CopinSayoko Ichikawa
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Film Production

Commercial film production coordination

Production coordination across commercial and video projects, from casting through on-site delivery.

Client
Commercial production companies
Year
2020–2021
Category
Film Production
Role
Assistant Director / Production Coordinator

Illustrative image

Commercial and video-production projects supported
25+Commercial and video-production projects supported

Project-scope indicators, not personal achievement claims.

Overview

Production coordination on commercial shoots, covering casting and auditions, location research, vendor negotiation, contracts, scheduling, pre-production planning and on-site coordination.

Situation

Context

Commercial production compresses a large number of dependencies into a small number of shoot days. Everything has to be confirmed before the day, because there is no recovery time on set.

Challenge

Talent, locations, vendors, crew, schedules and logistics all had to align on fixed shoot dates, with no slack to absorb a late confirmation.

Scope

Scope

  • Casting and audition coordination
  • Location research and securing
  • Vendor negotiation and contracting
  • Shooting schedules and call sheets
  • Pre-production planning
  • On-site coordination during shoot days
Stakeholders
Directors, producers, clients, talent agencies, locations and vendors.

Role and ownership

What the organization delivered

The production companies delivered commercial films and video content.

What I personally owned

  • Coordinated casting and auditions
  • Researched and secured locations
  • Negotiated with and contracted vendors
  • Built shooting schedules and pre-production plans
  • Coordinated logistics on shoot days

What resulted

  • Supported delivery across commercial and video projects

Operating model

Confirm before the day

Every dependency was locked in pre-production, because a shoot day has no recovery capacity.

One call sheet, one truth

The call sheet was the operational document everyone worked from on the day.

Key decisions

  1. 01Front-load confirmationPushing confirmations earlier in pre-production removed most on-the-day escalation.

Delivery details

Deliverables

  • Shooting schedules
  • Call sheets
  • Location and vendor agreements
  • Pre-production plans

Risks and constraints

  • Weather and location availability
  • Talent availability and agency scheduling
  • Vendor confirmation timing
  • Overruns compressing later setups

Tools and systems

  • Shooting schedules and call sheets
  • Vendor and location coordination
  • Contract workflows

What changed

Coordination load moved from shoot day into pre-production, where it could still be solved calmly.

Lessons learned

  1. On a shoot day there is no slack, so the real work happens in the week before it.
  2. One operational document beats five accurate ones.

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