Congrats on reaching, or being close to reaching 100k! This is a massive accomplishment and you should be immensely proud of what you’ve built so far.
For a lot of creators, this marks a real turning point from treating their channel as a hobby, to turning it into a full time job, especially if you have a healthy patreon and/or some great brand deals lined up.
As you and the channel grow, it’s natural that your ideas will too, perhaps even quicker. That means you’re probably going to encounter the dreaded gap. If you haven’t already.
The term was coined by Ira Glass and it’s kind of a fig tree metaphor. It’s when you have a great, amazing idea, but you can’t fully realize it because your skills aren’t quite there yet. So there is a gap between what you want to create, and what you actually can create.
A lot of the creative people around me experience this incredibly often, me included. So it’s important to know how to manage the gap so that it can motivate you to keep improving your craft, particulalry on the scripwriting side of things.
Organising Ideas into Ambitious and Realistic
This starts before you even get to the script.
Some of the ideas you have will be fantastically doable. You know how production would work, the editing is clear and the script is one you are confident you can write. These are “realistic” ideas, ones that you know will be a hit with your audience and that you can deliver to a high standard without much extra venturing.
Now you’ll have other ideas that are a bit wackier. Maybe it’s a visual frame that you’d have to learn animation for, or hire an animator to do them. Perhaps you’re taking on a massive research project. These ideas tend to fall outside of your current realm of expertise, which is why they are fantastic.
Getting out of your creative comfort zone is how you improve. But how do you make sure you have a safe mix of “rational” and “ambitious” ideas so you can make content you’re proud of and invested in, but without burning out terribly?
You have to interview your ideas using things like:
- How passionate am I about it?
- Would it need an extra budget?
- How long will it take to lock in the script?
- Realistically, when would this video be ready for upload and can I slot it in with the rest of my production pipeline?
To use screenwriting terms, this will give you a good idea of your “slate” of ideas, aka the ideas you have in your backpocket that are heading towards production.
Now it’s just about making sure you have a healthy mix of both going on at any given time, so that you can keep the channel consistent and steady whilst still taking creative risks that help you grow and improve.
Getting Serious About Structure.
I can’t emphasize enough how powerful having a great structure for a video is. This is where a lot of the thinking and analysis happens, so having a great structure is like having a map for the script and the video as a whole.
Ambitious ideas can feel overwhelming, but if you spend time working at the structure of a video, you’ll find that they feel much more attainable.
The gap will likely still be there, but in reaching for a bigger idea, you learn more about your strengths and weaknesses. A great plan is a fantastic way to start figuring those out.
But what does said plan involve?
The process I follow when I write for channels is:
- Figure out the core narrative flow of how topics link together
- Bullet point core point to cover in each topic
- Add any relevant research details
This gives you a very bare-bones version of the outline. If it’s a complicated script, I like to write a test section at this stage, particularly the hook, since you essentially have to pitch the video back to yourself which can help you spot obvious issues.
After that I go back in and re-fill any outline details like a specific sentence or tone that I want to match etc…
How in detail you go here is largely up to you and your process, but it’s a great way to examine what you’re doing great, and where your gap really is without having to commit to a full script.
Tightening Your Voice
You’ve made time to explore an ambitious idea, you have a great plan and you feel good going into the script. Fantastic. Job done right?
The plan is a great way to test the narrative flow of your ideas and the strength of your analysis. But the script is where you test if that analysis can become an engaging script.
A great way to do this is by leveraging your unique voice. At 100k that audience already knows you, so lean into the cross section of what they enjoy from you and what you enjoy doing. Baking this into the script gives you a sound that makes recurring viewers feel “in the know” whilst helping new viewers recognise you.
This also carries into your unique narrative flow. A more academic channel will explain things more straight up but if you’re more about entertainment you may throw a couple jokes in there.
Understanding the Gap
Even if you apply all of this, there will be ideas that are just beyond that gap. This can be discouraging, but it’s such a key part of becoming a better writer and a better creator in general.
So don’t be scared to try out new stuff, particularly in your structure where you can test it before you get to the script.
And most of all, have fun with it! Reaching 100k could make you more stressed about the future and the standards you have to uphold, but if you see the future of the channel as a creative journey where you get to explore what works, then I promise the climb will be much more enjoyable.
You can check out Ira Glass talking about the gap here. (Highly recommend)
However, if you find that you don’t have time to fully close the gap yourself (even though I’d really encourage you to give it a go), you may benefit from a writer that helps you scale without you having to sacrifice your free time to do so.