0:01 Today we're talking about script writing
0:03 for your videos. If you want your
0:05 content to perform better, you need to
0:06 improve your script writing and
0:08 storytelling. Now look, I've studied
0:10 literally thousands of videos. And it
0:12 turns out if your scripts are not
0:14 working, there's three massive mistakes
0:15 you might be making. If you solve for
0:17 these three things, your retention and
0:20 views will skyrocket immediately. These
0:21 are the three biggest script writing
0:24 mistakes holding back your videos with
0:26 tactical examples and tips for how to
0:27 fix each of them. By the way, I'm
0:29 Callaway. I have a million followers.
0:30 I've done billions of views and content
0:33 is all I do all day long. All right, the
0:34 first script writing mistake that so
0:36 many people make is writing with bad
0:38 story flow. And what I mean by story
0:41 flow is that the flow of the points in
0:43 your story is not clear enough or easy
0:45 enough for the viewer to follow. In
0:46 other words, it's hard for the viewer to
0:48 stay hooked throughout because you're
0:50 adding all this extra stuff that doesn't
0:51 need to be there. This is called the
0:53 story flow problem. Now, to help
0:55 visualize the concept of story flow,
0:57 think about it like this. When you're
0:58 writing a script to tell a story, you
1:00 want there to be a clear through line
1:02 that people can follow to get from the
1:04 beginning to the end. You give context,
1:06 introduce some conflict or question,
1:09 more context, more conflict or question
1:10 all the way through until an ultimate
1:12 resolution. Now, the story does not need
1:14 to have a straight predictable line
1:16 down. That would be way too boring. But
1:18 there needs to be a clear through line
1:20 from beginning to end that the viewer
1:22 can follow to finish the story
1:23 logically. This happened, then this
1:25 happened, but this happened, so this
1:27 happened. There needs to be a logical
1:29 flow. A story flow problem is when that
1:31 line connecting the plot of the story is
1:33 broken because you added things in that
1:35 have nothing to do with the main
1:37 premise. Extra details, disconnected
1:40 tangents, broken plots, distractions.
1:41 There are all sorts of elements that
1:43 people throw into the story that
1:45 actually make it harder to understand.
1:46 And this is a super common problem that
1:48 trips up a lot of people. So, pay close
1:50 attention to this. I'm going to explain
1:51 exactly how to assess when you're making
1:54 this story flow mistake and the tactical
1:56 solves to fix it. And by the way, when I
1:57 talk about this stuff, I use the words
1:59 script writing and storytelling a bit
2:01 interchangeably. In this case, they mean
2:03 the same thing. Script writing is just
2:04 writing down the words that you
2:07 ultimately tell for your story. Okay, so
2:09 so far we walked through what the story
2:11 flow problem actually is. It's when you
2:12 throw a bunch of extra junk that makes
2:14 it harder for the viewer to get through
2:16 from beginning to end. Let me give you a
2:18 practical example of this in real time
2:20 so you can understand what I'm talking
2:21 about when I say story flow. Imagine
2:23 that I was telling you a story that went
2:25 like this. One day there was a prince
2:26 walking through the forest. He was on
2:28 his way to find a house in the woods so
2:30 he could visit the sorceress. With him
2:33 he had his trusty steed, a horse, and
2:35 several other woods animals that became
2:37 his friends. The fox, the goat, and the
2:39 raccoon. You see, when he was raised, he
2:42 was taught to love animals. He spent a
2:43 lot of time in the stables and in the
2:45 woods training them and learning to
2:47 communicate. His favorites were always
2:48 the horses because they were so strong
2:50 and powerful, and that's why he walked
2:52 with one. Now, he had been walking in
2:54 the forest for several hours when he and
2:56 his group of animals wandered upon a
2:58 strange looking tree. All right, you see
3:00 what happened there? You were on a clear
3:02 path. The prince walking to a house in
3:05 the forest with animals. Clear path. But
3:07 then I veered you off that path to throw
3:09 in all these unnecessary details about
3:11 the prince's background and loving
3:13 animals and working at the stables.
