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How to Write a Video Production Brief That Actually Works
- Global
- Jul 30
- 7 min read
Your video production brief is the single most important document in any video project. It is the foundation your production company builds on, and the clearer it is, the better the final result. A vague or incomplete brief leads to misaligned concepts, wasted revisions, and a video that misses the mark.
After 18 years of producing brand videos, corporate films, explainers, and television commercials for enterprise clients across Sydney and beyond, we have seen hundreds of briefs. Some are brilliant. Many are missing critical information. This guide covers exactly what to include so your production partner can deliver a video that meets your goals the first time.
Start With the Objective, Not the Video
The most common mistake we see in briefs is jumping straight to what the video should look like before defining what it needs to achieve. Your objective shapes everything: the format, the tone, the length, the distribution strategy, and ultimately the budget.
Be specific. "Increase brand awareness" is a starting point, but it is not actionable. A stronger objective looks like this: "Drive a 20% increase in demo requests from mid-market SaaS companies in Q4 by using a brand video on our homepage and paid social channels."
When the objective is clear, your production company can recommend the right format. A testimonial video works differently from a 2D animated explainer, which works differently from a pre-roll ad for paid social. Each format has its own strengths, and the objective determines which one fits.
Questions to Answer in This Section
What business outcome should this video drive?
Where does this video fit in your marketing funnel (awareness, consideration, conversion)?
How will you measure success? (Views, click-through rate, lead generation, sales attribution)
Is there a specific campaign or launch date this ties to?
Define Your Audience With Enough Detail to Be Useful
"Marketing professionals aged 25 to 55" is too broad to guide creative decisions. Your production company needs to understand who they are speaking to so they can make choices about tone, pacing, visually style, and messaging.
Think about one specific person in your target audience. What is their role? What problem are they trying to solve? What do they already know about your product or service? What would make them stop scrolling?
For a corporate video aimed at C-suite decision-makers, the pacing will be different from a social media explainer targeting junior marketers. Your brief should make this distinction clear.
What to Include
Job title and seniority of your primary audience
Industry or sector
Their biggest pain point or challenge related to your product
Their level of familiarity with your brand
Where they will encounter the video (LinkedIn feed, website landing page, sales presentation, internal comms)
Spell Out Your Key Messages
Every video needs a core message and no more than two or three supporting points. If you try to say everything, the viewer remembers nothing.
Write your key messages in plain language. Avoid internal jargon or marketing speak that would not make sense to someone outside your organisation. If you were explaining this to a colleague in a lift, what would you say in 30 seconds?
We often ask our clients to complete this sentence: "After watching this video, the viewer should think, feel, or do ___." That single sentence can sharpen the entire creative direction.
A Practical Example
Core message: Our platform reduces onboarding time by 60%, so your team can focus on revenue-generating work from day one.
Supporting point 1: Existing customers have seen measurable productivity gains within the first month.
Supporting point 2: The platform integrates with tools your team already uses, so there is no disruption.
Set the Tone and Visual Direction
Tone is one of the areas where miscommunication happens most often. Words like "modern," "dynamic," and "professional" mean different things to different people. Reference videos are the fastest way to get everyone aligned. Include two or three links to videos you like, and be specific about what you like about each one. Is it the pacing? The colour palette? The music? The way they used text on screen? Is it the interview style or the way they cut between footage and graphics?
Equally useful: share examples of what you do not want. Knowing that you find a certain style too corporate or too casual saves time during the concept phase.
Tone Considerations
Should this feel aspirational or grounded and practical?
Is humour appropriate, or should it be entirely straight?
Do you want a narrator, on-camera presenter, interview format, or text-driven?
For animation projects, do you prefer 2D illustration, 3D motion graphics, or a mixed approach?
What existing brand guidelines should the production team follow? (Colours, fonts, logo usage)
Be Honest About Budget and Timeline
Budget is often the most uncomfortable part of the brief, but being upfront about it helps your production company design a project that delivers the most value within your constraints.
