Post Supervisor Checklist for Tracking Deliverable Approvals Across Departments

Post supervision is, at its core, an information management job. You are not cutting the film. You are making sure the right version of every element gets to the right department at the right time, and that someone with authority has signed off on it before it moves.

The post supervisor deliverable approval tracking problem gets complicated fast. When picture, sound, VFX, and color are all moving simultaneously, a missed sign-off in one department can cascade into delays everywhere else.

Here is the system I would run.

The Core Principle: Every Deliverable Needs an Owner and a Status

Before you build any checklist, accept this: a deliverable without a named owner and a clear status is a deliverable that will miss its deadline. "In progress" is not a status. "Awaiting approval from director, deadline Thursday 5pm" is a status.

For every deliverable you are tracking, you need to know:

• What it is and which version
• Who needs to approve it
• When the approval deadline is
• Current status (not started / in review / approved / changes requested)
• Who is responsible for actioning any changes

This is true whether you are managing five deliverables or fifty.

Picture Deliverables

Assembly cut through fine cut:

• Approved by director (frame-accurate notes logged, not emailed)
• Version number confirmed before each review round
• Changes actioned and documented before next review

Picture lock:

• Director signed off (timestamped record)
• All producers with approval rights have signed off (timestamped record)
• Lock confirmed in writing to all downstream departments (sound, color, VFX)
• No further changes to picture without a formal open up process

Online edit:

• Conform verified against locked offline cut
• VFX shots placed from approved VFX renders
• QC pass completed before delivery

For a deeper look at the lock documentation step, this piece on picture lock documentation and how editors prove a cut was approved is worth reading before your first feature.

Sound Deliverables

• Spotting session completed with director and sound designer
• Temp mix reviewed and approved before picture lock
• Dialogue edit received from editor, version confirmed
• Sound designer working off locked picture (not provisional)
• Premix reviewed by director
• Final mix approved by director and producer
• M and E (Music and Effects) mix delivered for international
• Deliverable specs confirmed for broadcast or theatrical

The handoff from picture to sound is where mistakes happen. This handoff checklist from picture lock to sound design covers exactly what information needs to travel with the cut.

• Picture lock confirmed in writing before sound starts
• Sound designer on locked picture, not provisional
• Premix reviewed by director before final mix
• Final mix approved by director and producer
• M and E mix delivered for international use

VFX Deliverables

• VFX turnover list generated from locked offline
• Plates pulled and delivered to VFX vendor
• VFX reviews scheduled at agreed intervals (weekly or per-shot completion)
• Frame-accurate notes delivered to vendor via review platform (not email)
• Each shot approved at review before vendor proceeds to final render
• Final renders received and conformed into online
• VFX supervisor signed off on each approved shot (documented)

VFX coordination is where verbal notes kill productions. Frame-accurate, written notes on every review keep your vendor accountable and protect you when disputes arise. How VFX supervisors give frame-accurate notes without emailing screenshots is the companion piece for your VFX team.

Color and Finishing Deliverables

• Handoff package to colorist: locked cut EDL, original media, reference LUT
• Color grade reviewed by director and DP together
• Any VFX shots in grade confirmed against approved VFX renders
• Final grade approved by director and DP (documented)
• Deliverable specs confirmed (broadcast, theatrical, streaming) before rendering
• QC on final renders completed before submission

Remote color review sessions are increasingly common. How to run a remote color grading review session with your director covers the specifics of making that work without the usual back-and-forth.

The Approval Tracking Table

Here is a simple table format I use for tracking across a single project:

Keep this live. Update it after every review session. Share it with department heads so they can see where their deliverable sits without having to ask you.

How to Handle Departments Moving Simultaneously

On most productions, sound and color overlap. VFX may still be turning over shots while the online edit is being conformed. The risk is that a late VFX shot changes the timing and invalidates a sound cue or a color grade that was already approved.

Your job as post supervisor is to flag these dependencies before they become emergencies. When VFX is still in progress, sound should be working with reference shots, not approved renders. When that status changes, communication has to happen immediately.

PlayPause helps here because every approval is documented. When a late change arrives, you can point to the timestamped record of what was previously approved and force the conversation about whether a formal open up is needed.

Managing Remote Departments

If your sound designer is in a different city and your VFX vendor is in another country, the checklist items are the same. The tool for collecting approvals needs to work for people who are not in your building.

All review links in PlayPause work for external collaborators without requiring them to create an account. Your colorist, your VFX vendor, your sound mixer, your director on the other side of the world can all receive a link, watch the deliverable, and leave timestamped notes. You see everything in one dashboard.

For productions managing episodic delivery across multiple departments, the dailies-to-delivery pipeline for episodic TV has a broader framework that this checklist fits inside.

Start tracking your deliverables in one place. PlayPause is free to start and your first review link takes less than a minute to set up.