3:14 These are unnecessary details that
3:16 didn't need to be there based on the
3:18 purpose of this plot. And what this does
3:20 in practice is that it caused your brain
3:23 to hop storylines. We went from the
3:25 journey in the forest to his background
3:27 in a flashback. Simply put, a percentage
3:29 of people listening lost connectivity to
3:31 the original thread. And the problem
3:32 with that is that it makes it much
3:35 harder for me to get everybody else back
3:37 to that original plotline because now
3:38 you have to remember the details that I
3:41 said a while ago. Great storytelling is
3:43 like hypnosis. You want the viewer or
3:45 listener to forget where they are and
3:47 get fully immersed in the one single
3:49 plot you're focused on. The more red
3:51 herrings or unnecessary details you
3:53 throw in, the more fragile and surface
3:55 level that hypnosis becomes. And the
3:57 more that hypnosis breaks, the more
3:58 people that churn out of your video
4:00 because of confusion and the worse it
4:01 does. Now, you might be thinking
4:03 something like this. Listen, crazy guy
4:05 that waves his hands around. I'm a tax
4:08 accountant. I sell tax services to small
4:09 business owners. What does this have
4:11 anything to do with me getting more
4:13 small business owners to pay for my tax
4:15 services? And that's a great question.
4:17 The answer is that you also are
4:19 struggling with this story flow problem
4:21 in your content without even knowing it.
4:22 Because when you make a piece of content
4:24 and you're writing a script, your job is
4:27 to get your potential buyer into that
4:29 hypnotic state. If you are able to hook
4:31 them and get them to start going down
4:32 the rabbit hole of whatever you're
4:34 saying, the worst thing you can possibly
4:36 do is throw some detail in that breaks
4:38 them from the hypnosis. Because when you
4:41 throw extra details in, that creates a
4:42 story flow problem. Now, the reason
4:44 people make this mistake and throw in
4:46 all these extra details, makes a lot of
4:47 sense when you think about it. When you
4:49 start talking about a topic you're
4:50 excited about, especially when you know
4:53 a lot about it, people tend to get over
4:55 excited and share more than necessary
4:56 because they want to prove that they
4:59 know stuff. Most people think more is
5:00 always better, but that's actually not
5:02 the case when it comes to script writing
5:04 and storytelling. Because the problem is
5:06 adding extra unnecessary details is kind
5:08 of like throwing barrels at someone
5:09 that's trying to walk down the sidewalk.
5:12 It forces them to look, jump, react, and
5:13 distracts them from the walk that
5:15 they're actually on. Okay, so the big
5:16 question is, how do we fix this problem
5:19 and improve your story flow? The good
5:20 news is the tactics for this are
5:22 actually very simple. After you write
5:24 your script, I want you to read back
5:26 through line by line. The common advice
5:27 is that after you read the first line,
5:29 you want to gut check if you're curious
5:31 enough to want to go to the second line.
5:32 And that's super helpful for
5:34 comprehension. But I want you to add one
5:36 more question to yourself on top. I want
5:38 you to read every single line and ask
5:41 yourself this. Is this line a necessary
5:43 piece of context or an intentional step
5:46 in the logic flow I'm trying to make to
5:48 get someone's understanding of the story
5:51 to go up? Or is it a distraction and an
5:53 unnecessary detail? If you're talking
5:55 about tax strategies for saving money,
5:57 don't also go on a super long tangent
6:00 about some new tax bill and the politics
6:02 that got it enacted. Save that for
6:04 another video. See, storytelling and
6:06 script writing is a lot like taking a
6:07 test when you were a kid. When you were
6:09 younger, they would give you a word
6:11 bank, but intentionally put a bunch of
6:13 extra words that you weren't supposed to
6:15 use. It's the same thing here. Your job
6:17 as a script writer or storyteller is not
6:19 to use every word or fact at your
6:21 disposal. You're only supposed to use
6:23 the ones that are necessary to maximize
6:25 comprehension. That whole process I just
6:27 described is called improving your story
6:29 flow. And I guarantee if you add that as
6:31 a layer towards the end of your script
6:33 writing, your retention will go way up.
6:34 All right, the second major script
6:36 writing mistake is called the
6:38 comprehension problem. And for this one,
6:39 I'm going to share a ton of tactical
6:41 improvements to your scripts that will
6:42 help you immediately. Here's the
6:44 reality. If the viewer does not
6:45 understand the words you're saying in
6:47 the script, they're never going to get
6:50 immersed in the story. They have to
6:51 understand what you're saying. So, your
6:54 job as the storyteller is to communicate
6:57 your points in a way that retains 100%
6:59 of the meaning behind the words that
7:01 you're saying. See, most people think,
7:02 especially with educational content, the
7:05 goal is to demonstrate how much more you
7:07 know than the person that's watching.
