Seven brief mistakes that make content cost more

We have read roughly 850 briefs. The bad ones share DNA: they describe what the client wants to see, not what the work needs to do. Fixing your brief costs nothing and usually saves an edit round, sometimes a whole reshoot.

Mistake 1: no goal, just vibes

'Something fresh and engaging' is not a goal. 'Get 30 bookings for the autumn menu' is. Every decision we make on a shoot hangs off the goal: format, length, where the call to action lands. No goal means we guess, and you pay for the guessing.

Mistake 2: the committee brief

Four people wrote it, so it says everything and prioritises nothing. Pick one owner. Their opinion wins ties. The fastest projects we run have exactly one person whose 'yes' counts.

Mistake 3: references with no reason

Sending three links with 'like this' tells us nothing. Like the pacing? The colour? The fact it got 2M views on a 900K account? Name the thing you liked or we will copy the wrong part beautifully.

Mistake 4: no numbers anywhere

Budget and deadline are the two numbers that shape everything. 'We will see what it costs' forces us to pitch a safe option you cannot afford or a cheap one you will hate. A range, even a rough one, gets you a real proposal.

Mistake 5 to 7, quick fire

• No channel named: a reel and a YouTube video are different objects. Say where it lives.
• No approval path: if three people must approve, say so now. We will build the time into the timeline instead of crashing into it.
• No brand guardrails: fonts, words you never use, the CEO's hatred of drone shots. All of it belongs in the brief.

What a good brief looks like

Seven lines: the goal, the audience, the channel, the deadline, the budget, the one decision maker, and a link to something you liked plus why. That is it. Our brief form walks you through most of it, and the strategy clients get a template version on the strategy page. If you want to see what comes out the other end of a good brief, the video production page shows the timeline it unlocks.

The cheapest edit round is the one your brief made unnecessary.

Jack Mercer Founder, reads every brief

Started the studio in a Hobart garage in 2019. Still reviews every brief that comes in, which the team finds charming and occasionally annoying.