Your Scriptwriting Partner

This week, I discovered a simple retention "trick" you can write into your next script regardless of your niche.

Even cooler, this "trick" will:

• Make your viewers watch longer.
• Increase your video's runtime (good for audience watch time + ad revenue).
• Increase your authority and highlight your personality.

Ready? Let's goooo...

The Problem:

I talk a lot about setup + tension + payoff.

Think of your scripts as a series of "segments" (e.g. topics), where each segment is broken into those three parts:

But the question I get asked constantly is:

"How do I delay the payoff without my audience getting annoyed?"

In other words, what does "tension" actually look like in a script?

Well, the retention "trick" I noticed this week helps explain this.

Example:

Let's imagine we're writing a script about making amazing pour-over coffee.

Segment 1 might be about the gear you'll need to achieve this.

So let's think about setup + tension + payoff for this segment...

• Setup: "First, let's cover the exact coffee-making gear you'll need to make a delicious pourover coffee..."
• Tension: ???
• Payoff: [Reveal the exact gear required.]

For a segment like this, it feels quite hard to delay the payoff, right?

We start by saying they'll need specific gear. We finish by telling them what that gear is.

So... what else is there to say in between?

The retention "trick":

Over the last 2 weeks, I've reviewed a bunch of retention graphs for clients, students and even a friend from Twitter.

They're all in different niches, but I noticed retenton was flat whenever any of them used this "trick".

In a nutshell:

✅ Spend more time showing your expertise, even if it means delaying the payoff for an uncomfortable length of time.

That means, if you have particular insider knowledge about a specific topic, you must learn to be comfortable spending more time talking about it.

With our coffee video, here's the difference:

• ❌ "I don't recommend [gear X] or [gear Y]. Instead, you should buy [gear A] and [gear B].
  • This way is more "efficient" and with a faster payoff. But it's not memorable, and the viewer won't gain a deeper understanding.
• ✅ "Most baristas would recommend [gear X] and [gear Y], but here's exactly what happened when we tested this across more than 100 cups of coffee..."

The second way delays the payoff, but allows the viewer to deepen their knowledge, get excited about the payoff, and see you as more of an expert.

"Flexing your expertise" through storytelling.

It's not just about saying, "this really popular coffee grinder is actually bad!!!"

It's about deliberately spending more time "behind the scenes", flexing your expertise, and drilling down into why you hold your opinion.

What this looks like in other niches:

Giving interview advice:

• ❌ "When an interviewer asks you to 'describe yourself', don't say [X], say [Y]!
• ✅ "If you say [X] to an interviewer, let me tell you exactly what the recruitment team will say about you after you leave..."

Reviewing iPhone apps:

• ❌ "We don't recommend [app A], but we do recommend [app B]."
• ✅ "Most people would recommend [app A], but here's exactly what happened when we tested it in [specific scenario]."

Solving a math problem:

• ❌ "Most students try to solve it like [this], but it's easier to solve it like [that]."
• ✅ When you try to solve it like [this], not only will it not work, but you're actually building a habit that's going to make it harder to solve other equations too. Let me explain..."

Don't be afraid to linger on your expertise.

It might feel uncomfortable, but it's highly likely your viewers will actually appreciate it... meaning more watch time + increased authority.

(Not to mention longer videos, and therefore increased potential for ad revenue.)

IN OTHER NEWS:

I met the CEO of Kit yesterday!

After 2+ years sending emails through Kit, I saw their CEO, Nathan Barry, was doing a casual meetup in London...

Such a pleasure to meet both Nathan and Creator Partnerships Manager, Haley!

In the last year, I've attended VidSummit and Sponsor Games, and I'm 100% sold on the power of in-person meetups.

Take the opportunity when you can!

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 👋

On Monday, I ran a guest session inside the Part Time YouTuber Academy to 100+ creators.

The students asked a lot of great questions, so today I'll reveal how I answered these 4:

• How do I make boring topics interesting?
• How do I script for challenge videos?
• How do I use AI to make scriptwriting faster?
• How do I make scripts interesting if the "big reveal" only happens at the end?

But first, I'm super excited to announce...

I'm now posting content on Instagram! 🤳

If you want more bite-sized scriptwriting advice - you'll enjoy the skits we've got coming!

My first proper reel is about "blob scripts" - my unusual method for writing a V1 hook without getting overwhelmed! 👇

I'd be over the moon if you could show it some love!

