Guide · Before you commission
5 signs you're not ready to hire a video production company
We Stream is a London video and photo production company (We Stream Ltd, founded in 2022 by Violetta Coretnic and Vitalii Vakulchuk). Most video projects that go wrong don't fail during production. They fail before anyone is briefed, because the basics weren't in place. These are the signs. Not a verdict, just not right now.
The pattern
A good production company doesn't solve these problems. It exposes them.
Budget uncertainty, unclear deliverables, nobody who can say yes, a deadline that doesn't fit the work, and departments that each want a different film. Every one of these is an internal issue, and a production company can't fix any of them from the outside.
Great filming doesn't solve unclear objectives and fast editing doesn't fix slow approvals. These problems surface during production and often get blamed on the production company, but they existed before filming started. Commissioning the work just forced them into the open.
Sign 1: budget
The budget isn't approved yet
A £3,000 budget and a £10,000 budget produce different films from the same brief: different crew, different shooting days, different edit.
Research
"What would this cost?"
The company builds a detailed, realistic proposal. It goes to finance, comes back "too expensive", and the project dies or restarts with half the budget and a third of the scope.
Nobody gets what they needed.
Buying
"Here's our range. What can we get?"
Even a rough range, somewhere between £4,000 and £6,000, gives everyone something real to plan around, and the proposal survives the trip upstairs.
Approve the range before you ask for quotes.
AM Insights, five-year anniversary film.
The brief settled where the film would be shown before anything was filmed, so it was filmed and delivered in three working days.
Sign 2: the brief
"A video about our company" isn't a brief
It's the start of an internal conversation that should happen before you contact anyone.
You don't need a script or a runtime. You need three answers: what you're trying to achieve, who it's for, and what success looks like. Format, length and style follow from those, and our guide to choosing a video style shows how.
For AM Insights' anniversary film, the conversation before filming established that it had to work at the anniversary event and on LinkedIn afterwards, and that those two settings needed slightly different edit decisions. Knowing that up front is what made a founder interview, client testimonials and office B-roll fit into one filming day.
Sign 3: approvals
Nobody can say yes
Production moves in stages, and each needs a real decision before the next begins. "We'll get back to you" isn't one.
- Shot list and plan signed offThe person who approves the final cut should see a reference cut or the written brief here, so their notes are directional, not structural.
- One set of consolidated notesNot four people's separate emails that contradict each other.
- Two rounds, one week eachEvery project includes two rounds of revisions and a one-week feedback window; with no feedback inside that week, the cut is approved.
- One named approverConfirmed before production starts. Not "we'll loop in whoever". One person.
Where the time really goes. We've had projects where the footage was delivered within 24 hours of filming and the final approved video took six weeks to sign off, because stakeholders who weren't in the brief met the creative direction for the first time in their inbox. The editing wasn't the delay.
What a short loop looks like. At SBC Summit Lisbon 2026 our on-site editor sent Partner Matrix the first cut of their Meet the Team film at 18:35, just over an hour after the last shot, and the updated cut after notes went back at 00:14 the same night.
Sign 4: timeline
The deadline doesn't fit the work
"We need this in two weeks" is fine for an event film. For a corporate film with scouting, several filming days and approvals, it's a different conversation. Complex work, fast delivery, low price: pick two.
| Stage | Corporate or brand | Event |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-production | 2 to 4 weeks | 1 to 2 weeks |
| Shoot | 1 to 2 days | 1 day |
| Editing | 7 working days | 7 working days, or the same day when planned |
| Approval | 2 days to 2 months, depending on you | Hours to days |
| Brief to delivery | 6 to 8 weeks | 2 to 3 weeks |
Speed is possible, and it is planned, not improvised: a rush edit within 48 hours is +£400, a same-day recap is £400, and several same-day pieces need an on-site editor from £1,200 a day. The stages are explained in our production timeline guide.
