A podcast roundtable where we share our experiences as YouTube producers, writers, thumbnail designers, and strategists working with a bunch of exciting YouTube channels.
Expect honest discussions about getting hired, growing channels, and finding work-life balance in this fast-paced industry.
Ali Abdaal
@aliabdaal
Join 2,200+ scriptwriting nerds reading “Write On Time”. Insights from writing for multi-million subscriber YouTubers sent to your inbox every Friday.
A lot of my readers ask questions like:
So I'm gonna show you a script in progress.
I've written scripts for multi-million subscriber YouTubers like Ali Abdaal and Mike Shake, and recently had the privilege of working with Colin and Samir too.
That being said... here's what I actually achieved during a 100 minute scriptwriting session with my community members:
First, I brainstormed a bunch of title ideas:
Next, I jumped over to 1of10 for my packaging inspiration.
When I searched "YouTube scriptwriting", it was nice to see the first outlier result was one of my own 👀
I also spotted this tasty looking outlier that was absolutely huge for a small channel (my scriptwriting channel is still tiny as well).
Next, I sketched my own packaging to make sure there was a "clickable" angle for this video:
Every script starts like this.
It's basically a free-for-all where I try to let my imagination run wild:
Once I've brainstormed the content, it's time to start scripting.
Here's why I'm obsessed with table-format scripts:
Rather than staring at a blank page, a table-format script lets me plug my bullet points into a pre-established structure.
That means I can quickly see where there are gaps in the script, and where I need to spend a bit more time thinking about the content.
When I'm plugging my bullet points in, I do payoffs first:
...then setups:
But before filling in the tension section, I go back to the hook.
After all, now I know all my setups and payoffs, it's way easier to distill the video's value in the hook:
And by the way... I don't need to nail the hook yet.
My priority is making continuous progress, rather than getting hung up on a single task for too long.
With the hook drafted, I go back to the body of the script and start expanding the tension segments to link all my setups to my payoffs:
In this session, I:
Next time, I will:
In my experience, spending 2-3 sessions on a single script is ideal.
It gives your brain time to keep ruminating on the ideas in the meantime.
That's all for this week.
Any questions, just let me know!
George 👋
I recently worked on this video for a client:
It's a 6.8x outlier for this relatively small channel, and is still growing nicely.
The funny thing is... this was the video that made me want to pitch working with the channel in the first place.
The idea came to me in a dingy New York hotel room back in September, and I was just convinced that if we could work together and make it... it would do well.
So, having been proven right (yay!), let's talk about:
I talk about the process of ideating, packaging and writing the hook for this video here:
However, if you don’t have time, here’s the written summary…
So let's talk about how to feel confident your big swing idea will perform well...
So... what's your spikey POV?
So keep an eye out while on YouTube - ask yourself "why did the 'framing' of that video make me want to click it?"
So, find your thumbnail inspiration, and prepare to create your own...
Step 1: By Hand
It's a lot easier for me to draw ideas on paper first:
Step 2: Mockup
Then mock it up in Canva, Photoshop, etc:
Step 3. Designer
If you have the desire/budget, hand it over to the professionals:
Now, we come to the hook... and it's time for a bit of rule breaking.
So, while rules and frameworks are super helpful for making YouTube videos (I mean, I literally spend my life coming up with them)...
...sometimes, it's ok to break a rule if the video demands it.
Keep these in mind, and you're safe to take a big swing 🏏
Huge thanks to Efficient App for letting me go behind-the-scenes with this video.
That's all for this week.
Any questions, just let me know!
Speak soon,
George 👋
--------------------------------------------------------------------
This week, I'd love to recommend my favourite screen recording tool, Tella. See how it works here - and if you're excited to try it, you can use my affiliate link here.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Every video needs “stakes”.
I mean, that goes without saying, right?
Remove the stakes, and your audience has no reason to watch.
Educational content needs to tell the viewer why their life will be worse unless they take your advice.
Entertainment content needs to show the viewer why your characters are motivated to do whatever they’re doing on-screen.
Next time you feel yourself getting bored with a video, you’ll notice you probably can’t identify any stakes.
(Heads up, I’m about to add stakes to this newsletter…)
So unless you learn to add stakes to your content…
…your viewers will always get bored and click away, meaning lower retention, fewer views, and slower channel growth.
This week, a student of mine was working on a video called:
“How To Make 100 YouTube Shorts In 1 Day With AI.”
But they had a problem.
When trying to add “stakes” to this concept… it felt “forced”.
This video wasn’t targeted at businesses that use short-form content as a sales funnel.
