Guide · Hiring a studio
How to brief a video production company when the film is made with AI
For the brand manager, founder or agency producer who has a film to commission, a page to fill in, and wants the first draft back to be the right film.
The short answer
A video production brief is one page with seven things on it: the objective, the audience, the two or three key messages, every deliverable, fixed dates, a budget range and two or three references. When the film is made with AI, add four more: your brand and product files, a list of what must be exact and what the studio may invent, who appears on screen, and who reviews the film and at which stage. You do not need a script, a shot list or prompts. Those are the studio's job.
The seven lines
What to put in a video production brief
Production companies that publish brief guides agree on the core. Oliver Studio's How to Brief a Video Production Company (July 2026, read October 2026) lists objective, audience, two or three key messages, deliverables and formats, fixed dates, a budget range and optional reference videos. The table adds what to actually write on each line and what the studio does with it.
| Line | What to write | Example | What the studio does with it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Objective | The action the viewer should take, or the decision the film supports | "Get existing customers to pre-order the new shoe" | Picks the length, the structure and the ending |
| Audience | One named viewer, what they already know, where they will watch | "Runners who own one pair of ours, watching on a phone" | Sets the pace, the opening seconds and what needs explaining |
| Key messages | Two or three, in priority order; one is better | "The new sole grips wet rock" | Becomes the line the script is written to |
| Deliverables | Every finished file: length, ratio, platform, captions | "45 s in 16:9; 15 s in 9:16 and 1:1; captions burned in" | Decides what gets made and most of the quote |
| Dates | Fixed dates only: launch, event, media booking | "Final files by March 1; media goes live March 8" | Sets the review rounds that fit |
| Budget | A range, and whether it covers music and voice licences | "A range, music included" | Says what fits and what to cut before work starts |
| References | Two or three films, with what you like in each | "This one for the light, that one for the pace" | Starts the look; a note beats a link on its own |
The deliverables line is the one buyers leave shortest. A hero film with three cutdowns in three ratios is ten files, and each needs its own framing. The full channel-by-channel list is in ad campaign deliverables.
The four AI lines
What changes when you brief an AI video studio
Every frame Ruminate X delivers is made with generative AI. There are no film crews, sets or location shoots. A brief for that kind of film drops everything that plans a shoot and adds the lines that keep generated footage on brand and accurate.
| A filmed brief asks for | An AI film brief asks for instead | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Locations and permits | References for the world the film lives in: light, palette, texture, season | The world is built before any shot, and every shot is generated inside it |
| Casting and talent | Who appears: generated people, or a real person (who then has to be filmed or has given written consent to a likeness) | A generated person can play a scene but cannot be a real customer, doctor or employee |
| Shoot days and crew | Brand and product files: vector logo, packaging art, product photos from every angle, colour codes | The studio sets logos and on-screen text from your files instead of trusting a generator to draw them |
| Props and product samples | What must be exact and what may be invented | Decides which shots get extra passes |
| Call sheet and sign-off on set | Who reviews, and at which stage: boards, first cut, final | Changing a shot is cheap at boards and costly after the edit |
Send files, not adjectives
“Make it look premium” gives a studio nothing to check against. A packaging file, the logo as an SVG, brand colours as codes and twenty product photos taken from every side give it a reference for every frame. Generated footage still breaks in the same places: the same face across many shots, hands holding a product, the exact shape of packaging, a logo, and text on screen. Each of those needs a file or a rule in the brief. Keeping a real product accurate in AI video goes through the checks shot by shot, and brand visual DNA covers what to send so the look holds.
Say what may be invented
The other half of the list is freedom. If the trail, the weather, the runner and the time of day can be anything that fits the brand, say so. A brief that marks everything as exact turns a generated film into a slow and expensive one; a brief that marks nothing gets a film your product team rejects.
Regulated briefs
Briefing a pharma, medical or lab film
A brief from a pharma, biotech, lab or medical company needs three more lines: the claims your regulatory team has already approved (word for word), the safety information that must appear and how, and who in medical, legal and regulatory review sees the boards, not only the finished cut. Say too whether patients or clinicians appear. A generated person can portray a patient, disclosed where your review team or the platform requires it; a real patient's or doctor's testimony has to be filmed. The rules and the AI drug ads made so far are on AI pharma commercials and AI video for pharma and healthcare marketing.
This is not legal or regulatory advice. Your own legal, regulatory or MLR team decides what the film may say and show.
Template
Video brief template you can copy
Fill in every line. Leave a line blank only if you mean “the studio decides”, and say so.
- Objective. What should a viewer do or decide after watching?
- Audience. One named viewer, what they already know, where and on what screen they watch.
- Key message. The one sentence they should remember. A second and third only if they must.
- Deliverables. Each file: length, ratio, platform, captions, textless versions.
- Dates. The fixed ones, and what is fixed about them.
- Budget range. And whether music and voice licences are inside it.
- References. Two or three films, a sentence on what you like in each, one you do not like.
- Brand and product files. Logo (vector), packaging art, product photos from every side, colour codes, fonts, brand guidelines.
- Exact and free. What must match reality; what the studio may invent.
- Who appears. Generated people only, or a real person (filmed separately, or with written consent to a likeness).
