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Production Brief Generation Workflow

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Production Brief Generation Workflow

How to use Claude to turn an audit into a production-ready brief

This document explains how to turn a Church Chaos Index audit into a complete production brief for the host, producer, and editor. Goal: take ~30–60 minutes of producer time per church and reduce it to ~5–10 minutes of review of a Claude-generated draft.

What you need before starting

  1. The church’s completed audit PDF
  2. The backend timestamp data for the church’s three submitted service recordings
  3. The YouTube Formula doc (in project files)
  4. The Production Brief Template (in project files)

The workflow

Step 1. Open a new Claude conversation in the Pro Church Tools project. The project context already includes the YouTube Formula and Production Brief Template.

Step 2. Paste the prompt below into the conversation along with the church’s audit PDF as an attachment.

Step 3. After Claude generates the first draft, paste the backend timestamp citations. Format like this:

Service Recording 1 (date) — [context: regular Sunday / Easter / communion]
Announcements segment:
- Start: mm:ss
- End: mm:ss
- Number of announcements: X
- Specific moments: mm:ss — [what happens]; mm:ss — [what happens]

Welcome / first-time visitor moment: mm:ss — [what happens]

Other notable moments: mm:ss — [what happens]

[Repeat for Recordings 2 and 3]

Patterns across all three: [e.g., next-step destinations ranked by frequency]

The cleaner the input, the better the watch-back playlist Claude produces.

Step 4. Review and refine. Look for: anything that doesn’t ring true based on your read of the audit, capture priorities specific to the building Claude couldn’t have known, pastoral context from intake conversations not in the PDF.

Step 5. Distribute. Host gets the full brief; producer focuses on §1, §4, §5, §6, §8, §9; editor focuses on §3, §5, §7, §10.

The Prompt

Copy everything below into a new Claude conversation, along with the church’s audit PDF.

I need you to generate a production brief for an upcoming church visit, based on the attached Church Chaos Index audit.

You have access in this project to:

  • The YouTube Formula doc (the show’s full production playbook)
  • The Production Brief Template (the schema for what every brief should contain)

Your job is to read the audit carefully, then fill in the Production Brief Template using the audit’s findings. The output should be a complete, populated production brief — ready for the host, producer, and editor to use as their starting document for the visit.

Specific instructions

  1. Read the entire audit before filling in any section. Get a holistic sense of this church’s profile — composite score, findings per dimension, qualitative flags, voice/tone read. The brief needs to feel internally consistent with the audit, not generic.

  2. Cross-reference the audit findings against the YouTube Formula systematically.

    • §3 Episode Structure Map: Map the audit’s specific findings to the standard 25-minute episode. Which pillars get which reveal slots (Option A escalating disaster, Option B worst-at-midpoint, or edge-case positive surprise — see YouTube Formula §9)? Which findings carry the cold open? What does the buoy look like for this church specifically?
    • §4 Reaction Subjects: Identify who in the church is likely to be in the room for the score reveal and watch-back. The audit requestor has likely seen the score; their team hasn’t. Plan for genuine first-time reactions from the team plus the requestor’s reflective-anchor moment.
    • §5 Watch-Back Ritual: Use the timestamp citations (which I’ll provide separately) to recommend 3–5 specific clips. Predict the team’s reaction for each based on the gap between audit findings and what they likely think they’re doing.
    • §6 Investigative Beats: Rank all 9 pre-visit beats by priority for this specific church. Evidence-based — e.g., a high “Where Do I Go?” score makes the first impression test and small groups signup attempts high priority.
    • §7 Short-Form Clip Slate: Pick the final 4–5 clips this visit is likely to produce, with specific hook angles based on the audit’s most distinctive findings.
    • §8 Capture Priorities: Pull specific shots from the audit’s “What We Found” sections.
    • §9 Production Gaps and Risk Flags: Identify what the audit doesn’t tell us, plus any sensitive findings requiring editorial care.

  3. Be specific, not generic. “Walk through the lobby” is useless. “Walk through the lobby focusing on the multiple competing next-step destinations the audit identified — Next Step cards, foyer table, welcome desk, prayer team area — capturing wide and tight shots of each” is a real production document.

  4. Pull direct language from the audit when relevant. The audit’s phrasing is often the right phrasing for the host to use on camera.

  5. For the universal one-liner (§3): Draft 2–3 options that connect this church’s specific findings to a universal truth. Should land regardless of whether the viewer’s church looks like this one.

  6. For the watch-back playlist (§5): Sequence strength-first — open with what the church does well, then the most diagnostic clip, then a supporting clip.

  7. Flag your uncertainty. If a section requires information the audit doesn’t provide, say so explicitly with “TO CONFIRM IN PASTOR SIT-DOWN” or similar. Don’t invent details.

  8. Match the template structure exactly. Section numbers, headers, tables, role tags — preserve all of it.

Important

If the audit reveals findings that are particularly strong or unusual (Critical-tier composite, exceptionally high/low single-dimension score, unusual qualitative flag), call those out at the top in §1’s “Confidence read” paragraph. The host and producer need to know upfront if this is a high-drama visit, moderate-friction, or structurally healthy with one specific lesson.

Begin now. Read the attached audit, generate the first draft, and ask for the timestamp citations once you’re ready to fill in §5.

Tips

Don’t skip human review. Claude produces a strong first draft, but the producer’s read of the church from intake conversations adds context Claude can’t see. The brief is a Claude-generated draft + producer refinement — never a Claude-generated final document.

The brief is a living document. During the 4–6 week pre-visit window, fold in evidence as the investigative beats produce results, update §1 as the producer learns more from the pastor, refine §5 as the timestamps reveal stronger watch-back candidates.

Use the brief as a debrief tool. After the visit, compare the brief’s predictions to reality. Over time briefs get more accurate as you see which predictions held up.

Build a brief library. After 10–20 visits, patterns emerge — certain audit profiles consistently produce certain kinds of episodes. The library becomes a reference for predicting what each new audit will yield.

When to skip the full workflow

For some visits, a lighter brief suffices:

  • A church the host has worked with extensively before
  • An extremely simple audit profile (very low chaos, single-dimension issue)
  • A re-visit / follow-up episode (different production needs)

In those cases, a single-page brief with just §1 (Snapshot), §3 (Structure Map), §4 (Reaction Subjects), and §5 (Watch-Back) is enough.

For every other visit, run the full workflow.

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