The Production Risk Register: How We Reduce Risk Before a Video Production

A successful video production is not just about getting good footage anymore. It’s actually about making sure that the production happens without any issues.

When a company is investing thousands of dollars into a corporate video, often the more complicated part is that, whatever the end result is, there can be times where what’s at stake is worth a lot more than the actual production.

When I was starting out in video, the projects were low-stakes. So perhaps the worst thing that could happen during a shoot was a reshoot, and that only affected me because, for the client, it was easy to do a reshoot.

Nowadays, whether it’s event production, industrial shoots or executive interviews, there are not only dozens of things that can potentially go wrong, but just having to do a reshoot sometimes is not only impossible, it can also cost 10 times more than the actual value of the shoot.

For example, a key person can become unavailable. We can lose access to a location. We can have a small window to shoot something with a drone.

The construction activity may not be there anymore. For example, when you’re shooting people who are building something, once the thing is built, we can’t just go back and redo it.

And the same thing applies to the footage.

The difference between an inexperienced production and a professional one is not that problems never happen. It’s that the professional production has already considered what could go wrong before the camera starts.

How I started thinking about production risk

A few years ago, I was doing a production where something happened. Thankfully, we were able to resolve it during the production, but when I was driving back in my car, I was like: there has to be a way for me to better predict that.

So for a while, what I did was that before every single production, on the way to the production, instead of listening to the radio or listening to music, I would actually think about what could potentially go wrong.

That works, but if it was about a piece of equipment failing or whatever, it didn’t allow me to have enough time to prepare for that.

So now what I do internally is a production risk register.

What is a production risk register?

A production risk register is a document used to identify, evaluate and prepare for the risks that could affect a video production.

Instead of simply creating a shooting schedule and hoping everything goes according to plan, we systematically ask:

What could prevent us from doing or delivering this project successfully?

Each potential risk is then evaluated based on factors like:

• The probability of it occurring
• The potential impact on the production
• How the risk can be prevented
• What the backup plan will be if it happens
• Who is responsible for managing it

For a small interview shoot, this might be simple.

But for a large institutional, industrial or multicamera event production involving multiple locations, executive stakeholders, specialized equipment or very strict deadlines, it can become significantly more important.

What actually goes into a production risk register?

Imagine a company is filming a new manufacturing facility.

The production involves executive interviews, operational footage, drone filming and footage of machines that can only be filmed during a specific production window.

We can now see several risks.

But risk is not the same on every video production.

A common mistake is treating every production as if it has the exact same level of risk, but truthfully, it does not.

Take into account the difference between filming a controlled interview in an office with someone who is always there and filming a live corporate event.

If a camera fails during an interview, the production can potentially stop, replace the camera and continue.

But if a camera fails during the five minutes that a CEO is doing a speech at a live event, there simply is no second attempt.

That same principle applies to industrial and construction environments.

If a specialized manufacturing process only happens once every few weeks, then missing it can have a major impact on the project, even more so if the deadline of a project is soon.

So the more difficult something is to reproduce, the more attention it deserves during pre-production.

The four categories of production risk

Most video production risks can be grouped into several broad categories.

1. Operational risks

First of all, there are the operational risks.

These are the risks around the logistics of actually executing the production.

For example:

• Location access
• Crew availability
• Equipment availability
• Transportation
• Scheduling conflicts
• Production delays

2. Technical risks

Then there are the technical risks.

These involve the technology required to capture and protect the content.

For example:

• Camera failures
• Audio problems
• Battery failures
• Media corruption
• Lighting issues
• Data loss

For the first two categories, I would say that if you hear a video production company talking about those risks to their client during the production, that means they have failed as a video production company.

Their client should never hear about them.

That is the worst thing to put pressure on.

When you hire a video production team, you should hire their expertise as well. You’re not just hiring them to operate cameras. You’re hiring their expertise and their level of risk management around the basics as well.

3. Environmental and safety risks

Third, there are environmental and safety risks.

These are particularly important for industrial, construction and drone projects.

For example:

• Weather
• Restricted areas
• Active machinery
• Working at height
• Vehicle movement
• Drone airspace restrictions
• Site-specific safety requirements

4. Business and communication risks

Fourth, there are business and communication risks, which have nothing to do with cameras.

For example:

• Filming the wrong message
• Missing an important stakeholder
• Not obtaining legally required approvals
• Capturing confidential information
• Misunderstanding the intended audience
• Delivering content in the wrong format

You can technically capture perfect footage but still produce the wrong video.

Which is why production risk management should begin before anyone starts discussing cameras.

How do you prioritize production risks?

A useful way to prioritize risk is to evaluate two variables:

How likely is it to happen?

And:

How serious would the consequences be?

A minor risk that is very likely to happen deserves attention.

A catastrophic risk that is unlikely to happen also deserves some attention.

For example, a slightly delayed lunch break might have a very high probability but very, very low impact.

Losing all of the footage from a production has a very, very low probability but a catastrophic impact.

The second risk deserves considerably more preparation.

If you’re interested in seeing how we handle that part, you can look at our article about how we make sure that footage from a shoot is properly secured.

The most important question: Can we recreate the moment?

At the end of the day, the most important question is:

Can we recreate the moment?

If we miss this, can we film it again?

For some productions, the answer is yes.

For others, it is absolutely not.

For example, an interview with an employee can be rescheduled.

An interview with a board member might not be able to be rescheduled.

A building demolition cannot be rescheduled.

A live event cannot be rescheduled.

A manufacturing process involving a customer’s product may not be able to be rescheduled because it won’t happen again.

So the less repeatable the moment, the more redundancy and preparation the production should have around it.

Why does this matter for the end client?

Clients rarely hire a video production company because they’re interested in production risk management.

They hire one because they want a successfully done project.

But that’s one of the invisible systems that makes successful productions possible.

Clients shouldn’t have to spend the whole day wondering: Did we capture the audio? Did we miss an important shot? Are the files safe? What happened with the drone authorization? Do we have enough time? What happens if something goes wrong?

A professional production company is not simply responsible for operating cameras.

It is responsible for reducing on-site uncertainty.

The best production problem is the one the client never notices

The best production problem is the one that the client never notices.

A strong production team cannot eliminate every unexpected situation.

What it can do, though, is significantly reduce the number of situations capable of compromising the project.

And when a problem occurs, the team should already know what the next move is.

The goal isn’t to completely eliminate all of the problems.

The goal is just to have enough redundancy to be able to control the problems.

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