Most indie post-production schedules are built around work: assembly, rough cut, fine cut, picture lock, sound, colour, deliverables. Very few are built around decisions. Yet that is where the weeks disappear. The cut that sat with an executive producer for ten days. The composer waiting on a temp-music conversation nobody had. The “locked” picture that unlocked the moment a financier finally watched it.
My earlier piece for Raindance looked at how to get useful notes on your cut. This one is about the approval process around those notes: who has the right to approve what, when they do it, and how you make “approved” actually mean approved.
Start with the paperwork you already signed
Approval problems in indie post often begin in pre-production contracts. Before the edit starts, pull out the agreements and write down who holds approval or consultation rights:
- Director: final cut, or a cut subject to producer approval? On union features, the director’s right to deliver their own cut is protected; the DGA’s creative rights history is a useful read even if you are nowhere near Hollywood.
- Producers and executive producers: approval or consultation?
- Financiers, sales agents, broadcasters: approval of picture lock, running time or credits?
- Talent: some deals include approval of stills, likeness or billing.
Put it all on one page. The difference between approval and consultation matters. A consulted party gives notes; an approving party can stop the film moving forward. Knowing which is which before the first screening saves some very awkward conversations later.
Build review stages into the post-production schedule
Most schedules list delivery dates. Add review dates too. A simple post-production workflow that works for shorts and features:
1. Assembly and rough cut
Director and editor only. This is a working cut, not a review cut. Keep it in the cutting room.
2. Producer cut
Producers watch with one question in mind: is the story working? Notes on structure, not trims.
3. Stakeholder screening
Financiers, sales agents, executive producers. One screening, one deadline for notes, one consolidated notes document.
4. Picture lock
Written sign-off from everyone with approval rights. After this point, changes cost real money: re-conforming, re-cutting music, redoing VFX shots.
5. Sound, music, colour and VFX
Each department reviews against the locked picture, with its own named approver.
6. Final deliverables
QC, credits, captions, and festival or distributor specs.
For each stage, write down four things: what is being reviewed, who reviews it, who approves it, and the date notes are due.
Give every review a deadline and a default
“Let us know your thoughts” is not a deadline. Send every cut with a clear return date (48 to 72 hours for a short, around a week for a feature screening) and agree in advance what happens when someone misses it. A practical default: no notes by the deadline means no objection, and the cut moves to the next stage.
It sounds blunt, but it protects everyone’s time. It also prevents the classic indie bottleneck: the one stakeholder who watches the cut three weeks late and reopens decisions the rest of the team already made.
What picture lock means, and how to make it stick
Picture lock is the point in post-production when the edit is final: no more changes to shot order, timing or running time. Sound, music, colour and VFX all work from the locked cut, so every change after lock ripples through every department.
That is why picture lock should be a decision, not a feeling. Before you call it:
- Share the exact version being locked, with a clear name (not “final_FINAL_v3”).
- Confirm running time, cards, and any legal or clearance changes are in.
- Get written sign-off, either an email reply or an approval in your review tool, from every party with approval rights.
- Give sound, music, colour and VFX the lock date in advance so they can plan their turnover.
If a note arrives after lock, it isn’t automatically ignored. It is treated as a change request with a cost and a schedule impact, and the producer decides whether it is worth it.
Keep one source of truth for notes and versions
Approvals fall apart when nobody can say which cut was approved. Notes in emails, a PDF from the financier, voice memos from the director, comments in a shared document, and three different files called “lock”.
Versions pile up faster than most teams expect. In Krock.io platform data, the average file goes through more than two versions before it is done, and 82.4% of review comments are pinned to a specific timecode. Reviewers want to point at a moment, not describe it.
Whatever system you use, it should give you:
- One place where all review comments live.
- Every comment tied to a specific version, and ideally a specific timecode.
- A visible status for each version: in review, changes requested, approved.
- A record of who approved what, and when.
A shared spreadsheet and disciplined file naming can carry a short film. For a feature with several stakeholders, a dedicated video review tool such as Krock.io saves a lot of chasing: notes sit on the timeline, versions stack in order, and approvals are recorded rather than remembered.
Notes pinned to a timecode on a specific version, with replies and attachments in one thread (screenshot: Krock.io)
Resolve conflicting notes before they reach the edit
The director loves the slow opening; the sales agent wants it shorter for buyers. Both have a point. Don’t make the editor referee.
Agree up front who settles conflicts, usually the producer, within whatever the contracts allow. Consolidate notes into one list before they go to the cutting room, flag the conflicts, and send the editor decisions rather than debates.
A post-production approval checklist for indie films
- Approval and consultation rights listed from the contracts
- Review stages in the post schedule, each with reviewers, an approver and a notes deadline
- A default agreed for missed deadlines
- Conflicting notes resolved by one person before they reach the editor
- All notes in one place, tied to a version
- Clear, boring version names
- Written sign-off at picture lock
- Lock date shared with sound, music, colour and VFX
- Post-lock changes handled as change requests
Approvals are part of the craft
A clear approval process isn’t bureaucracy for its own sake. It protects the cut from death by a thousand late notes, gives collaborators confidence that their input counts, and gets the film to festivals and buyers on the date you promised. Set it up once, before the edit starts, and the rest of post gets a lot quieter.
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