An approved production budget answers how much your organisation is prepared to spend. It may not answer when the money needs to be available, which event triggers an invoice or who can authorise payment while the usual approver is away.
Check those details against the proposed agreement before treating a filming date as confirmed. This is a planning exercise using actual supplier terms, not a recommended deposit percentage, payment period or legal interpretation of a contract.
Read the payment schedule beside the production schedule
Find the current proposal and any terms it refers to. Identify every proposed payment, its amount or calculation basis, and the event or date attached to it. If the documents seem inconsistent, list the exact question for the supplier and your purchasing reviewer.
Business.gov.au's supplier guidance recommends documenting matters such as price, payment terms, timeframes and delivery arrangements. Those details need to make sense together. A general understanding that “accounts will handle it” is not enough if accounts has not seen the proposed schedule.
Keep four moments distinct: the production event, invoice issue, payment due date and your internal processing date. They may be connected, but they are not necessarily the same day. Use the actual wording to establish the relationship, and ask where it is unclear.
Identify what each milestone means
Some schedules use dates; others refer to events. If a proposal refers to a first edit, approval or delivery, ask what that means for this engagement. Is there an identifiable file, notification or decision that confirms the event? Who is expected to recognise it?
Do not assume that a payment event and creative satisfaction are interchangeable. Equally, do not infer that receiving an invoice proves all production checks are complete. Your reviewer needs to understand what the proposed agreement says about each, rather than inventing a connection after work begins.
If a deadline depends on a date that is not yet known, keep it labelled as dependent. A provisional estimate can help cash planning, but it should not become a supposedly agreed due date in the shared project calendar.
Copy the payment-event reconciliation sheet
Create one row for each payment in the proposed schedule. The sheet should refer back to the relevant document rather than replace it.
| Field | Information to confirm |
|---|---|
| Proposal reference | Version, date and relevant payment item |
| Amount or basis | The quoted figure or calculation, with GST treatment identified for finance |
| Trigger | The exact date or event stated in the proposal |
| Evidence of trigger | File, notice or confirmation that identifies the event |
| Invoice route | The approved recipient and required reference |
| Due date | Confirmed date, or the rule and unresolved dependency |
| Internal approval | Responsible person, processing steps and availability |
| Cash-planning owner | Person confirming the payment fits the relevant period |
| Open question | Issue, person resolving it and written answer location |
Keep banking and other sensitive payment information in your approved finance systems, not this production worksheet. The project team usually needs status and ownership, rather than financial account details.
Then compare the rows with internal payment runs and approval availability. If your process cannot meet a proposed requirement, raise that before commitment. An internal processing convention should not be silently substituted for the terms being discussed.
Worked example: the budget is available in the wrong period
This example is fictional. Its proposed timing is not a Live Images payment policy.
A marketing manager has an approved allocation for a project film in December. The proposed production schedule starts earlier, and the supplier's written proposal includes a payment that would fall in November. The manager had assumed all payments would follow the finished film.
The reconciliation sheet exposes the mismatch before booking. Finance confirms that the December allocation does not yet authorise the earlier commitment. The manager asks the relevant internal approver whether the allocation can be brought forward and asks the supplier what options are available if it cannot.
Possible outcomes include an internally approved timing change or a different production arrangement agreed with the supplier. Neither is assumed. The manager records the confirmed outcome and checks the schedule again before proceeding.
The total quoted price has not changed. The useful work was connecting a proposed payment event to the period in which the organisation could authorise and fund it.
Give finance the timing, not just the total
Business.gov.au's cash-flow guidance recommends considering both outgoing costs and when they will be paid, and clearly identifying estimates. Give your finance owner the agreed schedule and any remaining timing assumptions so it can be incorporated into the organisation's existing forecast.
You do not need to build a separate financial model for the video team. Keep a concise status record: confirmed payments, dependent dates and unresolved approvals. If the expected production sequence changes, ask whether the payment schedule also changes. Record the answer; a moved shoot does not by itself explain what happens to invoicing.
Questions about postponement, cancellation, additional work or disputed terms should go to the authorised purchasing or legal reviewer where appropriate. This worksheet does not establish a right to defer payment, obtain a refund or require a supplier to accept different conditions.
Close the gaps before the booking decision
Before committing, confirm that the supplier's proposed schedule is understood, internal approval can happen when required and finance has the relevant timing. Any remaining condition should have an owner and a clear next decision.
For Live Images' Industry Standard, payment arrangements are documented in the project quote alongside the proposed fee and included work. Discuss your project with the intended film, required date and purchasing constraints. Review the terms actually offered for that project rather than relying on payment conventions from an earlier supplier.
Prepared with AI assistance for Live Images. Planning guidance is general; suitability and production scope must be agreed for your project.