Stop writing word-for-word scripts, unless...

I’ve spent a lot of time writing word-for-word scripts.

• For past clients.
• For my own videos.
• Heck, even for my 30,000+ word YouTube course.

Theoretically, the reason I wrote word-for-word was to make filming easier and to create sharper, more engaging videos.

But, this week, I realised I’d been wasting my time.

And it's explains why I look so miserable in videos like this:

Ok, hear me out...

Have you ever recorded a video where you…

1. Had the script open just off camera.
2. Memorised the paragraph you were about to deliver.
3. Delivered the paragraph as best you could.
4. Realised you'd forgotten half of it, or riffed your way into a weird tangent.
5. Re-memorised the paragraph, and repeated steps 3 and 4 until you eventually got it right.

This is how I had always recorded videos.

But the fact was, no matter how closely I squeezed my laptop to the underside of my camera’s lens…

…I wasn’t “reading” the script.

I was memorising it in tiny chunks.

No wonder recording always felt so stressful.

But since using a teleprompter… I love recording.

No memorisation. No guesswork. No risk that I miss a crucial detail I deliberately included in the script.

Quick caveat:

I’m not about to say you have to buy a teleprompter.

But here’s what I realised:

If you don’t have a teleprompter, there is very little point writing a word-for-word script.

The value of putting that extra time into nailing every last word is that you unlock a degree of precision and accuracy that bullet point riffing doesn’t allow.

But if you’re not actually reading the script, you will stray from it. You will go on tangents. You will riff.

And riffing is ok!

But trust me… riffing off a series of bullet points feels so much more natural.

It allows you to properly relax into it, and speak from the heart.

It’s intentional riffing.

But riffing unintentionally, because you tried and failed to memorise your script in chunks… that doesn’t feel very good at all.

And the resulting video will almost certainly be worse, because viewers will read the stress in your body language.

Here's me, about 20,000 words into recording my course - sweaty, stressed, and mentally exhausted from all that "chunk memorisation"...

But here's me earlier this week, happily reading every. single. delicious. word.

(From a teleprompter.)

So take this as your permission to do one of two things:

1. If you have the means and are serious about incorporating scriptwriting into your YouTube workflow... invest in a teleprompter.
2. If not, or if you simply prefer to be a little more off the cuff… script less, and enjoy the feedom of riffing from well-structured bullet points.

That's pretty much it for this week! Glad to be back after a lovely vacation.

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 👋