A Checklist for Judging a Briefing Before You Approve the Outline
Before an outline goes to a producer, a writer should be able to answer a short list of questions about audience, topic and duration. This checklist helps you decide whether the brief is ready.
Why a checklist comes before the outline
Most outlines that struggle in approval were weak before a single heading was written. The briefing was thin, a question went unasked, and the writer filled the gap with a guess. A checklist gives you a calm way to find those gaps while they are still cheap to fix.
In the Briefing and Outline Approval module we ask learners to run through the same list every time, whatever the topic. It takes ten minutes at most. It does not replace a conversation with the producer; it tells you what that conversation must cover.
These weeks, with new autumn programme schedules being settled, many writers receive briefs in a hurry. A short written list protects you from starting a draft on assumptions that nobody has actually confirmed.
Think of the list as a decision tool. At the end you should be able to say one of three things: the brief is ready, the brief needs two or three answers, or the brief is not yet a brief at all.
Audience: who is actually listening
Begin with the people on the other side of the screen. A segment for school-age viewers uses different sentences from one for adults attending a cultural talk. If the brief says only the general public, ask what that public already knows about the topic and where they will be watching.
Ask also about the presenter. A confident studio host can carry a longer sentence than someone speaking live for the first time. Rebecca's own habit, when writing interview introductions, is to read the first line aloud in the presenter's voice before judging whether the audience description fits.
Note anything the audience should not be asked to do, such as follow technical vocabulary without explanation. These limits shape the whole outline, so write them down at the start rather than discovering them during revisions.
If the producer cannot describe the audience in two sentences, that is useful information. It usually means the segment has not yet been planned, and an outline written now would be built on air.
- Who is watching, and how much do they already know?
- Who is speaking, and how experienced are they live?
- Is anything off limits for tone or vocabulary?
Topic: what the segment must and must not cover
A topic is not a title. Neutral subjects such as a local museum collection or a lecture on river ecology can fill ten minutes or thirty seconds, depending on what the producer wants viewers to take away. Ask for the one point the segment exists to make.
Then ask what is already covered elsewhere in the programme. A transition that repeats the previous segment wastes airtime, and an introduction that spoils the guest's best story wastes the guest. Knowing the neighbours helps you decide what to leave out.
Check the sources too. If facts, names or dates will be spoken, find out who has verified them and whether the writer is expected to do so. Accuracy is a matter of respect for the speakers, and it is far easier to settle before drafting than after a script has been read through.
Finally, confirm whether any material already exists, such as notes from the guest or an earlier script. Reusing it saves time, but only if you know how much of it the producer still stands behind.
Duration: turning minutes into words
Target duration is the most concrete line in any brief, and the one most often left vague. Ask for a number of seconds, not a feeling such as brief. A segment of ninety seconds holds far fewer spoken words than most writers expect once pauses and picture are counted.
Ask whether the length is fixed or flexible. Live programmes drift, and a good outline already includes the places where a paragraph can be dropped or stretched. If the producer cannot say how much give there is, propose a range and ask them to confirm it.
Agree also on where the time goes. An introduction that takes twenty of sixty seconds leaves little room for the guest. Sketching a rough split between opening, body and handover at the briefing stage prevents arguments over the draft.
Do this arithmetic with the presenter's real pace in mind, not an average. A slow, warm delivery and a brisk one can differ by a third over the same page.
- Exact target in seconds, and who set it
- How much the segment may run over or under
- Rough split between opening, body and handover
Approval: who signs off and how
An outline is only useful if someone with authority approves it. Before you write, find out who that person is, whether more than one person must agree, and how they prefer to receive the outline: a short page, a list of headings, or a few sentences in a message.
Ask what approval means. Some producers treat it as permission to draft freely; others expect to see the opening line and the closing line in the outline itself. Knowing which saves a round of revisions that nobody planned for.
Agree a date for the answer, too. Live schedules are tight, and an outline waiting for a reply can quietly eat the time meant for drafting. A simple agreed deadline protects both sides and shows you take the schedule seriously.
Keep a record of what was approved. When a note arrives later asking why a section is missing, a one-line summary of the agreed outline settles the question without any awkwardness.
Reading your answers and deciding
Once you have gone through the four areas, look at what you can answer in a sentence each. If audience, topic, duration and approval are all clear, the brief is ready and you can build the outline with confidence. Mark any assumption you made so it can be corrected early.
If two or three items are open, send the producer a short list of precise questions rather than a general request for more detail. People answer specific questions quickly, and their replies often reveal what the segment really needs.
If most items are open, pause. Offering to hold a short call is better than drafting around gaps. This is not delay; it is the cheapest point in the whole process at which to change direction.
Learners who practise this decision in the course tend to find that their first outlines are approved with fewer changes, simply because the thinking happened before the writing.
- Ready: build the outline and note your assumptions
- Nearly ready: send two or three precise questions
- Not ready: ask for a short call before writing
A briefing is ready when you can state the audience, the single point of the topic, the target duration and the approver without guessing. Go through the list each time, keep your notes short, and ask early when something is missing. The outline then becomes a record of decisions already made, which is exactly what a producer needs in order to say yes.
