Send a brief. Get the open questions back within 24 working hours, free.
Upload the client brief and floorplan. A broadcast engineer reads it and sends back the list of things nobody has answered yet: power, floor loading, IT ports, captions, access, the running order. It's yours to keep whether or not you buy a pack.
The paperwork that sits between the brief and the quote
Freelance technical directors and agency production teams spend their evenings turning a two-page brief into something a supplier can price. Production Office does that part. You send what the client sent you; we send back a pack your suppliers recognise:
- Open questions first. Every gap in the brief, each with an owner and a date.
- Kit list by department: staging, vision and LED, cameras, sound, lighting, streaming, comms, power.
- Supplier production brief in Word and PowerPoint, unbranded so it goes out under your name.
- Indicative signal flow, crew plan and a day-by-day schedule.
- The 40-point engineer's check, signed, on the cover.
No makes or models unless you specify them, so every supplier quotes their own kit.
See a real one
A full 10-page pack for a fictional retailer's all-hands: 400 in the room, 6,800 online, two live links from a depot and a store.
Download the sample pack (PDF)Where it started
In October 2026, Dave Alison, technical director at Nteractive, sent us a two-page brief for a 1,400-person global town hall in the US with four remote studios. We sent back hub and studio briefs, wiring schematics, a studio plan and a remote-link options paper: three versions in five days.
Three ways to buy a pack
Essentials
The pack, for a single-site event, when you just need the paperwork done.
- Open questions with owners and dates
- Kit list by department
- Supplier production brief, Word and PowerPoint
- Crew plan and outline schedule
- 40-point engineer's check
- Two rounds of changes
Pitch-ready
For when the pack has to help you win the job, not just price it.
- Everything in Essentials
- Three stage views from your floorplan, marked indicative
- Indicative signal flow
- A 30-minute call walking you through the pack
- Back in three working days or it's free
Show-ready
The full set, so the show goes into build with nothing outstanding.
- Everything in Pitch-ready
- RAMS draft for your competent person to review and sign
- Two extra rounds of changes, four in all
- Back in three working days or it's free
Beyond the single pack
Multi-site or broadcast
A hub and remote studios, or a show that is mainly a broadcast.
- Everything in Essentials, for every site
- Remote-site briefs and studio plans
- Signal flow schematics and a remote-link options paper
- Five working days
Desk retainer
Your production office on call, for TDs with steady work.
- Up to two packs a month at Essentials level
- Your brief goes to the front of the queue
- Changes as the job moves
- Four retainer places, because that is what one engineer can check properly
For agencies
Teach your own production team to turn briefs into packs, using your past jobs as the material.
- Workshop: half a day for up to 10 people, in person or remote
- Set-up sprint: your kit library, templates and house style built into a working brief-to-pack process over two weeks
- A follow-up call a month later
Extras on any pack: a further round of changes £125 +VAT, a RAMS draft £325 +VAT, three stage views £325 +VAT, 48-hour turnaround +50%. Event teams handed a kit list they can't read can have it explained line by line for £295 +VAT; we do that through your agency or technical director, so nobody's quote is second-guessed behind their back.
The 40-point engineer's check
Before a pack leaves, a broadcast engineer goes through all 40 points. Each one is either ticked or moved to the open-questions page with an owner and a date. The result is printed on the cover and signed.
Brief and scope
- 1Every requirement in the client brief maps to a line in the pack
- 2Date, times, venue and audience numbers match the brief
- 3Show running time checked against the hard out
- 4Deliverables (stream, recording, edits, translation) match what was asked for
- 5Every assumption is highlighted, not buried
Venue and power
- 6Kit fits the room: ceiling height, floor loading and the floorplan's no-go areas
- 7Get-in route, access hours and curfew listed, or flagged as open
- 8Power totalled by area and set against what the venue supplies
- 9Rigging points or ground support stated for anything flown
- 10Load zones, fire exits and aisles kept clear on the plan
Vision and screens
- 11Screen sizes, aspect ratio and pixel canvas worked out, with the content resolution stated
- 12Camera count and positions give a usable shot of every presenter position
- 13Sightlines from the seating plan to the screens checked
- 14Playback and graphics sources listed, each with a backup
- 15Signal format and frame rate consistent from camera to stream
Sound
- 16Microphones cover every presenter in every segment, plus spares
- 17Foldback or in-ear monitoring for everyone who needs to hear the show
- 18PA coverage suits the room and the audience size
- 19Audio feeds to stream, recording and translation all accounted for
- 20Radio frequency plan noted, or flagged for coordination
Signal flow and streaming
- 21Every source has a path to every destination on the schematic
- 22A second path for the stream, so one failure doesn't take the show off air
- 23Bandwidth per stream, with headroom, set against the line provided
- 24Remote contributors' route chosen, with the ports and policies IT must open
- 25Programme and isolated recordings specified where the edit needs them
Comms and show control
- 26Talkback positions match the crew positions
- 27A one-way feed from the show caller to the host
- 28Prompter, confidence monitors and cue lights where presenters need them
- 29Running order version noted, with timings that add up
- 30Show clocks and countdowns for the gallery and the stage
Crew and schedule
- 31A named role for every position on the schematic
- 32Crew hours within limits, including travel and overnight de-rigs
- 33Build, tech, rehearsal, show and de-rig times set out day by day
- 34Breaks and meal cover planned for long days
- 35Contact sheet with placeholders for every supplier and venue lead
Safety and paperwork
- 36Tasks that need a RAMS entry listed
- 37Working at height and rigging flagged for a competent person
- 38Cable routes and trip hazards shown on the plan
- 39Supplier documents requested: insurance, PAT records, RAMS
- 40Open questions listed with an owner and a date for each
From brief to pack
- Upload the brief, floorplan and anything else the client sent, and tell us about the job.
- Within 24 working hours you get the open-questions list, free.
- Pick a pack. We start when the client's answers start coming in, or straight away with the gaps flagged.
- The pack comes back as Word, PowerPoint and PDF, unbranded.
- Send us the client's changes and we turn them round.
How we use AI, plainly
AI writes the first draft from your brief, our kit library and our templates. That is why it's quick. A broadcast engineer with over 20 years in galleries and outside broadcast then checks every line against the 40 points, and his name goes on the cover. Your files are used for your job only and are never published or shared.
Packs are indicative: they are for briefing suppliers and getting quotes, not for construction. RAMS drafts are for your competent person to review and sign; the legal duty to assess risk stays with the people running the event.
Who it's for
- Freelance TDs and TPMs juggling several clients, with the paperwork landing at night.
- Agencies rebuilding every job's paperwork by hand.
- In-house event teams who've been handed a kit list and want to understand it.
Got it. The questions are on their way.
If you haven't uploaded the brief yet, use the upload link on this page. We'll reply the same working day, and the open-questions list follows within 24 working hours of the brief landing.
Upload the briefWe use your details and files only to answer about this job. See our privacy notice.
A few lines is enough
The event, the venue, roughly how many people and when you need the pack. If the brief is already online, paste the link. If not, use the upload link and we'll match it to your message.
Or email enquiries@virtualstudio.events with the brief attached.