Your Scriptwriting Partner

If you need to pack a lot of information into one script, how do you structure it?

For example, a script that includes 2-3 main topics, but which also includes several sub-topics within the main topics?

No matter your niche, this will have happened to you at some point, or it will in future.

So let me show you how to structure this properly. Get it wrong, and your video will be so boring even you won’t want to watch it back.

Key Structure:

As you may know, I break every script into segments.

And each segment follows the same structure:

• Setup - where we introduce the segment and what the viewer will gain from it.
• Tension - where we deliver the bulk of the information in an interesting way.
• Payoff - where we fully reveal the information we got the viewer curious about during our setup.

Most scripts between 8-15 minutes tend to have somewhere between 5-7 “segments”.

That’s 5-7 times we repeat the process of “setup, tension, payoff”.

Simple.

But how would you approach a script in the following scenario?

Let’s say you’re making a video teaching how to create and sell digital products using AI.

There are 3 “main” parts of this video.

1. Deciding which digital products to make.
2. Learning which AI tools are needed to create them.
3. Discovering how and where to market them.

But within each of these topics… there is still a lot to cover.

For example, within “Learning which AI tools are needed”, we’re probably going to discuss:

1. What the tools are.
2. How to set them up for this project.
3. How to use them step-by-step.
4. How they integrate with any marketplaces covered in part 3.

So that begs the question - how do we apply setup, tension, payoff?

Do we use it only on the main topics, or for each of the subtopics?

Well, let me show you what I see happen all the time when YouTubers do the former…

The "Bad" Way (avoid this):

Setup:

During the setup, YouTubers often feel compelled to summarise everything that’s going to be covered in the segment.

“This second step can be broken down into 4 simple ideas:

- First, we need to learn what the tools are.

- Second, how we’re gonna set them up for the project.

- Third, how to use them to create your digital product.

- And fourth, how to upload them directly to Gumroad.”

This is bad for retention, because:

1. I’m not going to remember these, so you’ll have to re-introduce them again later. Functionally, this is wasted time.
2. It risks feeling overwhelming.
3. It also doesn’t sell the result of this part of the video, which is what setups are designed to do.

Tension:

This is the biggest problem area.

Because we’re now having to try and list multiple ideas, principles or steps all within the umbrella of a single “setup”.

And the most common outcome of this is that they feel rushed.

For example:

“First, which tools do we need?​

Honestly, ChatGPT is the best bet here because of it’s projects feature. But if you want a bigger context window, go for Claude.

Second, setting them up. Let’s say you’re using ChatGPT. You’re gonna want to make sure you’re uploading a style guide to each custom GPT you create, so if you don’t have one of those, go ahead and create it now.

Third, to create your product using ChatGPT, upload the style guide to a new custom GPT, and explain in natural language the digital product you decided to create earlier. Let’s say you were trying to code a new app, you simply tell ChatGPT to express itself using your preferred coding language.

Fourth, open Gumroad and…”

I cannot tell you how many scripts I’ve read that look like this.

It somehow manages to feel both rushed and bloated at the same time - like I’ve heard a lot of noise, but I couldn’t confidently implement anything I heard.

Payoff:

These end up becoming bloated as well, because now it feels like we need to summarise a huge chunk of information in one place.

The "Good" Way (do this)

As you’ve probably guessed by now, my advice is to treat each subtopic as its own segment.

That means going through the cycle of setup, tension, payoff multiple times within a single main topic.

It might feel a bit weird, but let me show you why this works.

Setup:

Rather than having to waste our setup explaining the structure of the next four sub-topics…

…now we can simply focus on the benefit they’ll receive by watching.

For example:

“Now it’s time to cover exactly which AI tools you’ll need to create your digital product, starting with understanding which tool has a track record of creating the most lucrative products…:

The first clause indicates that we’ve moved onto the second main topic, and the second clause focuses in on what step 1 is and why the viewer should be excited about it.

Tension:

Not much explanation needed here.

In a nutshell, all those details we had to breeze over before…

“Third, to create your product using ChatGPT, upload the style guide to a new custom GPT, and explain in natural language the digital product you decided to create earlier. Let’s say you were trying to code a new app, you simply tell ChatGPT to express itself using your preferred coding language.”

