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Bad collectives treat external partners poorly. We treat them like colleagues. Our goal: to be the kind of collective partners can't wait to work with again—not because of budget or scope, but because we're good people who execute well.

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🎯 Why it matters

Prioritising good relationships with partners is committing to great execution. Depending on the build, our partners will range from production houses, animation studios, creative technology companies, research agencies, community organizations, and bespoke collaborators.

Remember: To our partners, we are the client. We have a perfect frame of reference on how to treat them. Read the 'Working with the Community & Ecosystem' section and imagine those standards replicated for our partners.

🔍 Before you meet

• Do not request a meeting with a partner before having seen their work thoroughly.
• Begin every meeting by discussing your thoughts on their work, before jumping into the task at hand.
• Spend time reading treatment notes and presentations. Do not 'skim' through.

✍️ Respect their craft

• We believe scripting requires expertise & don't expect our in-house writers to automatically excel at it.
• We encourage production houses to cost for writing the final drafts with an external writer they feel is best for the project.
• Our industry is rife with idea theft. If an external partner has given an input that you'd like to use, but their company isn't one you're going with, get their permission before using the input. Discuss with your team lead on how you can credit their involvement.

💬 Communication standards

• Practice writing empathetic rejection mails if they aren’t being chosen for a project. Most often, partners are simply ‘informed’ that they weren’t picked. Sometimes not even. We’ve been guilty of this too.
• Be clear, kind, and timely in all correspondence.