If that were the case, the stakes would have been easy to figure out.
“Short-form content is essential to your sales funnel. Therefore, if you don’t make loads of YouTube Shorts, you won’t get in front of your customers and you won’t make sales!”
But my student was targeting “creators” in general - not "business owners" specifically.
Now, on one hand, we could talk “niching down” here… but that isn’t what my student needed.
Because, no matter how much you niche down, certain videos will appeal to a broader audience.
Which means you need to feel confident identifying the stakes when that happens.
But how?
So... my student was struggling to find stakes for a broad-appeal video.
This was my advice:
“This is the #1 problem that comes with having labels like “stakes” - it adds pressure to find something like “your business will collapse”, or “you’ll stop making sales!”… but stakes can be something super low-key. In this example, my brain does this:
Your video is the solution to creators not making shorts and therefore wasting potential channel growth.”
Keep. Asking. Questions.
First, ask yourself what the video will help the viewer achieve.
Next, ask yourself why that matters.
Then, keep asking why, why, why… until you reach a satisfying stake.
In this case, it only took two questions to unearth the stakes.
Sometimes, it might take 3-4.
But the process is always the same… and it’s surprisingly simple.
Then, once you have your stakes, you must include them in your hook.
Remember, stakes are what make the video feel urgent… so if you don’t call them out early, they’re wasted.
Get them in before 00:20 (or earlier, if you can).
That's all for this week.
Any questions, just let me know and I'll get back to you!
Speak soon,
George 👋
I just spent two weeks in France filming a new video about how to write scripts FASTER.
It was pretty fun, I guess 👀
But the biggest revelation I had while filming led to me tweaking my scriptwriting format in a small but powerful way.
Here’s a quick extract from the final script:
Today, I want to explain what’s going on with this format, and why I think you’ll find it incredibly useful when filming your next video.
The best way of explaining why this is so powerful is to break down the purpose of each column:
Additionally, before shooting anything, I colour-coded the script.
Formatting your scripts like this is easy in either Notion or Google Sheets 💻
That's all for this week.
Speak soon,
George 👋
"What does a YouTube script actually cost?"
It's something I'm asked constantly - by writers trying to price themselves, and by YouTubers trying to hire.
I wrote this article showing the spread of what I've charged over the years...
...but today, I want to talk about some of the nuances.
A subscriber recently emailed me asking how pricing changes if:
Check out this 9 min video where I answered these questions (and more) - all related to pricing and client-writer relationships 👇
Or, if you want the answers QUICKLY...
...here are all 5 questions from the video, and my answers summed up in a sentence:
Ideally, yes - but even if they do, the best scriptwriters will assess the framing in relation to the channel's target audience, and challenge the client's choice of framing if necessary.
It makes no difference because I'll think about the framing either way and incorporate this into my pricing.
If trawling through a massive research pack (or doing a tonne of research) adds a non-trivial amount of extra time and effort to the writer's job (i.e. 4-8 hours), they should add ~50% to their pricing (in either case!)
Depends on experience (and the client's price sensitivity), but a fair range (from a Eurocentric economic perspective) is ~$200-$800... although on some bigger scripts, I've been paid as much as $1500, and friends of mine have charged $2000+ in some cases.
Again, somewhere around the $200-$800 mark for a 10-15 minute video is usually reasonable for a writer with 0-2 years' experience.
Pleeeeeease note - take everything with a pinch of salt. Money is a funny topic, and the list of caveats to these opinions is as long as my arm! The more experience you get paying/charging, the easier it gets to figure out your "hell yeah" numbers.
That's all for this week.
Any questions, just let me know!
Speak soon,
George 👋
To make scriptwriting faster…
If you’re a busy bee, that’s all you need to know this week.
Or, read on for more detail…
I talk in detail about these strategies in a video I recently posted in my scriptwriting community:
If you prefer to read the info, here’s an expanded summary of all 7 points:
That's all for this week.
Next week, I'm opening up about pricing, and the nuances of how much to charge/pay in different scenarios.
Any questions, just let me know!
Speak soon,
George 👋
This week's newsletter was made possible by my favourite screen-recording app, Tella* 🥰
Hey,
Let’s talk about the most important retention lesson I’ve ever learned.
To do this, I’ll show you the retention graph I used to test potential scriptwriters when hiring for my agency (90% got it wrong).
By the end, you’ll understand the massive retention problem most YouTubers miss, and how to fix it at the scriptwriting stage.
For my full thoughts, check out this 12-minute video:
If you prefer, here’s the lesson in just a few paragraphs:
Let me tell you something you might not wanna hear:
I love Tella.
