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Video production for startups: no in-house team and no agency budget

Organise your content free from day one and commission the pieces when you need them, on a fixed quote. No retainer, no annual commitment.

LITE plan free forever. The platform is included with the production services.

Updated: September 2026

Who this page is for

This page is for startups that need video to sell, to raise a round or to explain the product, and that have neither an in-house video team nor the budget for an agency retainer. Play has two pieces that work separately or together: Play Platform, the software where content is planned, approved and stored, with a free plan; and PLAY /Services, the team that shoots, quoted per project. You can use only the platform, commission a single piece, or both once the volume calls for it.

What holds a startup back when it needs video

It is not a shortage of ideas or of urgency. It is that video is bought as though you were a large company, and you are not one yet.

Getting three quotes takes longer than shooting

Finding a production company, explaining the product three times, waiting for proposals in different formats and negotiating takes two weeks before a single frame exists. When the video was for Tuesday's launch, the process has already cost you the launch.

One point of contact and a fixed quote on a transparent rate card before anything starts.

An agency retainer does not fit the burn

Agencies work well with steady volume and monthly billing. A startup produces in bursts: three pieces before a round and none for two months. Paying a fixed fee for capacity you do not use is money leaving the runway.

No compulsory monthly fee: the platform is free and production goes per project.

One person does all of it, and they are already stretched

In most startups the video is handled by whoever handles marketing, who also handles content, events and the website. There is nobody to chase versions, gather feedback from founders and product, and archive the rushes.

AI-assisted briefing, approvals on the piece itself, and automatic archiving.

The material gets lost between free tools

A full Drive, expired WeTransfer links, and the master of the product video on the laptop of a freelancer who no longer works with you. Six months later you shoot something that already existed.

250 GB of library on the free plan, tagged automatically and searchable.

How video production for startups works at Play

Play is a Production-Tech company: software and a production team in the same house. You start wherever you need to today and add more as the volume grows, without changing systems.

Way 1

Platform only

You produce with your team, with freelancers or with whoever already helps you, and use Play so nothing gets lost. Free from day one.

  • Briefs, tasks and a production calendar
  • Media library with AI tagging
  • Videofeedback and approvals by version
  • Unlimited external collaborators

Free on the LITE plan

See Play Platform
Way 2

Production only, as and when you need it

You commission the specific piece you need for the launch or the round, on a fixed quote and with no commitment afterwards.

  • End-to-end production with an Account Manager
  • Creative, shooting and post-production
  • Local talent in whichever market it takes
  • A fixed quote per project

Per project, on a transparent rate card

See PLAY /Services
Way 3

Everything together, one partner

Once content becomes recurring, the platform is your system and our team produces inside it, with one point of contact.

  • Everything in way 1 and way 2
  • Platform included at no cost with the services
  • Cost and status traceable in the same place
  • A flat production discount on the Enterprise plan

Platform included, production per project

Talk to the team

The three ways are doors into the same place, and you can move between them without migrating anything. Most teams start at way 1 or way 2 and end up at way 3 once the content volume grows.

What a startup produces with Play

The formats that genuinely move the needle in a young company, and how each one gets made.

Common formats in startups and how they get made with Play.
FormatWhat a startup uses it forHow PLAY /Services makes it
Product videoExplaining what the product does on the homepage, in the demo and in sales.Script, screen recording or a shoot, and assets reusable in your library.
Investor videoBacking up the deck, telling the team and market story before a round.Creative direction, founder interviews and an edit with data on screen.
SocialSustaining the vertical calendar without burning out one person.Editors who specialise in each channel's native format.
Customer testimonialSocial proof for sales, the website and acquisition campaigns.Interviews shot in the customer's own city with a local crew.
Motion graphicsExplaining the product, integrations or data without setting up a shoot.Full post-production: edit, motion, sound and per-channel versions.
Employer brand and cultureAttracting talent while nobody knows the brand yet.A light office shoot and cutdowns for social and job ads.

What you get from each part

Play has more modules than you need today. This is what a startup actually uses in its first year with the tool.

A genuinely free plan

3 internal users, unlimited external collaborators and 250 GB. No card and no time limit. Enough to carry a whole first year of content.

Media library

All the material in one place, with automatic AI tagging. The product video's master stops living on somebody's laptop.

Videofeedback and approvals

Founders, product and sales comment on the piece itself. No more email thread with five contradictory opinions.

Unlimited external collaborators

Your freelancers and your agency join the workspace without taking a licence, on every plan including the free one.

KAMI AI

It turns a loose idea into a structured brief with formats, markets and dates. Less time assembling documents nobody reads.

Cost control when you need it

Budget and spend per project from the PRO plan, for when the content line has to be justified to the board.

A fixed quote per project

A transparent rate card based on real costs. You know what it costs before starting, and there is no monthly fee behind it.

