In short
A corporate video takes three to five weeks from approved brief to delivery: one week of preparation, one to two shoot days, one to two weeks of editing, then review rounds. The two things that stretch timelines most are scheduling the people on camera and the number of approvers. A ten-day turnaround is realistic on a single-location project with one decision maker.
The week by week
| Stage | Duration | What slows it |
|---|---|---|
| Brief and quote | 1 to 3 days | Waiting on internal information |
| Pre-production and scouting | 3 to 7 days | Availability of people on camera |
| Shoot | 1 to 2 days | Weather, access, permits |
| Edit | 5 to 10 days | Footage volume and number of versions |
| Review rounds | 3 to 7 days | Number of approvers |
| Delivery and cutdowns | 1 to 3 days | Number of formats requested |
What actually causes delays
- Finding a date everyone can make. This beats production time as a source of delay, by a wide margin.
- Committee approval. A group that meets biweekly adds two weeks per revision round.
- Permits and site access, especially drone work and secured facilities.
- Deferred decisions, particularly music and the core message.
Hitting a fixed date
- Work backwards from launch with one week of buffer.
- Name a single approver with an agreed response window.
- Lock shoot dates before contracts are finalized if the deadline is tight.
- Decide music and core message before the shoot, never after the first cut.
- Accept phased delivery: hero film first, cutdowns the following week.
Projects that ship on time are almost always projects with one decision maker.
Frequently asked
Can you shoot and deliver the same day?
Yes for short-form event content. A same-day edit published before attendees leave is standard on conferences and trade shows, and requires a dedicated on-site editor plus an approved template.
How many revision rounds are included?
Three rounds is standard and covers a well-prepared project. Additional rounds are billable, which is another reason a single approver saves money as well as time.
When should we start for a January launch?
Start in October. November and December concentrate year-end shoots, availability tightens, and a mid-December start runs straight into everyone's holidays.