Your Scriptwriting Partner

Things are looking a little different around here, huh? 👀

I thought it was time for a visual re-vamp.

Of course, visuals are way less important than the content itself... but a lack of clutter does make a newsletter easier to consume.

Funnily enough... the same goes for YouTube.

So, in the spirit of a highly visual edition of the newsletter...

...here are 3 visual tricks you can write into your next script to keep your audience more engaged (so they watch longer) 👀

#1 - Hook Checklist

This is common - but more YouTubers should use it to set clear expectations.

Most videos solve several micro-problems before they can solve the main problem.

• e.g. to solve the main problem of "which laptop to buy in 2025", a video would have to solve micro-problems like "what each feature does and how they rank in comparison to each other"

So list out the most interesting 3 problems your video solves in the hook, ending with the main problem:

"By the end of this video, you'll know:

• Which laptop supports the most innovative use of AI.
• Why RAM isn't as important as you might think anymore.
• And, ultimately, which laptop is right for small business owners in 2025."

List the topics in approximately the same order as they appear in the video so your audience knows what to expect.

#2 - Structural Reminder

Human brains gravitate towards structure.

So if your video feels like a long series of "and then, and then, and then"...

...your viewers will get bored, confused, or forget where the video is actually headed.

So, to keep your viewers oriented, give them regular visual cues about how far through the video they are.

A video I was working on recently had a lot of information packed in, so to keep it nice and digestible, I sketched this visual anchor for us to return to at the start and end of every segment:

(It looks like this in the final video, which is super cool:)

Other Structural Reminder Ideas:

• Countdown Timer - like old school Mrwhosetheboss, the timer slowly counts down to 0 by the end of the segment.
• Segment Icons - each segment has its own icon which appears when the segment begins.
• Written Cue - physcially write something on a post-it note or whiteboard at the start of a new segment.

Some ideas will require custom graphics, but many are super simple to pull off without crazy editing.

#3 - Visual metaphor

A visual metaphor can tie your whole video together.

It's essentially the same as #2, except it has a storytelling function.

e.g. this video from James Jani uses a jigsaw metaphor to explain the story of Sam Bankman-Fried.

Not only does the jigsaw idea keep us oriented within the video's structure...

...but it inherently ties into the story. We're putting together "the jigsaw pieces" of Sam's life to understand him better.

Other Visual Metaphor Ideas:

• Dominoes - each falling domino sets up the next segment.
• Blueprint - commonly used concept in thumbnails to convey a complete solution to a problem. Use this in the video too.
• Map - present your video as a "journey" and use stops on a map to represent your segments.

I'm curious - which of these could you incorporate into your next video?

If you’ve already enrolled in my audience avatar mini-course, the YouTube Scriptwriting Compass, you'll know how important understanding who your audience is.

But understanding who they’re NOT is just as important.

After all, attracting the wrong viewers can devastate a YouTube channel:

• They loved that random "drama" video you made, but won’t click your usual content. They're a dead subscriber.
• They misunderstand the value proposition of your channel, subscribe, then only watch 20s of your next video because it’s not what they expected. They'll wreck your retention.
• They have no intention of ever buying your products/services. You'll waste time trying to convince them.

At the end of the day, you need to make it crystal clear who your videos are for.

It will affect your scripts, your topic choices... even the title and thumbnail.

So here are 11 questions to figure out who your videos are NOT for (so your content aligns with your broader YouTube goals).

🎯 GOALS

1. Who might seem similar to your avatar, but is ultimately pursuing different long-term goals than what your content supports?
2. What types of success or outcomes do you not help your viewers pursue?

🧭 POSITIONING

1. Who might misinterpret the role your content plays — for example, expecting entertainment instead of education, or tactics instead of frameworks?
2. What kind of viewer might click your video for the wrong reasons (topic, title, trend) but be turned off by the actual delivery?
3. Who might apply your content in a completely different context than it was intended for — and get confused or frustrated as a result?

🧠 PERSONALITY & HOBBIES

1. What kinds of personality traits or communication preferences would make someone unlikely to resonate with your tone or teaching style?
2. Who might prefer a totally different type of creator energy — slower, faster, more formal, more casual, etc.?

