My 5-step Scriptwriting Process

Never run into writer's block again

Author

Bryan Ng
March 02, 2024

Welcome to the YouTube Scriptwriting Newsletter!

Bryan here from Viral Bangers.

Today I am emailing talking about my 5-step process to writing a YouTube script.

Before we get into it, make sure to check out my free YouTube Scriptwriting Guide. It’s a comprehensive A-Z guide on how to write your first retention-optimized script.

Deep Dive

My 5-step Scriptwriting Process

The reason it’s so difficult for most YouTube creators to sit down and write a script is because we are trying to do 50 things at the same time.

We try to research.

Then we go to brainstorm

Then we start writing the hook

Then we have to go back to research the next part.

And we circle back to editing the hook because we spotted a mistake.

We as YouTube creators get overwhelmed and never end up making it till the end of the scriptwriting process.

Or when we do - it would’ve taken us 10 hours - and the script is still not done.

That’s why I’ve created a 5-step process that every creator should follow so that they don’t get drowned in the scriptwriting process.

1. Research

In the research phase, you want to:

  1. Scroll YouTube to see the content of other creators in your niche

  2. Search blogs and articles on Google and Reddit

  3. Look through Twitter accounts in the niche

You want to get all of the information that you would possibly need to script, and just dump it on a Google Document or whatever you’re writing on.

Don’t worry if its too much information.

We will organise it later.

2. Brainstorm

Brainstorming is where we solidify the angle of the video.

Look at the research data to see what kind of videos are existing in your niche, what outliers are working outside your niche and what gaps there are.

If you’ve identified the gap, think about how you can incorporate your unique angles into it.

3. Outline

This is where we outline the overall structure of the video.

Sketch out what elements we want to include in the hook and what are the main payoffs that we want to talk about in the body.

Plan out what video we want to call-to-action to in the outro.

This will form the base of the writing.

4. Writing

Notice how writing is the 4th step in this process.

We need to form a strong base before we get into the rest of the content.

For this part, you want to expand on the body of the video.

One of my favourite frameworks to use in an educational video is the Why-What-How Framework:

Why - being why is this important to the viewer

What - being the main point you are making

How - being an actionable takeaway

5. Refinement

The first draft will suck.

It will be terrible.

That’s why the gold is in the editing.

We want to edit our script at least 2-3 times to remove any redundancy, check if the storytelling bits hit, and make the video more engaging.

Actionable YouTube Tip of The Day:

(Implement this to make better videos)

  1. Use the 5-step framework I just provided to write scripts.

  2. Don’t skip any step. If you do, you will eventually have to backtrack and restart the whole process.

  3. Get to writing

How I Can Help You:

  1. I have a tonne of free content that will help you grow your YouTube channel on my YouTube. I post valuable insights and bangers of my own every week. I package YouTube concepts in a simple way so you can grow your own channel too.

  2. I post daily on Twitter/X too. Follow me there for daily scriptwriting insights/ YouTube trends.

  3. If you’d like to hear about how I could help you grow your YouTube channel with viral scripts, you can book a call with me here. I might be able to help you grow faster, or I might be able to refer you to someone who can.

Hope this helps,

Bryan