7:08 And the logic is because when they
7:10 realize how big of a deficiency they
7:12 have, they'll pay you to try to close
7:13 it. But this is actually the wrong
7:16 approach. People do not feel good when
7:18 they feel dumb. Your job with content is
7:20 to make them feel smart. So the truth is
7:22 the goal is not to demonstrate how much
7:24 more than them you know. The goal is to
7:26 demonstrate how big of a gap you can
7:29 help them close on that piece of content
7:31 as a demonstration for how you're going
7:32 to help them. And that's all about them
7:34 actually understanding what you're
7:36 saying. This is why so many people like
7:38 this channel. I spend an enormous amount
7:41 of time compressing my complex ideas
7:43 into the simplest form so that everyone
7:45 can understand them. I call this process
7:46 atomic messaging. If you want your
7:48 scripts to perform better and people to
7:50 actually watch, follow, subscribe, and
7:52 buy, you need to learn how to do the
7:54 same thing. Compress your words for
7:56 maximum comprehension. Okay, so the
7:58 question is tactically, what does that
7:59 actually look like? I'm going to give
8:02 you five super tactical, quick hit ways
8:04 to increase the comprehension of your
8:06 scripts. The first is to use simpler
8:09 words. Big words are only valuable to
8:10 the people that know them. To solve for
8:12 this, you should just write with simpler
8:15 words. You want to target a sixth grade
8:17 vocabulary, nothing more. Again, people
8:19 are not buying you because you know
8:20 words they don't know. They're buying
8:22 from you because they're trusting that
8:24 they will understand the words you do
8:26 say and that that will help them close
8:27 the gap on a painoint. Now, the easiest
8:29 way to simplify your words to a sixth
8:31 grade reading level is to actually be in
8:33 sixth grade. That was a joke. The second
8:35 easiest way is to just put your script
8:37 in Claude and tell it to rewrite the
8:39 whole thing in a sixth grade reading
8:41 level without removing the meaning or
8:43 examples you used. Now, the second way
8:45 to increase comprehension is to use
8:47 fewer words. And by this, I mean shorter
8:49 sentences. Most people have weak
8:51 attention spans and below average brain
8:53 function. That's just the truth. The
8:55 more words you say per sentence, the
8:57 more they have to store, remember, and
8:59 then think back to connect with the rest
9:01 of what you say. It's just more load on
9:03 the brain. Make this easier for them by
9:05 using shorter, punchier sentences. You
9:07 wouldn't speak in a run-on sentence, so
9:09 don't write in a run-on sentence. Quick,
9:11 short, punchy staccato. That's what you
9:13 want. Now, the third way to increase
9:15 comprehension is to use simpler and
9:17 clearer phrasing. You want to use active
9:19 voice. The dog jumped instead of passive
9:22 voice. The jumping was done by the dog.
9:24 Again, Chad GBT or Claude will solve
9:25 this for you in one click. It really is
9:27 a cheat code for writing. The fourth way
9:29 to increase comprehension is to restate
9:31 things twice. The second time saying it
9:34 in the most rudimentary or simple way
9:36 possible. See right there, I went to use
9:38 the word rudimentary, but not everybody
9:40 knows that word. So, I added or simple
9:42 after to make sure everybody could
9:43 understand. This is how you should
9:44 approach writing scripts. It's not that
9:46 I have the world's biggest vocabulary. I
9:49 have to actively reduce it down to the
9:51 simplest, lowest common denominator to
9:53 make sure everybody can understand
9:54 everything I'm saying. The truth is,
9:56 making content is actually pretty hard
9:58 for smart people with big vocabularies
10:00 because they struggle to dumb themselves
10:01 down. It's a muscle they've never used
10:04 before. The juice in making content is
10:06 the ability to do this on demand. It's
10:08 called distillation. Lastly, the fifth
10:10 tip that seems to help comprehension is
10:12 by naming things. You'll notice I do
10:14 this a lot. Atomic messaging, story
10:16 flow. These are terms that I just made
10:18 up, but I wanted to put a stake in the
10:20 ground around my frameworks and concepts
10:22 so it's easier for people to understand.
