Meet the Secret Scriptwriter Getting YouTubers Millions of Views

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George Blackman is a KZbin scriptwriter who’s been hired by KZbinrs like Ali Abdaal, Mike Shake, and Ed from Film Booth to write videos for them.
Scripting is one of THE most important parts of the video-making process that you may be overlooking - and George says it can make or break your video.
So in this episode, you’ll learn
•How a great video starts
•The 4-hat writing process to make better videos
•Tips for finding and hiring a scriptwriter
•And how to craft the perfect Call to Action to end your videos
💙 Script Templates from George: georgeblackman.notion.site/Te...
🌐 Episode page: podcast.creatorscience.com/ge...
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TIMESTAMPS
00:00 - The Secret Scriptwriter Getting Millions of Views
01:20 - How to Start a Video
05:08 - The Biggest Writing Mistake KZbinrs Make
06:37 - Get Full Creative Control of Your Videos
08:38 - Our Lovely Sponsor :)
09:43 - Do This Before You Start Writing
12:02 - 4-Step Process to Writing the Perfect Script
16:42 - How to Write to Engage the Audience
22:30 - Why You Should Hire a Scriptwriter
24:33 - Where to Find a KZbin Scriptwriter
27:36 - Crafting the Perfect Call to Action
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CONNECT WITH GEORGE
🌐 Website: georgeblackman.com/
🐦 Twitter: / georgeblackman_
📸 Newsletter: newsletter.georgeblackman.com/
💼 LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/george-bl...
***
CONNECT WITH ME
🐦 Twitter: / jayclouse
📸 Instagram: / jayclouse
🎵 TikTok: / jayclouse
💼 LinkedIn: / jayclouse
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TEAM
Host + Producer // Jay Clouse: jayclouse.com/links
Editor // Conor Conaboy: / conorconaboy
Audio Engineer // Nathan Todhunter: www.nathantodhunter.com/
Thumbnail Artist // Jonathan Sippel: / thumbnailgrail
Creator Science is part of the HubSpot Podcast Network.

[@CreatorScienceYT]

I added a link to a couple of George's scriptwriting resources to the video description. Check them out! And if you enjoy this video, a little thumbs up goes a long way. 👍

[@ColeMeger]

You’re crushing it Jay 👊

[@diyakeswani226]

Amazing stuff! please make more script writing videos!

[@diyakeswani226]

I am having a hard time understanding how big educational channels like Vox manage data and storytelling.

[@GeorgeBlackmanYT]

Thanks so much for having me Jay, it was a pleasure to talk to you! Absolutely thrilled that I remembered to turn my mic on 🔥

[@CreatorScienceYT]

Thanks for coming on!!

[@KameTrick]

I've been enjoying The Retention Hub and newsletter since the start of this year, and looking forward to your course :) I ramble too much when "winging it" in my motorsports educational content...with scripting I can lay out the "factual progression" of my topic, but I experience heaps of writer's block when trying to come up with a helpful metaphor or story to simplify an idea or tee up the next key point. I don't feel confident (yet) that the additions I think of help or convince the viewer to stick with me through the video but I'm trying and learning one attempt at a time😅

[@BrianNorthmorePhotography]

Hey George. How do you go about scripting for content where you can’t know exactly what is going to happen. I’m a landscape photographer, and can only rough out how a shoot will go I may have a good idea of what I’m going to cover. But things evolve during the shoot. And as I am live in the field reading from a script or prompts just does not work. What would you suggest.

[@GeorgeBlackmanYT]

@@KameTrick that's it mate, it's all about repetitions, reflecting on the results, seeing what the graphs do and going from there! Appreciate your support on TRH and the newsletter 🙏

[@GeorgeBlackmanYT]

Hey@@BrianNorthmorePhotography, I'm gonna copy and paste an adaptation of a comment I wrote in response to someone else here as this is great question! I work with an entertainment client for whom unexpected surprises are a common occurrence. It's more than ok to incorporate those moments into the story of course, but the key thing we focus on is ensuring a constant stream of progression of information. If there's a segment that unexpectedly took an hour longer than planned, we'll often summarise that segment in a 5 second voiceover, or even cut entire segments that don't contribute to the story. It sounds like the "writing" for your type of content should happen 10% before filming and 90% after, as opposed to a simple talking head video where it's 100% before :) The TL;DR is that using voiceover and heavier cutting in post-production is how we craft the story out of the footage we have, regardless of whether it went the way we expected. I hope that helps!

