existing job files be brought in?
- Who holds the data if we stop?
- How much does it cost?
Where the work usually breaks today
Circle the ones you recognise. They set the order of the project.
- Bids are not compared with the final cost
- Talent usage terms are lost
- Edit rounds are not counted
- Cutdowns multiply without a list
- Supplier bills trail the shoot
Prefer to talk it through? See the ad-film companies page.