Why we needed a content workflow in the first place

With one video, we can usually keep everything in our heads. We know what we're making, what we've already done and what still needs to happen.

With five videos, it's another story. One is still just an idea, another needs a script, one is ready to film and another has been sitting in editing for three days. Then there's the one we keep calling finished even though it still needs a thumbnail and a description.

That's when we need something a little more reliable than our memory. We don't need a complicated system. We just need to see what's going on.

For us, that's the whole point of a content workflow. We should be able to look at a project and understand where it is and what comes next.

The best workflow for content creators in practice

We don't think there's one workflow that everyone should copy. A quick Instagram Reel doesn't need the same preparation as a long YouTube video, and that's fine.

But most of our content still goes through the same main stages. We have an idea, we prepare it, we make it, we edit it and eventually we publish it.

In Peliku, we've split that into a few more specific stages because it helps us see exactly where each project is.

We didn't come up with this exact workflow on day one. We've changed it while using Peliku ourselves. Some things sounded logical when we built them and then felt much less logical when we actually tried to use them every day.

1. An idea can stay an idea

We have ideas all the time. Some are good, some are terrible, and some sound great when we write them down but make absolutely no sense when we come back to them later. That's fine. We don't need to turn every idea into a video.

That's why we keep our ideas separate from the content we're actually working on. When we decide an idea is worth making, that's when it becomes a real project in Peliku.

It keeps things much cleaner. Our content list shows what we're actually making instead of every random thought we've had over the last six months.

2. Before we write, we figure out what we're actually trying to say

An idea can feel really clear until you try to explain it. "Let's make a video about content workflows" sounds simple, but what are we actually talking about? Who is the video for? What do we want them to understand when it's over?

That's what we use the preparation stage for. We can think about the goal, audience, angle and main message before getting into the script or turning the camera on.

For bigger projects, we can go a little further and note the problem we're talking about, the main benefit and the emotion we're trying to create. For a simple video, we might not need all of that. We only use what's useful.

It saves us from getting halfway through filming and realizing we still don't really know what the video is supposed to say.

If dates are another part of your production that tends to get messy, we've also written a video production timeline guide.

3. A finished script doesn't mean we're ready to film

We learned this one by doing it wrong. We'd finish a script and think the video was ready. Then filming day arrived and we still needed shots, equipment, props or something else we hadn't prepared.

So now we separate preparation, scripting and being ready to shoot. The script tells us what we're going to say. The rest of the preparation makes sure we can actually film it.

And not every video needs a full script. Sometimes we write everything word for word. Sometimes a few talking points are enough. We just need enough structure to know where we're going.

If scripting is the part you struggle with, our guide on how to write a video script goes into that in more detail.

4. Ready to shoot should actually mean ready

Before we move something to Prêt à tourner, we try to make sure we could genuinely film it. Not "we could probably figure it out on the day". Actually ready.

What that means depends on the video, but it can include:

• A script or talking points
• The shots we know we need
• B-roll ideas
• The right equipment
• A location
• Props or products
• A filming date

A quick Reel might need almost none of this. A bigger production might need all of it. We adapt the preparation to the video instead of forcing every project through the exact same checklist.

We've also put together a video shoot planning guide for the projects that need more preparation.

5. We think about editing before we finish filming

We've had that moment in editing where we need one specific shot and suddenly realize we never filmed it. By then, everything is packed away and recreating the setup for one missing clip is a pain.

So while we're filming, we try to think about what we'll need later. Maybe we need some B-roll to cover a cut, a close-up of something we're talking about or another take of an important part.

We don't film hours of random footage just in case. We just try to give ourselves enough options to make the edit work.

6. Editing is easier when everything isn't scattered everywhere

Editing already takes enough time. We don't want to spend the first half hour looking for the note where we wrote an idea or wondering which file someone sent us.

That's why we try to keep the useful information connected to the content. The script, preparation, tasks and notes all belong to the project we're working on.

Peliku isn't an editing app. We're still going to use Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, Final Cut or whatever tool makes sense for the actual edit. Peliku is there so we know what we're doing when we get there.

7. The video isn't finished just because the edit is finished

We've fallen for this one more than once. The export finishes, we watch the video and think we're done. Then we remember the thumbnail. And the title. And the description. And the fact that we still need to actually publish the thing.

So now publication is part of the workflow. After editing, a video can be approved, scheduled and finally published.

It also makes our content list much clearer. We can see the difference between something that's finished but waiting to go live and something that's already out there.

8. Publishing gives us ideas for what comes next

Once a video is live, we're not necessarily done learning from it. Comments can give us new ideas, people might react to something we didn't expect and sometimes we realize a format was far more work than it was worth.

At the moment, Peliku doesn't pull social media statistics directly into the app. That's one of the things we're working toward, along with connecting social accounts so we'll eventually be able to publish directly from Peliku.

The idea is that publication shouldn't be a dead end. What happens after a piece of content goes live can help us make the next one.

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How we stop the workflow from becoming another job

There's a funny thing that can happen when you try to get organized. You start with a simple system, then you add another status, another tag, another database and another rule. Before long, keeping the system organized becomes a job on its own.

We don't want that. We want enough structure to know what's happening, but we don't want to spend our day updating Peliku instead of creating content.