[@MudithaMaths]

I really like that your advert is like old school TV, where you announce that you are taking an ad break to the viewer.

[@Pcoxproductions]

12:19 aritest is free flowing, in the zone no critiques. 12:49 Architects: eliminates the idea ane start to flesh out the structure-> question point outline 13:41 writer: start connecting the dots in between key points and the grand payoff. There needs to be something Progressing, Regressing or Changing at anypoint of the script What is the goal? What does success look like? What does failure look like? -> obstacles? Emotion they might feel from success or failure. Free flow writing 15:42 wizard: now thinking of retention-> highlight where the audience will go oh or learn something new. Then see the visual structure of script and re arrange for a good flow of build up and payoff

[@frostflame8888]

Another gold nugget! Massive thanks to Jay Clouse, George Blackman and everyone else behind the creation of the video :D

[@Oddernod]

Legitimately can't believe you gave this one away for free. Listened to it as a podcast and stopped halfway to start it over here to screen cap and take notes. This feels like creator SCIENCE.

[@CreatorScienceYT]

boom! this means a lot. glad you enjoyed it!

[@AnimalJusticeEmergency]

Also took notes!

[@natefromhome]

Oh wow, this is fantastic. More script writing content please 👏🏼

[@CreatorScienceYT]

Noted! We can definitely make that happen.

[@AaronMartinProfessional]

Yes to this!!

[@5thSealBeats]

Definitely want more of script writing ✍️ this was super valuable

[@Dr.Ghulam]

Yes please

[@RealJustinZiegler]

Agreed. More script writing content please.

[@smitinathan]

This was the video I needed to see. Love how you interview Jay! So much value in this content.

[@NoEggCraig]

This is perfect timing! I've always just "winged" my content in the past and my channels are slowly dying 🙃 but i think actually doing all the pre-production stuff like scriptwriting and making a title and thumbnail beforehand will help revive them. Thanks for the great content!

[@KameTrick]

I found your content through KZbin, and I can already tell I should really go back through the audio podcast archives as there's bound to be tons of value waiting for me. I've watched at least 7 of your recent interviews and you're knocking it out of the park for creator and creative guests in the KZbin space. Keep up the great work!

[@MissElora]

Your KZbin channel is absolutely amazing.The content you create is both entertaining and informative,Keep up the fantastic work, you're doing a fantastic job. Your hard work and dedication are truly inspiring. Keep shining and reaching new heights 🙏🏻

[@kent.langley]

Really great video Jay and George. Thank you. Jay, I really appreciate the structure and effort clearly put into this- it's rare to see it done so well in an interview format.

[@coachfelixyoutube]

This was super useful! Thank you George for so much value and Jay for great questions, structure and pace

[@HimanshuBisht]

29:37 Is where I fell in love with this video. What an immediate action on the advice. haha

[@TijuanaJackson]

I truly dig your channel and interviews. Good content man.

[@wearetrackclub]

This is a gem for content creators! You did a really great job organizing and putting this together, really interesting insights! 👏

[@wherestheparty_]

this is pure gold! As a newbie, I find it so overwhelming to be good at all the parts that go into producing a video. so far I have not scripted my videos, I just improvised and the result would sometimes be super confusing or just random. Being a writer myself I now have the idea of how I could use this skill to make my videos more engaging and informative. Thank you for sharing all the tips!

[@jeremycollins1068]

Loved this! One of your best. Thank you.

[@architectknowhow]

A truly fabulous and informative video. Deals precisely with what I was looking for. Great work Jay and many thanks.

[@JoeriCreates]

Yes, I took Ed's course and have really been practicing scriptwriting (or copywriting for that matter). It's such a skill!!!

[@samtetteh6002]

Ed who?

