There are two ways to make a video. You can film first and hope a story shows up in the edit. Or you can work out the story first, then plan the shots, then film.
The first way feels faster. It isn’t. You fall in love with certain clips, bend the story around them and end up with nice moments and no point. Story first is faster, and the videos come out stronger. Here’s the process.
The six steps
| Step | What you do | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1. One-liner | One or two sentences: what happens, how it turns, what changes | 2 minutes |
| 2. A pile of one-liners | Write several versions of the same idea. Keep the best | 15 minutes |
| 3. Say it out loud | Tell it to someone in 15 seconds | 2 minutes |
| 4. Beat list | The beats in order, with what you’re feeling under each | 10 minutes |
| 5. Shot list | The shots each beat needs | 10 minutes |
| 6. Words | On-screen text, voiceover and lines, last | 15 minutes |
About an hour, and most of it happens before you write a single line of dialogue.
Step 1: the one-liner
Write the whole video as one or two sentences. Something like:
“I try three ways to fix my flat bread, sure it’s the yeast. It’s actually the water temperature, and the loaf finally rises.”
Underneath, jot down the hook, the turn (the moment things change) and the payoff. If you can’t write the one-liner, the idea isn’t ready yet.
Steps 2 and 3: cheap ideas, then the out-loud test
Write lots of one-liners for every video you actually film. Throwing away a sentence costs nothing. Throwing away footage costs hours.
Then tell your best one to a friend, or the mirror, in 15 seconds. Watch their face. Do they lean in, ask a question, say “oh”? If it doesn’t work told plainly, music and fancy shots won’t save it.
A sharper version of this: read just your opening line to someone who fits your viewer and wait. If the first thing they say is “ugh, yes” or “that’s literally me,” you’ve hit a problem they already feel. If they say “huh?”, rework it.
Pick a shape
You don’t have to invent a structure every time. These shapes have a question, a turn and a payoff built in:
- Problem → fix. Show the problem. Give the surprising cause. Show the fix step by step. Show the result.
- Old way → wall → switch. “You’ve used the same pan for years. Everything sticks. Then I tried one thing…” The wall is the whole video, so name it clearly.
- Mistake → why → fix. “Stop doing this. Here’s why it fails. Do this instead.” Finish with a fair side-by-side.
- Myth vs. truth. “You’ve probably heard ___. Here’s what actually happens.” Then show or test it.
- The tutorial. Result first, then the steps, with the common mistake right at the step where people mess up.
- The challenge. A goal, a limit, a first try that fails, bigger tries, a setback, the final attempt and the honest result.
- Reply to a comment. Show the comment, restate it, answer or test it, thank the person.
Pick the one that fits what you’re really saying, then fill it with your own true details.
Step 4: beats with feelings
List the beats in order. Under each, write what you’re actually feeling at that moment: “Beat 2: waiting on the dough. (Underneath: annoyed, sure it’s the yeast’s fault.)”
It sounds odd, but writing the feeling down is what makes you believable on camera. You’ll play the moment instead of reciting it.
Step 5: plan the shots
For each beat, write the shots you need: what’s in frame, how close, and what moves. A two-column script works well here, with what people see on the left and what they hear or read on the right. It keeps picture and words working together instead of repeating each other.
The Shot List & Storyboard tool turns your script into shots, a storyboard and a shoot plan, and it works offline on set.
Step 6: words last
Only now write the actual lines. Writing them last stops you building the whole video around one line you love.
How many words fit?
On camera, most people speak at around two to three words a second:
| Video length | Aim for | Most you can fit |
|---|---|---|
| 15 seconds | About 30 words | About 45 |
| 30 seconds | About 60 to 75 words | About 90 |
| 60 seconds | About 120 to 150 words | About 180 |
Aim for the middle column. Ninety words of nonstop talking in 30 seconds feels rushed, and you need room for pauses, reactions and quiet moments. Everyone’s pace is different, so the Script Timer times your script at your real speaking speed and helps you trim it to length.
Write for the ear
- Nail the first line word for word. The hook has to land exactly. The middle can breathe.
- Script or bullets? Both work. Lots of creators script the hook and ending word for word and bullet the middle so it sounds natural.
- Go a little slower and clearer than feels natural, especially on names and numbers.
- Read it out loud before you film. Anything you trip on, rewrite.
If you’re reading on camera, a Teleprompter with your camera behind the words keeps your eyes on the lens.
A note on AI scripts
“Write a viral script about candles” gets you exactly what a thousand other videos say, often with a wrong fact thrown in. AI is more useful inside this process than instead of it: give it a clear brief (viewer, promise, payoff, shape, facts, length, your voice), ask for 15 hook options, then ask it to critique your draft against your own criteria. You do the judging, the fact-checking and the final words. The AI Brief Builder walks you through that brief and writes the prompt for each step.
Try it
Pick your next video. Write ten one-liners for it in ten minutes. Choose one, pick a shape from the list above, and write the beats with a feeling under each. Then write the words, read them out loud, and cut until it fits the length.
