Most articles don’t make good movies. Those that do share qualities that translate naturally to 60-second codecs. Figuring out them earlier than you commit manufacturing sources saves extra time than any modifying shortcut.
Information and first-party steering level to repeatable patterns in how short-form video holds consideration. These patterns form script construction in ways in which written content material doesn’t put together you for.
A 1,500-word article that performs nicely as textual content could include solely 150 phrases value changing to video, and people 150 phrases is probably not those you’d instinctively select.
On this information, I’ll stroll by the choice and scripting course of, drawing on firm steering, third-party evaluation, and creator workflows. The main focus right here is on two choices that matter greater than manufacturing high quality. Which content material to transform, and the best way to construction scripts that maintain consideration on every platform.
Obtain your article-to-video script guidelines, a one-page reference for changing written content material into short-form video scripts.
Deciding on Content material Value Changing
Some creator workflows observe an 80/20 rule: Spend most of your time selecting what article to transform, then polish the output. Chances are you’ll assume manufacturing high quality drives outcomes. In follow, choice issues greater than polish.
How-To Content material
How-to and tutorial content material adapts nicely when transformed to video. The reason being due to the way it’s structured. How-to content material breaks naturally into steps, and every step turns into both a standalone clip or a beat inside an extended video. The segmentation is already constructed into the written piece.
Listicles
Listicles have this high quality as nicely. Every checklist merchandise offers you a reduce level, so a “7 methods to enhance X” article can turn into seven separate movies or one video with seven sections.
FAQs
FAQ content material works nicely as every question-answer pair delivers full worth by itself, matching how individuals eat short-form video. They arrive mid-scroll, anticipating a direct payoff.
Case Research
Case research with clear problem-solution-result constructions match naturally into 60 seconds. Downside within the first 10, answer within the center 40, consequence within the remaining 10. The narrative arc compresses with out shedding its logic.
Avoiding Content material That Doesn’t Convert
Content material that converts poorly has its personal distinctive qualities.
Restricted-Time Bulletins
Bulletins with a brief shelf life hardly ever justify the hassle as a result of by the point you script, file, edit, and publish, the data could also be stale.
Quickly-Altering Information
Statistics-heavy items the place knowledge adjustments regularly create upkeep issues. A video claiming “X platform has 500 million customers” turns into deceptive inside months, nevertheless it retains circulating after the quantity expires.
Advanced Arguments
Advanced arguments that require a number of supporting factors hardly ever match into 60 seconds. If an article’s worth comes from constructing a case throughout 2,000 phrases, extracting 150 phrases guts the logic that made it persuasive.
Audit Utilizing Engagement Metrics
Earlier than committing manufacturing sources, audit present content material utilizing engagement metrics. Articles with 5%+ engagement charges or 1,000+ month-to-month visits make prime candidates as a result of they’ve already validated the subject along with your viewers. Changing them turns into distribution reasonably than experimentation.
In a single Diggity Advertising and marketing case examine, an actual property know-how firm noticed 148% larger referral visitors after repurposing weblog content material this fashion. They recognized the place their viewers searched, constructed format-specific property, and drove customers again to core content material. The weblog grew to become a hub with movies pulling consideration from social platforms again to owned properties.
Script Timing That Matches Platform Retention
Every platform has totally different structural necessities, which suggests scripts optimized for one could underperform on one other.
OpusClip’s retention evaluation suggests YouTube Shorts see sturdy retention at 15-30 seconds, with tutorials typically working 25-40 seconds. YouTube Shorts can run as much as three minutes, however many retention-focused workflows begin with shorter cuts. Many Reels methods even skew shorter, and retention can drop as movies run longer.
TikTok for Enterprise recommends 21-34 seconds for In-Feed advertisements. On TikTok, sturdy completion and replay conduct are likely to correlate with wider distribution. For those who’re aiming for TikTok’s Creator Rewards Program, movies have to be at the least one minute lengthy.
