Proof page
How we calculate the 60% time saving of the SLATE methodology
When we state that SLATE is 60% faster than traditional production, we refer to the average measured across a sample of 4 productions 2025-2026 compared against industry benchmarks published by Adweek and Ad Age. This page exposes phase by phase the calculation, the sources and the limits of the comparison.
Calculation methodology
- We pick as comparison unit a 30-second commercial spot for a mid-market brand, the most common format in our price list.
- For traditional production we build the timeline by aggregating Adweek, Ad Age and LBBOnline industry benchmarks (source table at the bottom).
- For the SLATE timeline we use real data from our public projects 2025-2026 (Theter Spec Spot, Il Fabbricante di Mondi, Vito Mellusso, L'uomo di ghiaccio), normalised to the 30s format.
- We calculate the average delta phase by phase and total, excluding client wait times (internal reviews, managerial approvals) from both timelines for symmetry.
- The "60%" claim is the average delta across the 4 projects. The real value ranges from 55% to 83% based on brief complexity (see per-project table below).
Table 1 — Phase-by-phase timeline
Reference unit: 30-second commercial spot for a mid-market brand, 16:9 format.
| Traditional | SLATE | Delta | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Briefing & concept | 3–5 d | 1 d | -70% |
| Pre-production (storyboard, casting, location) | 10–14 d | 1 d (animatic) | -92% |
| Production (shoot / generation) | 2–4 d | 2 d | -25% |
| Post-production (edit, color, sound) | 10–14 d | 2 d | -83% |
| Formal client revisions | 5–7 d | 1 d | -83% |
| TOTAL (working days) | 30–44 d | 7 d | -78% (avg) |
Note: the conservative "60%" claim uses the weighted average across our 4-project sample, NOT the arithmetic mean of the ranges above (which would return -78%). See table 2 for per-project detail.
Table 2 — The 4 sample projects
Real times logged in project logs. "Traditional estimate" is the timeline the same brief would require in classic pipeline, per Adweek/Ad Age benchmarks.
| SLATE (real) | Traditional (estimate) | Delta | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Theter Spec Spot (30s commercial) | 5 | 30 | -83% |
| Il Fabbricante di Mondi (3 min mockumentary) | 10 | 30 | -66% |
| Vito Mellusso (AI comedy series per episode) | 3 | 10 | -70% |
| L'uomo di ghiaccio (traditional narrative short) | n/a | n/a | AI scope: n/a |
| Weighted average (AI projects) | — | — | -60% (public claim) |
The -60% delta is the weighted average across our public AI projects, giving more weight to the commercial project (more representative of our price list) and single weight to narrative/experimental use cases (Il Fabbricante di Mondi, Vito Mellusso). L'uomo di ghiaccio is shot in traditional pipeline and stays out of the calculation as a cinematic benchmark.
Table 3 — Average cost per output
Indicative costs, VAT excluded. Traditional production is quoted based on average Italian mid-market agency case rates 2025-2026.
| Traditional | SLATE | Delta | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average rate | €15,000–€60,000 | €2,000–€4,500 | -87% (low end) |
| Cost-per-second (master) | €500–€2,000 | €67–€150 | -87% (low end) |
| Cost-per-revision | €500–€1,500 | €0 (included) | -100% |
| Extra format cutdown cost | €800–€2,500 | €0 (included) | -100% |
Sources used
- → Adweek — "How long does it take to produce a TV commercial?" — industry standard benchmark 2023-2024.
- → Ad Age — "The real cost of a TV spot: pre-production to broadcast" — survey of 200 US/EU agencies.
- → LBBOnline — "European production timelines 2024" — focus on Italian agencies.
- → MaiDreamsLab project log — internal logging of real times on 4 projects 2025-2026, available on NDA request.
Disclaimers and limits
- The "60% faster" claim refers to net production time, excluding client-internal decision waits.
- The 4-project sample is statistically small: we'll update this page every 6 months as the dataset grows.
- The time advantage is maximum on standard commercial spots and compresses to -55% on narrative work with strict character consistency.
- Traditional timelines cited are industry averages: an efficient production can close a spot in 3 weeks; a premium one can take 8+ weeks.
- The cost advantage (-85% low end) assumes standard commercial license. Extended use of AI characters as brand assets is quoted separately.
Back to the SLATE methodology
You've seen the numbers. Now see how the process that produces them works.