Soapbox 2025: Andy Kelemen on Why Agencies Should Pay for Creative Pitch Decks

With the new year upon us, and my experience rooted in commercial production, the one big change I’d love to see across the industry is placing more value on the time spent on commercial production pitches. The best way to do this is in the form of payment for the triple bid to production companies. This shows the creator that you value not only their time spent creating something specifically for you, but that you value the creation process.

I’m aware there’s an irony to asking for payment for something I myself participate in. As many of you reading this know, the current norm is to ask production companies to complete a bid form, have the director and production company write up a treatment with their vision and capabilities (sometimes in excess of 30 pages), and complete one or more video interviews with the agency. 

But, our time is valuable. Why not provide some compensation for this time spent – even if it comes from the production budget the client has allotted? If a treatment requires hours of a director's time, I, as an EP, will occasionally compensate them if finances allow. But I’d love to see this become the norm across agencies when asking production companies to pitch.

Think about it; across other service industries it’s common to pay for peoples’ time. When my mechanic assesses the maintenance work on my car, I’m paying them for this service. The same goes for construction, legal, consulting, and health services. With the cultural shifts in a better work life balance, closing our laptops at 5pm, and not participating in over 40 hour work weeks, this feels like the natural next step. 

I will add that this issue has mostly been isolated to (or associated with) being a US problem. For inspiration, simply look to Europe, where agencies have become more accustomed to paying production companies for their pitch time. This action really does start with the agencies, who can conceivably make this a part of their contract with their clients and set aside funds in advance. But there is change happening, as illustrated in this LBB piece from 2023. Post writers-strike, it has also become more common to pay writers a development fee for their show production bible and pitch deck, especially considering less shows are being sold overall at this point in time. Those hours and hours of time are finally being compensated within the TV market.

The APA and IPA also jointly launched new pitch process guidelines in mid 2024, outlining updated best practices for the treatment and pitching process. One of the main points talks about how the level of time investment on behalf of production companies is not sustainable. And with our industry experiencing slower production than years past, it makes paying for pitches all the more relevant. But being based in the UK, I’d love to see these changes implemented here at home.

The primary obstacle for this change in our industry is asking agencies to make adjustments to their normal routine, and also the uncomfortable conversation of asking their clients for additional funds. One could also argue this payment is much easier for larger agencies, as smaller shops might be more strapped for resources. Because of this, a barrier to entry is suddenly created, with the thinking that only large agencies can compete for top tier talent by offering payment. Landing a new client for a small shop is a big deal, so allocating those costs can be difficult, but change always starts at the top. Seeing major agency players make this a common routine will inevitably trickle down, allowing it to become the norm in the eyes of clients, and ultimately making the size of the agency asking for these funds irrelevant. 

Boutique production shops like ours, for example, can handle the workload of multiple pitches simultaneously, but having those hours funded would be a big help. It would also increase the respect across our industry, showing that agencies and clients alike appreciate our time and value the unique content created specifically for them. 

If a client told me they were paying for our pitch, the level of respect I would not only feel from them, but feel compelled to match would shoot through the roof. And payment shows they respect our time and the creative process. You as an agency are recognising our value in developing creative ideas and sharing how we’d plus-up your concept, and use our resources to bring that vision to life. Not to mention we – like a lot of production companies – love offering new perspectives on how to make your ideas a reality, within your working budget. It’s a fantastic part of the process that keeps us on our toes and our creative brains working.

I’ve personally experienced situations where we weren’t chosen as the awarded production company, but the agency liked one aspect of how we approached the creative, and therefore we were paid for this idea. Since it was to be incorporated into the final version of the spot, being compensated for a great idea meant a lot, and showed we weren’t being taken advantage of.

Creative pitches from production companies involve significant time, intellectual creativity, and using our collective expertise to put something great in front of your agency team. In payment for our services, it signifies acknowledgement that the agency respects the value of the production company's IP, time, and efforts. So in 2025, I’d personally love to see this level of fairness raised across all agency practices. And if you’re a large agency reading this – who knows – maybe you can be the one to start this trend, and contribute to a more transparent and collaborative creative industry. Word of mouth is huge in our business. You could be the agency people are not only talking about because of their hip and trendy content, but their respect for the craft and the people sparking ideas.