The 5-line brief that gets brand films right (and the 5 things to leave out)
Most brand film briefs we receive are either three sentences ('we want a video, here is our website') or 14 pages ('we have built a 47-slide deck on our brand pillars'). Neither one helps us quote the work. There is a five-line version that does.
The first email a prospect sends to a production company sets the tone for everything after it. A good brief gets a real number, a real timeline, and a real recommendation back within a day. A vague brief gets a 'happy to hop on a call to learn more' reply, which is a polite way of saying we cannot quote this. A bloated brief gets a number that is wrong, because the studio quoted it from the wrong document.
Here is the version that works.
The five lines
Line 1: Where this video lives.
One sentence. 'Top of our homepage,' 'paid pre-roll on YouTube targeting CTOs,' 'sales kickoff in Q3,' 'recruiting page on our careers site.' This single line determines length, format, register, and call-to-action. A homepage hero film and a paid social ad are two completely different productions even if the brand is identical.
Line 2: Who needs to watch it and feel something specific.
'Series B SaaS founders considering whether to switch billing platforms.' 'Mid-career engineers who have never heard of us.' 'Existing customers who need to be reminded why they signed up.' If you cannot name the audience and the emotional ask in one sentence, the script will not be specific enough to land.
Line 3: The one thing the viewer should remember.
Not three things. One. 'We are the only platform built specifically for hardware companies.' 'Our customers are not fans, they are co-builders.' 'You can deploy in six minutes.' Brand films that try to communicate four things communicate zero.
Line 4: Reference video links — what you want it to feel like.
Three to five Vimeo or YouTube links of films you respect. Even better: one you love and one you specifically do not want to feel like. Reference links are the fastest way to get treatment alignment without sending a 47-slide deck. They translate vibe to specifics in 30 seconds.
Line 5: Budget range and target air date.
This one trips people up the most. There is a fear that disclosing the budget will cause the studio to spend exactly that. In our experience, the opposite is true. A studio that knows the budget upfront can recommend whether to scope a $25,000 hero film or three $8,000 punchier pieces. A studio guessing the budget will quote the safe middle and be wrong both ways.
What to leave out
1. The 47-slide brand deck.
We will read it eventually. We do not need it to quote. Brand decks are for the production company once the contract is signed. They are not part of the qualification step.
2. A scripted treatment you wrote yourself.
Send the strategy, not the script. Production companies that take your script verbatim and shoot it are following orders, not directing the work. The good ones will use your strategy to write a treatment that produces a better film than the one you imagined.
3. A list of specific shots you want.
Same problem. Shot lists belong in pre-production, not the brief. A specific shot in a brief signals that you are reaching for control because the strategy is fuzzy. Tighten the strategy and the shot list takes care of itself.
4. Comparisons to films with $400,000 budgets.
If the reference is an Apple commercial, say so — but also tell us what part of it matters. The cinematography? The pacing? The voiceover? Most reference videos are a flag for one element, not all of them. Naming which element keeps everyone honest about what is achievable in your budget.
5. A request for a free creative pitch.
Studios that do free pitches are subsidizing your decision-making with the work of teams that did not get paid. The good ones will not do it, and the ones that will are usually the ones you do not want. A 30-minute scoping call is the right amount of free work to ask for.
An example, end to end
That email gets a real reply with a real number within one business day from any production company worth working with. It also tells the company that you know what you are doing — which means they will send their best treatment, not a templated one.
If you are not sure on any of the five lines
Send what you have. The five-line brief is the destination, not a gate. We have helped clients build the brief itself when they knew they needed a film but had not yet figured out where it lives or who needs to watch it. That work is part of pre-production. It just changes the conversation from 'what does this cost' to 'what should this be.'
Written by
Jeshua Frees
Co-Founder, Clearline Production