The Most Important Meeting (PPM) & My Personal Checklist 📔🎥
Avoid:
❌ Confusion and misstakes when making big film projects.
Learn:
✅ How to align everyone before the shoot with a PPM checklist.
PPM: Pre-Production Meeting (Explained)
➡️Download My personal PPM Checklist ⬅️
A good PPM builds trust. It helps everyone stay on track. What’s the goal? What details still need to be decided?
It also gives the client a better view of the whole process, especially if they’re not familiar with how bigger film production works.
PPM stands for Pre-Production Meeting,
but most people just call it a PPM.
It’s the last big meeting where all the key decision-makers come together one final time before the shoot.
(Usually, there’s a kickoff meeting before this, sometimes called a Pre-PPM, because “a Pre-Pre-Production Meeting” sounds a bit weird.😅)
The meeting follows the PPM document.
A checklist that goes through the entire shoot, step by step.
This is my personal PPM checklist:
➡️Download My personal PPM Checklist ⬅️
(The budget and specific usage rights are usually in a separate contract. )
Film (Fiction) Is Tricky
"If you try to manage a fictional production with random emails and a few meetings, there’s a high chance of confusion and mistakes."
A typical interview productio like this one usually does not require a PPM.
This production, with multiple locations, a complex storyline, custom music, and a real horse etc, requires a PPM.
If you want to film an interview with your CEO at your office, most filmmakers can do that, or you can hire a freelancer to do it for you.
But if you turn it into a fictional story with a character playing your CEO in a made-up office, things get much more complicated.
(You’ll need an actor. Actors require a costume stylist, a casting process, and fee negotiations with their agent. Plus, your office might not look right for a fictional setting, so you’ll need to find and rent another office or build one in a studio. And that’s just the beginning.)
This is why you need a clear process (PPM). If you try to manage a fictional production with random emails and a few meetings, there’s a high chance of confusion and mistakes.
End note
A PPM timeline and structure is not meant for every project.
But as soon as you move from a simpler production to a high-end project, a PPM becomes essential to keep everyone accountable and happy.
Good luck with your next production!
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