A bad brief is the most expensive mistake in video, even though it costs nothing to write. When the agency does not know exactly what you want, it fills the gaps its own way, and you only find out at the first cut, when a fix is expensive. Below is the video production brief template we use with clients, every field explained, and an honest note about when even the best brief will not save you.
In this article
Key takeaways
- A good brief is one page, not ten: goal, audience, message, where it runs, budget, deadline and a list of deliverables. When these are missing, the agency guesses, and it guesses expensively.
- According to the PMI study Pulse of the Profession (The Essential Role of Communications), ineffective communication is the main reason roughly one in three projects fails. Video is no exception.
- The most important line in a brief is not „what we will shoot", it is „what should happen when someone finishes watching". Goal comes before format.
- State the budget, even if you are afraid to. Without a number you get either a proposal you cannot pay for, or a video you did not want.
- Do not write the script for the agency. Write the problem. The solution is exactly what you are paying for.
- The template is below: eight points, each one question you can answer in two sentences.
Why is a bad brief more expensive than a weak camera?
Direct answer: you can rent a camera for a day, you cannot get a wasted shooting day back. When the crew arrives on location and the brief has no goal, you shoot pretty footage that leads nowhere. Fixing it costs a second shoot, meaning full price all over again.
According to the PMI study Pulse of the Profession (The Essential Role of Communications), ineffective communication, not missing skill, is behind failure in roughly one in three projects. In video you see it at once: when client and production do not agree on the goal up front, the gap shows up in the edit, where every change is costly.
We know it from both sides. When a brief says clearly „we want people to submit an enquiry on our site after watching", we can build the script, pace and ending around it. When it says „we want a modern, dynamic video", we shoot something nice, but hitting the target on the first try is a lottery. For what a budget is actually made of, we broke it down in our piece on corporate video cost.
What should a video production brief template include?
Direct answer: eight things, and all eight fit on a single page. This is the template we send clients before the first call. Copy it and answer each point in two sentences.
- 1. Goal. What should happen when someone finishes the video? Not „raise awareness", but „fills in a form", „visits the stand", „understands how the product works". The goal drives everything else.
- 2. Audience. Who is it for? Describe one specific person, not „the general public". A factory buyer and a parent on leave need different videos.
- 3. Core message. One sentence the viewer should remember when they forget everything else. If you have three, you have none.
- 4. Where it runs. Website, YouTube, Instagram, a trade show, internal training? The place decides length, format and whether the video plays with sound or without it.
- 5. Format and length. At least a rough idea: a short spot under 60 seconds, a two minute case study, a series of vertical clips. If you are not sure, say so and we decide together.
- 6. Budget and deadline. A real number and a real date. The budget is not a test of how much we can pull out of you, it is the boundary we design the scope around.
- 7. Deliverables. How many versions, which aspect ratios, captions or not, who uploads them where. This is the most forgotten point and the one that stings most later.
- 8. References and guardrails. Two or three videos you like and one you do not. Plus logo, colours and anything that must not appear in the video.
If you want another angle on brief structure, StudioBinder has a solid video creative brief template you can download and adapt.
How do you write a video goal that is not empty?
Direct answer: write what the viewer should do, not how they should feel. „We want to look professional" is not a goal, it is a wish. „We want a recruiter to invite a candidate to interview after watching" is a goal, because you can measure it and build a script around it.
A trick we use: finish the sentence „This video is a success when...". Whatever comes after those three dots has to be observable. If only a gut feeling can judge it, the goal is still empty.
The goal also decides which service you actually need. A recruitment video is not a sales video is not a trade show loop. How the whole thing runs from the first call to delivery is described in how we work, and concrete formats and prices are on our production service page. If you are still unsure who to even approach, our list of questions in how to choose a video production company helps.
When will even a perfect brief not help?
Let us admit the other side. A brief is not magic, and there are situations where the paper alone will not save you.
It will not help when the goal you write is one video cannot deliver. Video raises awareness and trust, but it will not turn an overpriced product into a cheap one. If the problem is price or product, no perfect spot will cover it.
It will not help when ten people write it at once and each wants something different. That is not a brief, it is a list of contradictory wishes. Better to name one person with the final word, even if the rest of the team is heard first.
And it will not help if you send it and then disappear. The best videos come out of a dialogue: a good brief starts the conversation, it does not replace it. We always walk through it with the client after receiving it and settle half the questions on a call. Examples of what comes out of that are in our portfolio, such as the product video for eovolt.
Frequently asked questions
How long should a video brief be?
Ideally one page. Length is not a sign of quality, quite the opposite: the shorter and clearer the brief, the less room for misunderstanding. Sum up each of the eight points from the template above in a couple of sentences. If you have attachments, references or a logo manual, add them separately rather than mixing them into the main text.
Do I have to include a budget?
Yes, and it is in your interest. Without a budget the agency either proposes a scope you will not pay for, or shoots blind and you end up comparing proposals that cannot be compared. A budget is not a binding order, it is the boundary that lets us say what is realistically possible. Even a rough range is better than nothing.
Should I write the script in the brief?
No, write the problem and the goal, not the finished solution. When you send an exact script, you are paying experts to rewrite your sentences. The exception is mandatory legal or technical wording, include that. Leave the rest to the makers, the creative idea is what you hired them for.
Who should write the brief, us or the agency?
The first draft is yours, the final one is shared. You know the goal, the product and the audience, and nobody can replace that. The agency helps you refine it, fill the missing points and translate business goals into video terms. With us the first call is usually about writing together what the brief was missing.
If you want to go through your brief with someone who also shoots from it, get in touch through our contact page. Send us the rough version too, we will finish it together so that for your money you leave with the video you actually wanted.