You can follow @GeorgeBlackmanYT for more:

Follow me on Instagram!

So, onto the questions that came up at my guest session...

How do you keep boring topics interesting? 😆

The person asking this was making a video called "5 worst cars to buy in 2025".

In any sort of listicle (or any "dry" topic), I'm always looking for the drama.

Sure, droning on about the specs of the cars might be boring:

"Moving on to car number 3. It goes 0-60 in 8.5s, and it's got a 7 inch long handbreak. Despite its German manufacturer's reputation for excellence, I don't like the angle of the windshield..." 😴

But finding the worst or weirdest or most expensive thing and using that as the curiosity-inducing crux is not:

"Moving on to number 3 - and this car did something so bizarre during my test drive that I will never get in a Mercedes again."

How do you script for challenge or vlog-style videos? 📸

Unlike educational scripting, a lot of entertainment scripting happens after filming.

I worked with Mike Shake back in 2023 - before filming, they wouldn't plan much more than locations and "props".

Then, they'd shoot for 2-3 days.

After that, it was my job as the scriptwriter to review that footage and help them create the story by:

• Deciding which footage should be cut.
• Writing voiceover to convey Mike's emotions, tease upcoming moments, and tie everything together.

You're not trying to fake anything... you're just being brutal about what footage your audience will actually care about.

They were some of the most fun scripts I ever got to work on 😆

How do you use AI to speed up or templatise scripts?

Right now, it's mostly focussed on hooks.

If you haven't already, check out:

• ​ScriptHook - writes 70% usable hooks.
• ​StakeBake - helps you hone in on the "stakes" that will keep viewers watching.

But I have so much more I want to do. I'm currently working on GPTs that:

• Generate an audience avatar you can feed to other scriptwriting GPTs.
• "Predict" your retention before you film by reviewing your script.

How do you apply the "setup, tension, payoff" structure when the "big reveal" is at the end (like in a video essay), and you don't want to give it away too early?

This question assumes the most exciting thing has to happen at the end, which is rarely the case.

For video essays or educational content answering a single question, the audience might not understand the "main question: until the end...

...but the individual (smaller) questions posed throughout the video can be equally exciting.

Imagine a video essay exposing a famous con-artist.

The "big reveal" might be the moment they finally get exposed.

But there's a TONNE of drama in the build up - examples of the different cons they've pulled, maybe a story from their childhood that explains their current behaviour, perhaps an occasion they were nearly caught, etc.

Or, take a dry example like "how I built my new shed" (bad title, don't steal it).

The big reveal is... the finished shed.

But the 10 steps it took to build it - including the delays, weather problems and an accidentally stubbed toe - they're all interesting moments in the build up to that final reveal.

It's about finding the drama and story (yes, story - even in the dryest educational topics) during the small moments, not thinking you have to make the final moment the most exciting.

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 👋

Lately, I've been feeling a little lost.

Last year, I was all-in on two huge projects:

1. Launching my scriptwriting course.
2. Launching and running my agency.

But the course is out. And the agency is... yeah 😬👇

I'm sure you've experienced this feeling.

When you're so focused on a big project, stuck in the weeds... that emerging back into daylight can feel a little disorienting.

So, while I still have the ongoing pleasure of chilling with you inside the YTSP community (which I LOVE btw... I could see myself doing that for as many years as YouTube exists)...

...I want to find new ways to help as many YouTubers write engaging scripts as possible.

And... I've had a couple of ideas I think you might like:

What if you could double the number of videos you create per month (by working smarter, not harder?)

In preparation for the re-launch of my own channel, I've been refining how I write my own scripts.

The goal is to avoid overthinking and simply to move as many scripts from "idea" to "ready to film" as possible, without impacting quality.

And... it's working 👀

I'm lining up a bunch of scripts that are ready to film, and the process is getting faster.

I even managed to write a script in 30 minutes last week ⚡️

My question - what if I brought you into this process?

There are a few ways I could see this working:

• Open-sourcing my scripts as I write them, for you to see behind-the-scenes and take inspiration.
• Creating a "sprint" type program where we hold each other accountable for a set duration (say 4 weeks), and thereby write more scripts per week.
• Or... something else entirely. How can I serve you in the most practical way to help you write better scripts, faster?

Feel free to email me at george@georgeblackman.com if you'd like to get involved in any of these initiatives!

That's all for this week.

Speak soon,
George 👋