Spending too Much Time Researching Your Scripts? It Might be a Structural Problem.
You have a great video idea in mind, you sit down ready to get into it, start researching, and suddenly it’s a month later and you haven’t started on the script yet. If that sounds familiar, you are not the only one.
Of all the analysis channels I’ve worked with, around 2 in 5 say that research is a massive time sink in their video production pipeline. Scale that up to the 60 million YouTube creators out there and that 2 becomes around 17 million people with the same problem.
The Three Act Structure that Makes Great YouTube Video Essays
We’ve all watched a video essay that just felt a bit stale in the middle. Maybe it lost the plot a little bit. Maybe it got lost in explaining some research a bit too long. Maybe you even clicked off.
If you’re seeing a retention dip in the middle of your video, know that you’re not alone because this isn’t just a YouTube problem, it’s also a Hollywood problem. Difference is they found a methodology that is built to keep audiences engaged.
You’ve probably heard of three-act-structure, but what does it actually mean and how can it be applied to YouTube video essays to tell better stories that keep your audience engaged for longer?
The Reason Your Video Essays lose viewers (and how to fix it).
If you make video essays, you might notice that there’s a significant dip in retention around the middle of your video. I’ve certainly noticed it as a viewer and writer of this type of content.
Video essays generally have lower retention rates because they tend to go over 20 minutes. That’s mostly because of those pesky short attention spans we’re all dealing with today, but let’s look at the numbers.
A 5-10 minute video has around 30% retention beyond the hook. While a 20+ minute one only has 19.7%
How to Write a YouTube Script That Sounds Like You
A lot of people struggle to write scripts, period. But it’s even harder to write a script that sounds like you, because there’s an abyss between presenting information and connecting with your audience while being true to yourself.
How I researched a YouTube video script with 270k+ Views.
About three months ago I had the opportunity to work with Projectionist, a film analysis channel run by the wonderful Cody Wagner. Like a lot of analysis channels, Cody found he was falling into research spirals that were deeply interesting but took up a lot of time.
If you have a similar problem, know that it is completely normal. Doing research takes a lot of time and it’s hard to figure out what you actually need to write the video.
So here’s the steps I took to help Cody research his video (it ended up getting 270k views and counting!)
How to Write a YouTube Hook That Actually Retains Viewers
About 72% of viewers click off YouTube videos within two seconds. This is a problem that even top performing YouTube channels have to deal with, especially as attention spans get shorter and shorter (those pesky phones!).
There are so many reasons why viewers could click off so your hook has to make a great case to convince them to stay.
That’s because the main body of your script could have tremendous value, but if that isn’t presented in a way that hooks them from the start (we’ll get into what that means for different niches in a bit), then they might click off before they get to that high-value part they would have loved.
How to Research a YouTube Script
A lot of the creators I’ve worked with recently have one thing in common. They love doing research, but it just takes too much time.
They have a lot of passion for the topic they are researching and end up falling into spirals trying to learn all there is to learn about their video idea. This is great in theory, but in practice it drains your time, lengthens your script development process, and burns you out.
How to Write Great YouTube Video Essays (6-step Guide)
Video essays are a research-heavy, long-form medium where the quality of the final video is largely determined at the script stage. Unlike other YouTube formats, production cannot save a weak argument or unclear structure.
This is why video essays require a different writing approach. Think of a video essay script as the blueprint that your house is built on. If the blueprint is off, then the house will collapse.
How to Set-up a Sustainable Scriptwriting System for Video Essay Content.
Video essays are one of the most demanding formats on YouTube. Apart from the usual filming and editing, they require scripts that are basically condensed academic papers. Done the wrong way, churning out scripts for this type of content can slow you down and burn you out.