How to run a collaboration after the deal is signed

Signing the creator is the start of the work, not the end of it. Campaigns fall apart in the gap between “you’re hired” and “the film is live”: feedback in a personal chat, a cut in a folder nobody can find, and a last-minute argument about a line that was never in the brief.

The fix is dull and effective. Keep the brief, the conversation, the files, and the approval in one project.

Restate the agreement in the project

On the day you accept the pitch, write down what was agreed: the deliverables, the fee, the number of revisions, and the live date. People remember the conversation differently a week later. A short note in the project removes that argument before it starts.

If something changed during the chat — an extra Story, a different end card — add it there. Do not leave it in a message from Tuesday.

Give feedback on the cut, not on the creator

When a version arrives, comment on the specific moment. “The product is hard to see in the first three seconds” can be fixed. “This doesn’t feel premium” cannot. One round of notes, sent together, is kinder than twelve messages across an afternoon.

• Point at the frame or the line
• Say what to change, and what to leave
• Keep claims and legal lines in the brief, so they are not a surprise at version two

Approve in the same place you reviewed

An approval that lives in a chat is easy to lose. Mark the version that is final, and say where it will be published. The creator then knows which file is the one to post, and the brand knows which file they are allowed to reuse.

If the brief, the cut, and the approval are in different apps, the project is already late.

Close it properly

When the content is live, confirm it, record the fee as paid or still due, and leave a short note on how the work went. The next collaboration is easier when both sides can see that the last one actually finished. That record is also what makes a creator’s profile useful to the next brand: not a promise, a completed job.