There, I said it. I won't take it back. You simply can't make me.
I've tried a couple of different screen recording options over the last two years, and this has ended up being my favourite because of how flipping good the recordings look.
Check out this quick video if you wanna see all the cool stuff Tella can do 👇
The good news? Their affiliate program is offering new users 30% off forever when you sign up through my link.
You'll literally be paying less than I am to use it lol.
Highly recommend trying it out if you do a lot of screen recording 👇
Try Tella (1 week trial, then 30% off forever)
*Because I'm an affiliate, signing up through this link will result in a small kickback for me at no extra cost to you :)
Now, where were we...?
...although you might think the problem lies here…
…it could be a symptom of something you did here:
Any time you're struggling to diagnose a retention dip, go back and study the graph in its entirety.
And, once you've identified the problem, ensure your next script includes clear setups and satisfying payoffs.
That's all for this week.
Next week, I'm dropping my 7 favourite tips for writing scripts faster.
Any questions, just let me know!
Speak soon,
George 👋
Hey!
Yesterday, I drove for an hour to ask a man in his 50s to insult the shape of my feet... on camera.
Because “YouTube”, ok?
Seeing as I’m finally making my own “scriptwriting advice” YouTube videos this year, I want to make sure they’re as fun to make as they will be to watch.
So I’m taking my time and going the extra mile for moments like this (which will probably only be in the video for around 3s).
But in the meantime, as I’m busy scripting and filming my 2025 content…
…it pays to keep an eye on what my scriptwriting peers are making, too 👀
So, in the spirit of making all our scriptwriting better this year, here are 3 videos from other creators whose content I think you’ll enjoy:
Yes, you’ve got to have your own style...
...but it’d be silly not to watch what your friends are doing and identify what’s working really well.
For this, and to find videos like the ones I linked above...
...I use a “channel tracker”:
This channel tracker is one of the most useful features inside 1of10.
In my case, I've created a specific tracker for “YouTube Scriptwriting”.
I add channels like the ones above, so whenever they upload a new video, it'll appear on my tracked list.
(But only if it's an outlier! So I’ll only see videos from those channels that are outperforming their recent channel average.)
This makes it incredibly easy to see the best-performing, new content from channels I admire... in a single place.
Before 1of10:
With 1of10:
You know I’ve been a huge fan of 1of10 for more than a year, so I’m super grateful to Richard and the team for partnering up with me these last few months.
You can get access to 1of10’s suite of tools with 50% off using the code "GEORGE50".
That's all for this week.
For now, I'm practising filming with my new 360⁰ camera for the video I'm working on right now 😆
Speak soon,
George 👋
Here’s a philosophy I want you to take into 2025:
“If you can dream it, you can write it. Once you write it, sh*t happens.”
Last month, I wrote this line in a YouTube script:
“I may as well go the whole hog and paraglide off this mountain.”
The line came as a bit of an afterthought, to be honest. But sometimes it’s fun to ask yourself:
“If there were no barriers, what would be the coolest possible thing I could put in this video?”
Yet three weeks later… I’ve booked it!
And I’m allowed to take my new 360 camera 😆
It's easy to get bogged down by imaginary constraints when you've got a hundred ideas bustling around in your head.
But the moment something goes down on the page, it becomes more real.
Writing is powerful.
Of course, you may not need to do something as OTT as flinging yourself off a mountain.
For example, I once put an incredibly niche joke about UK-based sofa company, DFS, into a Creator Booth video:
I also made Justin Moore film himself hiding behind the bushes in his front yard just because I thought it’d be funny.
I even made Ali Abdaal talk about “owning a bin” in a list of his top productivity hacks. (Joke, that wasn’t me. He just loves talking about bins and nobody has figured out how to stop him yet.)
The point is:
“If you can dream it, you can write it. Once you write it, sh*t happens.”
In that vein, and to leave you on a note of inspiration, huge props to one of my community members who recently wrote a script about a pretty weird anime…
…threw it over to my students for some feedback…
…and it absolutely blew up over the holidays!
He dreamed it. He wrote it. Sh*t happened.
So… wishing you all the best with your channel this year, [FIRST NAME GOES HERE]! Don’t let any imaginary limits get in the way of making the videos you want.
Last thing before you go...
If you didn't know, I co-host a YouTube strategy podcast called "Making It"
This week we sat down to answer a bunch of your questions, including:
That's all for this week.
Any questions, just let me know!
Speak soon,
George 👋
Join 4,000+ scriptwriting nerds reading “Write On Time”. Insights from writing for multi-million subscriber YouTubers sent to your inbox every Friday.