Review and send the project brief

Once your client submits their intake form (or you fill it in yourself), FirstSlate lays their answers out as a clean brief on the project page. Nothing is visible to your client yet. You review it first, make any corrections, and approve it before it becomes a shareable page.

Where to find it

Dashboard → Projects → [project], the Brief card at the top of the project page.

Review the brief

When a brief is ready, the Brief card shows Review & Approve. Click it to open the full brief: goal, shoot type and date, deliverables, budget, delivery timeline, and any category-specific details like event logistics, wedding coverage, or podcast setup, depending on the template used.

If something needs fixing, click Edit Brief to go back into the form and adjust any answer yourself.

Add Producer Notes (private)

While editing, you can add extra internal notes that never appear on your client's copy. On the brief page these render in an amber, dashed panel labeled Producer Notes, marked internal-only, with the note "Only you can see this, it is never part of the client's brief and never appears on their link." Use it for things like access codes, pricing hints, or reminders you don't want the client to see.

Approve and share

If the brief looks right as submitted, open it and click Approve Brief. If you needed to fix something first, saving your changes from Edit Brief approves the project in the same step (the button reads Save & Approve Brief). Either way, the project moves to Approved status, which is what makes the brief's public link live. Before approval, anyone opening the link sees a "Brief Not Yet Available" message instead. Once approved, copy the link from the brief page and send it to your client however you like (email, text, or drop it into an existing thread).

What your client sees

Your client's copy shows the same structured sections you reviewed, minus your Producer Notes: shoot type and date, delivery timeline, deliverables, budget range, and any event, wedding, podcast, or other category-specific details their template collected.

Plan availability

Reviewing, editing, and approving briefs works on every plan, including Free.

Common questions

Can I skip the brief entirely?

Yes. From the "How do you want to collect the project scope?" screen, click the Skip brief link (scope already confirmed) to move the project straight to Approved without collecting or reviewing a brief.

Can I re-open an approved brief to make changes?

Yes, use Edit Brief from the brief card at any time. Editing doesn't change the approval status, so an already-shared link keeps working.

Does approving the brief automatically email my client?

No. Approving only makes the brief's link viewable. You still copy and send the link yourself, the same way you'd share any other document link.

What happens to the brief once I build a proposal?

The brief stays on the project as a record of the original scope. Building the proposal is a separate step described in build a proposal.