To hire a video crew in Australia from overseas, book a local company that plans everything online: one video call at a time that suits your time zone, your brief and brand guidelines up front, a local contact on the day, and the edit reviewed online. Nobody needs to fly in.
That’s how we ran the YPO podcast at ICC Sydney in February 2026, for a team working out of North America and Europe. Here’s what to sort, in order, and what it looked like on that job.
On this page
- What should you sort before you book?
- How do you plan a shoot across time zones?
- Do you need to send someone to Australia?
- Should you ask for raw footage or a finished edit?
- What frame rate should you ask for?
- How do you review the edit from overseas?
- What paperwork should you expect?
- What does this look like on a real job?
- Filming in Australia soon?
What should you sort before you book?
| Sort out | Why it matters from overseas |
|---|---|
| The brief, your brand guidelines and the shots you must have | The crew plans the day off them. Without them, decisions get made on the day without you |
| Raw footage or a finished edit | It decides who edits, how the cameras are set up and what gets delivered |
| Who your contact is in Australia on the day | Someone in the room who can make a call when a session runs over |
| Your paperwork: vendor forms, contract, purchase order | Big organisations need these before a shoot. Start them early so they don’t hold up the date |
| One planning call | Walk through the brief, the setup and any reference videos you like |
How do you plan a shoot across time zones?
Over email and one or two video calls, booked at a time that suits the person who can’t move. On YPO, every decision was made between Sydney, North America and Europe, and Oscar took the planning call at 8:30pm Sydney time so YPO’s producer didn’t have to start before breakfast.
These are the windows that usually work, in Sydney summer time (November to March). Check again after the clocks change in either country.
| Your team is in | A good time for them | That’s in Sydney |
|---|---|---|
| London | 9am | 8pm the same day |
| New York | 3pm | 7am the next day |
| Los Angeles | 1pm | 8am the next day |
Planning a shoot in Australia? Send the brief and your time zone
Do you need to send someone to Australia?
No. You need a contact on the day, not a flight. On YPO, their on-site events team in Sydney was our point of contact, and the podcast team overseas ran everything else online. Your local office, your event team or your agency in Australia can fill that role, for a conference, a podcast or a corporate video with your Australian leaders.
Should you ask for raw footage or a finished edit?
It depends on who you want cutting it. Decide before the shoot, because it changes how the day is filmed.
| Raw footage | A finished edit | |
|---|---|---|
| Best when | Your own editors cut it to a house style | You want the whole job done in Australia |
| What you get | Every frame, handed over on a hard drive | Finished films in every format you need |
| What the crew does differently | Matches every camera so your team can cut it as one show | Films for the edit already planned |
YPO asked for raw footage, because their own editors cut every episode. So we ran four matched cameras, a close-up on every speaker and a wide shot, and handed every frame over in 4K.
What frame rate should you ask for?
Agree it before the shoot. Australian crews shoot at 25 frames per second, the local broadcast standard. Editors in the US usually cut at 23.976 or 29.97.
Converting footage afterwards can make movement stutter. So tell the crew what your editors cut at, and the cameras are set to match. YPO’s footage went to their editors on a hard drive, in 4K at 25 frames per second.
How do you review the edit from overseas?
Online, on your own time. The first edit comes back within 5 to 7 days of the shoot. It goes up on Frame.io, where your team comments right on the frame from any time zone, with two rounds of changes built in. On a tight deadline, we can turn an edit around in 48 hours. More on how long a corporate video takes.
What paperwork should you expect?
- A quote, back within one business day of your brief.
- Your vendor onboarding. YPO sent a US vendor intake form, and we filled it in from Sydney.
- A contract. Theirs went by DocuSign.
- A purchase order before the shoot, if your finance team needs one.
- A certificate of currency for our public liability insurance, on request.
What does this look like on a real job?
YPO is a global network of chief executives, with its head office in Texas. In February 2026 its GLC and EDGE conference came to the ICC in Sydney, and its brand team wanted to record the leadership podcast Mistakes Over Failure while the guests were in town.
Before any paperwork, Jess and Oscar each sent a short hello video. Then came one planning call, the vendor form, the contract and a purchase order, all done online. YPO sent the filming schedule and a shooting guideline, and we built the two days around it.
The team were straightforward to work with from the first call, calm throughout the event, and every deliverable arrived on schedule.
Both episodes are now live on YPO’s YouTube channel, and a few weeks later YPO asked us to quote another Sydney shoot. The full story is in the YPO case study.
Filming in Australia soon?
Send the brief, the date and the city. We’ll get on a call at a time that suits you and come back with a quote within one business day. Here’s how video production in Australia for overseas brands works with us.
