How to Write a Brand Video Brief (the One-Page Template Producers Actually Want)

The short answer: a great brand video brief fits on one page — the video's single job, its primary audience, where it will live, the three things it must communicate, a handful of reference videos with notes on why, and your real constraints (budget range, deadline, who approves). What it should not contain: shot lists, scripts, or camera directions. You're briefing the outcome; the producer's job is the how.

I've received briefs that were a text message and briefs that were nineteen slides. The one-pagers produce better films every time — here's the template, section by section.

1. The job (one sentence)

"Convince Series A investors we have momentum." "Make prospects trust us before the first sales call." "Get event attendees to register for next year." One video, one job — if you have two jobs, you have two videos (or one shoot with two cuts, which is a fine answer a producer can design for). Everything else in the brief hangs off this sentence.

2. Audience and placement

Who watches, and where? A homepage hero, a LinkedIn feed, and a pitch-meeting screen have different lengths, pacing, sound assumptions (feed video plays muted — captions aren't optional), and aspect ratios. Name the primary placement and the secondary ones; cutdowns are cheap when planned and expensive when retrofitted.

3. The three messages

If a viewer remembers three things, what must they be? Write them as claims ("they've done this for companies like ours"), not features. And resist the fourth message — every addition dilutes the first three. This section is where stakeholders fight, which is exactly why it belongs in the brief and not in the edit-review round.

4. References with reasons

Three to five links, each with one line on what you like: "the pacing of the first 10 seconds," "how founder-led it feels," "this level of polish, not more." References without reasons are mood-board noise; references with reasons are the fastest alignment tool that exists. It's fine — useful, even — if one reference is "we don't want this."

5. Real constraints

Budget range, hard deadline, exec availability for the shoot, and the name of the single person who approves cuts. Producers price honestly against honest constraints — a realistic NYC range is $5,000–$12,500 for most B2B needs, and about four weeks start to finish. Hiding the budget to "see what they come back with" wastes a round for everyone; naming the approver prevents the committee edit that quietly ruins more videos than any budget cut.

What to leave out

Shot lists, script drafts, music picks, and camera specs. Not because your instincts are wrong — but because prescribing the how caps the film at your imagination and removes the expertise you're paying for. If the strategy sections above are sharp, a good producer will pitch you a treatment better than the one in your head; the full brand video handbook covers what happens next.

FAQ

When do we send the brief?
With your inquiry. A producer quoting against a real brief gives you an accurate number and a sharper first conversation — mine come back with scope, timeline, and price within 48 hours.

What if we don't know our budget?
Give a range, even a wide one. "Somewhere between $5K and $15K" is enough to shape scope honestly.

Who should write it?
Whoever owns the outcome — usually marketing — with the approver's sign-off on the three messages before it goes out. Alignment now is cheap; alignment in revision rounds costs weeks.

Does this work for other video types?
Yes — the same page briefs a launch video, customer story, or event recap. Only the job sentence changes.

Have a video in mind? See the brand film package, or send me your one-pager — even a rough one — and I'll come back with a treatment, timeline, and number within 48 hours.