There are a couple of different types of templates available in Brightspot: Content Templates and Content Forms.
Content Templates allow you to add starting content to a particular content type. (See the feature guide on Content Templates.) You can create a template for any type of content, and even add a button to your Quick Start bar. Content created from Content Templates is not tied back to those templates—changes made to a template do not affect any content that was previously created from that template.
Content Forms allow you to customize the editing experience of a particular content type. You can limit access to fields on a content type, and change the names of fields. These work well for customizing a Brightspot content type to a particular use.