What to check before you hire a content creator in Bali

There's no shortage of people in Bali who'll shoot your villa. That's the problem. The range between the best and the worst is enormous and an Instagram grid doesn't tell you which one you're getting.

Here's what I'd check if I were on your side of it.

Ask for work in your category, not their best work

Anyone can show you their single best video. Ask to see a property walkthrough, or an on-camera piece, or a paid ad they made. Whatever you're actually buying.

If they can only show cinematic travel montages and you need someone talking to camera about your rooms, that's a different skill and you'll find out too late.

Ask who does the editing

Plenty of shooters outsource the edit. That's fine if it's good and a problem if the person you hired can't fix it. The edit is where a video is actually made. Ask who cuts it and how many rounds you get.

Get deliverables in writing before anyone shows up

This is the one that causes every dispute I've seen.

• /How many finished videos, and how long is each
• /How many edited photos
• /Do you get the raw footage
• /How long you can use the content, and whether that covers paid ads
• /How many revisions, and what counts as one
• /Delivery date

A creator who has this ready has done it before. One who goes vague around usage is either new or hoping you don't ask.

Talk about drone properly

Drone footage is the most oversold and least reliable part of a Bali shoot. Weather, location, temples, airports, private land and local rules all affect whether a flight happens at all.

Ask directly: do you fly, is it your own gear, and what happens to my quote if you can't fly that day. Anyone promising guaranteed aerials at any location is telling you what you want to hear.

Sort out who arranges access

If the shoot involves a restaurant, a beach club, a temple or anywhere that isn't your own property, someone has to arrange permission and it usually isn't free. Decide who's doing that and who's paying before the day, not on the day.

Check they think about the result, not just the shot

The tell is in the first conversation. Do they ask what the content is for? Who the guest is? Whether it's going on Reels, into ads, onto the booking page?

Someone who only wants to talk about their camera will hand you something beautiful that doesn't do a job. Someone who asks what you're trying to achieve will hand you something you can use.

Start small

One paid video. See how they communicate, whether they hit the date, whether the thing performs. Then book the bigger shoot.

It costs a little more per video to test that way and it's much cheaper than a full campaign with someone you'd never worked with.

A note on paying with stays

If you're hosting a creator instead of paying them, be clear about what you get for it. A stay is real money off your books. Write down the deliverables the same way you would for a cash invoice.

And if they're posting about it from their own account, that relationship has to be disclosed in the post. That's on both of you.