pre-production 
noun [mass noun]
Work done on a product, especially a film or broadcast programme, before full-scale production begins: [as modifier]: the pre-production script...
- You get to see production every step of the way, from story sessions to pre-production to filming to the post-production.
- Plenty of detail on every aspect of the film from pre-production to opening night is covered.
- Sadly for them, this film was ‘too late’ by the time it began pre-production in Italy.
- groundnut
- groundnut oil
- groundout
- ground pine
- ground plan
- ground rent
- ground rule
- ground run
- groundsel
- groundshare
- groundsheet
- groundsill
- groundskeeper
- ground sloth
- groundsman
- ground speed
- ground squirrel
- ground staff
- ground state
- groundstroke
- groundswell
- ground tackle
- ground-to-air
- ground troops
- ground truth