TVC production timeline: how long a commercial takes
A thirty-second commercial with one shoot day typically takes four to six weeks from the day the job is awarded to final delivery, if approvals come back on time. The shoot is one or two days of that. Most of the rest is preparation and approvals.
Those figures are for live-action work with an agency and a client approving at each stage. The European guidelines for commercial production set out a minimum timetable of about four weeks from award to delivery for a straightforward film. Heavy CGI, a famous cast, a set build, several markets or layered approvals add weeks.
A typical live-action film with one shoot day, if approvals come back on time. Effects, a famous cast or several markets add weeks.
The stages of a TVC, and how long each takes
Before the clock starts, allow about a week for the director's treatment, the quote and the schedule.
Pre-production: one to three weeks. Casting, locations, wardrobe, set design, the shooting board, permits. It ends with the pre-production meeting.
Shoot: one to two days.
Offline edit: about a week. The first cut, then the agreed rounds of changes.
Grade, online and sound: about a week. The approved edit is conformed and graded; the online adds effects, clean-up and on-screen text; music, voice and the mix are done alongside.
Versions and delivery: a few days. Cutdowns, aspect ratios, and files to each platform's specification.
Dressing and lighting an alley for our Samsung Galaxy S24: Nightography film. Pre-production exists so that this takes hours, not days.
Where the time really goes
Not on the shoot. It goes on waiting for decisions.
Each approval is a round trip. The production presents, the agency reviews, the client reviews, comments come back, changes are made. A stage with one clear approver takes days. The same stage with five takes weeks, and nearly all of the gap is waiting.
This is why a quote covers a fixed number of revision rounds, or work up to an agreed cut. The limit protects the schedule as much as the budget.
The five approvals a client gives
Planning is easier when everyone knows how many times they will be asked.
The treatment and the quote. This awards the job.
Cast, wardrobe and locations. Often shared ahead of the meeting.
The pre-production meeting. Everything, together, before money is committed.
The offline edit. The story and the takes.
The online. The finished picture and sound.
Each one needs a named person and a number of days. Put both in the schedule on the first day.
What stretches a production timeline
A famous cast. The shoot date is theirs, not yours.
Set builds. Design, construction, and a pre-light day before anyone rolls.
CGI and animation. Modelling, animation and rendering are counted in weeks. See CGI vs live action vs AI.
Permits. Public locations need permission, and a foreign production filming in Vietnam has a statutory wait of its own. We set that out in filming permits in Vietnam.
Weather. The south of Vietnam has a rainy season from about May to November. Exterior shoots in those months carry a weather day in the plan.
Late changes to the script. A change after the pre-production meeting reopens casting, wardrobe and the schedule at once.
Working back from an air date
Start at the date the film goes live and count backwards.
Air date.
One week before: final masters with the media agency.
Two to three weeks before: grade, online and sound.
Three to four weeks before: offline edit.
Four weeks before: shoot.
Six to seven weeks before: job awarded, pre-production starts.
Eight weeks before: production brief sent to production companies.
Eight weeks from the production brief to air is comfortable. Six is workable. At four, something has to give, and it is usually the choice of cast or the time in the edit. If the agency is still writing the script, count another month or two before that.
Agency and crew at the monitors on a Vaseline shoot. A decision taken here in a minute would take three days by email.
Seasonal campaigns have a fixed end
Tết is the clearest case. The date does not move, every brand in the country wants the same weeks, and directors, studios and cast are booked early.
Seasonal work such as our Fanta Tết shoot is planned from the deadline backwards. Brief four to five months ahead: for a Tết in late January or February, that means by September. Large brands start planning in the middle of the year.
A Tết set built for our Fanta shoot. In the weeks before Tết, sets, studios and crews are booked early.
How to make it faster without making it worse
Decide once. Bring the person who can approve to the pre-production meeting.
Fix the deliverables before the shoot. A late request for a new version adds days at the end, when there are none left. See video deliverables.
Approve in the room. An edit reviewed together in an hour replaces three days of comments.
Cast and crew checking a take together on our Samsung Galaxy A56 shoot. Approving in the room is the fastest edit there is.
Keep the script still after the meeting.
A clear production brief at the start saves more time than any of these.
Quick answers
Can a TV commercial be made in two weeks?
Yes, if it is simple: one location, a small cast, no effects, and one person approving. Something is given up, usually choice in casting and time in the edit.
How long does post-production take for a TVC?
About two weeks for a live-action film: one for the offline edit, one for the grade, online and sound. Heavy effects add weeks.
When does the client need to be on set?
For the whole shoot day if possible, or represented by someone who can approve. Decisions made at the monitor cannot be remade in the edit.
Dream Media develops, directs, shoots and finishes brand films in-house in Ho Chi Minh City. See TVC and digital production.