We keep the important stuff close to the project

We don't need every tool we use to disappear into Peliku. We still have editing software and other services that do their jobs perfectly well.

What we do want is to open a content project and find the important information without hunting for it. We should know what the project is, where it is in production and what still needs to happen.

Our statuses need to mean something

"In progress" isn't very helpful when you have ten videos in progress. Is one being scripted? Is another being edited? Is one waiting to be filmed?

That's why we prefer stages like Script, Prêt à tourner and Montage. We can look at them and immediately understand what's happening.

We don't rebuild the same boring tasks every time

Every video is different, but some parts of production repeat constantly. We often need the same basic checks before filming and the same little things before publishing.

If we already know we're going to do something every time, we'd rather make it easy to repeat than recreate it from scratch for every project.

We let the workflow change when we change

Peliku's workflow isn't the same as it was when we started building the app. We changed it because we used it and found things that didn't work as well as we'd imagined.

We think your workflow should be allowed to change too. Maybe you start working with an editor. Maybe you add YouTube after only making short videos. Maybe you start working with clients. The system that works today doesn't have to be the one you use forever.

The mistakes we've made with our own workflow

A lot of what we do now came from things that annoyed us enough to finally change them. These are probably the biggest ones.

Putting every part of a project somewhere different

The idea is in a notes app, the script is in a document, the tasks are somewhere else and the publication date is in a calendar. None of those tools are bad. The annoying part is remembering where we put everything.

When we come back to a video after a few days, we want to work on it. We don't want to start with a treasure hunt.

Starting before we really know what we're making

Sometimes we just want to grab the camera and make something. For spontaneous content, that's fine.

But if it's a planned video and we're still figuring out the message while filming, there's a good chance we'll have to fix that later in the edit. We'd rather spend a little more time thinking before we hit record.

Thinking we'll remember everything later

We probably won't. We might know exactly what a project needs today, but after working on several other videos, that information gets fuzzy pretty quickly.

Writing down the useful bits takes less effort than trying to remember everything a week later.

Leaving all the publishing work until the end

A finished video can still sit there for days if we haven't prepared everything around it. We've done the edit, but the thumbnail isn't ready, the title still needs work or nobody has written the description yet.

That's why we now include publishing in the workflow itself. If those things need to happen before the video goes live, they're part of the project.

Making the workflow more complicated than the content

It's easy to keep adding things because every new field or status sounds useful. But we don't want to fill in twenty pieces of information just to make a quick Reel.

Some videos need a lot of preparation. Others don't. We try to keep the workflow flexible enough that a simple project can stay simple.

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What about Notion, Trello, ClickUp and other tools?

There are plenty of ways to organize content, and we're definitely not going to tell you that you need Peliku if you already have a system that works for you.

Notion, Trello and ClickUp can all be used to manage content. We've used general organization tools too. The main difference is that with those tools, you usually build the content workflow yourself.

That's really why we built Peliku. We didn't want to start with an empty project management tool and rebuild our content system inside it. We wanted to open the app and start organizing what we were actually creating.

That doesn't mean Peliku replaces everything. We still use editing software to edit, for example. Each tool can keep doing what it's good at.

If you want to go deeper into the production side, we've also written a complete video production workflow guide.

Creating alone and creating with a team aren't quite the same

We don't think a solo creator needs the same level of organization as a team. If you're doing everything yourself, you already know who's supposed to write the script or edit the video. It's you.

When we're working alone

What we mainly need is a clear view of our projects. What are we working on? What's ready to film? What's waiting for editing? What needs to be published next?

That's often enough. We don't need to turn a one-person project into a company with fifteen approval steps.

When other people are involved

Things change when someone else joins the project. Now we need to know who's doing what, whether someone is waiting for an answer and whether a script or video has been reviewed.

That's where things like assignments, discussions, mentions and permissions become useful. We can keep the actual production workflow simple while still giving everyone the information they need.

How Peliku fits into the way we create

Peliku really came from this exact problem. We were trying to keep track of ideas, scripts, shoots, editing, tasks and dates, and we kept asking each other where we were with a project.

So instead of organizing everything around generic tasks, we put the content in the middle. An idea can stay in the Ideas space until we actually decide to make it. Then it becomes a content project and starts moving through production.

This is the workflow we use today:

And it'll probably keep changing. We're using Peliku ourselves, so when something feels awkward or doesn't make sense anymore, we see it too.

There are also parts of the workflow we still want to bring into Peliku. We're working toward connecting social accounts so we'll be able to publish directly to supported platforms and bring publication statistics back into the app.

We also want to add built-in file storage so we don't have to rely only on services like Google Drive or Dropbox. And once the final version is stable, a mobile app is part of the plan too.

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FAQ about content creator workflows

At the end of the day, we just want to make the videos

That's probably the simplest way to explain what we want from a workflow. We don't want to spend our time organizing for the sake of being organized. We want to create.

The workflow is useful when it gets the annoying stuff out of our heads. We can open a project, see where we are and get back to work without trying to remember everything first.

If your current setup is a mix of notes, folders, boards, documents and things you're slightly afraid to delete because you can't remember what they were for, we get it. That's pretty close to why Peliku exists.

We don't think the answer is to plan every second of the creative process. We just want enough structure that creating feels easier, not heavier.