What the fee actually pays for
When a producer asks me what workflow planning costs, the honest first answer is that the fee pays for time spent thinking before anyone touches a cable. Our planning work covers signal flow, crew roles and the rehearsal schedule, and each of those is written down so that your technical director can read it, challenge it and hand it to the crew.
Most of the hours go into the first two weeks of a job, not the event itself. We map every source to every destination, check where a single failure would stop the show, and settle who calls what on the intercom. That groundwork is slow, and it is where most of the saving comes from later, because a problem found on paper costs far less than the same problem found at the get-in.
The quotation you receive is written, itemised and tied to a defined scope. You will see what is included and what is not, so there is no surprise on the invoice.
- Signal flow diagrams for every source and destination
- A crew role sheet with intercom and calling arrangements
- A rehearsal schedule built around your venue access
- One written revision round after your review
Size of the event sets the baseline
The largest single driver is the number of sources and outputs the production has to manage. A two-camera conference with one programme feed and a stream is a short piece of planning. A multi-camera concert with playback, graphics, a separate audience feed and a remote contribution is a different job, because every extra path adds connections to document and failures to think through.
Crew size matters too, though less than people expect. Ten operators do not take ten times the planning of one, but each role needs a clear position in the chain, a defined handover and a place on the schedule. We count roles by how many decisions they depend on, not by headcount.
For that reason we ask for a rough source list and a crew outline in the first enquiry. With those two documents in hand, we can usually give a firm figure rather than a wide range, and you can compare it sensibly against your own budget.
Venue, timing and how much is already known
A venue you have used before is cheaper to plan than one nobody on your team has seen. Unknown rooms mean questions about power, rigging points, cable routes, sightlines and where the control area can sit. If a site visit is needed, travel and the visit itself are quoted separately so you can decide whether a remote walkthrough with photographs and drawings is enough.
Timing also moves the price. A comfortable lead time lets us work through the plan in sensible stages and leave room for your comments. A compressed schedule means reordering other work and delivering in pieces, which costs more and leaves less margin for second thoughts.
The state of your existing documentation matters as well. If you already hold a clean system diagram and a previous run sheet, we build on them. If everything lives in people's heads, part of the fee goes on getting it onto paper.
- Familiar venue or first visit
- Site visit or remote walkthrough
- Weeks of lead time available
- Existing diagrams and run sheets
Rehearsal time is the part people trim
Rehearsal scheduling is where budgets get squeezed, and I would ask you to resist it. A plan that looks sound on paper still needs a run where the crew hears the calls, the vision mixer meets the graphics, and the audio team finds the one feed that was patched wrongly. Cutting a rehearsal rarely saves money; it moves the cost to the live show.
We plan rehearsals in proportion to the risk in the running order. A straight speech programme needs a technical run and one full pass. A show with pre-recorded inserts, live music and tight cues needs more, and we say so plainly in the schedule.
Our fee covers designing that schedule, not the hire of the rehearsal space or the crew's time in it. Those costs sit with you and your venue, and we help you estimate them so they appear in your overall budget at the start rather than as a late addition.
What sits outside the quoted fee
It is better to name the exclusions now than to explain them later. Our workflow planning does not include equipment hire, crew wages, or on-site attendance during the event unless we have agreed that in the quotation. We advise on what you need; we do not supply it.
Changes after sign-off are the other common source of extra cost. A new camera position, an added remote guest or a moved venue reopens parts of the diagram and the schedule. We keep one revision round inside the fee, and further changes are charged for the time they take, which we confirm in writing before starting.
If you want us on site to support the rig and the first rehearsals, that is a separate and clearly priced item. Many clients plan with us and then run the event with their own crew, and that works well when the documents are clear.
- Equipment hire and purchase
- Crew wages and rehearsal space
- On-site attendance unless agreed
- Changes requested after sign-off
How to get a firm figure quickly
The quickest route to an accurate quotation is a short, honest enquiry through the contact page. Tell us the type of event, the approximate number of cameras and audio sources, the outputs you need, the venue and the date you are working towards. A rough sketch of your current chain is useful, even if it is untidy.
We reply with questions where something is unclear, then send a written quotation setting out scope, deliverables and the fee in pounds sterling. Once you confirm it in writing, we issue an invoice payable by bank transfer, and our payment and refund policy governs any cancellation.
You are under no obligation at the enquiry stage. If the figure is more than the event can carry, we can usually suggest which parts of the plan to keep and which to handle in-house, so that you still leave with something sound.
Workflow planning is priced by the complexity it has to untangle: the number of sources and outputs, the unfamiliarity of the venue, the time available and the state of your existing paperwork. Rehearsal design and written deliverables are what the fee buys, while hire, wages and later changes sit outside it. Send us the basics, and you will have a clear written figure to weigh against what a failed live show would cost.