Editor’s Note:
At Motionographer, we love sharing the breakthrough moments. The big campaigns, the poetic visuals, the craft that moves culture. But we also know the creative industry runs on what happens behind the scenes: the late-night phone calls, the unapproved P.O.s, the quiet risks no one posts about.
This piece cuts through the silence.
Written by Tj Bitter, co-founder and executive director of OddBeast, it’s a raw, real-world look at a situation many studios face: do we start the work now and hope the paperwork catches up later? Or do we hold the line and risk losing the gig? There are no easy answers, just a growing need for transparency, communication, and self-respect in how we engage with the “benevolent monsters” of global brands.
We published this not to shame the system, but to name it. So we can all make better decisions next time.
Photo by Gracie Markus.
It’s 4 p.m. on a Friday afternoon and our team is celebrating. We’ve just been told we’ve gotten a six-figure project for a global brand, and the agency needs us to start… well, pretty much yesterday. We already work in an industry where tight deadlines are the norm, but the success of this particular project hinges on a three-week blur of late nights and weekends if we’re going to make delivery. The major caveat: We don’t have a written agreement or purchase order (P.O.), and nobody seems to be operating on an equally tight time crunch to get us one.
In other industries, businesses often have best practices for situations like this, tried-and-true ways to walk down a path that has been tread and laid out before them. But, brothers and sisters, I’m here to tell you that in the creative world, it has become increasingly nuanced as to how and when a project kicks off. Start work without a P.O. and you risk wheels spinning on a project that goes away. Wait painstakingly for it and you risk precious time for your team to comfortably nail the task.
If this sounds all too familiar to you, that’s because it’s practically an epidemic among creative studios in our space. Most of us have been forced to decide between diving into the work in good faith or waiting for the P.O. while that clock ticks down on our team’s success rate.
How do we avoid this and establish our own best practices? The answer starts, in my opinion, by understanding what creates these situations to begin with. Then, it’s a matter of rethinking how we communicate and simply using your noggin.
Photo by Joe Sandfoss.
Understanding the Benevolent Monster Disconnect
I’ve come to understand that huge companies are much like benevolent monsters. In English, the Japanese term “Kaiju” loosely translates to “strange beast,” and it’s used to describe giant creatures like Godzilla — not necessarily the bad guys, just, frankly, BIG. And like the little boy in “Honey, I Blew Up the Kids,” major corporations can’t see below the skyline.
In the case of a large agency or global brand, your project originator (let’s call her Tricia) is likely in a creative role and facing a deadline that neither her team nor the client is willing to move. They’re just looking for results. And as a creative tasked with problem solving, Tricia’s adaptability gene kicks in and she simply starts to get sh*t done.
Meanwhile, several floors up in accounting, Janet ain’t got no timeline or – more than likely – the timeline begins once HER work is finished. She’s calculated, measured, handles a bazillion tasks in a week and nails it. With so much on her plate, she wants to make sure she has it right and is running the protocol correctly. Tricia goes ahead and engages her outside partner early to keep her team from dropping the ball, but there’s a disconnect in the system.
Photo by Gracie Markus.
Each is responsible for controlling a different limb of the beast, and the right arm doesn’t always know what the left is doing. The larger the company or brand, the more layers stand between a project’s commission and official GO. Work is assigned, completed and billed without official approval, and sometimes creative studios end up eating billable hours when they opt to take the risk.
And it’s not just creative studios taking a hit. The quality of work itself may suffer when a vendor is forced to adopt a “pencils down, then sprint” attitude while waiting on their signed P.O. – a loss for the project.
Conversely, when that work is started before a P.O. is granted, agencies and internal client teams risk a loss of credibility. Scrambling to engage studios after the fact, their relationships suffer under their own weight as deliverables stall and invoices remain unpaid.
What you’re left with is a dynamic where it’s too easy to scapegoat the situation. Every party has somewhat of a legitimate claim of why the project slowed to a crawl.
How to Engage with a Benevolent Monster
Preventing such a scenario is not about creative studios running for their lives. It’s about trusting that gut instinct and being vulnerable enough to communicate it. Yes, the earth may shake with every giant corporate step, but when the little guy climbs to meet a benevolent monster at their own level, a bond is made. Vulnerability, like good work, builds trust. And when you’re upfront about the work you will have to do on verbal agreement alone, it shows what you’re willing to do to meet their expectations — an equal exchange for the risk they are willing to take in hiring an up-and-coming shop.
Photo by Joe Sandfoss.
If, instead, you try to fight them with your own terms, you’re likely to be ignored — if not swatted at – like a miniature tank or fighter jet.
In a perfect world, global brands would be able to talk with their internal or external agencies about timelines and P.O.s BEFORE reaching out to studios, forging some of their own vulnerable communication streams.
But, until then, it really comes down to being upfront with your client. “We’ll push the ball forward for you and try to hit this deadline, but what is our Plan B if that P.O. doesn’t come in time?”
If you make promises, be sure to ask the client to set expectations too. Ask for next steps and/or when you can expect the P.O.
Finally, reserve your good-faith work for trusted, repeat clients. In other words, be wary of bending over backwards for new business. You know Tricia. You love Tricia. Tricia has always been there for you in the past and even pulled a favor or two. Go a bit of old-school for your diehards and do some work on a handshake until that P.O. arrives because Tricia will make damn sure it does. Also, don’t trust Bill. He’s new here.
Tj Bitter