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SKILL.md
| 1 | 1 | --- | |
| 2 | 2 | name: scripting-youtube-shorts | |
| 3 | - | description: Creates short-form YouTube content. Use when you need assistance with scripting youtube shorts. | |
| 3 | + | version: 2.0.0 | |
| 4 | + | description: Writes retention-optimized YouTube Shorts scripts with a 2-second hook and subscribe payoff. Use when drafting or repurposing a vertical video under 60 seconds for YouTube Shorts. | |
| 5 | + | category: marketing | |
| 6 | + | license: MIT | |
| 4 | 7 | --- | |
| 5 | 8 | ||
| 6 | - | # Scripting Youtube Shorts | |
| 9 | + | # Scripting YouTube Shorts | |
| 7 | 10 | ||
| 8 | - | Creates short-form YouTube content | |
| 11 | + | 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. | |
| 9 | 12 | ||
| 10 | - | ## Viral Potential: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | |
| 13 | + | 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. | |
| 11 | 14 | ||
| 15 | + | ## The 2-second hook (non-negotiable) | |
| 12 | 16 | ||
| 13 | - | ## When to Use | |
| 17 | + | You have ~2 seconds and ~5 spoken words before the swipe decision. The hook must do ONE of two things: | |
| 14 | 18 | ||
| 15 | - | - Creates short-form YouTube content | |
| 19 | + | 1. **State the payoff up front** — promise the specific value they'll get. "This one setting doubled my Shorts views." | |
| 16 | - | - Working on related social media tasks | |
| 20 | + | 2. **Open a loop** — pose a gap the brain needs closed. "I deleted 90% of my footage and views went up. Here's why." | |
| 17 | - | - Need expert guidance on scripting youtube shorts | |
| 18 | 21 | ||
| 19 | - | ## Instructions | |
| 22 | + | Proven hook patterns (spoken line + first-frame text): | |
| 20 | 23 | ||
| 21 | - | 1. Understand the context and requirements | |
| 24 | + | - **Contrarian claim:** "Stop starting videos with 'hey guys.'" | |
| 22 | - | 2. Apply best practices for scripting youtube shorts | |
| 25 | + | - **Numbered promise:** "Three hooks that stopped the scroll every time." | |
| 23 | - | 3. Provide actionable recommendations | |
| 26 | + | - **Callout by identity:** "If you edit your own Shorts, you're wasting 2 hours a week." | |
| 24 | - | 4. Iterate based on feedback | |
| 27 | + | - **Mid-action cold open:** start on the result — "This costs $4 to make." — then explain. | |
| 28 | + | - **Negative/mistake frame:** "You're posting Shorts at the worst possible time." | |
| 29 | + | - **Curiosity gap + timer:** "By the end of this you'll never write a boring hook again." | |
| 25 | 30 | ||
| 26 | - | ## Examples | |
| 31 | + | Hook rules: | |
| 27 | 32 | ||
| 28 | - | ### Example: Basic Request | |
| 33 | + | - 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. | |
| 29 | - | User: "Help me with scripting youtube shorts" | |
| 34 | + | - Say the most interesting word in your entire script inside the first sentence. | |
| 30 | - | Response: Provide tailored assistance based on the specific need. | |
| 35 | + | - The visual must move in frame 1. A static talking head that starts with a breath loses ~10% before you speak. | |
| 31 | 36 | ||
| 32 | - | ## Guidelines | |
| 37 | + | ## First-frame text that earns the swipe-stop | |
| 33 | 38 | ||
| 34 | - | - Follow industry best practices | |
| 39 | + | 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: | |
| 35 | - | - Provide actionable, specific advice | |
| 36 | - | - Consider the target audience | |
| 37 | - | - Iterate and refine based on feedback | |
| 38 | 40 | ||
| 41 | + | - Keep it to ≤6 words. "How I write hooks" beats "In this video I will teach you how to write hooks." | |
| 42 | + | - Big, high-contrast, safe-zone aware: keep text out of the bottom ~15% (title, CTA, progress bar) and right ~12% (like/comment/share rail). | |
| 43 | + | - The on-screen text and the spoken hook should not be identical — let them reinforce, not echo word-for-word. | |
| 44 | + | - 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". | |
| 45 | + | ||
| 46 | + | ## Scripting for spoken pacing | |
| 47 | + | ||
| 48 | + | Speak at ~2.5 words/second for energetic Shorts delivery. That gives you a hard word budget: | |
| 49 | + | ||
| 50 | + | | Duration | Words (approx) | | |
| 51 | + | | -------- | -------------- | | |
| 52 | + | | 15s | ~38 | | |
