Learning and development process for OTT production companies: carrying house style from season to season
Crews change each season, yet platforms expect a consistent style and process. Short learning moments keep that knowledge in the company, not only in the heads of the last team.
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Share your requirementsWhy learning and development process matters in OTT production companies
After a season, the editors who learnt how to handle platform notes are gone. The assistant who worked out the file naming and delivery routine is on another project. A new team starts and repeats the same mistakes. Delivery weeks are tense because nobody wrote down what the last team had learnt.
Learning in this setting is light and practical. A one-page guide per department, updated at wrap. A half-hour session on the first day of pre-production in which last season's heads share what to do and what to avoid. A small budget to send a promising assistant on a short course. Keep it connected to real work, never a lecture for its own sake.
How to set it up
1. Ask each head what they would tell their replacement
At wrap, collect a page of lessons from each department: tools, mistakes, contacts and routines.
2. Turn the lessons into short guides
Edit them to a page each, with examples. Cover platform notes, naming, backups and delivery checks.
3. Hold a half-hour session at pre-production
Returning heads present the key points to the new crew. Encourage questions.
4. Pair a junior with a senior
Choose assistants with promise, and give them a small stretch task under supervision. Review at the end of the season.
5. Choose one skill to build each year
For instance, handling platform notes or running a writers' room. Use a short training programme or an outside mentor.
Check these first
Before changing anything, find out what is true today. These take an afternoon and use your own records.
- Ask a new crew member what they learnt about the company's way of working in the first week.
- Check whether guides were updated after the last season.
- Count how many juniors were given a stretch task last year.
- List delivery errors last season that were repeats of earlier ones.
GullyHR can do this with you. Read how we approach learning and development process in general, or share your requirements and we will tell you where to start.
Questions owners ask
Yes, if the learning is light and reusable. A one-page guide per department costs little to write and helps every future crew start faster.
The department head or a senior, with help from the production office. They know the work, and a coordinator can edit for clarity.
Keep it short and practical, covering only what they need for this season. The guide and the first-day session are enough for most.