…can now be explored in more detail, leaving the viewer feeling equipped to actually take action:

Step 3 is where we're actually going to build your product using ChatGPT, and as you might have guessed, that means we're going to need our style guide we created earlier. Head into the custom GPT's settings, scroll down to the "knowledge" area, and upload your PDF. Anything you upload to this area will be referred back to by the GPT before it builds anything.

Payoff:

Now we have one of these at the end of each sub-topic, designed to pay off one specific thing.

(Rather than an enormous paragraph trying to tie together all the takeaways of the much larger, main topic.)

That's all for this week!

If you'd like to grab one of the remaining spots inside the YouTube Writer's Room and receive direct feedback on your scripts from me, click here.

Any questions? Reply to this email and I'll get back to you.

Speak soon,
George 👋

Before recording your next video, I want you review your script and ask this question:

“How easily can I picture this?”

Or, to be precise, “how easily can my viewers picture this?”

The truth is, this question has a significant impact on retention, yet I’ve worked with dozens of clients, students, and agencies who ignore it.

So, using some simple examples, let me show you why this matters, and how easily you can implement it.

But before we get into it...

LAST TICKETS LEFT

Get 6 months of YouTube strategy in 8 hours.

We’re running an intensive, one-day event for entrepreneurial YouTubers to help you nail the 3 core aspects of a successful YouTube channel:

1. Strategy & Packaging (hosted by Jamie Whiffen)
2. Scriptwriting & Retention (hosted by me!)​
3. Systems & Production (hosted by Gwilym Sims-Williams)​

Our goal?

To help you make more strategic YouTube progress in one day than you would in 6 months.

Last Tickets Left, Grab Yours Here

In addition to our keynote sessions, Q&As and implementation sessions, I'm excited to announce our sponsor!

​Justin Moore: Author of Sponsor Magnet​

Attendees will receive a free copy of Sponsor Magnet plus the following exclusive offer from Justin:

Join a "sponsorship diagnosis call" with one of Justin's team:

• Assess your channel/socials/business.
• Pinpoint roadblocks preventing you from landing lucrative deals.
• Identify opportunities to drive more revenue through sponsorships.

Thanks again to Justin for sponsoring the YouTube Breakthrough Intensive!

To learn more about the event and claim your spot, click here:

Last Tickets Left, Grab Yours Here

So, back to that key question...

"Can my viewers easily picture what I described?"

First, let’s see what happens when the answer is "no" in a hook:

“If you’re a business trying to grow on YouTube, you can’t afford to make videos that don’t resonate.

They need to appeal to customers fast… but it’s difficult to achieve this when you’re so focused on the day-to-day of running your company.

So in this video, I’ll show you how to make more content that attracts your ideal clients, without getting overwhelmed.”

When you read this, how do you feel?

To me, this sounds extremely flat. After all:

• What does a video that “doesn’t resonate” actually look like?
• I don’t know what “appealing to customers” means, except in the broadest sense. And how “fast” do I need to do this?
• I’m not even sure the issue is that I’m too busy “running my company”, but even if it were… what sort of tasks might I be doing that get in the way?
• “More” content? How much more?
• “Overwhelmed” is buzzword-y. How does this look and feel?

Compare that to this re-write:

“If you’re a business trying to grow on YouTube, you can’t afford to make videos that look like this anymore. [Show a visual example; grounds the explanation in something I can picture.]

Because the truth is, if your viewers aren’t hooked by your videos in the first 30 seconds, they’ll never become customers and you’ll struggle to make consistent sales.

So in this video, I’ll show you how to 2x the number of videos you make per month to generate more leads… without spending hours brainstorming new video ideas.”

How did that feel by comparison?

To me, I found myself imagining much more specific imagery:

• By showing what we meant in the first sentence, we leave the viewer in no doubt what we’re talking about.
• I can picture a viewer being “hooked” by a video, and there’s now a specific timeframe as well.
• I can feel the pain of “not making sales”.
• I can picture making “2x” the number of videos per month.
• I can picture the stress of having to spend hours I don’t have “brainstorming new video ideas”.

So that was a hook.

But what does this look like during your “setups”?

Setups:

A "setup" is effectively a re-hook every 1-2 minutes as you begin discussing a new topic.

Just as your main hook is designed to convince viewers to watch the video…

…your setups are designed to reinforce this, giving the viewer clarity about what they’re going to learn next.