😣 CHALLENGES & PAIN POINTS

1. What types of challenges does your content not aim to solve — even if your viewers might assume you do?
2. Who’s still stuck at a level of frustration that your content assumes they’ve moved past?
3. What kinds of problems require a mindset, toolset, or solution you explicitly don’t teach?

💳 PURCHASING PROCESS

1. What kind of viewer would never be willing to pay you a dime for products or services you offer?

​To see how drastically an audience avatar can affect a video's hook, check out this article I wrote last year.

“My hook is too long, but I don’t know what to delete!”

Let’s solve this common problem using a simple framework.

The 3 most common reasons your hook gets bloated:

1. You’re explaining the concept in too much detail.
2. You’re spending too long “proving your credibility”.
3. You’re overcomplicating the concept with a crazy metaphor.

No matter which you’re experiencing…

…all three can be fixed with a single framework.

(And you won’t actually need to delete anything.)

But before we can fix the hook, you need to understand...

Critical vs Beneficial Information

• “Critical” information - highly likely to convince your target audience to keep watching. The video won't make sense without it.
• “Beneficial” information - the viewer will find this interesting, but they don't need it to understand or be convinced to watch the video.

Your hook should only contain critical information.

Fixing Problem #1 - Too Much Detail

Before - with critical and beneficial information

"I'll show you the bench press strategy that'll help you increase your one rep max by 10kg per month, every month, without injuring yourself. It's all about finding the right balance between loading more weight, eating properly, and making sure you're sleeping well enough."

After - with critical information only.

"I'll show you the bench press strategy that'll help you increase your one rep max by 10kg per month, every month, without injuring yourself."

The extra information about adding weight, changing diet and improving sleep is interesting, but:

• The viewer doesn't need it to understand the video's concept.
• It doesn't alter the promise of the video (which is what hooks them)... it goes into detail about the process, which is unecessary.

Fixing Problem #2 - Proving your Credibility

This is a simple fix.

You only need to prove your credibility once during the hook.

If we imagine the same video again (helping the viewer improve their bench press), you could prove your credibility in several ways:

• That you're a gym instructor with over 20 years of experience and 500+ happy clients.
• You've competed in yearly weight lifting competitions against the fittest athletes in the world.
• You've read over 200 books on the science of weight lifting and put your findings into practice across a career spanning more than a decade.

These are all great statements that prove credibility.

But your viewer will rarely need more than one of these to be convinced to watch.

Remember - we're trying to keep our hooks as to-the-point as possible.

The first credibility statement is often critical. The second, third (etc) are barely even beneficial.

Viewers don't need your entire resumé.

Fixing Problem #3 - Overcomplicating due to Unecessary Metaphor

Simplest fix yet.

Metaphors are great for explaining more complex ideas or teaching them in a memorable way.

But they’re rarely what a viewer needs to be convinced to watch.

See how annoying this hook extract is to read (lol):

"Increasing your one rep max is just like growing a healthy plant. You have to nurture it on a consistent basis over a long period of time. And while forgetting to nourish a plant once or twice won't kill it, it will prevent it from achieving the level of growth you were expecting over the next 12 months."

The metaphor is not critical to understanding the video's concept, or convincing me to watch.

In 99% of cases, you should save your metaphor for later.

So if we don't cut beneficial information out... where does it go?

Here’s the good news:

You don’t have to delete it. Most beneficial information you cut from your hook is perfect as a "setup" for your main video segments.

In the examples from this article:

• Extra detail, like alluding to the importance of multiple factors in increasing your one rep max, can be used during the setup for segment 1:

"Now, lifting heavier weights is actually the by-product of three incredibly important factors. So let's talk about how to optimize the first... sleep."

• Additional credibility statements can be added to a later segment to elevate a particular story, or to add credibility to a specific claim.

"So now you know how to optimize your sleep, let's talk about the second factor... diet. Starting with a lesson I learned when training for the world championships."

• Metaphors can usually be introduced during the setup for segment 1, rather than in the hook:

[Note from George - I don't know enough about sports science to write a clever metaphor about how growing a plant is similar to the science behind building muscle. You'll have to ask ChatGPT for that one.]

Remember - if the information is "critical" to understand the video's concept or to convince the viewer to watch, that stays in the hook

If the information is merely "beneficial", turn it into a segment setup.

That's all for this week! Any questions, just let me know :)

Speak soon,
George 👋