PREMISE: The client must provide the information needed to write the script, and products, samples and locations needed for shooting in a timely fashion. If the client doesn't want to pay models or actors, he / she must provide them.

There's not much more to say. Excellent video clients are prepared to provide the information and assets the producer needs to accomplish the clients goal.

If you're producing a product video, you need products to shoot. If you're producing a video on the manufacturing floor, you need a pre-agreement that the people featured in the video have given permission to be shot (usually with signed permission slips). If you're producing a training video in a hospital and the client doesn't have the budget for actors (other than principals) he / she needs to provide people to populate the video and perhaps be able to operate medical equipment.

Any shoot will require power for lighting.

Then there's information. The client needs to provide the background, product or situational information, and clear feature and benefits of whatever the video is about. The client needs to provide (and schedule) interviewees if the video is interview based.

And if company locations are to be part of the shoot, the client must clear those area's use and schedule the use ahead of time.

All of this must be done in a timely matter to guarantee that the video meets it's deadline and objectives.

It's up to the producer to develop a schedule that reflects all of these needs and deadlines.

Generally, a good client does this enthusiastically, without burdening the producer with tales of internal strife and "who likes who".

Next time, the last and most sensitive of the five responsibilities of the client:

The client (who chose the producer) should protect the producer if and when others from the company are participating in reviews. Protection means standing up for the producer and defending the structure and creative that he or she approved.