[@JoeriCreates]

@@samtetteh6002Yes

[@dranipani]

I'm here to thank you Jay, and team, for the work you guys are doing.

[@rollierollout]

So good! The info here is analogous to so many other creative fields. Love your videos (even though I'm not a youtuber)! 😄

[@bromdoesdesign]

This is great thank you. Made me realise how unstructured and... chaotic my scriptwriting is. Going to try some of these tips today.

[@brokenkayfabe]

u have helped me so much dude over the last few months! ill be at 100,000 subs soon thanks to you

[@CreatorScienceYT]

Love to hear that. Thanks for watching!

[@dorians-world]

Jay, I just discovered you and I must say... your channel is a gold mine. Keep it up, liked and subbed 👍

[@hollytaylor-reeves]

wow you get such amazing guest on, not only that but you ask the RIGHT questions. so much value!!!! thank you

[@GenaroBardy]

I'm saving this. Thank you so much, awesome content delivered in a perfect way. Jay you should be much higher in views and subscribers, and I believe you'll get there if you keep up with this

[@RodPrimata]

amazing episode and insightd

[@BrunoPozo4Real]

These were some awesome insights into scriptwriting. I definitely suffered from being too pragmatic that retention suffered cause of it. Thank you for this interview!

[@darndarn99]

Great video jay, so glad you did this one for sure

[@juliansage2]

This was super valuable. Thanks for creating.

[@empoweredmgr]

I’m only 3 minutes in and seeing how massively important this is. Thank you!!!

[@marcuscarter]

Another fantastic gem, thank you so much Jay for such valuable content for creators. All the best!

[@chinoreynolds518]

teacher¡ what are you doing here man?

[@marcuscarter]

@@chinoreynolds518 I love this channel! After all, I'm a KZbinr too 🙌🏻

[@themyteamreport]

you got me with the implementation of the CTA

[@meetaugie]

Another great video, Jay! Nicely done.

[@HistoryHub12]

Tons of value here.

[@Andrei-Lemeshevski]

A lot of great tips, thanks so much for putting it together

[@ScriptScience]

Thank you for posting high quality content

[@CreatorScienceYT]

Glad you enjoy it!

[@MarlonOfficial2]

These are great! Loves this channel🔥 using these insights for my own

[@KatieGoesPlatinum]

This was fantastic and super helpful - subscribed!

[@sunshineysophia]

Thank you for sharing this variable information. I'm starting as a content creator. Your video was a real eye-opener for me!

[@josephbartztraining]

Watched this twice back to back! Thank you for the great video.

[@Dancing_Alone_wRentals]

The boxing examples were my favorite part.....really though provoking. tHanks for the video

[@markuslaczko]

Great video man - shared it with my buddy.

[@briceguiho]

You can tell Mr Blacklan really cares and loves what he does. The end of that video is a killer. Indeed, more scriptwriting content. Now i follow both of hou ❤ from Belgium 🇧🇪

[@MarkFeaGuitar]

really enjoyed this - very useful insights! Thanks man!

[@notforprophet]

Thank you thank you thank you. This video just provided so much clarity and is gonna change everything for me.

[@massa_art]

This was very good, practical advice that i can go and use straight away on my next video. Thank you! And the ending was class

[@justinresells]

Excellent interview, thanks.

[@Notapplicable124]

Im only 4 and a half minutes in, and this is already incredibly valuable!! Thanks 👏🏻

[@ShamManTV]

One of the most valuable and helpful videos I’ve seen for content creation. Thank you 😅

[@fightupdate2169]

This is the best source on KZbin Scriptwriting I have seen

[@Sn4fu]

This is great, I love this topic. Script writing for youtube is such a interesting niche! I'm adding this to my playlist and listening to it first thing at work tomorrow.

[@CreatorScienceYT]

Let me know what you think after you watch it!

[@Sn4fu]

@@CreatorScienceYT I tried to watch this at work the next day and it was so packed full of info I wanted to stop every minute to take notes! haha. Watched it that night and took notes. One of the most useful interviews I've ever listened to, thanks for all your work. Really appreciate you taking a lot of these guys that might be more accessible through twitter and email lists, and putting them in a format\packaging that makes it convenient for someone like me to listen to. I've listened to a video of yours more than once because it was so dense with value. That's actually how I remembered about this comment. I'm back re listening to this video again!

