README

# Scripting YouTube Shorts

A YouTube Short is a vertical video ≤60s (or ≤3 min under the newer limit, but the retention math below assumes the classic sub-60s Short) that lives in a swipe feed. The viewer did not choose your video — the feed served it, and their thumb is already hovering to swipe. Your only job in the first 2 seconds is to make swiping feel like a loss. Everything else is secondary.

The metric that decides distribution is **viewed vs. swiped-away** (the % of impressions that become a view) plus **average view duration / % viewed**. A Short that holds 85%+ average-percentage-viewed and re-loops gets pushed; one that leaks 40% of viewers in the first 3 seconds dies. Write for the swipe, not for the subscriber who already loves you.

## The 2-second hook (non-negotiable)

You have ~2 seconds and ~5 spoken words before the swipe decision. The hook must do ONE of two things:

1. **State the payoff up front** — promise the specific value they'll get. "This one setting doubled my Shorts views."
2. **Open a loop** — pose a gap the brain needs closed. "I deleted 90% of my footage and views went up. Here's why."

Proven hook patterns (spoken line + first-frame text):

- **Contrarian claim:** "Stop starting videos with 'hey guys.'"
- **Numbered promise:** "Three hooks that stopped the scroll every time."
- **Callout by identity:** "If you edit your own Shorts, you're wasting 2 hours a week."
- **Mid-action cold open:** start on the result — "This costs $4 to make." — then explain.
- **Negative/mistake frame:** "You're posting Shorts at the worst possible time."
- **Curiosity gap + timer:** "By the end of this you'll never write a boring hook again."

Hook rules:

- No channel intro, no logo sting, no "hey guys welcome back", no "in today's video". These are swipe triggers on Shorts — the viewer has zero loyalty context.
- Say the most interesting word in your entire script inside the first sentence.
- The visual must move in frame 1. A static talking head that starts with a breath loses ~10% before you speak.

## First-frame text that earns the swipe-stop

Shorts autoplay muted for a meaningful slice of viewers, and the first frame is your thumbnail equivalent. Put a **3-to-6-word on-screen text hook** in the top third (below the phone's clock/status bar, above the caption/UI zone). Rules:

- Keep it to ≤6 words. "How I write hooks" beats "In this video I will teach you how to write hooks."
- Big, high-contrast, safe-zone aware: keep text out of the bottom ~15% (title, CTA, progress bar) and right ~12% (like/comment/share rail).
- The on-screen text and the spoken hook should not be identical — let them reinforce, not echo word-for-word.
- The Short's **title** (shown in-feed and critical for search/suggested) should be a searchable, curiosity-driven line ≤~60 chars, e.g. "The hook formula that stopped the scroll".

## Scripting for spoken pacing

Speak at ~2.5 words/second for energetic Shorts delivery. That gives you a hard word budget:

| Duration | Words (approx) |
| -------- | -------------- |
| 15s | ~38 |
| 30s | ~75 |
| 45s | ~112 |
| 55s | ~140 |

Write to the budget, then cut 10%. Overwriting forces rushed delivery or an overrun that clips the payoff. Practical scripting rules:

- **One idea per Short.** If you have three tips, that's three Shorts.
- Cut every "so", "basically", "kind of", "I think", "what I like to do is". Each filler word is ~0.4s of retention you're not buying back.
- Write in spoken cadence: short declarative sentences, active voice, second person ("you"). Read it out loud with a stopwatch — if it doesn't fit, cut nouns, not energy.
- Front-load value; assume 30% of viewers leave before the midpoint no matter what, so never save the good part for 0:40.

## Structure: Hook → value beats → payoff → CTA

A clean sub-60s Short is four blocks:

1. **Hook (0:00–0:02)** — payoff or open loop. ~5 words.
2. **Rapid value beats (0:02–0:45)** — 2–4 tight beats, each a single point with a visual change (b-roll cut, text pop, zoom). Change the frame every 2–4 seconds to reset attention. Never let a shot sit static longer than ~5s.
3. **Payoff (0:45–0:52)** — close the loop you opened. This is the dopamine hit that earns the loop/replay and the subscribe.
4. **CTA tied to a reason (0:52–end)** — never a bare "subscribe". Give a reason that promises future value: "Follow — I'm posting the next 5 hooks tomorrow." A reason-backed CTA converts several times better than "smash subscribe."

