In July 2015, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki dropped a huge knowledge bomb on attendees of that year's VidCon conference. She revealed that the video was being uploaded just to their site alone at a rate of 400 hours per minute. While YouTube has been mum since then, projections show that as of October 2016, that figure rose to 800 hours of video being uploaded every minute. That's a lot of videos.

In response to the demand, video production companies are springing up across the country. Not all companies are created equally, however. Since there is no licensing or any type of registration process, pretty much anyone with a camera can call themselves a video production company. The problem with video is that you can spend thousands of dollars and still end up with nothing or end up with a piece of crap video. So before you shell out a single dime, you want to do your utmost due diligence to ensure that you are putting your hard-earned dollars in capable hands. Here are 4 questions you should ask a video company.

1. What kind of budgets do they work with?

Video budgets run anywhere from a few thousand dollars to several million, but just like in Hollywood you can't always gauge what the final product will look like by the price. Many Oscar winners have been made on extremely small budgets, while budgets of $100M and upward have turned out complete flops. Do some checking in your area, to see what people have paid for good-quality videos. What you're looking for is to get a sense of what you should get for your budget and what you should expect to pay for what you want. Always ask to see their reel and samples of their work, as well as get some references. If possible, always make an attempt to meet them in person or at least video conference with them first. Make sure that what they genuinely have to offer lines up with what they are charging.

2. What kind of timelines do they work with?

There is an old saying in many fields, but it is certainly true of video: good, fast, cheap; pick two. If an agency claims to be able to shoot a video in a very short time on a very modest budget, don't expect much in the way of quality. If you wait until the last minute (a few weeks, if not days before you need it) expect to pay out the nose for a high-quality video. True professionals will have an established, tried and true process for creating a video and if you try and short-circuit that process, expect to pay dearly for it. You should always start planning for a video several months in advance. This will not only give you time to find the right agency, but it will also give them the time they need to complete the project on a moderate budget.

3. How involved do they want you to be in the process?

Some video companies just want you to tell them what you want and get out of the way. Other companies want you to be very hands-on in the process. There is no right or wrong here, but things can also go bad either way. Sometimes, when a company doesn't want you to be involved in the process, you can end up with a product you hate. On the other hand, video professionals understand a great number of things about the video that you don't. If you get too involved in the process, you can start making choices, requesting things or even making demands that end up damaging the final product more than helping it. Find a video company that allows you to be as hands-on as you want to be, but also know your limitations. When it comes to video, you - as the customer - may get what you want, but it doesn't always make you right.

4. How do they maintain communication?

One of the primary aims of enemy combatants in a war is to cut off the enemy's communications. The importance of communication cannot be overstated enough. It is important to find out upfront when, how and how often a company will communicate with you. You don't want to write a check and then not hear from them for 8 weeks, only to find out they are 3 weeks behind schedule. This is also why you want to plan several weeks in advance at a minimum and several months in advance if you have never made a video or are working with a new video company or agency you have never worked with. If they don't communicate well before you hand them a check, they are not likely to communicate well afterwards.