And the keyword there? Clarity.

Imagine if I started a segment like this:

“Imagine playing rock-paper-scissors with a monkey. Who’s more likely to win - you, or it? The truth is, it’s more likely that the monkey won’t understand the rules and will probably just scream in your face and throw faeces towards you. And this teaches us something very important about making videos on YouTube…”

Ok, I had some fun with that one. And, sure, I can picture the monkey throwing its poo at me.

But can I picture the benefit of this segment?

Do I have clarity about what I’m going to learn?

Have I stopped thinking about the reason I actually clicked the video because now all I can think about is monkeys?

No. No. Yes.

Now, I’m not saying metaphors don’t have their place (and, as you’ll see below, we don’t even have to cut this one out).

But we do not want to use a metaphor during a “setup”.

Check out this re-write and you’ll see why:

“First up, we need to understand the main reason most business-focused YouTubers struggle to upload consistently, because it’s probably what’s holding you back too. And until we unpick this habit, I guarantee you’ll never start to make more sales.

To explain this, I want you to imagine you’re playing rock-paper-scissors with a monkey…”

Do you see how different this feels?

We can still use the exact same metaphor, but we simply move it until after the setup.

This means we kick off the segment using stake-heavy language that I can easily picture.

Now, our viewers can clearly understand what they’re going to learn in the next 1-2 minutes.

And the metaphor becomes a vehicle for explanation, rather than curiosity.

Try this, and see what happens to your retention during both the hook and each time you begin a new topic.

That's all for this week.

Speak soon,
George 👋

The most important “strategy” your YouTube channel needs this year is stupidly simple.

And you don’t need to:

• Dig through your YouTube Studio analytics.
• Spend hours brainstorming
• Or “study the top 1%, bro.”

It's as easy as this:

Make it extremely obvious who your videos are for, every single time.

And the #1 place people fail at this? The hook.

Here’s a recent Matt Gray hook that does not make it clear who the target audience is:

What if I told you that ChatGPT can 10x your output with four simple systems?

Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, said the first billion-dollar solo business is coming, and it's going to be powered by AI.

We're living through the David versus Goliath moment of our generation, where one person with AI can do far more than 50, 100, or even 500 people.

So today, I want to show you four ChatGPT systems that you can go and leverage to make real money in the new era of AI. Let's get into it.

The problem? This video is aimed at helping businesses make more money with AI.

Sure, he mentions “business” once.

But the parts in red sound either extremely vague (”10x your output”) or aimed at individuals who want to make more money (”systems you can go and leverage to make real money”).

To show you how to fix a hook like this, I re-wrote it.

But a quick announcement first...

14/20 TICKETS SOLD

Join me in London for an in-person YouTube strategy day!

We’re running an intensive, one-day event for entrepreneurial YouTubers to help you nail the 3 core aspects of a successful YouTube channel:

1. Strategy & Packaging (hosted by Jamie Whiffen)
2. Scriptwriting & Retention (hosted by me!)​
3. Systems & Production (hosted by Gwilym Sims-Williams)​

My co-hosts, Jamie and Gwilym, have generated millions of views working with channels like Bryan Johnson, Gordon Ramsay, and Ramit Sethi... to name just a few.

Our goal?

To help you make more strategic YouTube progress in one day than you would in 6 months.

To learn more about the event and claim your spot, click here:

6 Tickets Left, Grab Yours

We're grateful to our event sponsor:
​Justin Moore: Author of Sponsor Magnet​

Ok, back to the business-focused re-write:

What if I told you that ChatGPT can 5x your business’s revenue with four simple systems?​

Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, said the first billion-dollar solo business is coming, and it's going to be powered by AI.

We're living through the David versus Goliath moment of our generation, where even a one-person business with AI can do far more than teams of 50, 100, or even 500 people.​

So today, I want to show you four ChatGPT systems that you can leverage to increase both your business’s efficiency and its bottom line profitability. Let's get into it.

Small changes, but it’s now crystal clear who the video is for.

So this year, before you publish any video, check that you’ve made it extremely obvious who it’s meant for.

And, if you want direct feedback on your scripts from me this year, you can join the YouTube Writers' Room.

That's all for this week.

Any questions? You can to reply to this email and I'll get back to you.

Speak soon,
George 👋