Free client brief template
Stop starting projects with vague briefs. This 6-section questionnaire captures everything you need to quote accurately, set clear scope, and avoid revision disputes.
filefeedback.com/tools/client-video-brief-template
Great brief. Now make the review as clean as the kick-off.
FileFeedback lets clients leave timestamped feedback directly on your video or PDF — no email threads, no vague notes, no "the bit around 1:30" confusion.
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Project overview, audience, style & tone, deliverables & specs, timeline & approvals, assets & logistics. The order reflects how clients think about briefs.
Questions like "who has final sign-off authority?" and "what are the must-avoids?" surface the decisions clients haven't made yet — before they become your problem.
Copy the completed brief as formatted plain text, ready to paste into a proposal, email, or shared doc. The brief travels with the project.
Print a clean PDF version to bring to kick-off meetings or share with your client as a reference document throughout the project.
Captures the delivery date, milestones, revision rounds, sign-off authority, and other stakeholders — all in one place.
Covers reference videos, must-haves, and must-avoids — so everyone starts with the same creative reference point, not a vague "modern and professional".
Send to clients before the kick-off call, or complete it together on the call.
Client name, project title, video type, core goal, and call to action. Set the context before getting into detail.
Who is watching this? Where will it be shown? What problem does it solve for them? These three answers shape every creative decision.
Confirm formats, aspect ratios, duration, captions, music, and any other deliverables — in writing, before the project starts.
Copy the completed brief as text to attach to your proposal, or print it as a PDF to use as your project reference document.
Any video professional who wants to start projects with clarity instead of assumptions.
Send it to clients before every project. The brief takes 15 minutes to complete and eliminates hours of back-and-forth on scope, style, and what was actually agreed.
Use it as a standard intake form for all new briefs. Attach the completed brief to your proposal so the client confirms they've read and approved the scope before you start.
Share it with internal stakeholders before starting any video project. "Internal client" briefs are just as vague as external ones — sometimes more so.
A good video brief covers six areas: (1) Project overview — client name, project title, type of video, core goal, and call to action. (2) Target audience — who the viewer is, where the video will be shown, and what problem it solves for them. (3) Style and tone — how the video should feel, reference examples, must-haves, and must-avoids. (4) Deliverables and specs — formats, aspect ratios, duration, captions, and music requirements. (5) Timeline and approvals — delivery date, milestones, number of revision rounds, and who has sign-off authority. (6) Assets and logistics — whether production is required, brand assets, legal restrictions, and budget range.
Send the brief template to the client before your kick-off call — not during it. Ask them to complete it as a prep exercise. This shifts the work onto them (they know their brand, audience, and goals better than you do) and means your call is spent discussing answers rather than collecting information. Clients who struggle to complete a brief are showing you something important: they haven't thought the project through yet, which is a sign to slow down before committing to a price.
A written brief protects both parties. For the editor, it defines the scope — if a client asks for "a few extra cutdowns" and the brief says one hero video only, you have grounds to raise a change order. For the client, it forces clarity on what they actually want before money changes hands. The brief is also the reference point for every revision round: "this doesn't match the brief" is a far stronger statement than "I don't think this is right".
A client who returns a half-completed brief or says "just make something great" is the highest-risk project you can take on. Use the brief questions as a discovery tool — work through them on a call and take notes. If they genuinely can't answer "who is the target audience?" or "where will this be shown?", that's a strategic gap before a production problem. Some editors offer a paid discovery session to define the brief before quoting; this is worth considering for large projects.
A brief is the client's document — it defines what they want, for whom, and why. A proposal is your document — it defines what you'll deliver, on what timeline, for how much. The brief comes first: without a clear brief, you can't write an accurate proposal. In practice, you often end up writing the brief on behalf of the client (based on a discovery call), then using it as the foundation for your proposal.
Two rounds is the industry standard for most video projects and should be stated explicitly in both the brief and the proposal. The first round is for structural changes (timing, story, major cuts); the second is for fine-tuning. Anything beyond two rounds is additional scope and should be costed as a change order. Making this clear in the brief — before the project starts — is far easier than trying to enforce it mid-edit.
FileFeedback makes client feedback as structured as a good brief — timestamped comments on the video, not vague notes in a long email.
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