You do not need to share your exact figure down to the dollar. A realistic range is enough. Saying "we have between $15,000 and $25,000 for this project" allows your production partner to recommend an approach that fits. Without any budget indication, they may pitch a concept you cannot afford, or worse, underdeliver because they assumed a lower budget than you had available.
The same applies to timeline. If you need the final video in four weeks, say so upfront. A compressed timeline does not mean lower quality, but it does affect how the project is structured. Pre-production decisions need to happen faster, and there may be fewer revision rounds built in.
Budget and Timeline Checklist
What is your budget range for this project?
When do you need the final delivered video?
Are there interim deadlines (board presentation, campaign launch, trade show)?
Is there flexibility on the timeline if it means a better result?
Do you have budget for multiple formats or cutdowns (e.g. a 60-second hero video plus 15-second social edits)?
Specify Your Deliverables
One of the most overlooked sections of a brief is the deliverables list. A single video project can produce dozens of assets if planned correctly, but your production company needs to know what you need from the start.
Think beyond the hero video. Do you need vertical cuts for Instagram Stories or TikTok? A 6-second bumper ad for YouTube pre-roll? A longer version for your website and a shorter one for paid social? Still frames from the shoot for blog posts or social media? Behind-the-scenes photography? Or side-by-side brand photography?
Planning for multiple deliverables upfront is far more cost-effective than coming back after the shoot to request additional cuts. Your production team can capture extra footage, frame shots differently, and plan the edit timeline to accommodate multiple outputs from day one.
Common Deliverables to Consider
Hero video (typical lengths: 60 seconds, 90 seconds, or 2 minutes)
Social cutdowns (15-second and 30-second versions)
Vertical formats for Stories, Reels, and TikTok (9:16 aspect ratio)
Pre-roll ads for paid media (6-second and 15-second)
Photography stills from the shoot
Subtitled versions for silent autoplay on social feeds
Different language versions or subtitle tracks
Outline the Approval Process
Internal approval is where many video projects lose momentum. A video that takes three weeks to produce can sit in an approval queue for six weeks if the process is not defined upfront.
Your brief should include who needs to approve the video at each stage, from concept and script through to the final cut. Be clear about how many rounds of revisions are included and who has the final sign-off. If legal or compliance teams need to review the content, flag this early so your production company can build it into the timeline.
We recommend identifying a single point of contact on the client side who can consolidate feedback. When multiple stakeholders send conflicting notes, the revision process becomes slower and the result often suffers.
Approval Details to Include
Who is the day-to-day contact for this project?
Who gives final sign-off?
How many revision rounds do you expect?
Does legal, compliance, or any other department need to review?
What is your internal turnaround time for feedback at each stage?
Include the Context Your Production Company Cannot Google
The best briefs include information that is not on your website. Competitor positioning. Internal language your sales team uses. Reasons a recent campaign underperformed. Customer objections your team hears on calls every day.
This context helps your production company create content that is genuinely strategic, not just visually polished. A brand video informed by real customer pain points will always outperform one based solely on your "About Us" page.
If you have recent customer research, case study data, or recordings of sales calls, share them. Production companies that understand the full picture deliver work that moves the needle.
The Bottom Line
A strong video production brief does not need to be long. It needs to be clear, specific, and honest. Cover these eight areas and your production company will have everything they need to deliver a video that works.
Objective: What the video needs to achieve
Audience: Who it is for and where they will see it
Key messages: The one thing viewers should take away
Tone and style: Reference videos and brand guidelines
Budget and timeline: A realistic range and hard deadlines
Deliverables: Every format and length you need
Approval process: Who signs off and how fast
Context: The insights your production partner cannot find on their own
At Global Pictures, we work with enterprise marketing teams across Sydney and Australia to turn briefs into videos that deliver real results. If you are working on a brief and want a second pair of eyes before you go to market, we are always happy to help.
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