“We’ll Figure It Out On Set” Is A Production Red Flag
“We’ll figure it out on set” sounds easygoing. Collaborative. Like creativity will simply appear once the cameras are rolling. In advertising production, it’s a warning sign.
The phrase usually means that key creative and strategic decisions haven’t been made during pre-production. That delay matters because pre-production is the only phase designed to absorb uncertainty without consequence. Once you reach set, every unanswered question becomes expensive.
When decisions about tone, performance, framing, or message hierarchy are left unresolved, they don’t stay abstract. They arrive all at once, in real time, with a crew waiting and a clock running.
Why pre-production carries so much weight
Pre-production is where an idea becomes executable. It’s where the intent gets clarified and the brand’s priorities are translated into decisions that can actually be filmed.
This is the phase where questions are expected and debate is productive. Options are cheap, and alignment can happen without pressure. When that work is done well, the shoot is focused. When it isn’t, the shoot becomes a place where thinking and executing are forced to happen at the same time.
That overlap is where problems start.
What really happens when you “figure it out on set”
A film set is built for execution. When strategic or creative questions show up there, they demand immediate answers. The schedule doesn’t pause for exploration, so choices skew toward whatever keeps things moving.
Over the course of a day, that pressure reshapes the work. Performances get rushed. Coverage gets trimmed. Nuance disappears quietly. No single moment feels like a failure, but the cumulative effect is a piece of work that feels thinner than it should.
As this happens, everyone adjusts. Directors spend more time adapting than shaping. Crews prioritize efficiency over intention. Agency and client teams shift from guiding the work to managing risk. Creativity doesn’t vanish, it tightens.
The cost of waiting to decide
Time lost on set always comes from somewhere. It comes out of performance. It comes out of options. And eventually, it comes out of the budget.
Overtime creeps in. Extra takes feel necessary. Post-production is asked to solve problems that began long before the edit. “We’ll fix it later” becomes a strategy rather than a backup plan.
What was framed early on as flexibility starts to show up as stress and spend.
Why this doesn’t help directors, or brands
There’s a belief that leaving things open benefits directors. In reality, directors do their strongest work when priorities and constraints are clear. Clarity allows them to focus on performance, storytelling, and craft instead of making strategic guesses under pressure.
The same risk applies to brands. Advertising is not just about making something that looks good. It’s about making something that behaves correctly. If tone, message, or brand intent aren’t locked before production begins, it’s entirely possible to end up with work that is polished and wrong.
Those are the most painful mistakes because they’re often discovered after launch.
The difference between calm and chaos on set
The smoothest shoots aren’t smooth because nothing goes wrong. They’re smooth because decisions were made early. Everyone knows what matters, what can change, and what cannot.
When problems arise, and they always do, the team can respond with intention instead of panic. That’s not luck. That’s preparation.
The takeaway
“We’ll figure it out on set” isn’t a sign of confidence. It’s a decision to let pressure do the thinking.
Strong advertising productions choose clarity early. They do the hard work in pre-production so that when the cameras roll, the only thing left to do is make the idea as good as it can possibly be.
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