| 53 | + | | 30s | ~75 | | |
| 54 | + | | 45s | ~112 | | |
| 55 | + | | 55s | ~140 | | |
| 56 | + | ||
| 57 | + | Write to the budget, then cut 10%. Overwriting forces rushed delivery or an overrun that clips the payoff. Practical scripting rules: | |
| 58 | + | ||
| 59 | + | - **One idea per Short.** If you have three tips, that's three Shorts. | |
| 60 | + | - 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. | |
| 61 | + | - 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. | |
| 62 | + | - Front-load value; assume 30% of viewers leave before the midpoint no matter what, so never save the good part for 0:40. | |
| 63 | + | ||
| 64 | + | ## Structure: Hook → value beats → payoff → CTA | |
| 65 | + | ||
| 66 | + | A clean sub-60s Short is four blocks: | |
| 67 | + | ||
| 68 | + | 1. **Hook (0:00–0:02)** — payoff or open loop. ~5 words. | |
| 69 | + | 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. | |
| 70 | + | 3. **Payoff (0:45–0:52)** — close the loop you opened. This is the dopamine hit that earns the loop/replay and the subscribe. | |
| 71 | + | 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." | |
| 72 | + | ||
| 73 | + | **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%. | |
| 74 | + | ||
| 75 | + | ## How Shorts differs from TikTok (script implications) | |
| 76 | + | ||
| 77 | + | - **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. | |
| 78 | + | - **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. | |
| 79 | + | - **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. | |
| 80 | + | - **Trending-audio matters less** than on TikTok. Original spoken VO + captions carries most Shorts; don't build the script around a sound. | |
| 81 | + | ||
| 82 | + | ## Repurposing long-form into Shorts | |
| 83 | + | ||
| 84 | + | - **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. | |
| 85 | + | - **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. | |
| 86 | + | - **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). | |
| 87 | + | - **Trim dead air:** cut breaths, "um"s, and lead-ins so the clip hits ~2.5 words/sec pacing. | |
| 88 | + | - **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. | |
| 89 | + | ||
| 90 | + | ## Fully-written example script (52s, 138 words) | |
| 91 | + | ||
| 92 | + | **Title:** The 2-second hook that stopped the scroll | |
| 93 | + | **First-frame text (top third):** STOP LOSING VIEWERS IN 2 SECONDS | |
| 94 | + | ||
| 95 | + | | Time | Voiceover | Shot notes | | |
| 96 | + | | --------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | |
| 97 | + | | 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. | | |
| 98 | + | | 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". | | |
| 99 | + | | 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. | | |
| 100 | + | | 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. | | |
| 101 | + | | 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. | | |
| 102 | + | | 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". | | |
| 103 | + | ||
| 104 | + | 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. | |
| 105 | + | ||
| 106 | + | ## Mistakes that kill Shorts | |
| 107 | + | ||
| 108 | + | - **Channel intro / logo sting / "hey guys welcome back."** Dead on arrival — you have no loyalty context in a swipe feed. | |
| 109 | + | - **Burying the hook.** Any setup before the payoff. If your best line is at 0:15, the video ends at 0:15. | |
| 110 | + | - **Static talking head >5s** with no cut, zoom, or text change. Attention resets require visual change. | |
| 111 | + | - **Overwriting the word budget** so delivery rushes or the payoff gets clipped at 60s. | |
| 112 | + | - **Bare "subscribe"** with no reason. Always attach a future-value promise. | |
| 113 | + | - **Text in the UI safe zones** — bottom 15% (title/CTA/progress bar) and right 12% (action rail) get covered. | |
| 114 | + | - **No captions.** Muted autoplay means an uncaptioned Short is a silent Short. | |
| 115 | + | - **Multiple ideas in one Short.** Splits attention and gives no clean payoff. One idea, one video. | |
| 116 | + | - **Copy-pasting the long-form intro** as the Short's opening instead of re-hooking the clip. | |
| 117 | + | - **Building the whole script around a trending sound** — on YouTube, VO + captions + searchable keywords carry the video. | |
| 118 | + |