How to Make a Back-up Plan for Your Video Shoot

No matter how carefully you plan your shoot, something unexpected can always happen.  Your star speaker might catch a cold, traffic could delay your crew, or the sunny sky you were envisioning might be obstructed by a thunderstorm.  Some surprises are minor and will just change the order of events for the shoot.  Other will necessitate a new shoot date.

It's helpful to select a "rain date" or two, in case you need to reschedule your shoot.  Videographers are often willing to change shoot dates for no extra charge, provided that there is a legitimately unforeseeable reason for the rescheduling (blizzard, family emergency), or if you provide them with plenty of advance notice.  Having a rain date allows everyone involved to fairly easily reschedule the shoot without too much opportunity loss.  If you are planning a shoot in a location with erratic weather, a rain date is a must.

I strongly suggest booking more talent than you expect to use.  Editors can easily remove unneeded people, but they cannot (minus the use of Hollywood special effects) create new people.  If you want two testimonials in your video, book four testimonial speakers.  There's always a chance that someone will be late, absent, or give a weak testimonial.  If you're lucky, all four people will show up and give terrific testimonials - two of which you can use in a subsequent video.

I also advise businesses to build buffer time into their schedules (since things often take longer than we expect), and to tell people to arrive early.  If your shoot starts at 10 AM, make sure your talent is there by 9:45 AM.

As with all ventures, plan for the worst and aim for the best.