- Review. Who approves boards, first cut and final, including legal or medical review, and how many rounds the dates allow.
- Where it runs and how it is labelled. Channels, paid or organic, and any platform or company rule on disclosing AI.
A filled-in example
An invented brief for a footwear brand, to show the level of detail that works: launch the new trail shoe to existing customers before spring; for runners who already own one pair, watching on a phone; message, the new sole grips wet rock; one 45-second film in 16:9 for YouTube and the site, two 15-second cuts in 9:16 and 1:1, captions burned in; final files by March 1; a budget range with music included; references, two films with a line each; files, the logo as SVG, the colourway as codes, thirty product photos; exact, the shoe, the sole pattern, the logo; free, the trail, the weather, the runner; generated people only; brand manager on boards, legal on the final cut; paid social and YouTube, labelled where the platform asks.
Budget lines for that kind of film are in the commercial production budget template.
What you can skip
What you do not need to send
A script, a shot list and prompts. Oliver Studio says the same for filmed work: companies usually develop the script with you once the brief is clear. For an AI film the prompts are the least useful thing a client can write, because the studio reruns every shot many times against its boards and rewrites them as it goes. Send the decision, the viewer and the files, and let the studio show you a script and boards before anything is generated.
How we use it
What Ruminate X does with your brief
At Ruminate X the brief comes back as a one-page creative brief with references, tone and the single message the film must land, and nothing is generated until you approve it. The brand world (palette, light, texture, camera language, the kind of people on screen) is built next with 100creatives. Then the script breaks into a beat sheet and a shot list you see before any frame exists. Faces, hands, product details and brand colours get extra generation passes, and logos and on-screen text are set in the edit from your files. Every stage is on how we make an AI brand film.
Who should send this brief to an AI studio
Hire Ruminate X if
- A brand manager with a launch date and a product that can be shown accurately from its files, who has no budget or calendar for a shoot.
- A founder or marketing lead who can write the one sentence the film has to land and wants a cinematic brand film or commercial.
- An agency producer briefing an AI production partner for a client film, with the client’s brand files in hand.
- A pharma, lab or medical marketer whose approved claims and review stages are already defined.
Hire someone else if
- The film needs your own staff, a real customer or a real doctor speaking for themselves: brief a production company with a crew.
- You need an event, a factory or a clinic filmed as it is: that is documentary work for a camera crew.
- You need many short clips a month and have someone in-house to run a generator: a self-serve tool such as Runway, Veo, Kling or Sora costs less than a studio.
- Your audience is likely to reject anything visibly AI-made: film it.
Questions buyers ask
How do I brief a video production company?
Send one page that covers what the video must achieve, who it is for, the two or three things it must say, every deliverable (length, ratio and platform for each cut), fixed dates, a budget range and two or three reference videos with a note on what you like in each. If the film will be made with AI, add your brand files (vector logo, packaging art, product photos from every angle, brand colours), a list of what must be exact and what the studio may invent, whether any real person appears, and who reviews the film and at which stage. You do not need a script or a shot list; the studio writes those.
What should a video brief include?
Seven things: the objective, the audience, the key messages, the deliverables, the dates, the budget range and references. A brief for an AI-made film adds four: the brand and product files the studio sets your logo and product from, what has to be reproduced exactly, who appears on screen (generated people, or a real person who has to be filmed or has consented to a likeness), and who signs off, including legal or medical review. Without those four lines, a studio can only guess what may change from shot to shot.
What is an example of a creative brief?
A one-page example: "Objective: launch our new trail shoe to existing customers before the spring season. Audience: runners who already own one pair of ours. Message: the new sole grips wet rock. Deliverables: one 45-second film in 16:9 for YouTube and the website, 15-second cuts in 9:16 and 1:1. Dates: final files by March 1. Budget: a range. References: two films, with what we like in each. Exact: the shoe, the logo, the colourway. Free to invent: the trail, the weather, the runner. Review: brand manager on boards, legal on the final cut." This page has a longer version.
How do I write a creative brief for a video project?
Start with the decision the video has to cause (a sign-up, a purchase, an applicant) and the one person it is for, then write the single sentence the viewer should remember. Everything else in the brief follows from those three lines: the length, the platforms, the tone and the references. Keep it to one page, list every finished file you need, and say who approves it. If you cannot write the one sentence, the studio cannot either, and the first draft will show it.
What is different about briefing an AI video studio?
There is no shoot to plan, so the brief has no locations, cast or shoot days. In their place the studio needs files and limits: your logo as a vector, packaging art and product photos from every angle, brand colours as codes, a list of what must match reality and what can be invented, and a clear answer on whether any real person appears. Generated footage is weakest at the same face across many shots, hands, packaging and on-screen text, so those lines decide how many passes each shot gets. Ruminate X sets logos and text in the edit from your files.
Should I include a budget in a video brief?
Yes, a range. Without one the studio guesses the scope: a 30-second film can be made at very different levels of finish, and the number of scenes, versions and review rounds moves the price more than the length. With a range, the studio can say what fits and what to cut. Ruminate X quotes each film from the brief and does not publish a price list.
Send the brief
Send the objective, the viewer, the deliverables and your dates. Files can follow.