How to share a director's treatment without losing the video
Treatments now carry reference clips, GIFs and mood footage. The usual hand-off (a PDF, or a 300 MB file transfer) loses them or asks the agency to open Keynote. This guide covers the options and their trade-offs, and walks through the one that keeps the footage playing. It assumes the treatment is built in Keynote.
Why the PDF drops your clips
PDF export flattens each slide to a page. Video becomes its poster frame, GIFs freeze, and builds collapse into their final state. The agency reads a storyboard of a film you wanted them to watch.
Your options, honestly
The PDF is still right for the archive and for print. A web layout tool is right if you are designing for the web from scratch. For a treatment you already built in Keynote:
| Video plays | Opens on a phone without Keynote | Password | See who opened it | Effort | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No, poster frame | Yes | Yes, on the file | No | One export | |
| File transfer of the .key | Yes, in Keynote | No | Yes, on the file | A download, not a view | One upload |
| Keynote iCloud link | Yes | Only in a supported browser | Yes, on the file | No | Shares your working file |
| Rebuild in a web layout tool | Yes | Yes | Depends on the tool | Depends on the tool | Rebuild every slide |
| Linkdeck link | Yes, inline; sound on first tap | Yes, any browser | Yes (Pro) | Per-slide views, email gate (Pro) | Export, zip, upload |
Export the treatment to HTML
In Keynote for Mac, choose File → Export To → HTML. Keynote writes a folder with index.html and an assets folder holding your clips. Open index.html in Safari and step through it once; what plays there plays at the link. Then right-click the folder and choose Compress. The full walkthrough is in the guide to exporting Keynote to HTML.
Keep it under 500 MB
That is the Pro limit per deck (200 MB on Free). Trim each clip to the seconds you show, export references at 1080p, and run File → Reduce File Size on a copy. Linkdeck does not re-encode video, so the file you place is the file the phone streams.
Lock it, send it, revise it
On Pro, add a password or turn on the email gate before you send. After the call, export v2 and upload it in place: the link the agency already has now plays the revision.
Send the PDF alongside
Agencies circulate PDFs internally, and a Linkdeck link cannot produce one. Export a PDF from Keynote, attach it, and lead the email with the link, so the first thing they open is the version that moves.
Questions
Does the agency need Keynote to watch it?
No. A Linkdeck link opens in the browser on iPhone, Android, Windows or Mac, with no Apple ID.
Will the clips play with sound automatically?
Video plays inline. Sound waits for the viewer's first tap, which every browser requires; Linkdeck starts it then.
How long does the link last?
Free: 3 days (24 hours if you upload without signing in). Pro: permanent until you delete the deck.
Turn the treatment into a link
Upload the HTML export. Free hosts one deck for 3 days; Pro (€12 a month) keeps 10 decks up to 500 MB online with a password and per-slide views.