After a disastrous shoot day that produced just three finished ads, I was ready to give up on shooting in-house UGC. The time and money we spent was completely wasted.
But that frustration led me to build a system that now allows us to shoot 150 ad concepts in a single day. This is the story of how I went from total chaos to a process that changed the way we create content.
Our First Shoot Was a Complete Disaster
We thought we had a solid plan. Our goal was to save money and get more control over our creative by shooting everything ourselves. On paper, it sounded great. In reality, it was a total mess.
The day started with a beautiful shoot house, two talented actors, and a handful of ideas. Our "plan" was a simple Google Doc, which offered no real structure. Almost immediately, we realised we had forgotten a key prop, which meant we had to scrap an entire concept. Our actors spent hours standing around, waiting for directions that were scattered across different notes and conversations. We were scrambling to figure out what to shoot next, and the day became a blur of wasted time.
By the end of it, we had a bunch of average shots and only three finished concepts. The cost of the rental, the actors, and our time far outweighed the disappointing results. I felt completely defeated and ready to go back to using expensive UGC creators.
The Turning Point: Why Our System Was Broken
That experience was my turning point. I realised our biggest problem wasn't a lack of creative ideas, it was a lack of an efficient system. Our Google Doc was a disorganised mess with no methodical way to track every shot, prop, and actor. We were failing at the most critical part of the process: the planning.
I knew there had to be a better way. I started building a new system in Notion, with each new feature born out of a mistake I'd made on a previous shoot. The system had to be simple, efficient, and foolproof.
The System That Maximises Time and Creative Output
The result is the UGC shoot template I use today. It's the reason we can shoot 150 ad concepts in a single day without any of the chaos we used to have. It solves all the problems that made me want to give up on in-house UGC in the first place:
- No more wasted time: An hour-by-hour itinerary keeps the entire crew on schedule. The shots are organised in the most efficient order, so you're not wasting time with actors changing outfits or moving to different locations unnecessarily.
- No more missed shots: The shot database is the heart of the system. We can methodically check off every single A-roll and B-roll shot as we go, so we never leave a location wondering if we got everything.
- No more forgotten props: Everything is tracked in a dedicated props list, which is linked directly to the shots. You know exactly what you need for every scene.
This template is about more than just organisation, it's about maximising your time and creative output. It frees you from the chaos of a disorganised shoot day and allows you to focus on what really matters: making winning ads.
This system is the culmination of years of trial and error, and I'm giving it away for free so you can avoid all the same mistakes I did.