There are three types of film we offer: the Brand Film, the Project Film, and the Mood Film, alongside strategic services designed to ensure your story reaches and resonates with the right audience.
Each serves a distinct purpose, but all share a single goal: developing your relationship with your potential client by creating clarity and confidence in your ability to serve them.
Because when you offer a high-value creative service, trust always comes before conversion.
Read on for a more detailed breakdown of our services.
At its heart, a Brand Film is about relationship-building.
It’s your flagship asset - an evergreen distillation of your practice, its culture and values, and the unique way you serve your clients. Through human-led storytelling, it builds confidence and trust before the first call.
In a bid process it can answer the questions stakeholders might be asking before deciding to work with you:
Will these people understand our vision?
Can we trust them with our project?
Do they seem like the kind of team we want to work with?
Because a Project Film is equally valuable to your developer or commercial client - serving as a high-value sales, leasing, and investor relations asset - a practice can build the Project Film cost into the overall project budget, allowing the fee to be co-funded or fully covered by the client.
Functioning as an in-depth testimonial, the Project Film provides proof that everyone involved can deliver on a particular type of project.
Typically longer form and structured around talking-head interviews with the key people involved. Topics might include the initial vision and principles of the design, the construction process, the challenges overcome and the outcome.
It's a showcase for technical expertise, design principles, construction methods, the use of materials and the ability to seamlessly collaborate with contractors, suppliers and commissioning clients.
Architecture and design is meant to be experienced, but if a client is unable to visit, the Project Film is the next best thing. It immerses the viewer in what it feels like to move through the space.
A Project Film answers a different set of questions:
Can they actually deliver on a project, not just design and render?
Does the finished result match what was promised at the start?
Were their clients happy with the results?
This is perhaps the simplest, yet no less powerful form of film we offer.
Usually shorter in form, though still narrative-led, using a voiceover taken from an interview, it leans on beautiful, cinematic imagery to communicate your design sensibility to high-net-worth clients who choose a practice based on feel and aesthetic alignment long before reviewing technical drawings.
A Mood Film feels tactile, poetic and evocative, creating a lasting emotional response and allowing the viewer to experience the atmosphere of a space in a way words or photographs simply cannot capture.
A Mood Film can be particularly powerful for practices wanting to express a distinctive aesthetic, point of view or design sensibility.
You've invested in your True Story film and suite of assets, now what would you like to do with them?
Welcome to The Next Chapter, a service designed to help you tell your story to the right audience.
Our in-house marketing consultant specialises in creating person-centred strategies that make considered use of your True Story film assets, creating quality messages and campaigns that are thoughtfully targeted and resonate with your potential clients.
For practices and design brands requiring ongoing visual storytelling and creative direction, without the overhead of an in-house film unit. The Studio Partnership is a structured, long-term collaboration.
Rather than treating film as a one-off project, we act as your practice’s visual narrative leads - planning, filming, and refining your output across the year to align with major project completions, awards submissions, and practice milestones.
All our Film projects include our full consultation process, creative development, production, and a full suite of edits.
However, each engagement is fully bespoke, with scope and complexity determining the final investment. We've delivered projects ranging from £5k to £20k+ in budget. We always provide a fixed estimate of our creative proposal.
Brand Films Includes a full exploration of your practice, values, and the people behind it. Typically involves a full consultation, multiple shoot locations and a multiple-day production.
Project Films cover a focused study of a single project or development, structured around interviews with the key figures who delivered it. Because the final film serves as a high-value sales and investor relations asset for the developer, practices can package this fee directly into the project deliverable. Typically a one or two day shoot for a single project location.
Mood Films are a faster, more visual production process that includes a voiceover taken from a recorded interview, and is built on location based cinematic imagery, usually from a single location and filmed over a single day.
The Studio Partnership Structured as a multi-month agreement (minimum 6 months) and tailored to your practice's project delivery schedule. Every partnership begins with an initial strategy phase to define campaign objectives, visual guidelines, and distribution channels. Investment detail is provided following an initial conversation regarding your practice’s annual project roadmap.
With all our services, the best way to understand cost for your specific situation is for us to have a conversation about what you're aiming to achieve.
