Pick Your Poison: The Production Triangle

Enter, The Production Triangle.

The Production Triangle is an age old tool used by creatives in all fields and art forms to present and maintain realistic client expectations.

The triangle is as follows:

It’s pretty self explanatory: You can’t have a high quality project done quickly and cheaply. You must pick two.

In Art Director, Mike Petrik’s words, “When you enter into a creative project there are three factors at play: time, money and quality, and you’re only allowed to pick two. When a third angle creeps into a project, especially if it is already in production, that is where problems start to develop.”

For example: We’re often asked to produce a high quality project in a short amount of time. No problem, we’ll put in the long hours but that volume of work in a rush situation is going to come out to a higher bill.

Realistic expectations are important in every type of business and business relationship, and video production is no different.

We understand that even if everyone knows how much time and work are going to be necessary for a project to be completed that something could come up. A calendar could shift and the art department might start to feel the heat. We’ve been doing this for a while, we know shortcuts that won’t sacrifice quality, but we should never have to put the production in that position. Even with our knowledge and expertise Petrik explains that “rushing through a project is a nightmare and the time taken to complete a project really shows through.”

It’s a delicate balancing act. So, it is important to have everyone on the same page. No matter the project or what surprises come up, remember The Production Triangle and pick two.