What do you do if your video production deadlines are consistently unrealistic?

Address the root-cause by dipping into your experience. Determine the duration of each task in your video production cycle based on this. Primarily, that should be your input to your estimation for your client proposal itself. Communicate these milestones clearly so that your client can plan their larger deadlines. If the client requests tighter deadlines, make sure to include appropriate conditions to avoid any ambiguity. Additionally, ensure that the client approves the outputs at the end of each task to minimize back-and-forth communication. These are, of course, preventive measures, but if you are stuck with these then best is to re-negotiate deadlines, prioritize tasks well and add more freelance resources if that would help.

Why are they unrealistic, are you making the mistake or your clients? If you've been set a deadline by someone else, you should establish from the start if the overall project or each milestone is realistic, and if not, change that or drop the project. If you're making the mistake, then simply take the time to reflect. Are you stretching yourself too thin with too many projects? Do you take longer than expected on projects? Allow yourself more than enough time for each task. Make it clear to yourself and clients that rushing art is not a wise move, and the more time is taken to bring things together with creative freedom and without stress, the better the final product.

Begin by evaluating your current workflow and processes to identify any bottlenecks or inefficiencies that may be contributing to the unrealistic deadlines. Look for areas where improvements can be made to streamline the production process and optimize resource allocation.

If you are struggling to set accurate deadlines, try time tracking your tasks for 10-30 days to get a consistent average for time to completion. Then refine your deadlines based on that data!

In handling consistently unrealistic video production deadlines: Address the issue by communicating with stakeholders, educating them about production time, and negotiating more reasonable deadlines. Prioritise tasks, streamline workflows, and manage expectations with the team. Delegate responsibilities effectively, implement time management techniques, and document lessons learned. When necessary, push back on unattainable deadlines while advocating for the team's needs.

There's no need to rush things. Don't get me wrong, occasionally there's projects that have a strict, fast deadline for reasons outside of everyone's control, but for these projects they either need more incentive to be solely focused on by you for a short time, or clear communication early on to make sure everyone knows that if certain milestones aren't hit, the project won't work. Outside of this measure, there shouldn't be much need in a close deadline. When creating a video, which is an art form, there should be time to express creative ideas at each stage and ensure there's a shared vision to bring the project together. If things look unrealistic, don't treat your client like a boss, treat them like a partner, and be honest with them.

It might not be easy to create templates/automatons for video projects, but you can easily streamline reviews and feedback. Here are a handful of tools I use or have used for this: - Dropbox Replay - Vimeo - Frame.io - Loom

Laying out a thorough outline from the beginning helps with projecting a deadline, and most of the time a client will understand the need for the time if you can articulate the process. If they are not understanding and are still unrealistic to what can be done in a given amount of time, it’s critical that you negotiate what is included in the package or what the compensation is. This will allow you to either have fewer things to work on, or allow you to hire/outsource outstanding work and get everything the client wants done on time.