Start With What You Can't Say
Most firms start the brainstorming phase of their video creation process by asking “What do we want to say?”
Firms in highly-regulated sectors should be asking “What can't we say?” instead.
We're often asked how, in our quest for authentic, human-led content, we marry our philosophy for 'Ditching the Script, and embracing The Drop' with the compliance and legal realities of operating in highly-regulated industries, where terminology and phrasing is often crucial.
Though counterintuitive, the answer is simple: starting with what can't be said is far more liberating than starting with what can.
The Compliance-Authority Paradox
In highly-regulated sectors like healthcare, veterinary care, technology, and finance, every single word can carry the hidden risk of a compliance issue and it can be tempting to use this an excuse to script the people appearing in the video. The issue is scripts ruin the powerful authenticity afforded by video and, in turn, its effectiveness. We call this the 'Compliance-Authority Paradox'.
Conversely, offering clarity around the constraints people need to operate within — defining a 'safe zone', and then gently guiding them along where required — allows those same contributors to speak freely and sparks the authentic contributions that drive engagement in today's marketing landscape.
Think of your younger self
Defining what can’t be said isn’t about limitation, but about confidence. Your younger self struggled to believe it at the time, but when a parent said “be back before the street lights come on” or “don’t go past the end of the lane”, their intention was not to limit the fun you had, but to create the safe boundaries required for fun to flourish.
That’s a fantastic metaphor for defining what can’t be said does for teams in compliance-heavy environments: when everyone in marketing, legal, and leadership is aligned on the boundaries upfront, and it's communicated with the people appearing on-camera, they can speak boldly and credibly within them.
Why does it even matter?
The effects are significant:
It fosters external trust. Ill-defined boundaries create a cautiousness that is often (wrongly) perceived externally as evasiveness and kills the effectiveness of video. A video that speaks clearly within constraints signals integrity and maturity.
It builds internal alignment. Defining ‘the line’ early stops it from shifting, saves a lot of wasted time during the production and approval processes, and reduces anxiety.
You create stories that feel real, rather than rehearsed. This drives an increase in engagement that helps the video achieve the objective it was intended to help reach in the first place.
In practice
How does this work in practice? There are a few points in our process where this Compliance-Safe approach is clear.
Our Creative & Compliance Discovery Session captures any compliance requirements and boundaries in detail and up-front.
The insights from this are used to shape our Filming Blueprint — a guide that outlines how we'll approach production, including the prompts we'll use in any client or colleague interviews.
This feeds directly into our Interview Framework, which is designed to help contributors feel relaxed while keeping responses with the compliance constraints.
'Review Early' is one of our principles of compliance-safe video, so we always deliver a Narrative Cut early in post-production to give clients the confidence that their story is both human and compliant.
There's no need to use compliance as an excuse for restricting creativity and scripting your video content.
At Bear Video we help highly-regulated firms earn trust & communicate complex concepts with clarity, whilst avoiding compliance headaches. If anything in this article resonated, feel free to get in touch to discuss.