**Loop the ending into the beginning** when you can — end on a line or visual that flows back into frame 1, so the auto-replay feels seamless and pushes your average-percentage-viewed over 100%.

## How Shorts differs from TikTok (script implications)

- **Two discovery surfaces:** the Shorts feed AND search + suggested/related on YouTube. Write titles and spoken keywords for search intent ("how to", "best", named topics) — a Short can pull views for months from search, unlike a TikTok that peaks in 48h. Say your keyword out loud early; YouTube transcribes it.
- **The goal is a subscriber, not just a view.** TikTok optimizes the endless feed; on YouTube the Short is often the top of a funnel to your long-form and channel. Your CTA should earn a subscribe or tease long-form content.
- **Cleaner audio + an end screen.** YouTube viewers skew slightly toward higher production tolerance and the platform surfaces your channel/other videos at the end. Land audio clean, and script a final beat that points to "watch the full version" when relevant.
- **Trending-audio matters less** than on TikTok. Original spoken VO + captions carries most Shorts; don't build the script around a sound.

## Repurposing long-form into Shorts

- **Mine for self-contained moments:** the strongest 20–45s where a single point lands without setup. If it needs 30s of context, it's not a Short.
- **Re-hook it.** The long-form intro is never the Short hook. Write a fresh 2-second hook that promises the payoff of that clip.
- **Vertical reframe:** crop to 9:16, keep the speaker's face/action in the center safe zone, and burn in captions (most Shorts are watched muted first).
- **Trim dead air:** cut breaths, "um"s, and lead-ins so the clip hits ~2.5 words/sec pacing.
- **End on a bridge:** "That's 30 seconds of a 12-minute breakdown — full version on my channel." Turns a Short view into a long-form click and a subscriber.

## Fully-written example script (52s, 138 words)

**Title:** The 2-second hook that stopped the scroll
**First-frame text (top third):** STOP LOSING VIEWERS IN 2 SECONDS

| Time | Voiceover | Shot notes |
| --------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| 0:00–0:02 | "You lose most of your Shorts viewers in the first two seconds." | Cold open, mid-gesture, quick punch-in zoom on face. On-screen text pops. |
| 0:02–0:10 | "Not because your content's bad — because you opened with a warmup. 'Hey guys, welcome back' is a swipe trigger. Nobody subscribed yet, so nobody's waiting." | Cut to phone screen mock swiping away. Text: "HEY GUYS = SWIPE". |
| 0:10–0:24 | "Instead, say the most interesting thing you've got in sentence one. Promise the payoff, or open a loop the brain has to close. 'This one setting doubled my views' — now they can't leave." | Rapid b-roll cuts, one per line. Bold keyword text on each. |
| 0:24–0:40 | "Then keep the frame moving. New shot every three seconds. Every static talking head over five seconds leaks viewers. Cut your breaths, cut your ums, hit two-and-a-half words a second." | Fast montage; visible cut markers; on-screen retention line ticking. |
| 0:40–0:48 | "Do that and your average view duration climbs, YouTube pushes it to more feeds, and the loop replays." | Graph line rising; feed multiplying. |
| 0:48–0:52 | "Follow — tomorrow I'm breaking down five hooks you can steal." | Direct to camera, point down toward subscribe. Text: "5 HOOKS TOMORROW". |

Word count: 138 words at ~2.5 wps ≈ 52 seconds spoken. The ending ("five hooks tomorrow") loops back to a hook-themed opener if strung into a series.

## Mistakes that kill Shorts

- **Channel intro / logo sting / "hey guys welcome back."** Dead on arrival — you have no loyalty context in a swipe feed.
- **Burying the hook.** Any setup before the payoff. If your best line is at 0:15, the video ends at 0:15.
- **Static talking head >5s** with no cut, zoom, or text change. Attention resets require visual change.
- **Overwriting the word budget** so delivery rushes or the payoff gets clipped at 60s.
- **Bare "subscribe"** with no reason. Always attach a future-value promise.
- **Text in the UI safe zones** — bottom 15% (title/CTA/progress bar) and right 12% (action rail) get covered.
- **No captions.** Muted autoplay means an uncaptioned Short is a silent Short.
- **Multiple ideas in one Short.** Splits attention and gives no clean payoff. One idea, one video.
- **Copy-pasting the long-form intro** as the Short's opening instead of re-hooking the clip.
- **Building the whole script around a trending sound** — on YouTube, VO + captions + searchable keywords carry the video.

scripting-youtube-shorts

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