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 will slow you down and burn you out, especially if you’re succeeding.
This can result in a Sisyphus-like struggle where each script is like pushing the content boulder back up the hill. If this sounds familiar, you could benefit from a sustainable scriptwriting system that allows you to grow your channel without burning yourself out in the process.
1.Consistency Gets Harder After Success
When your channel has a big success it’s natural to raise your standards but you have to be careful about how you implement them.
In freelance work, there’s a concept called scope creep for when a project grows beyond the terms that were originally agreed. If you set higher expectations for yourself without adapting your process then you’ve become your most demanding client:
- Scripts get longer.
- Each video becomes a “big project”.
- Complexity requires slower output.
TLDR: Something has to shift.
2. What’s Keeping You Stuck?
A lot of content creation advice boils down to:
- “Lower your standards.”
- “Just batch content.”
- “Hire someone to write for you.”
It’s not bad advice, but it’s for the wrong type of work.
Video essay content thrives on depth and authenticity so forcing it into snappy productivity strategies punishes your ambition and treats care as inefficiency.
You’re not a content mill. You’re a creative person working with complex ideas. Any sustainable system has to respect and work with that.
3. What a Sustainable Scriptwriting System Looks Like
There’s no single “correct” process because every writer works differently. But sustainable systems tend to share a few core components.
3.1 Repeatable Workflows
For many video essayists, the script is the most time-consuming and mentally demanding part of the process which is why you can save time and mental space by standardizing a couple of things.
One of the best ways to do this whilst still maintaining creative control is to set up a master research document or database that you can quickly refer to.
Let’s say you’re writing a script about contemporary feminism, and you need a source on the male gaze. You know you have one because you’ve researched the topic before. Instead of digging through old documents, your streamlined research system will already know where it lives, and you don’t have to remember a thing. Reduce, reuse, recycle.
This could be:
- A notion database
- An organised word document
- A collection of documents grouped into files
Another easy repeatable workflow is to have a structural guideline. Even if you want to personalise the structure later, you don’t need to reinvent the narrative wheel for each script.
Most of us learned some version of the point-evidence-explanation formula in school. The same idea applies here. Whether you call it hook–explain–cliffhanger or something else, the goal is to find a principle that helps you be consistent without wringing your brain out.
3.2 Templates that Reduce Friction
A solid template removes unnecessary decisions. When your starting point is already aligned with how you think and write, getting started becomes easier. The template holds the structure so your voice can do what it does best.
This is especially valuable when you’re tired, busy, or juggling multiple projects.
3.3. Clear Writing Phases
Writers burn out by trying to do everything at once so separating your work into planning, drafting, editing and polishing phases creates mental boundaries.
How many passes you do is up to you. What matters is knowing which mode you’re currently in and sticking to it.
4. Choose the Path That Protects Your Energy
At the end of the day, you have to be realistic about how much work you can take on.
If you want to stay as the main researcher, editor, proofreader and writer then you need a framework that removes friction and protects your creative energy. Apart from adapting the actual scriptwriting process, you could also hire someone to help with video editing or thumbnail design to give you more time for writing.
However, if writing has become your main bottleneck, bringing in a collaborator is still a sustainable next step. Now don’t panic! That doesn’t mean hiring a writer to replace you, if anything it’s the opposite.
A researcher, script editor or skilled co-writer can be a lifesaver. So be cautious but not scared of outsourcing parts of your process. The right collaborator will understand you and your content.
Either path is valid! What matters is building a process that lets your channel grow without demanding more from you every time you succeed.
Most of all, remember that it can take time to find what works for you. If you need to slow down to figure that out, then slow down! No amount of success is worth killing yourself in the process.