The person at the record label or management company responsible for overseeing the music video, from briefing directors to approving the final edit.

The commissioner is the director’s main point of contact on the label side. They manage budgets, timelines, creative feedback, and approvals. They are the ones who decide which treatment wins the brief.

Commissioner in the real world

In 2019, a lobby group called We Direct Music Videos, co-founded by Dan Kwan of directing duo DANIELS, published formal guidelines calling for greater transparency in the commissioning process. The campaign highlighted that directors pitch treatments for free with no guarantee of being paid, and that better-written briefs from commissioners would reduce the volume of wasted creative work across the industry.

Related terms

Director, Brief, Commissioning budget, Treatment, Pitch process