10:24 People can relate to a single word name
10:26 more than a long definition. So, try to
10:27 name your frameworks and concepts, and I
10:29 guarantee the recall will go up. All
10:30 right. Now, before I go on to the last
10:32 script writing mistake, and this is a
10:33 huge one that almost everyone struggles
10:34 with. If you're watching this video and
10:36 you're a business owner trying to get
10:38 better with content, I built a free
10:40 community designed to help you
10:42 specifically. It's called Wavy World. We
10:44 have over 27,000 other entrepreneurs all
10:46 helping each other try to get better at
10:48 content. We've got tutorials, guides,
10:50 frameworks, all types of stuff. I just
10:51 made it because I wanted people to get
10:53 better. If you want to join, it's
10:54 completely free. There's a link below in
10:56 the description. All right, the third
10:57 and final big script writing mistake
10:59 that people are making is the speed to
11:01 value problem. And the name on this one
11:03 kind of gives it away. Most people that
11:04 make content are not getting to the
11:06 value or the mention of value quick
11:08 enough before the viewer bounces. Now,
11:10 the obvious tactical solve here is to
11:12 get to value quicker. But let me explain
11:14 what getting to value actually means.
11:16 The truth is people are watching videos
11:18 for value. Either they want
11:20 entertainment value or they want
11:21 educational value. But either way, they
11:23 want to walk away knowing their time was
11:25 well spent and they got something out of
11:27 it. The biggest difference between
11:29 traditional story formats like books and
11:31 movies and all the ones online on social
11:34 media is the amount of time you have to
11:35 communicate that there is value. The
11:38 traditional story follows a basic story
11:40 arc. Some beginning where some context
11:42 is set, some middle where conflict
11:43 occurs, and then some end where a
11:45 resolution happens. And this is because
11:47 with books and movies, they are made
11:49 assuming they have you captive for the
11:52 entire duration. You bought the book,
11:53 you bought the movie, so they can afford
11:55 to be long and drawn out and really
11:57 stitch the full story following that
11:58 arc. But on social media and online
12:01 content, this is not the case. You got a
12:03 lucky slot machine pool for your video
12:05 to show up in front of someone for free,
12:07 and you have to earn the right for them
12:09 to keep watching. Because of this, you
12:11 need to demonstrate value or incoming
12:13 value as soon as possible. Content is
12:15 basically a race to see if you can
12:17 signal value before they lose interest.
12:19 Now, it turns out there is a much better
12:21 script writing formula or approach to
12:23 making sure you have high speed to value
12:25 before they bounce. I'm going to walk
12:27 through exactly what that is right now.
12:28 All right, so the first piece is the
12:29 hook. And we all know the hook, but the
12:31 important part is that you want to do
12:33 two things. Establish context and then
12:36 aggravate the pain point or tease the
12:38 benefit in the first two to three
12:40 seconds. The best scripts are both clear
12:42 on the topic and tease the value
12:44 incoming allin one. And if you want the
12:46 full deep dive on all the mistakes and
12:47 ways to actually do the hook, I've made
12:49 a ton of double clicks on that, so you
12:50 can find those in the description. All
12:51 right. Now, after the hook, the next
12:53 section is the body. We'll call this the
12:55 first body. And once you establish the
12:57 context and the incoming value, you want
13:00 to follow that story flow process that
13:01 we talked about as the first point in
13:03 this video, layering on the additional
13:05 details, context, facts, and examples,
13:07 but only using ones that are absolutely
13:10 critical to create that smooth, clear
13:11 through line. Okay, so we've got hook
13:13 and then we have the first body. Now we
13:15 have the rehook. And this happens about
13:18 20 to 25 seconds into a short form video
13:20 and maybe 2 to 3 minutes into a YouTube
13:22 video. A rehook is the reagravation of
13:24 the painoint originally triggered in the
13:26 hook by showing that there's a better
13:28 solution still out there. Your goal with
13:29 the rehook is essentially to trigger
13:31 this in the viewer's brain. Hey, what I
13:33 said is good, but what's coming next is
13:35 great. This rehook opens a new loop and
13:37 then rehooks them. So, so far we have
13:39 the hook, we have the first body, and we
13:41 have the rehook. The next section is the
13:43 second body. And the second body is
13:45 repeating the same approach as the first
13:47 body. Clear story flow. Distilled
13:49 details, context, examples, anything
13:51 that's important to say so that they
13:54 have a clear flow through the story. And
13:56 you repeat this back and forth flow.
