As a producer one of the most important jobs is estimating a project accurately. Create your own cheat sheet to have on hand when you scope out a project. This way you can get down all the info you need upfront, or mark which topics you need to follow up on.

A Request for Proposal Checklist (often called a backgrounder) may include the following topics.

BASICS

Synopsis of what’s being asked

Budget
Timing
Who’s on the Client’s team

SCOPE

Strategy
Creative Development
Campaign, project or product?
Production
Post Production
Media Placement

STRATEGIC BACKGROUND

Project Background

What’s the Client’s background information on this job?
What’s the client asking the agency to do?
What’s the competitive environment?
Who are the consumers?

Strategic Viewpoints

What’s this specific project’s strategy?
How does this fit in to the overall strategy (for the client or brand)?
What’s the relevant research?
How does the agency perceive the product/brand?

Positioning / Position Statement

What’s the agency being tasked to do on this job?
What’s this brand’s positioning?
How does this fit in with the overall corporate positioning?

The Task

What are the client’s objectives for this project?
What are they expecting to accomplish?
What are the basics we need to communicate? What are the mandatories?

The Audience

Who are we talking to?
What do the consumers feel about the category, the brand, the product, the company and the competition?
What do we want the consumers to feel or perceive at the end of the project?
What do we want the consumers to do?
Where are we driving the consumers?
Why should the audience care about the positioning?
How should we communicate with the consumer? Tone, voice.

CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT NEEDS

Brief Objective (Brand Awareness, Product Sales, etc)
Campaign Project Lifespan
Target group (Primary/Secondary)
Other Brand/Campaign Creative/Strategies/References
Other:

ASSET/PROJECT PREPARATION

Brand Guidelines
Graphics/ Logos/ Fonts /Etc.
Information Architecture
User Flow/User Experience
Other:

INTERACTIVE:

Brand site
Standard flash banners
Rich media ad units
Campaign site
Mobile application
Online game
Social media application
Web videos
Other:

CONTENT

Live Shoot
Commercial
Short Film
Documentary
Brand Film
Animation
Print Ad
Physical Product
Experiential
Viral

DESIGN

Design Specifications
Packaging / POS
Brand Guidelines
Assets

TRADITIONAL

Print Advertising
Direct Mail
OOH
POS

NONTRADITIONAL

Scope, constraints specs

ASSET GENERATION

Design Development (Graphic Design/Illustration)
Live Action Shoot (Partner/Director: )
Stock Footage/Photography
Sound Design
Sound Mix
3D Rendering
2D Rendering/Compositing/ Animation
Post-Production of Footage (Offline/Online Edits, Grading, etc)
Music: Licensed/Original
Other:

SCHEDULE

Start date
Creative review dates (#of revisions, timeframe for approvals)
Tracking strategy and dates
Animation/build dates
Alpha delivery
QA schedule
Approval deadlines (including client/legal reviews)
Final delivery date
Launch date
On Air Date
Media Post-launch optimization
Source file delivery dates

TECHNICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Screen Resolution
OS Compatibility
CPU/Processor Speed Requirements
Browser Compatibility
Software/Languages Used (flash, php, mysql, html, xml, etc) o Hosting/hardware Requirements (server setup, CDN)
Page Load Limitations
Search Engine Optimization Requirements
Tracking Requirements (tags placed, deeplinking for flash sites)
Licensing of Software Required
Localization Requirements
Admin/Moderation Requirements
Integration with Current Brand/Project Back-End Environments
(Client IT Management)
Source files/code Ownership
Support Agreement/Requirements

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

Licensing of content
Full outline of scope
Full listing of deliverables
Awards submission and project credentials
Team and time needed
PR Needs
Other: