Lead Time
Lead time is the span a production needs between commissioning and the first day of shooting.
What this is about
Clients often treat lead time as negotiable enthusiasm; in reality it is a chain of external dependencies. Location permits have processing times, cast and crew have calendars, gear has booking windows, and every approval loop adds days that nobody scheduled. Quoting a shoot date before mapping those dependencies is how productions end up paying rush surcharges. The honest move is to name the critical path in the offer — what has to happen by when for the date to hold.
A term only helps when everyone on set means the same thing by it — so what follows is how it is used, not a dictionary definition.
What runs differently here
Where this differs from the general case:
- Permits, casting and crew calendars set the floor — enthusiasm does not shorten processing times
- Rush surcharges are the price of skipped lead time, and they compound across departments
- Name the critical path in the offer: what must happen by when for the date to hold
With TillyGen
TillyGen makes lead time visible by laying dependencies — permits, casting, gear — onto the timeline before a shoot date is promised.
Change one constraint and the consequences travel through the whole plan: affected shots are flagged, the call sheet is regenerated, and nobody keeps working from yesterday's version.
Frequently asked
How much lead time does a corporate shoot need?
It depends on the longest dependency, usually permits or cast availability. Map the chain backwards from the desired date; if a link does not fit, the date moves or the scope does.
How long does it take to get started with TillyGen?
A first project takes under an hour to set up. There is no configuration phase in which templates and fields have to be defined before the tool produces anything.
Can the results be exported?
Yes — as PDF for the crew, CSV for downstream systems and through the API for anything automated. The plan stays the source; the exports are views of it.