It's been said that a customer doesn't know what they want until they find out what they don't want. Once an idea for a video production is formed and written out, it can go through seveal changes as it drifts from inbox to inbox. A small in-house message can quickly turn into a full-blown training video as it moves from CEO to HR to Marketing, and when you arrive on location to start filming, the contact you've been emailing for weeks says, "There's been a few changes. Did you get the email I just sent?"
This scenario happens often on different levels of severity. Sometimes, it's a simple change of dialogue. "We can't say this, we have to say this." That's fine. A small edit in the teleprompter and we're good to go. Other times, whole people have been added to speak. Then you're asking for the latest email and scrambling to copy/paste, all the while mentally rescheduling the b-roll you still need to take care of and reconsidering the amount of editing you thought it would take. Hired talent can also be affected if they've memorized lines only to find an altered script upon arrival to set. Extra filming time may require the actor to charge more, or, in some cases, back out entirely.
I'AMedia was once hired to film corporate interviews discussing office policy. Then an email came asking if b-roll could be filmed to supliment the topics. Of course, no problem. On the day of, the contact asked, "Did you get my last email?" "No, but we'll check." There it is, sent five minutes ago. They wanted a few extra shots that added two extra hours to the day, including drone shots. In the end, experience in these situations allowed us to smoothly meet all of their needs and then some.
It's best to take it all in stride. Be willing to have the difficult conversations if the client has asked for changes that exceed your previously crafted budget, and reschedule if necessary.
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