For every True Story film you get:
- 30min online introductory call
- Proposal outline and costing
- In-person deep discovery session
- Narrative development and full creative proposal
- Cinematic production
- Post production: Editing (incl. 2 rounds of amends), colour grading, audio mix, social edits
Brand Film
- Deep discovery session with key people in your practice
- Production: typically 2-3 shoot days
- Hero brand film (2-5 minutes) for your About page
- Visual-led film (30-60 seconds) for your Home page
- Full edited interview (YouTube, podcast, deeper content)
- 5-10 short-form edits for social
Project Film
- Discovery session focused on the project and those who delivered it
- Production: typically 1 shoot day
- Hero project film (2-4 minutes)
- 5-10 short-form edits for social
- Full edited interview available as an add-on
Mood Film
- Discovery with voiceover subject
- Voiceover script development
- Production: typically 1 shoot day
- Hero mood film (60-90 seconds)
- 3-5 short-form edits for social
The Studio Partnership
- Ongoing Visual Direction: Strategic oversight of your practice’s motion strategy, led by our Creative Director and Narrative Lead.
- Scheduled On-Site Capture: Regular, planned film and photography production synchronised with your project pipeline and building completions.
- Multi-Platform Asset Yield: Complete post-production pipeline delivering hero films, interview features, and structured social/web cutdowns for every production cycle.
- Distribution Strategy: Advisory on campaign deployment, platform positioning, and audience targeting to ensure assets reach the right commissioning clients.
Our service isn't transactional, it’s about connection and relationship. Our clients become part of the True Story community, and we will always seek to create connections within our network.
We offer a limited number of free online consultations every month. We’ll discuss where you are now and where you want to be. We'll ask about your philosophy, your ideal clients and their needs, and why you can serve them the best. By the end, you'll have greater clarity and insight into your positioning, and understand if a brand film would serve your goals. If it's a fit, we'll outline what working together would look like. Register your interest in a 30min consultation here.
Established creative businesses where the people, place and philosophy are central to the value they offer, and who are:
- Proven in their craft (portfolio isn't the question)
- Established in their field (you already have clients)
- Ready to attract better-aligned clients
- Prepared to communicate who they are, not just what they do
If you’re ready to go beyond competing on cost, and connect with people who truly value what you offer, True Story is for you.
True Story isn't right if you:
- Are just starting out and need to build a portfolio first
- Are happy to compete primarily on price
- Want quick content without a collaborative process
- Value cost over outcome
We take a high-touch, low-volume approach, working with a maximum of 3 clients per quarter.
Introduction: We begin with a 30 minute online conversation. We'll ask about where you are now and where you want to be, your creative philosophy, your ideal clients, and what makes your approach distinct. By the end, you'll have greater clarity and insight into your positioning, and understand if a brand film would serve your goals.
Consultation: This is a strategically frame-worked and collaborative session where we get to know you and your business better. This typically takes place in-person at your workplace, allowing us to get a sense of the spaces we may be shooting in.
Creative proposal: Based on our consultation, we'll provide a proposal that includes a narrative outline, a visual approach, deliverables, suggested timeline and a costing. This becomes our shared roadmap.
Production: Depending on the type of film, scope and locations, we film over 1-3 days, capturing interviews, process, projects and the details that make your work distinct.
Delivery: Within 4-6 weeks, you receive your complete content suite.
From discovery to final delivery: typically 6-10 weeks, depending on scheduling and production complexity.
Unless you’re used to being on camera, you probably won’t feel comfortable with the idea of being filmed.
We are used to working with people who have very little on-camera experience, and you can trust us to get the best out of you. We lead with curiosity and empathy to create space for authentic conversation. If you are passionate about what you do, you can do this.
However, if you’d like to work with us but would prefer not to appear on camera, we have creative ways to capture your story, values and vision without filming you.
Book a consultation. It's a no-obligation conversation to explore where you are and where you want to be, and whether True Story can help you bridge that gap. We'll be honest if we don’t think it's the right time or fit.
Yes. While we're based in Tunbridge Wells, we travel throughout the UK and internationally for the right projects. Production travel costs are discussed during the proposal stage.
Legal Scope
True Story operates as a filmmaking service creating brand films for established creative practitioners.
All projects are governed by a written agreement outlining deliverables, timelines, payment terms, and usage rights.
We carry professional indemnity and public liability insurance.
You receive full usage rights for standard marketing purposes (website, social media, email, paid advertising).
True Story retains copyright of the underlying creative work and portfolio rights.
All music is properly licensed for standard use.
We handle your data in accordance with UK GDPR.
While we deliver high-quality films designed to attract aligned clients, we cannot guarantee specific business outcomes or ROI.
Ethical Scope
We're committed to authenticity over artifice - we'll never misrepresent who you are or create a manufactured persona.
If we don't believe in your work or values, or if True Story isn't the right fit for your needs, we'll tell you honestly.
We work collaboratively, not extractively - your story belongs to you, and the discovery process should feel like a partnership.
We take on a limited number of projects to ensure each client receives full creative attention.
We can't promise specific business results, but we can promise honest collaboration, high-quality craft, and a film that authentically represents who you are and what you stand for.