Subcontracting
Subcontracting means handing defined parts of a production to third parties while remaining responsible for the whole.
What this is about
No production company owns every capability. Color grading, sound design, drone work and animation routinely go to specialists — the client still holds one contract and one responsible party. That asymmetry is the point to manage: the main contractor answers for subcontractor delays, quality and rights clearances. So subcontracts should mirror the obligations of the main contract — deadlines, quality gates, usage rights, confidentiality — and many client contracts require disclosure or approval of subcontractors, which is worth checking before signing.
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:
- The main contractor answers for subcontractor failures as for its own
- Subcontracts should mirror the main contract: deadlines, rights, confidentiality
- Some client contracts require naming or approving subcontractors — check before signing
With TillyGen
TillyGen splits the production plan into work packages with dates and dependencies, which is exactly the structure a clean subcontract needs.
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
Do I have to tell the client that I subcontract?
Depends on the contract — many corporate agreements require disclosure or approval of subcontractors. Read that clause before committing, and have unclear cases legally reviewed.
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.