How to Be a Great Client to Your Creative Partners

Every creator I know has gotten some version of this email:

“My notes are in.”

No greeting, no context, no “We’re loving this direction.” Just… notes.

On paper, nothing is wrong. I asked for feedback, they sent feedback. But on the creative side of the screen, something is missing. My team has just spent days shaping a story, crafting an emotional arc, obsessing over tiny cuts—essentially birthing a film—and the response lands like a receipts folder, not a relationship.

That moment is where so many creative partnerships either deepen…or quietly stall.

As arts organizations, you are being asked to create more video, more often, with more partners: videographers, editors, photographers, designers, copywriters. The work is deeply human and emotional, but the way we communicate about it is often purely logistical.

I want to talk about closing that gap.

How do you build a healthy, respectful, kind creative partnership with your filmmaker—whether it’s your first time hiring one or you’re trying to improve the relationship you already have?

Creative Work Is a Relationship, Not a TransactioN

When my team and I make a film (whether it’s a short piece about a residency, a season trailer, or a fundraising video) it never feels like “just a deliverable.”

It feels like a tiny, collaborative life we’re bringing into the world together.

That’s why one of my favorite lenses on this topic comes from the book Dear Client: This Book Will Teach You How to Get What You Want from Creative People by Bonnie Siegler. She talks about the “care and feeding” of creatives being surprisingly simple: it’s mostly about being nice and respectful. (You can also listen to Bonnie an old episode of Capacity’s podcast.)

When a client is kind, appreciative, and trusting, your project doesn’t just live in a project management system. It lives in your filmmakers mind when they’re walking the dog, on the subway, in the shower. That’s when the surprising idea pops in. That extra 300% effort usually comes from relationship energy, not line items in a scope.

When a client is cold, vague, or adversarial, creatives are less likely to go above and beyond. Not because they’re petty—because they’re human.

So the mindset shift is this:

• You’re not buying a video.
  You’re entering a creative relationship.

And in a relationship, how we treat each other matters as much as the tech specs.

Start With the Why (Clarity of Vision, Flexibility of Process)

On every kickoff call, there’s one question I care about more than any other:

• Why are we making this?

Not “What’s the runtime?” or “Can it be 4K?” but:

• Are you trying to sell tickets?
  Raise money?
  Share the story of a residency or community program?
  Capture a historic performance for the archive?
  Give future presenters something that says, “This is what we do”?
  How do you want people to feel after they watch?
  What do you want the viewer to do?

Once I understand the why, everything else gets easier—for you and for me.

Bonnie Siegler quotes Jon Stewart describing the success of a long-running creative project as “a clarity of vision, but a flexibility of process.” I love that.

For you, as the client, that looks like:

• Clarity of vision:
  “We want donors to feel moved and proud, and we want them to understand the impact of our education programs.”
• Flexibility of process:
  “We’re open to how you get us there. Let’s talk about options.”
  

If you only have flexibility and no clarity, your filmmaker is guessing. If you only have clarity but keep prescribing solutions (“make it yellow”), you’re hiring hands, not a creative partner.

Decide Who Decides (Too Many Voices Kill Momentum)

Another concept from Dear Client that I see play out constantly: deciding who will decide.

In the arts, we love collaboration. That’s beautiful—and necessary. But when it comes to approving creative work, “everyone weighs in” can quietly turn into conflicting feedback, watered-down choices, and endless revision cycles. This means exhausted staff and creatives.

Early in the process, do this simple, powerful thing:

• Name the decision-maker.

Not the person who collects everyone’s thoughts (they’re important, too!), but the person who ultimately says “yes, this is it.”

That doesn’t mean others don’t get a voice. It means your creator knows whose vision they’re aligning to, and you avoid the “generic-by-committee” outcome that pleases no one and moves no one.

A great sentence to say in your very first meeting is:

• “X will be the final decision-maker. They’ll gather internal feedback, but they have the last call.”

Your creative will silently (or loudly!) say thank you. 

Be Honest About Time, Money, and Scope (It’s Not Rude, It’s Kind)

I know that talking about money and constraints can feel awkward. But from the creative side, clarity is kindness.

On a first call, the most helpful things you can bring are:

#1: Timeline

• By when do you actually need the finished video?
• Are there real deadlines (opening night, gala, board meeting)?
• If you want it quickly, can you be quick?
  

#2: Budget (or a range)

• Even if it’s just: “We’re probably in the $X–$Y range, but this isn’t finalized.”
• This information changes everything. A $2,000 budget and a $20,000 budget are very different stories in terms of number of cameras, length of shoot, crew size, level of edit–the list goes on!

