A videography company shoots events, corporate films and ads, then edits them against client deadlines. HR must handle freelancers, long shoot days, editing queues and equipment that the whole business depends on.
Not sure what you need? Tell us about your business in six short steps and we will come to the first meeting prepared.
Share your requirementsA videography company covers weddings, corporate events, product films, interviews and ads. A founder-led core team of shooters, editors, a producer and a client coordinator is stretched by freelance camera assistants, drone operators, sound hands and colourists brought in per job. Shoots start at dawn or run past midnight and happen on weekends. After the shoot, footage lands with editors, who work under client revision cycles that never quite finish. Cameras, lenses, lights and drives are expensive and shared. Work is won on the founder's reputation and paid in instalments, so cash comes in late and crews are paid late. See also HR for professional services.
These are the places the people side of this kind of business tends to give way. The rest of this page works through them.
HR here has to work for each of these groups, not only the office. The set-up below is written with all of them in mind.
GullyHR runs talent acquisition for permanent roles in videography companies. For each role we agree the job description with you, find and screen candidates against it, and support the offer through to joining. Tell us the role and the number of people, and we start there.
We recruit permanent employees. We do not supply contract or temporary staff.
Every business interviews, but few have a written process that works the same way for every role and every interviewer. GullyHR designs yours, from the role brief to the offer, trains your managers to run it, and can run it for you on the roles you hand us.
We agree what the role must deliver, the must-have and nice-to-have skills, and how each will be scored.
Screening call, assessment, interview rounds and decision points, sized to the role and the number of people you hire.
Structured questions for each role family and a rating guide, so two interviewers judge the same answer the same way.
A short briefing for your managers on what to ask, what to avoid and how to give a clear yes or no.
Who approves, how the offer is made, and how candidates are kept informed from first call to joining.
A twelve-hour call becomes sixteen when a client asks for one more scene, and the assistant sleeps on the ride home.
A client keeps sending changes, editors work at night on version nine, and nobody has agreed how many rounds are included.
Camera hands are booked by message, rates differ for the same job and payment dates slip.
Cards are not backed up the same night, drives are mislabelled and a lost clip means a reshoot at the company's cost.
Lenses and gimbals pass hands without a record, and damage becomes a quarrel on the next job.
One senior editor handles the best clients, and when she is out, delivery dates move.
Clients want the founder behind the camera, which limits how much the rest of the team can take on.
After two years they learn the kit and the client list and set up on their own.
Start with the topics that matter most here: Employee Administration; Retention and Attrition Management; Learning and Development. Then work through the rest. Each topic is written for professional services, not in general.
Records, attendance, leave and the day-to-day HR that must simply work.
Who leaves, when, why — and which of them mattered.
Training planned from need rather than from the calendar.
How many people, in which roles, by when — and what they will cost.
Structure, reporting lines and who is allowed to decide what.
Requisition to joining, the same way every time.
A first day that is the same for the fifth joiner as the first.
Salary structure, payroll inputs and a month that closes on time.
Goals, reviews and ratings that hold up in a conversation.
Named backups for the roles that cannot be vacant.
Communication, recognition and the conditions people actually work in.
Two routes — one for complaints, one for conduct — kept separate.
Policies a manager can apply, and obligations with owners and dates.
Induction, records, incident reporting and follow-through.
Resignation to relieving letter, in a defined order.
Records that survive people, and approvals that do not queue.
A short monthly pack management actually reads.
An HR function that runs the same way every month.
The pieces a videography companies business puts in place, in an order that makes each easier. Open any card for the detail.
Call time, wrap time, meal breaks, a travel-home plan and a rule on added scenes.
Call time, wrap time, meal breaks, a travel-home plan and a rule on added scenes. See attendance, shift and leave.
State the number of rounds and the cost of extra ones, so editors are not working nights without agreement.
State the number of rounds and the cost of extra ones, so editors are not working nights without agreement.
Role, rate, hours, payment date, kit use and credit, with a one-page rate card.
Role, rate, hours, payment date, kit use and credit, with a one-page rate card. See HR documentation. Confirm engagement terms with a qualified professional.
Same-night backup, labelled drives and a named person who checks it.
Same-night backup, labelled drives and a named person who checks it. See employee onboarding.
Who took what, return check and a damage note, with a fair rule for repairs.
Who took what, return check and a damage note, with a fair rule for repairs. See employee information management.
Skills ladder from assistant to shooter or editor, with stated pay steps and share of credit.
Skills ladder from assistant to shooter or editor, with stated pay steps and share of credit. See learning and development.
Before changing anything, find out what is true today. These checks take an afternoon and tell you which of the topics above to start with.
Share your requirementsConfirm with a qualified professional. What applies to you depends on your business, your state and your arrangements, and it changes. This page describes practice. It does not state a legal position.
The services below fit this kind of business best. Each starts by recording where you stand, and every later report compares against that. We do not promise outcomes.
Shoot-day hours, breaks and travel home written down and followed.
One standard engagement note and rate card for freelancers.
A ladder from assistant to shooter or editor so skilled people stay.
An equipment and footage record that shows who holds what.
Start with a free conversation, or see the paid HR Diagnostic.
Understand the business, its workforce, current processes and HR challenges.
Find the missing, weak, inconsistent or person-dependent processes.
Create the structure, processes, policies, SOPs, dashboards and systems needed.
Help HR and department managers actually adopt the new system.
Digitise repetitive and approval-based workflows where it is worth doing.
Track hiring, attendance, employee cost, performance, training and attrition.
Strengthen the people-management system continuously, not once.
From the GullyHR blog: one on HR in professional services, and one on each of the topics this page points to.
Why associates and managers leave consulting, accounting, legal and advisory firms, and how to ask about progression, workload and partners at exit.
6 min readRead article
Payroll says one joining date, the personal file says another and the manager remembers a third. How to establish a single trustworthy employee record and keep it that way.
7 min readRead article
What really keeps mobile app and web developers in a small firm: stay conversations, growth paths, fair release rules and a risk sheet an owner can use this month.
6 min readRead article
A founder's guide to hiring freshers and running a first-year programme: campus or open drives, a screening round, a training plan by quarter, mentors and checkpoints.
6 min readRead articleMore on the GullyHR blog.
Decide before the project, put the number in the brief and charge for extra rounds. It protects editors and sets client expectations.
Use a short note with role, rate, hours, payment date and use of kit. Ask a qualified professional whether the arrangement is employment or service.
Back up the same night to two places, label drives and name one person who confirms it before the crew leaves.
Offer a clear path, pay steps and a share in credit and responsibility. Some will still leave, so document client handovers.
Keep a log of who held it, check on return and agree a fair repair rule in advance. Have the rule reviewed by a qualified professional.
We would meet the founder, the senior editor and the producer and look at the last shoot schedule, freelancer notes and the equipment log. A fitting first task is shoot-day rules with a freelancer note. Scope and fees are put in writing after we talk.
All 145 business types in professional services · Find another business type
See all HR topics for professional services, or another industry.
Tell us what is slowing your team down. We’ll help you find a practical way forward, starting with a conversation.
