Explainer29 September 2026

What Does Live Production Actually Include?

The phrase covers a lot of ground and different suppliers mean different things by it. Here is where the lines usually fall.

AV hire

Equipment supplied, sometimes with an operator, sometimes not. You are buying access to kit. Screens, projectors, a PA, microphones, maybe a technician to keep it running.

Perfectly appropriate for a lot of events. It is not production, and a supplier who describes it as production is stretching.

Live production

Somebody is making editorial decisions in real time. Cameras with a director cutting between them, an audio mix built for the output rather than the room, graphics identifying speakers, a recording of the result.

The distinguishing feature is not the amount of kit. It is that someone is shaping what the audience sees while it happens.

Live streaming

Getting the produced output to viewers who are not in the room. Encoding, connectivity, a platform and somebody monitoring the received stream.

This is a delivery layer, not a production. You can stream an unproduced feed, and it usually shows.

What is normally included

Crew and equipment for the agreed rig. A director. Prep and testing. Rig and derig within the agreed windows. A programme record.

What is normally extra

Additional rooms. Overnight or early get-ins outside the agreed window. Travel and accommodation on distant jobs. Rehearsal days. Editing afterwards. Additional platforms. Presenters, captioning and BSL interpreters.

None of that is a supplier being awkward. It is all additional resource.

The useful question

Rather than asking whether a supplier does live production, ask who is cutting the cameras, what audio the stream carries, and what you receive afterwards. The answers place them on this scale immediately.

More on multi-camera production and what we cover.