What to do when a video shoot doesn’t go as planned

Uh oh.

There was a hiccup. Plans changed. Someone forgot the laptop. 

Whatever it is, here’s my three step process to deal with changing plans on a video shoot. 

First, you need to accept what happened. There is a time to unearth the real reason for what happened. There may even be a time to reprimand a vendor or a team member. But that time is not on set. When you’re on set, you’re likely paying thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars per day just to have everyone there. So don’t waste any of that time blaming people. If you’re willing to accept unexpected positive things, you need to be able to accept unexpected negative things. For example, if the sunset is absolutely banging, and you didn’t plan on that, you’d be more than willing to adjust your shoot schedule to capture more of that. I’m sure of it. If this is true, then the inverse must also be true. The first step is to accept what happened as fact and reality, and start solving the problem. 

Second, you need to realize that there are a thousand different ways to make a good video. It may be that your original plan simply can’t happen the way you imagined it anymore. That’s ok. It doesn’t mean you’re doomed to make a subpar video. It only means that you need to find one of the other thousands of ways to make this video a good one. Realize that there are other options for your video out there. 

Third, you need to ask yourself what the unachievable creative element did for your video. Did it make the video feel more epic? Did it make the video feel more sensual? Did it make the product look cleaner? Get past the hard facts of what you can no longer do, and get into the meaning of what those facts helped you achieve. If an epic feel is what you’re going for, then start there. Start thinking of all the other ways you can make the video feel epic. Soon enough 

Here’s a little bonus encouragement for you. The fact that something unexpected happened on set doesn’t say anything profound about who you are or your ability to make good content. How you respond to the unexpected occurrence says nearly everything about who you are and your ability to be successful.