[@TheWhyPodJH]

A great one, as always, great work Jay

[@CreatorScienceYT]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@The_Xgroove]

Such a great video! Can't remember the last time I watch a full 30 mins on youtube 👏 I was way too blunt in my last video, it was just under 4 minutes and my retention was way low compared to my other videos. I'm gonna get to writing with these new ideas Thanks again!

[@marlytics5548]

Great video! George's mic was giving me a headache though, I kind of struggled a bit to finish this. Everything else was insightful, I subbed!

[@GeorgeBlackmanYT]

I can't believe I forgot to switch it on 🫣

[@SoYouShouldKnowchannel]

I definitely left this video feeling a lot smarter and ready to write a fire script🔥🔥 . I loved the breakdown and value I got from this

[@emanategoodness]

Such a helpful video! So many gems. Thank you!

[@ooferme]

you think this method of scripting still works 😅

[@lowlowseesee]

ive learned so much from you and your guests that has elevated my approach. plus I Love how you nailed the meta CTA in the end. thank you so much for giving us so much

[@CreatorScienceYT]

This means a lot - thank you so much!

[@lowlowseesee]

@@CreatorScienceYT anytime man, very happy for your success!

[@sean-ortiz]

Excellent stuff! How do you land these interviews???

[@dogsarethebestfriends]

Excellent interview and information! New subscriber 😊

[@_KiwiDad]

About halfway through and digging it. I definitely need to develop my scripts more. Was there a template to download?

[@CreatorScienceYT]

Just added to the episode description!

[@_KiwiDad]

@@CreatorScienceYT Legend! Thanks Jay.

[@walkwithyan]

great video. learned a lot. thanks. 😊

[@SavannaBanana205]

This was VERY helpful. I stopped and started it to take notes. Also, I wonder how you get your sound. Is it just the mic, or do you have to do fancy stuff in the editing room?

[@amiezwag]

Such a great clear and informative video! Thank you :D

[@FSDD88]

Ed's videos are phenomenal!

[@CohenBoydHD]

thanks for this content, really appreciate tihs information.

[@EmmaCruises]

So helpful, Thank you! 😁❤️

[@WW_Studios]

This is the video I wish I had a year ago. Thank you so much!!

[@vibhasoulart]

I am here again after watching one of your podcast video. I followed every alternative tip but nothing really worked. I wish this scripting will seriously help in growing my channel.

[@unblindingfaith]

Love hearing the insight. Would like to hear more about timing and placement of CTA's etc. For instance if I am writing a 90 page movie script, in the first 10 minutes have to reveal an inciting incident. Between 11 and 30 minutes the protagonist needs to embark on the journey. Page 31 to 70 minutes the character has set-backs, 71 to 85 overcomes the odds and wins... etc.

[@christopherdedeck]

I respect your ad transition. Much less intrusive.

[@ronjcharity]

Great topic. I wrote for magazines and followed this approach. I’m now working to apply it to KZbin . Have a few Channels I’m using to learn and figure my first 6-12 months will be learning all aspects. Based on my past 2 months my gut tells me lifestyle, tech, travel, motorcycling and mountain. Liking :) a blend maybe? Do r know yet…will see

[@bryonsview]

I have been working on my scripts for my KZbin channel. It’s tough work but I feel each video I’m getting better. Mainly using bullet points

[@christopherdedeck]

Love the review homie!

[@JonDaiello]

This was really, really helpful. Very practical feedback and I'm really excited to incorporate the tip of writing in an engaging way to make our viewers feel smart. I'm wondering if you have any tips for the end call to action when you don't have a lot of great videos to link to yet?

[@johnleesuccess]

thanks for the insights

[@AnimalJusticeEmergency]

Revelatory! As a small YT er and journo I finally feel like I can meld my skills! Excited to experiment on the material I'm currenty editing 😊 Thanks so much guys 🙏 Can't wait to crack on 👍👌👏

[@kady010]

I was on the verge of giving up because I just didn't know what I had to do, to make good videos. Everybody was giving vague tips about nothing and that didn't help at all. This really motivated me to keep trying. I took notes the whole video and I can't wait to put the knowledge to use! Thank you!

