Planning a year of project case studies: a programme-readiness worksheet

1. Give the programme a purpose beyond filling the calendar

Write down what the collection should help your organisation explain. You might want to show the range of work you deliver, give proposal teams relevant examples or replace outdated project material. Choose a purpose you can connect to actual uses.

Then check what is already available. If every proposed film would answer the same buyer question, decide whether that repetition is useful before committing to the sequence.

Copy these fields:

• Main audience for the collection:
• Questions the collection should help answer:
• Existing films or case studies that already answer them:
• Gaps the proposed programme would address:
• Teams expected to use the finished films:
• Person responsible for keeping that purpose current:

This is a planning decision, not a forecast of enquiries or sales. Keep any intended business outcome separate from results you have actually measured.

2. Build a portfolio view, without pretending dates are settled

Make one short entry for each possible production. At this stage, record what affects the sequence rather than repeating the full project brief.

• Project and internal project lead:
• Contribution it would make to the collection:
• Forecast completion or access window:
• Date and person behind that forecast:
• Readiness conditions still unresolved:
• Likely preparation and review period:
• Intended first use and any genuine deadline:
• Status: candidate, investigating, ready to discuss, or agreed:

A forecast window should remain visibly different from a filming date agreed with the production team. A project can be suitable for a film but unsuitable for the next slot because its people, access or approvals are not ready.

Keep a dated copy of the portfolio view. When a project moves, update the reason and the next decision required. Do not silently turn an old forecast into a booking.

3. Check the workload shared by all productions

The same marketing manager or director may be involved in every film. Look across the proposed sequence for clashes with tenders, leave, launches and other review commitments.

Discuss when each production would need preparation, feedback and approval. Ask the people involved whether they can do that work in the proposed period. Avoid assigning an allowance on their behalf or assuming several edits can be reviewed at once.

Record the shared roles:

• Programme coordinator and backup:
• Person confirming each project's information:
• Person gathering consolidated edit feedback:
• Final decision-maker for the programme's films:
• Client or stakeholder approvers, where needed:
• Owner of finished-file storage and publishing:
• Known periods when these people are unavailable:

If one person owns several roles, make that visible. The useful next step may be fewer productions, different timing or a clearer internal handover, rather than a larger list of film ideas.

4. Separate repeatable decisions from project-specific decisions

Some preparation can carry across the series: current brand files, agreed naming conventions, the feedback process and the location of approved final files. Identify who keeps those shared items current.

Other decisions need to be checked for every project. These include who can appear, what may be shown, the team's actual role and the relevant access and publication permissions. A decision made for one site should not be treated as approval for the next.

Use two lists:

Shared programme settings: item, current version, owner and next review point.

Project-specific checks: project, question, decision-maker, status and date needed.

If a shared setting changes midway through the year, record which productions it affects. Ask about any work required to apply the change; do not assume earlier films will be revised as part of a later production.

5. Agree how a change becomes a decision

Discuss delayed projects before they create an urgent scheduling problem. Ask what notice is needed, how an alternative project would be assessed and which changes need a written scope update.

A replacement project still needs to be suitable and ready. Moving a title in the calendar does not confirm new travel, access, people or production availability.

For each change, record:

• What changed and when it became known:
• Which proposed production is affected:
• Options to discuss: keep, move, replace or defer:
• Conditions attached to each option:
• Person authorised to agree the change:
• Written decision and updated plan location:

For example, imagine two fictional projects are due to become available in the same month, while the only final approver is away. The readiness issue is shared review capacity. A useful discussion would establish a workable sequence and approval arrangement, rather than simply bringing both filming dates forward. This is an invented planning example, not a Live Images project or result.

6. Make a readiness decision

Summarise the programme in three lines:

• Ready to discuss: the purpose, candidate projects and internal owners are identifiable.
• Conditions to resolve: named gaps, their owners and the next review date.
• Decision sought: explore a programme, begin with one case study, or defer until the conditions change.

Use the construction project video brief for each production once the programme direction is clear. Keep individual briefs connected to the shared plan without replacing their project-specific detail.