#3: Where the video will live

• • Is this primarily for social?
  • Your website?
  • A donor event where it will be shown on a big screen?
  • Will it need multiple versions? Horizontal? Vertical? With graphics or without graphics?

Without this information, your creative is guessing, and you risk misalignment like:

• “We imagined a multi-camera edit.”
  “… and then mentioned you have a total budget of $500.”

Being upfront doesn’t lock you into anything. It just lets your creative partner design something realistic, honest, and effective and make the best use of everyone’s time.

Feedback That Fuels, Not Flattens

Let’s go back to “My notes are in.”

Technically, that’s fine. But imagine how different it feels to receive:

• “We’re really feeling the pacing and the way the opening builds into that moment in the studio. This is close to what we were hoping for.
• My notes are in the doc—thank you for all the care you’re putting into this.”

Same number of clicks. Totally different emotional impact.

When you’re giving feedback, a few small shifts go a long way:

1. Share your emotional response, not just timestamps

You’re not only hiring a filmmaker to hit marks; you’re hiring them to create an emotional arc.

So instead of only:

• “Cut at 01:23 instead of 01:25,”

Add things like:

• “That moment at 00:47 really gives me chills. More like that, please.”
• “The middle section feels a bit slow; I’m losing the feeling of momentum.”

This helps your editor understand what’s landing emotionally, and what needs to shift (and why).

2. Use “I notice / I wonder”

Bonnie Siegler suggests a simple structure for feedback, especially when you’re unsure or have critiques:

• “I notice…”
  • “I notice the piece feels very contemplative.”
  • “I notice we see a lot of rehearsal and very little performance.”
• “I wonder…”
  • “I wonder what it would feel like if the ending were more energetic.”
  • “I wonder if we could hear from a younger audience member as well.”

“I notice / I wonder” keeps you focused on the problem and invites your creative partner to explore solutions, instead of dictating them (“Make it faster,” “Make it yellow”).

3. Add one tiny nugget of encouragement

This is not about ego-stroking. It’s about grounding your creative partner in the direction that is working, so they can confidently improve the rest.

Even a single sentence like:

“We’re definitely on the right track.”

or

“The story is really coming through.”

…can give your editor the energy to dive into revisions instead of wondering if the entire piece missed the mark.

Help Your Creative Partner Learn YoU

Great ongoing partnerships are built on listening and remembering—on both sides.

From our side, that looks like:

• Taking detailed notes about your venues, unions, schedules
• Remembering what did and didn’t work last season
• Noticing how quickly your team responds to emails and notes
• Adjusting how we communicate (Do we need to pick up the phone? Build in more time?)

From your side, you can help by:

• Sharing past experiences
• • “We’ve done videos before and it didn’t feel great because X.”
  • “We loved a piece someone made for us a few years ago because Y.”
• Being honest about capacity
• • “It takes us a week to gather internal feedback.”
  • “We really only have one person who can review cuts.”
• Clarifying roles
• • “Please send drafts to me; I’ll gather everyone’s input.”
  • “Our artistic director cares deeply about the music and pacing; our development director is focused on the call to action.”

This kind of clarity doesn’t just make your filmmaker’s life easier. It saves you time, reduces friction, and helps videos land closer to what you actually need.

Kindness and Trust Are Strategic Advantages

I talk about kindness a lot with my team. Not as a “nice to have,” but as a core part of our process.

There have been projects where I could feel that trust wasn’t fully there yet. In those moments, I’ve literally picked up the phone and said something like:

• “This is a big project, and I work best when there’s trust between us. I’m not quite feeling that yet, and I’d love to talk about what you need to feel confident moving forward.”

Is that a vulnerable thing to say? Yes. Has it opened the door to better collaboration almost every time? Also yes.

When you extend trust to your creative partner, you’re not “letting go of control.” You’re inviting them to bring their full creativity and care to your work.

Bonnie opens her book with a quote from Mr. Rogers about success:

• “The first way is to be kind. The second way is to be kind. The third way is to be kind.”

In a world that can feel deeply divided and transactional, kindness inside a creative partnership is quietly radical, and incredibly effective.

To Recap: If You’re Hiring a Filmmaker (or any creative partner) for the First Time…

You do not need to show up with a perfect brief, a huge budget, or all the right jargon.

What you do need is:

• A clear sense of why you’re making this video
• A realistic timeline and budget range
• Willingness to name a decision-maker
• Openness to listening and asking questions
• Commitment to kind, honest, specific feedback
• A belief that this is a relationship, not just a transaction

From there, a good partner should be able to meet you in the middle—guiding you through the technical pieces, holding the process, and cheering for your organization right alongside you.

And if you’re looking for a video partner who believes in that kind of collaboration, my team and I would love to talk. You can learn more about how we work and see examples of our films on the Nel Shelby Productions website.