Amazing films are made from amazing collaborations — between creatives, crew members, and beyond. But if you’re new to the video-making world, it can be hard to know where to start with hiring a film crew. Here are some tips for getting started.

1. Decide what roles you need

Once your budget is set, and you know the scope of your project, list out who you need to make your production happen. Not sure how many team members you need? This film crew breakdown is a great starting point for narrowing down the video pros you’ll want to staff for. Once you start kicking off your project, chat with directors or producers about their thoughts on the crew size. Ask them their opinion on if they think that’s a sufficient team to get your project done on time.

2. Find your pros

Share the news that you’re hiring, and touch base with video pros in your network. Have budget to hire help with your video project? Post your job for free on our marketplace. From there, thousands of animators, editors, and Staff Picked Vimeo creators can bid on your listing. Not ready for a formal job post? You can still browse the video pros available for hire in your area and say hello.

3. Pitch them your project

Once you start hearing back from crew members, you should provide creative direction about what exactly it is they’re going to help you make. Talk about your project. Lay out what you want it to accomplish, how (and if) you want it to be different, and outline how their area of expertise can make your video something special. If they express interest in the project, clearly outline the benefits. This will make sure everyone’s on the same page about the scale of the project, and what’s going to be expected of them. Hit on day rate, production timeline, hours of daily shooting, and highlight any perks (like free meals or travel).

4. Remember: Your crew are your collaborators

Great creative relationships take time and energy to cultivate, and the best ones are reciprocal. So, once you’ve lined up a crew, treat them right. That means feeding your people, including them on creative decisions, paying them on time, and making sure their working environment is as pleasant and stress-free as possible. Do all of this not only because being a good human makes most things easier, but also making videos is a fun, weird experience that requires the help and dedication of many. Simply put: Your project will turn out better if you regard your team as collaborators instead of just employees. So make sure you staff a team you trust and respect. And, do your part to establish trust, build camaraderie, and lay the foundation for collaborating on future projects.

5. Say thank you

This one is big, massive. It doesn’t matter how small or big their part, whoever helped make your video happen, you’ve gotta thank them. Give onscreen credit, public credit, email credit, Vimeo profile credit to anyone who helped get your video over the finish line. And, even in this digital age, an in-person thank you goes a long way.

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