What to look for in a portfolio
Every production company in Egypt will show you their best work. That is expected. What you are actually trying to assess when you look at a portfolio is not just whether the work looks good, but whether it looks like the kind of work you need.
A company that has produced excellent music videos may not be the right fit for a corporate explainer film. A company that does beautiful wedding films may not have the technical crew for a product demonstration. The work should match your use case.
Look specifically for:
- Videos for businesses similar to yours: Industry, audience, tone, and purpose. The closer the match, the better.
- Evidence of post-production quality: Color grading, graphics, and editing are where polish lives. Watch the work with that in mind.
- Consistency across the reel: One great video can be an outlier. Ten good videos across different clients is a pattern.
- The full video, not just highlights: A highlight reel always looks great. Ask to see complete deliverables if possible.
Ask them directly: "Can you show me a video you made for a brand in a similar category to ours?" If they struggle to find one, that is useful information.
Questions to ask before hiring
The quality of a company's answers tells you as much as the quality of their work. Before committing to anything, work through these questions in your first conversation:
What is your process from brief to delivery?
A professional company should be able to describe pre-production (planning, scripting, location scouting), production (shoot day), and post-production (editing, revisions, delivery) in clear steps. If the answer is vague, the process probably is too.
Who will actually be on set?
It is common for agencies to sell work on the strength of a senior director's portfolio, then assign the shoot to a junior team. Ask specifically who will be directing, who will be operating camera, and who will be editing. You want names and examples of their work.
How do revisions work?
Get this in writing before you start. How many rounds are included? What counts as a revision versus a scope change? What is the turnaround time for each revision? Ambiguity here is where most disputes begin.
What do you need from us to start?
A production company that asks for a detailed brief, approvals on locations, access to key people, and sign-off on a script before shooting is doing things properly. One that just needs a deposit and a shoot date may be underplanning.
Why the brief conversation matters
Pay close attention to how a production company handles your brief. This single interaction tells you more about how the project will go than almost anything else.
A good company will read your brief carefully, ask follow-up questions you did not expect, push back on things that seem unclear or unrealistic, and come back with a proposal that shows they understood what you were actually trying to achieve.
A less experienced or less careful company will accept the brief as given, quote you quickly, and proceed without questioning assumptions. This feels efficient at first. It usually creates problems later when the reality of the shoot does not match either party's expectations.
If you do not yet have a written brief, use our free video brief template before you approach anyone. A clear brief changes the quality of every conversation that follows.
Contract and deliverables basics
You should always receive a written agreement before any money changes hands. This does not need to be a complicated legal document, but it should clearly specify:
- What will be produced (video type, duration, format)
- The number of shooting days and locations
- Who is responsible for what (script, talent, locations, music clearances)
- How many revision rounds are included
- The delivery format and any platform-specific cuts required
- The payment schedule
- The delivery timeline and any milestone dates
- Who owns the final footage and the raw files
Raw footage ownership is worth discussing explicitly. Many production companies retain ownership of raw footage by default. If you want the raw files for future use, confirm this is included before signing.
If a company is reluctant to provide a written scope of work, that is a serious red flag. Walk away.
Red flags that cost businesses money
These are the patterns that, in practice, lead to expensive or frustrating projects:
Why local knowledge matters
For businesses operating in Egypt, working with a production company that understands the local context is a real advantage. This includes knowing which locations require permits, understanding how to communicate with Arabic-speaking clients and on-screen talent, knowing what resonates with Egyptian audiences, and being able to manage logistics in Cairo and beyond without surprises.
A company that has worked internationally but never in Egypt will spend your budget learning things a local company already knows. That is not a reason to exclude international companies entirely, but it is a factor worth weighing.
Local companies also typically have established relationships with location owners, freelance crew members, voiceover artists, and post-production resources. These relationships affect both quality and cost. A company with a strong local network can often source what a project needs faster and more cost-effectively than one that is new to the market.
The best way to test this is simple: ask how many projects they have produced in Egypt in the past year, and ask to speak to one or two of those clients.
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