Do these 3 things BEFORE writing your script

Although I love YouTube, I used to find writing scripts really hard.

Even after a year of doing it, the feeling just wouldn’t go away.

It wasn’t that the subject matter was difficult to understand, nor were my fingers simply too weak to push the keys on my Macbook.

I just felt overwhelmed and I couldn’t figure out why!

Hahaha this is a ridiculous pic and yes I did do a photoshoot recently.

But, having spent the last four months thinking about and systemizing my writing process for The YouTube Scriptwriter’s Playbook, I realised something critical.

So let’s talk about that realization and why it will drastically reduce how “difficult” it feels to write a YouTube script.

The Problem

I’ve broken my scriptwriting system into five steps.

But here’s the thing…

Actually writing the script is the FOURTH of these steps.

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The mistake a lot of new (or not so new!) YouTubers make is to sit down after a flash of inspiration and simply try to write.

And while that inspiration will carry you up to a point, decision fatigue eventually starts to set in.

“I’m so excited about this idea! But how do I properly convey it in the hook?”

“I know this is an interesting point, but how do I say it so my audience actually cares?”

“I loved writing this… for the first hour. So why do I feel like I’ve lost momentum?”

It boils down to this:

Trying to make macro-decisions and micro-decisions simultaneously is overwhelming.

• You can’t focus on optimizing the hook while you’re still unsure who you’re writing for.
• You can’t write confidently about a topic without choosing the angle of your approach.
• You can’t decide how to end a paragraph without knowing what’s going to happen in the next one.

This is one of the main reasons why writing scripts becomes exhausting.

Your brain is trying to do too much at once.

The Solution

There are three things you need to figure out before writing:

1. Who am I writing for?
2. From which angle should I approach the topic?
3. How is the video structured?

Because when you have a clear idea of who you’re writing for…

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…how you should frame the video to make it interesting for them…

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…and how the video is structured…

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…you’ve got far fewer choices to make when you’re actually writing.

Now you can concentrate on your creativity.

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Of course, once the script is written, there are plenty of other things we can do to tighten it up.

But getting that first draft done is so much easier when you spend less time writing it and more time planning it.

⚡️ Action Item

1. Spend time thinking about your audience avatar.
2. ​Frame the video in a way that’s interesting to them.
3. Create the structure before you write.

That’s all for this week!

Got any questions? Or anything you’d like me to talk about in future? 🧐

You can reply to these emails anytime 🙂

Speak soon,
George 👋