How to Prevent Expensive Brand Reshoots (as a Creator)

Even if the brand has not asked you to send them a concept of how you'll bring the partnership to life, you must do it every time.

Ideally, this would include a storyboard, a high-level script, or, at minimum, 2-3 sentences via email.

You have to send something that allows them a chance to say, "Wait a minute. We were thinking you would do another thing entirely."

Perfect. That's the type of feedback you want at this stage.

You can then communicate with the brand until you have a much better understanding of what they're expecting.

Here's an example of a script we wrote for a sponsorship with a brand we knew was extra cautious about how their products were depicted.

Wardrobe: Solid colors, loungewear, no labels/name brands.

Intro: Establishing shot of April and her two sons sitting on the sofa in the living room enjoying each other's company.

April's husband, Justin, comes on screen.

Justin: "Guys, look what I've got."

Justin temptingly holds up a package of [brand's product].

April: "Ooooh, can I have one?"

Justin says: "Well, we partnered with [Brand], so of course you can!"

Justin hands April the product. Close on April opening the product. Close on April, about to take a big bite.

Right when she sinks her teeth into [Brand's product], there's a sudden flash/transition, and the living room is transformed into a dance party!

The scenery will be decorated with the following items:

• Metallic tinsel

• Disco decor

• Colorful lights

We'll be suddenly wearing:

• Metallic party hats

• LED light-up glasses

Note: we will use the following royalty-free music tracks:

• Track 1

• Track 2

Our kids will be busting a move while Justin does the worm.

Just a super fun-filled scene!

Then, suddenly, we'll cut back to the normal living room where April is "finishing" the bite of [Brand's product]. She'll look dazed, and Justin and the boys will look at her curiously.

April (to herself): "So fluffy."

April's son: "You OK, Mom?"

April: "Couldn't be better!"

Justin and the boys shrug it off and then grab their own [Brand's product].

Right before they bite in unison, April looks straight at the camera with a smirk.

April: "Here we go again!"

There are a few things you'll likely notice about this script:

• It's incredibly detailed, leaving nothing to chance

• We linked the exact supplies and music tracks we were planning to use

If you're thinking this seems like a ton of unnecessary effort or destroys your creativity (especially if they're not asking for a script), ask yourself what's better:

An extra thirty minutes of work upfront or an extra day at the end to revise/reshoot the whole thing?

Also, remember: not every sponsorship will require a detailed script.

Here's another concept example from a deal we did with a brand we knew was more easy-going:

April's followers love her "Clean With Me" videos, so she will do a "Deep Car Clean With Me."

She will highlight how no job is complete without [Brand's product]!

The visual style will be similar to her other cleaning videos, in which she shoots lots of "speed-cleaning" footage accompanied by a voiceover incorporating all the brief's talking points.

No other cleaning product labels will be shown.

In this example, we linked to past videos April had done in this vein so the brand knew the exact content style she was envisioning.

Here's an even simpler example from a newsletter integration I did:

I would love to highlight exceptional testimonials or case studies from other creators in the [Brand's partnership program].

This allowed the brand to give a thumbs-up or thumbs-down on the high-level creative direction I was planning.