An animation studio quotes twenty days for a ninety second explainer. The storyboard is approved, the animatic goes through two rounds, and then the client sees the first colour pass and asks for a change to the character design. Layout is redone. The voice track changes, so lip sync is redone. By the time the final render goes out, the job has taken thirty-four days. The invoice says twenty. The producer finds out at the month-end review, when the studio head asks why the quarter looks thin.
This is the usual shape of a revision leak. It builds in small, reasonable steps. Nobody decides to give away fourteen days. Nobody counts them either.
How the leak shows up on the floor
- The ninth change on a retouched portrait. A wedding client wants skin smoothed, then less smoothed, then a different crop for the frame.
- An edit that returns with new footage. The cut was locked on Friday and a fresh clip arrives on Sunday.
- A mix reopened after the car test. The director hears the dialogue level on a phone speaker and asks for a rebalance.
- Shot fixes between reviews. A compositor rebuilds a plate three times because notes arrive by voice message in pieces.
- Seniors absorbing the rework. Juniors hand back a shot, the lead patches it quietly and the hours go on nobody's sheet.
Why it keeps happening
Studios are run by creative people who like to say yes. Saying no feels like failing the work. The quote also hides its assumptions. It rarely says how many rounds are included. Without that line, every round is free by default.
The hours then vanish into a general pool. Staff are on monthly pay, so the studio never sees the cost as an invoice. It sees it later, as a thin month.
A fix in five steps
- 1
State the rounds in the quote
Write the number of review rounds included at each stage: storyboard, animatic, first pass, final. Say what counts as a round.
- 2
Log hours by task
A shared sheet, filled at the end of the day: project, task, hours. Five minutes, no more. Tasks like layout, retouch, grade, mix and conform.
- 3
Raise a change order when scope moves
A short form with the new ask, the days it adds and the new price. The client signs or declines before work starts.
- 4
Review monthly with the leads
Compare quoted days with logged days per project and per client. Look at the three biggest gaps.
- 5
Feed the lessons into the next quote
If layout always overruns by a third, quote it that way. If one client always adds rounds, price for it.
Keep the timesheet light
Creative staff resist timesheets when they feel like policing. Explain the use: better quotes, fairer workload, margin protection. Show them the first month's summary and one change it prompted. If the sheet is not used to improve things, people will stop filling it truthfully.
The wider HR reporting and analytics page shows how these numbers sit alongside people data. The workforce planning view uses them to decide when to hire or to call freelancers.
When the client is the leak
Some clients are always the source. Spot them from the data. Have a plain conversation: the quote, the rounds used, the overrun. Offer a revised scope or a revised price. If the client declines both, decide whether the account is worth keeping. A job that burns the team's weekends is expensive even when it pays.
Where the quote should say more
Most quotes list deliverables and a price. Few list assumptions. Add four lines to every quote. The number of review rounds per stage. The format and frame rate of source files. The turnaround the client owes on each approval. The rate for extra rounds. A late approval from the client is itself a revision cost: the team sits idle, then rushes. Writing the turnaround into the quote lets a producer point to it kindly.
- Rounds: two at animatic, two at colour pass, one at final.
- Source: footage delivered by a date, in a stated codec, with sound.
- Approval: feedback within three working days or the delivery date moves.
- Extras: a day rate for additional rounds, shown on the quote.
- Archive: the studio keeps project files for a stated period, then deletes.
Open last month's biggest job
Pull last month's largest job and compare quoted days with actual days. Even a rough estimate will show where the leak sits. Then read the creative production hub for related patterns, and use the first-week checklist so new joiners learn the timesheet habit on day one.