These variations imply a single script may have three variations for cross-platform distribution. Your core content material stays the identical, however timing adjusts to match every platform’s retention curve.
For movies at the least one minute lengthy (required for TikTok’s Creator Rewards Program), TikTok’s Inventive Codes advocate a three-part construction: hook, physique, and shut.
The maths shapes all the pieces else. Business normal talking tempo for video runs 140-160 phrases per minute, which suggests a 60-second script caps at roughly 150 phrases. TikTok’s analysis exhibits 90% of advert recall occurs throughout the first six seconds, so your hook must land in that window. At a typical talking tempo, six seconds offers you about 15-20 phrases to determine why viewers ought to care.
That leaves roughly 45 seconds for physique content material and 5-10 seconds in your shut.
For those who’re spending 15-20 phrases on the hook and 15-25 on the shut, the physique will get 100-120 phrases. That’s sufficient for 2 or three factors with room to breathe between them. Greater than three factors in that house creates rush that tanks retention.
Give it some thought like this: For those who can solely say 150 phrases, you need to select the 150 most essential phrases out of your 1,500-word article. That choice course of is the place conversion talent lives.
Hook Formulation Backed By Retention Information
The primary three seconds decide whether or not viewers keep or scroll. A video with a weak opening has an issue, no matter how sturdy the remainder of the content material is.
Listed here are some examples of sturdy hook formulation.
Stunning Stat
A stunning statistic paired with rapid relevance stops the scroll. Numbers sign credibility, and the shock creates curiosity.
In follow, it reads like this:
“60% of individuals admit to procrastinating often, even after they realize it causes stress.”
There’s an attention-grabbing stat, adopted by why it issues to the viewer. This works as a result of the quantity is particular and the relevance is common.
Search for essentially the most putting knowledge factors in your articles and transfer them to the entrance. Your article could have buried it in paragraph seven, whereas your video leads with it.
Questions
Query hooks create stress. When you pose a query, the thoughts needs a solution, and viewers should hold watching to shut that loop.
The query must be particular sufficient to vow a solution in 60 seconds however broad sufficient to matter to your viewers.
“What’s the one factor profitable individuals have in widespread?” works. “What are the 47 traits of profitable individuals?” doesn’t work as a result of viewers know they will’t get that reply in beneath a minute.
Direct Stake
Direct stake hooks can seize the eye {of professional} audiences.
“In case your web site makes use of Product markup, this impacts your procuring visibility,” tells professionals whether or not this video applies to them. This respects their time as a result of they don’t should guess whether or not the content material is related.
Imprecise guarantees like “this adjustments all the pieces” underperform as a result of they don’t decide to delivering something particular.
Changing Articles To Scripts
Changing articles to brief video scripts is all about extracting what’s most essential. Begin by studying your article and asking what essentially the most stunning, helpful, or consequential single reality is. That turns into your hook.
Typically, essentially the most compelling a part of an article sits in paragraph three or 4. Written content material offers you time to construct context in your opening, whereas video doesn’t.
You possibly can simplify the extraction course of by following the hook, trace, worth, credibility, takeaway, motion (HHVCTA) framework.
HHVCTA Framework
The HHVCTA framework maps article content material to video construction. The hook at 0-2 seconds stops the scroll, and the trace at 2-5 seconds previews what viewers will study.
Worth supply from 5-45 seconds delivers on the hook’s promise, with credibility woven all through or concentrated in a key second. The takeaway at 45-55 seconds lands the message, and the motion within the remaining seconds directs viewers to subsequent steps.
This prevents frontloading all worth with nothing left for the ultimate 15 seconds. It additionally prevents the alternative mistake of saving all the pieces for the tip, which viewers by no means attain as a result of they swiped.
Obtain your article-to-video script guidelines, a one-page reference for changing written content material into short-form video scripts.
Keep away from The Hook-Supply Hole
A typical underperforming sample is the hook-delivery hole. The hook asks a query, the physique pivots to associated content material with out answering it, and viewers who stayed for a solution really feel cheated.