[@psd7721]

Please post more videos on script writing

[@notagypsy]

All aspiring KZbin scriptwriters must watch this video as a prerequisite.

[@EvelynM-vlogs]

Step one the artist - creating bubble areas on a plan. Step two the architect - creating a (floor)plan and framing plan for the bubbles. Step three the writer - continuing with the analogy, writing in the dimensions of the plan to connect wall "A" with wall "B". Step 4 the wizard hat, as an interior designer (although that's not what my channel is about) its when I relate the plan to the customer in a way that suits their lifestyle, aesthetics, and needs, only revealing what is necessary in the moment but in a super interesting and relatable way so as not to create a sense of overwhelm-meant- ie I guess that's where the avatar comes in. Cool.

[@LivinginLosAngeles]

Great info. Thanks 😀👍

[@BadBoyBuddha]

Can you please break down this process more with live examples of what you are explaining by using a mind map and using a real life example of the concept being applied by writing the script

[@narrativethreads_official]

As an editor, yes references are a fantastic way to get started, but to truly understand "why" a reference works and not only to look at "what" is being done and then just copying that requires experience. If you would just copy the "what" but you don't understand the "why" your video would likely lack soul. Working with an avatar here makes sense too, as you would in the process constantly think about "Who am I editing this for?" and "Will they engage with the way this is edited?".

[@withlovebrinicole]

You literally got me to click the next video! LOL Great video! Thank you both.

[@dominuskelvin]

Amazing video. Now I know I’ve got to work on three things for my channel to get to the next level: thumbnails, script writing, and editing Until this point I’ve just been winging the videos so the watch time is pretty low More work to be done

[@desertrose6100]

You microphone sounds pretty amazing btw …

[@itsqivuva]

very useful thanks

[@lifeworx]

I am a brand new creator. I often hear people talk about consistency as far as how often I should post. However, if I go along with what they are talking about here I for one feel comfortable making LESS videos LESS often, BUT..... I can spend my time creating much better quality videos that people will watch longer and have an increased watch time simply by doing all these things! Speaking only for myself, I am not in a rush to make money, at least not by my video views. I can pursue other avenues of revenue like merchandise or affiliate marketing, etc....

[@Mohlly]

Even though I listened to the entire breakdown on how to use a CTA at the end, and then watched you apply that to me in the audience… I sat there thinking “…dammit” because it actually inspired me to continue watching that next video😂 👏🏼 well done, thank you!

[@pankajchakraborty414]

Hey George please launch a retention grabbing script writing course. I really wanna learn because I want to open a faceless KZbin channel.

[@YaYousef5]

Do you have hard data that priming the audience with something coming up leads to longer watch times? Because honestly when someone says "I'm going to come back to that" or "make sure to keep watching because of x" I typically just skip ahead in the video to that section since they let me know the actual content of the video is coming later. You can even see in many of Film Booth / Creator Booth's videos, if you hover over the timeline, it will show you to where people clicked the most / most replayed, and it's usually at the useful part. Isn't this the direct opposite of what you want to happen, get people to watch more? Instead, they're watching less and skipping ahead to the point of the video rather than watching the 7 minutes of fluff surrounding it.

[@1eegans]

Do you have a link to the video George worked on for Creator Booth?

[@bahram_t]

i want a Jon Youshaei + Jay collab next! Keep it up Jay 🎉

[@CreatorScienceYT]

We’re scheduled for Thursday 🤫

[@HokyShmokes]

Is that video he mentioned about Hollywood remakes published somewhere yet?

[@askadvicejr]

Cool. I could use this in my chanel. Thanks!

[@kiforduraphael444]

Fantastic ending 😂😂😂 I fell for it 30:40

[@aarikorndorff5733]

What about "how to" instructional videos that don't have any spoken dialog, just a lil bit of text and mainly shows how to craft something?

[@akemimedia3579]

What kind of microphone are you using?