Production consultancy

We look at the objective and the budget to tell you which piece is worth making and which one is not needed. We do not produce videos for the sake of it.

Local talent wherever you are

Crews in more than 20 countries, useful the day you need to shoot a testimonial in a customer's city without arranging a trip.

Full post-production

Edit, colour, sound and motion, plus hybrid AI production to get several versions out of the same piece.

Brief to publication in four steps

The flow is the same whether you produce or we do. The only thing that changes is who carries out step 3.

  1. You say what you need

    You open the project and describe the need. KAMI AI helps turn it into a structured brief, with formats, markets and dates, so that everyone is working from the same thing.

  2. You settle scope, cost and who does it

    This is where you pick a way: your team produces it, your agency does, or PLAY /Services does with local talent. If you commission it from us, you get a fixed quote on a transparent rate card before anything starts.

  3. It gets produced and approved inside the platform

    Shoot, edit and versions in the same project. Approvals happen through videofeedback and public links, with no email chains. If PLAY produces, your Account Manager oversees every stage.

  4. It is delivered, and it stays

    The finished piece and the raw footage stay in your library, tagged and ready to reuse on the next campaign.

More than 350 brands and agencies already produce this way

videos made
+10,000
working professionals
+1,200
countries
+20
brands and agencies
+350

EIT Urban Mobility

Recurring shoots across multiple European markets under one coordination system: Barcelona, Rotterdam, Manchester, Oslo, Warsaw, Dublin, Madrid, Istanbul, Lyon and Stockholm, among others.

projects
+25
cities
+20
production days
+80
pieces delivered
+96

Revlon Professional

A centralised system for creating content quickly and consistently across multiple formats, channels and locations in Spain, with a single point of contact adapting each message to its audience and platform.

video and photo projects
+25
cities
+15
production hours
+70
pieces delivered
+50

The full case studies, with the detail of each production, are on the services page. Download the full case studies.

What it costs

There are two costs and they are independent. The platform is paid per workspace, not per person. Production is quoted per project.

Recommended to start

LITE

0 €

  • Up to 3 internal users
  • Unlimited external collaborators
  • 250 GB of media
  • Production and collaboration modules
When cost has to be justified

PRO

149 €/month /workspace

  • 5 users included, 19 € per extra user
  • Unlimited external collaborators
  • 1 TB of media included
  • Cost Control, Analytics and AI tagging
Several teams or markets

Enterprise

Custom

  • Volume discounts on users and storage
  • SSO, SAML and SLA
  • Account Manager and migration included
  • A flat 10 % off production services from 15 users

If you produce with us, the platform costs you nothing

Access to Play Platform is included at no cost with every PLAY video production service. In other words: you can come in through the platform door and pay only for the software, or come in through the production door and take the software with it.

Annual billing works out at 10 months. Extra storage at 29 €/TB per month. For a startup, LITE is usually enough for quite a while: three internal people, unlimited external collaborators and 250 GB cover a first year of content. The jump to PRO comes when you need cost control and analytics to defend the line item. See the full plan comparison.

Frequently asked questions about video production for startups

Can I use Play free?

Yes. The LITE plan is free and does not expire: 3 internal users, unlimited external collaborators and 250 GB of media, with briefs, tasks, calendar, library and videofeedback. It asks for no card.

What does a video cost with Play?

It depends on the format and the scope, and it is quoted per project on a transparent rate card based on real costs, so you know the figure before starting. There is no monthly fee or annual commitment attached to production.

Do I have to hire production to use the platform?

No. You can use Play as a platform alone, with your team, your freelancers or the agency you already work with. If one day you need us to shoot, it is in the same environment, but it is not a requirement.

Is Play worth it if I only make two or three videos a year?

Yes, and that is exactly the case where an agency retainer does not pay off. The platform is free while you are not producing, and production is paid for only when you commission it.

Can I invite my freelancers without paying for each one?

Yes. External collaborators are unlimited on LITE, PRO and Enterprise. Only internal users are counted: 3 on LITE, 5 on PRO and custom on Enterprise.

How long does a piece take?

The timeline is fixed with the scope, before starting, and lives inside the project alongside the budget. What does shorten from day one is the part before it: the briefing and the search for a supplier, which is where a startup usually loses most time.

What happens to the material when the project ends?

The finished piece and the raw footage stay in your workspace library, tagged and ready to reuse. They do not stay on the production company's drive.

How do I start?

Open a free LITE workspace, upload what you already have and organise the next piece. If you need it shot, tell us and we will send a fixed quote.

Get started

The world has changed. Your production should too

Open your workspace free and order the content you are already producing. And when it is time to shoot, we send a fixed quote with no retainer behind it.

No card required. Unlimited external collaborators on the free plan, and the platform included with every production service.