Finding a filmmaker to work with on Genero has never been easier, but if you want a great response from filmmakers, it’s important to have a clear and well written brief.
To help you get the best result, we’ve got some tips on writing your brief, to make sure you get the best engagement from our global creative community!
Step 1 – Key Details
In this first part of the brief form, make sure you carefully fill out the key details to explain what your top line requirements are. Here are a few tips for this section:
- Timelines: We can work with any production timeline and get responses from our creative network within a few days, but for the best result we recommend allowing at least 7 to 14 days for treatment submissions and 14 to 30 days for production, depending on the brief. The higher the budget and the longer the brief is open the more likely you are to get a strong selection of ideas.
- Be realistic about your dates: If you have multiple people involved in the feedback process or if client approval is required you may need to extend your video delivery date to allow for a longer production period. Unrealistic deadlines will deter creators from pitching.
- Widen your production locations if possible: Unless you need a creator based in a specific location, widening your production location or allowing all creators globally to pitch will increase the diversity of ideas.
- Understanding usage rights: Unless your content is for TV / broadcast, usage rights for all other media are included in the budget you set, in perpetuity and in all territories. Chat to us if you have any questions about TV and broadcast usage rights.
Step 2 – The Brief
A great way to start a brief is with a description of who the client is, what sort of filmmaker they're looking for and what kind of content needs to be created. For example:
‘Farmers First Hand’ is a social initiative to connect Tetley consumers with the farmers who make their tea so special. We are looking for an Indian based filmmaker to create a series of 20 videos, that capture warm and authentic stories about our farmers and tea production processes in India.
From there, you can provide as much information as possible, such as the purpose of the video, the intended platforms and formats required, what needs to be included in the video, your creative direction and as many other details as you have. Here are some additional tips for writing the brief:
- Keep the audience in mind. Filmmakers may not always understand business/marketing terms (including jargon and acronyms), so be clear and simple with your message.
- Make sure you include information under the right section of the brief, ie. audio/creative direction/brand details.
- You can format a new heading by including ##### in front of a title (ie. #####Mandatories)
- If your brief is not open globally, it should state clearly whether filmmakers pitching must be based in the required country, a citizen/resident of the required country, or just be available to shoot in a specific location.
- A huge part of our community are animators! It’s great to include in the brief whether you’re open to pitches from animators or not.
Sharing links to reference videos are a fantastic way to inspire filmmakers and give examples of the kind of content you’re looking for.
Step 3 – Design
Once you’ve nailed the video brief, it’s time to make it look great.
- Brief image: Upload a high quality thumbnail image for your brief, which will be used across the Genero platform and for promotion of your job. The optimal size for the image is 600 x 338 pixels. Try to avoid text or logos in this image as it may be too small to read across different devices, but do choose an image that is relevant to the brief and will stand out.
- Vertical banner: Upload a vibrant or emotive vertical banner to use on the title card of your brief. High quality images with no text will work best, and the image will be cropped for best fit. If you don’t have any suitable images to use, we’d suggest searching for a relevant creative commons image on a site like Unsplash.
- Strapline: Think of a catchy strapline that explains the brief in less than 50 characters. It should be short, sweet and informative. For example: ‘Make a 30 second stop-motion video for Instagram’.
That’s it!
Ready? Submit a brief here and note that we always check briefs before they go live and will work with you to give you any tips to improve it.