Sign 5: stakeholders
Everyone wants a different film
Marketing wants awareness, sales wants leads, the chief executive wants something for investors, and internal comms wants culture. Those are four different videos.
If nobody aligns them first, it surfaces at the first cut, when everyone realises they imagined something different. Then the film starts collecting additions, a segment for one team and a message for another, until it lands nowhere.
The alternative is to decide the jobs before the shoot. Cytec needed one series to launch a product, explain a reorganisation and add client voices, so we planned it that way: seven complete videos from one day, not one film cut seven ways. Pick one primary purpose per film. Secondary audiences can exist; equal ones can't.
Cytec's chief executive Nick Chinn, one film in a series of seven.
What a good company asks
Questions that aren't pressure
A production company worth hiring will check your readiness before it takes the brief, and tell you when you're not there yet.
Budget
What's available?
Not to upsell, but to design something your finance team will actually approve.
Sign-off
Who says yes?
One named person with the authority to approve the cut, confirmed before filming.
Success
What should change?
The answer decides the format, the length and where the film will be used.
If you don't have solid answers yet, those questions are what separate projects that run well from projects that don't. Our corporate video production page shows what a structured project involves.
Before you call anyone
Ten questions to answer internally
- Budget. What's our approved range?
- Purpose. What does success look like, and who is the primary audience?
- Place. Where will it be used, and what's the one thing it must say?
- Approval. Who has final sign-off, and have the other stakeholders agreed the purpose?
- Timing. What's a realistic timeline for this scope?
- Material. Which brand assets can we share, and which examples are close to what we imagine?
Solid answers make the first conversation with any production company shorter, cheaper and far more useful.
Prices
What a project costs with us
Published rates, filmed and edited, so you can set a realistic range before you ask anyone for a quote. Travel outside London is calculated by us and included in your quote. VAT will be added where applicable.
Full rates are on our prices page.
Questions
Frequently asked
What should be in place before hiring a video production company?
Five things: an approved budget range, a clear idea of what success looks like and who the film is for, one person who can approve it, a timeline that fits the scope, and stakeholders who agree on the primary purpose. Without them even a good production company hits the same walls.
Why do production companies ask about budget first?
Because a £3,000 budget and a £10,000 budget produce different films from the same brief: different crew, shooting days and edit. A range such as £4,000 to £6,000 lets them design something your finance team will approve.
What makes a good video brief?
Clear answers to three things: what you are trying to achieve, who it is for and what success looks like. A video about our company is not a brief. You do not need a script, but you do need to know where the film will be used.
How long should approvals take?
Each stage needs a decision within a day or two to keep a project on track. Every We Stream project includes two rounds of revisions and a one-week feedback window per round; with no feedback inside that week the cut is approved.
How long does video production take?
For a corporate or brand film, six to eight weeks from brief to delivery is realistic for a well-run project. An event film usually takes two to three weeks. The edit itself is seven working days; approvals take from two days to two months depending on the client.
Can a faster turnaround be arranged?
Yes, if it is planned before the shoot. With We Stream a rush edit within 48 hours is +£400, a same-day recap is £400, and several same-day pieces need an on-site editor from £1,200 a day.
What happens when stakeholders are not aligned?
It surfaces at the first cut, when everyone realises they imagined a different film, and the video starts collecting additions until it works for nobody. Decide the job of each film first. For Cytec that meant seven complete videos from one day, not one film cut seven ways.
Can a production company fix unclear internal objectives?
No. It can advise on format and execution, but it cannot set your goals, approve its own work or align your departments. Those problems existed before filming; commissioning the work only brings them into the open.
Ready, or nearly?
Send the three answers, we'll tell you honestly
Tell us the budget range, who it's for and who signs it off. If you're ready we'll plan it; if not, we'll say what's missing.
A date in mind?
It is worth getting in touch early
We have a limited number of slots per month. iGaming expos, fashion weeks, and large-scale corporate events fill quickly.