Dear Tongal,
This has been building up slowly for years, but 2020 has turbo-charged it: Remote collaboration. We've seen a lot of new apps and tools, but not as much on how to collaborate remotely. A lot of this happened organically back when working on a project meant sharing the same office. It was never perfect – creative collaboration has never been easy – but doing it over email is even harder. How should we be re-thinking our project interactions in order to better service our clients?
- Tomas Bianchi, Tongal community member since 2020
Dear Concerned Collaborator,
First, I want to applaud your hustle and forward thinking about this issue. You clearly see the writing on the wall; remote collaboration is here to stay.
If you’re currently conducting all of your business over email, no wonder you’re concerned! Emails get lost, conversations take too long, and we all dread the “CC all” when it should have been CC one. More importantly, emails mean things slip through the cracks, which might mean an unhappy client or a production with a major problem while shooting.
For initial meetings or anything that would take too long for a text or email communication, I recommend you save yourself the email headache by hopping on a phone call or video chat. Afterwards, ensure best practices by sending an email summary of what was discussed during the conversation so everyone has a written record to reference back to.
But, these unprecedented times means you can try alternate technologies and your clients might be more open to testing something new, so I would suggest checking out the new apps and tools available. We’re all familiar with Zoom at this point, but you may also want to consider these alternate methods for video chats and team workflow:
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Discord
Discord allows for different servers, so each client or project can have its own “channel.” The first thing you see when you click on a server is a text chat — where you can pin, link, add photos and place pertinent information front and center. Discord also has a video and audio call functionality free of cost and with no time limit. You can pay a monthly fee for additional emojis, but using the platform is free.
Trello
If you have a lot of tasks, lists and groups of photos that you need to work on — like color palettes from the wardrobe department or furniture choices from the set decorator — Trello may be the workflow you’re looking for. With a variety of Boards, you can create lists, sub lists, and further sub lists which break up information, so that it’s not all smashed into one long email thread. You can write comments, make notes, and everyone can organize everything collaboratively. It’s a great way to work collectively while working remotely.
here.fm
If you’re craving the in-person vibe without being on a never-ending Zoom call, I would suggest here.fm. It only works in Chrome, and the developers are still working on it and adding new things, but it essentially functions as a “Zoom meets Social Media meets Chat Room.” You create a Room, and then invite anyone you want (ie: your team) into the room. Everyone can either have a live video of themselves or an avatar, and you can discuss at length what you’re working on. This product is great because everything is customizable. You can resize, draw, write, add videos, photos, play music — literally all the things you wish you could do in Zoom. Once created, your Room can live and exist for as long as you like, which means that information doesn’t vanish after you close the meeting like it does on Zoom or Microsoft Teams.
I personally love using here.fm when working with my team because it allows us to do the kind goofy things we’d do if we were meeting in person, and I also love using it when working with clients because we can personalize the room so it doesn’t feel too corporate.
Okay, you now have some software options, and you may be thinking this solves the email problem, but you may still be worried about the long-term ramifications of internet connection vs in-person. I would look at reframing that concern, instead, as a jumping-off point in how you can add efficiency to your workflow.
On the commercials I’ve worked on in the past year — instead of being physically present on set — clients Zoom in, and a point person from our team is designated to listen to their adjustments. Having clients not only off-set but off-site has saved a ton of time, because it allows us to make changes without having to run everything by the client. It solves the ‘too many cooks in the kitchen’ issue. Everyone has enjoyed the remote nature of this arrangement.
When your team no longer has unlimited time to sit together and shoot the breeze while producing a project, you’ll have to be more organized when you do meet, and run through items in need of discussion. This can feel more daunting initially, but having a check-in at some point during the day instead of having long video calls may encourage everyone to be more intentional with what they discuss, which means less time will be wasted.
Sometimes, some members of the team might enjoy having more intimate conversations where their questions get answered, rather than sitting through lengthy meetings that don’t always pertain to them. You could also have team members submit questions ahead of your meetings, so everyone has an agenda of what will be discussed.
Another way you can streamline your workflow is by having the director send notes on cuts instead of sitting together in the same room for hours. While it may not be the director’s top choice, it will allow your editor to get more stuff done, and it might prompt the director to make choices quicker, which could (potentially) result in finishing an edit in less time.
Obviously, I don’t know the exact nature of the work you do or the type of client needs you have, but you do. If you’re savvy enough to be asking this question, you’re savvy enough to figure out how to make working remotely work for you, instead of trying to circumnavigate the process. Hopefully by thinking outside the physical room, you’ll find solutions that help you get and keep more clients as you work remotely.
Thanks for the great question,
Advice from Amanda
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Note From Tongal: "Dear Tongal: What Remote Collaboration Workflows Do You Recommend?" is part of a series of Tongal Community-written blog posts that were originally sourced in the Tongal Blog Open Call Project. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Tongal. Read more Tongal Community-written posts here and then Pitch us a topic you'd like to write about for the Tongal Blog!
