A brief is not a script. It tells the creator what has to be true about the finished video, and then gets out of the way. Briefs that specify every sentence produce videos that sound exactly like advertising, which is the one thing UGC is supposed to avoid.

Keep it to one page

Product, the single doubt the video must resolve, the platform, the length, the deliverable format, the deadline. If a brief runs longer than a page it is either specifying too much or hiding a decision the brand has not made yet.

Name the one thing the video must show

Not five features. One. The video is thirty seconds long and it can prove exactly one thing well. Deciding which one is the brand's job and it is the part most briefs skip.

Write the constraints, not the words

Say the product must be visible in the first three seconds, that the packaging must be readable, that a competitor cannot appear in frame. Do not write the dialogue, because a creator reading your sentences sounds like somebody reading sentences.

State the legal wording separately

Any claim that must appear word for word goes in its own section, marked as non negotiable. Everything else the creator can phrase in their own voice. Mixing the two is how brands end up with a stiff video and a compliance problem at the same time.

Say what happens with revisions

How many are included, what counts as a revision rather than a new video, and how fast you will send feedback. Most disputes in this business come from an unstated assumption about revisions rather than from the work itself.

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Frequently asked questions

How long should a brief be?

One page, no more.

How many things can one video prove?

One, done properly.

Should the brief include dialogue?

No, only constraints and required wording.

What must be stated about revisions?

How many, what counts, and feedback speed.