After writing your physique, reread the hook and examine whether or not you really answered the query. In case your hook says “right here’s why X occurs” however your physique covers results with out explaining causes, the script is a fail.
Sustaining Consideration By way of The Center
The center part is the place most movies lose viewers. Incorporating sample interrupts each 3-5 seconds might help preserve viewer engagement. Efficient strategies embrace textual content overlays, B-roll, digital camera angle adjustments, and graphics.
Research and case examples present captions lifting watch time. 3PlayMedia studies a 25% watch-time carry in a single instance, and Kapwing cites analysis suggesting extra viewers watch the entire video when it has subtitles.
Whereas sound is crucial to the TikTok expertise, captions are important for viewers in “quiet mode” (commuting, in mattress, at work) and for discoverability. Displaying and saying data collectively boosts retention and offers platforms extra alerts about your content material.
website positioning For Video Content material
TikTok says it considers “video data” like captions, sounds, and hashtags, so captions, on-screen textual content, and spoken audio might help your video get understood and surfaced in suggestions and search options.
Video titles ought to embrace main key phrases whereas piquing curiosity, and descriptions develop on the titles with extra key phrase context.
Caption accuracy issues for search. Auto-generated captions include errors that platforms can decide up as content material alerts, so a video about “website positioning” with captions studying “CEO” could floor for improper queries. Evaluate and repair auto-captions earlier than publishing.
Hashtags sign classes to algorithms. Use broad tags like #advertising to succeed in massive audiences, and particular ones like #emailmarketing for direct relevance. Evergreen content material advantages from evergreen hashtags that preserve visibility months after posting.
Batch Manufacturing For Scale
Content material groups that produce video at scale usually batch their workflows. Creators like Thomas Frank and Ali Abdaal have documented their batch filming processes, and Gary Vaynerchuk’s “64 items of content material in a day” mannequin is constructed on recording pillar content material and distributing clips afterward.
Creating one video from scratch every time burns hours on repetitive choices. You possibly can reduce per-video time by 60-80% by batching.
Batching refers to scripting a number of movies in a single session, filming all of them collectively, modifying in batches with constant codecs, after which scheduling throughout platforms.
A typical batch for 4 to eight movies breaks down like this. Scripting utilizing templates takes two to 3 hours. Filming all movies in a single session with constant setup takes three to 4 hours. Modifying throughout a number of days takes six to eight hours complete. Scheduling takes about an hour.
Per-video time drops to roughly 40 minutes. With out batching, particular person movies usually take 150-180 minutes every. The financial savings come from eliminating setup and context-switching between periods.
Measuring Outcomes
Quick-form video works as top-of-funnel for many content material groups. A video with 100,000 views and 0 conversions could matter lower than one with 10,000 views and 500 e mail signups.
When outcomes fall brief, retention curves pinpoint the issue. Sub-60% retention at three seconds factors to hook points. Regular early retention with sharp mid-video drops suggests pacing issues. Late drops usually imply content material ran lengthy or delivered worth with out giving viewers a purpose to remain.
Wanting Forward
The hole between written content material and video content material is smaller than most groups assume. The analysis already exists. The experience already exists. The construction is the one new variable, and that construction suits on an index card.
Groups that battle with video manufacturing normally aren’t combating manufacturing itself. They’re combating choice and compression. They attempt to convert articles that don’t match the format, or they refuse to chop materials that labored in textual content however dies on display.
The 150-word constraint is a decision-making instrument that cuts modifying in half earlier than you begin. Choose one article out of your archive that carried out nicely and had a transparent takeaway. Convert it to a script. Then file it, learn the retention curve, and alter as wanted.
You possibly can hold studying articles like this one, however doing the work and iterating on it would educate you greater than I ever may.
Obtain your article-to-video script guidelines, a one-page reference for changing written content material into short-form video scripts.
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