13:59 Rehook body. Rehook body. As long as you
14:01 have valuable context to say. For a
14:03 YouTube video, you might rehook four or
14:04 five times. For a short form video,
14:07 probably two rehooks at the most over a
14:09 60 to 90 second video. At the end, you
14:11 add the outro. And the outro is either
14:13 you summarizing the value stated or
14:15 extending the value ramp. You triggered
14:17 a painoint through the video. You didn't
14:18 quite have enough runway to get through
14:20 the full value, so you lead them to a
14:22 lead magnet or some dock where you can
14:24 give them more value off platform. This
14:26 is the general script writing flow for
14:28 maximizing speed to value. It's hook
14:29 where you say the value in the first 3
14:32 seconds. First body, clear story flow,
14:35 rehook, second body, etc. Outro. If you
14:37 follow that rough schematic broadly,
14:39 obviously there's a ton of nuance inside
14:40 there, that will make sure you're
14:42 triggering the value early, reminding
14:43 people of the value in the middle,
14:45 continuing to hit that until the end.
14:46 All right, guys, that's all I've got for
14:48 this video. We covered the three really
14:50 biggest script writing and storytelling
14:52 mistakes that are probably holding back
14:54 your content from performing better.
14:55 Now, as a summary, these were the three
14:56 mistakes we went through and the
14:58 tactical fixes for how to solve each
15:00 one. The first mistake or problem was
15:02 the story flow problem. And
15:04 specifically, this refers to when people
15:06 add too many additional details and the
15:08 through line of the story is broken or
15:10 jumpy. It's just not clear for the
15:11 viewer to be able to go from beginning
15:13 to end. The way to solve this is to
15:15 audit every line of your script after
15:16 you've written it. And really ask the
15:19 question, is this line adding a detail,
15:21 clarity, or direction that we want to go
15:23 in, or is it a tangent, confusing, and
15:25 distraction that we don't? Keep the
15:26 clear ones, delete the distractions, and
15:28 you'll be better off. Now, the second
15:30 mistake, which is a huge one, is the
15:31 comprehension problem. And this is
15:33 really the viewer not understanding the
15:35 word you're saying. They're confused and
15:37 then they bounce. Now, in this section,
15:38 if you go back and listen, I broke down
15:40 five specific tactics for how to
15:42 approach increasing the comprehension.
15:43 And lastly, the third mistake we covered
15:45 was the speedtovalue problem. And with
15:47 this one, the viewer is just not getting
15:50 a hit of the value or what the value is
15:51 going to be quick enough before they
15:53 bounce. To solve for this, you want to
15:55 follow the rough story outlined
15:57 approach. I don't even want to call it a
15:58 format because there are plenty of other
16:00 story formats that are more granular
16:01 that differ depending on the type of
16:03 video you're making. What I described is
16:06 more a layer, an approach, an
16:07 architecture for how you should think
16:10 about speed to value. Hook, mention the
16:12 value. Body, make it clear. Rehook,
16:14 re-trigger the value. Second body, make
16:16 it clear. Outro, summarize or extend the
16:18 value. That's more of an architecture
16:20 for how many times you should infuse
16:23 value into the story. Now, as always
16:24 guys, the reason I made this channel is
16:26 because I'm trying to make it easier for
16:29 business owners to make better content,
16:31 get more leads, and grow their business.
16:32 That's all I'm doing. I give away all
16:33 the game for free on this channel
16:35 because I really want to see more people
16:37 win that are small business owners. If
16:38 that's you and you think you would
16:40 benefit from being able to make better
16:41 content and get more leads for free,
16:43 make sure to subscribe, but also join
16:44 Wavy World. It's the best place to
16:46 aggregate all entrepreneurs that help
16:48 each other with content. It's free and
16:50 there's a ton of helpful stuff in there.
16:51 All right, that is all we've got for
16:52 this one. We will see you on the next one.
