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name: video-script description: >- Write the script for any video before anything is generated: what is said, shown and heard in every beat, sized to the clock and the video model. A brief and a facts file in; one script table out (time, spoken line, on-screen text, visual, sound), three hooks, and a check that measures pace, hook timing, shot length, unsourced numbers and AI-sounding lines. Six structures with one example script each, plus variations for demo and launch videos, product reviews, ads and UGC, social shorts and short-form drama, and a loop for testing and improving the skill. Use for "write a script", "video script", "ad script", "UGC script", "TikTok, Reels or Shorts script", "YouTube script", "voiceover script", "demo or launch video script", "product review script", "short drama episode", "skit", "hooks", "how many words for 30 seconds", or any video that has no script yet. Not for the look (find-references) or the shot prompts (varg-video-prompting). license: MIT metadata: author: vargHQ version: "1.3.1" openclaw: requires: anyBins: - python3 homepage: https://github.com/vargHQ/skills/tree/main/video-script compatibility: >- Works in any agent. scripts/check_script.py needs Python 3 (standard library only). No credits are used. allowed-tools: Bash(python3:*) Read Write Edit

Video script

Write the script before any voice, image or clip is made: every later step is cut to it. Left alone you drift to the most probable script, which is the one everybody else gets: a "have you ever wondered" opener, three adjectives, a narrator describing the picture, a vague happy ending. This skill names those defaults, gives the alternative for each, and makes you measure the script instead of grading your own taste.

The output

One file, script.md: header lines, one table, ## Hooks, ## Sources. Keep this shape exactly; the checker and the production skills read it.

format: ad            ad | demo | review | social | drama | explainer | brand
length: 30s
ratio: 9:16
wpm: 150              narration pace; measure one take of the chosen voice and put its real pace here
max_shot: 10          longest clip the chosen model makes well (see Fit the clock)
facts: facts.md       the only place numbers, names and claims may come from
viewer: who, in their own words
promise: the one sentence the viewer gets from this video
strategy: problem-agitate-solve
cta: one action, or none

| # | time | spoken | on screen | visual | sound | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | 1 | 0:00-0:03 | the line as it is said | the words shown | what the camera sees: one shot, or a cut list | music, effects, silence |

• spoken: voice-over in quotes; dialogue as MARA: "..."; delivery in brackets, [whispers].
• One spoken line, one visual. A line never runs across a cut it does not own; split it instead.
• Write numbers, prices, dates and URLs the way they are said: "forty-five dollars", "patchwork dot dev".
• ## Hooks: the three best first lines out of ten, the chosen one first. ## Sources: each fact and where it is from.

Steps

1. Brief and facts. You need: the viewer, the one promise, platform + length + ratio, the facts (product facts, data, the real story), the one action, and the production limits (AI video or footage, voice, speakers, model). Ask once, in one message, only for what would change the script; assume the rest and say what you assumed. Write facts.md. Never invent a number, a quote, a review, a customer or an experience; write [TK] and ask.
2. A proven skeleton. Find what already works for this viewer: top videos in the niche from the last 30 days, ads that have run for months. For each, note the hook, the format, how the product appears and the ending. Copy the structure, never the words. No time for that? Pick a strategy below.
3. Promise, ending, ten hooks. Write promise: as one sentence. Write the last line. Then write ten first lines of different kinds (formats in references/social.md). Cross out the first idea that came to you and anything two drafts share; keep the three most specific ones that are still true.
4. Beat sheet. One line per beat with its time, and BUT or THEREFORE between beats. Where people appear, answer for each beat: who wants what, what happens if they don't get it, why now.
5. Write the table by the rules below.
6. Check. Run python3 scripts/check_script.py script.md and fix every FAIL. AI tells are reported with their beat and speaker, so a character who talks in clichés on purpose shows up as exactly that. Read every spoken line aloud at speed. Answer the YES/NO list at the end. Change lines because a check or the person named a problem, not on taste.
7. Show it. Show the script and the three hooks and wait for a yes before any voice or video is generated.
8. After it ships, log it and read the numbers: references/improve.md.

Rules

1. One viewer, one promise. Every beat serves the sentence in promise:. An ad that does too much does nothing well (Google ABCD); write the headline first (Gallo).
2. The first frame and line pay off the packaging. Whatever made them stop (title, thumbnail, first image) is delivered at once, as a picture that reads on mute in 3 s or less; the shot, 3–5 words on screen and the spoken line say the same thing. A broken promise is the first drop-off (MrBeast doc, YouTube Help, Hoyos, Kallaway).
3. Open a loop, then pay it off. Right after the hook, say what is coming. Withhold the answer, never the topic or the stakes: the first line says what the video is about ("Plane windows are round because..."), not a riddle ("A corner."). Give two plus two, not four. Answer a question only with a bigger one (Stanton, Hoyos, Loewenstein).
4. But or therefore, never "and then". If "and then" fits between two beats, the story is boring (Parker & Stone; Aristotle called such plots "the worst").
5. Every beat turns something. A want meets an obstacle; a value flips (doubt to proof, safe to danger). Start as close to the end as possible and cut any line whose removal changes nothing, first and last lines included (McKee, Vonnegut, Mamet, Sorkin).
6. Show it; say only what the picture can't. Draft it as a silent film first. The voice adds what the picture cannot show and never describes it. In a feed, something new appears every 2–3 s (Mamet, Wilder, Roy Lee).
7. Write for the ear. One idea per sentence, words a twelve-year-old knows, lengths that vary the way speech does. Codes and reference numbers (flight numbers, model numbers, part numbers) go on screen, not in the voice. Read it aloud and cut what you would not say to a friend (NPR, Hoyos, Mañalac).
8. Specific beats general. A number, a name, a visible detail, the viewer's own words from reviews and comments. Replace every word of praise with the fact behind it (Wikipedia: Signs of AI writing; Heath brothers).
9. Fit the clock. Size every line to its seconds and every shot to its model (table below).
10. End on the payoff. No recap, no wind-down. Ads, demos and reviews end on one action, said and shown; shorts cut right after the payoff (Hoyos cut one second and retention went from 83% to 88%).
11. Tell the truth. Disclose paid deals at the start, spoken and on screen. An AI presenter never claims to have used the product. A shown result must be typical. Offers keep their conditions exactly as given ("20% off your first order"), and the product on screen does only what facts.md says it does. Label AI people where the platform asks (FTC, TikTok, Meta).

Full sources for every rule: references/sources.md.

Defaults to replace

| You will drift to | Write instead | |---|---| | "Have you ever wondered…", "In this video…", "Hey guys" | the result, the conflict or the strangest true detail, shown | | three adjectives ("fast, simple, powerful") | one fact you can show or measure | | "It's not just X, it's Y"; "No X. No Y. Just Z." | say Y | | "Great question!", "You're absolutely right!" | the answer itself, or the disagreement | | a narrator describing the shot | the shot alone, or a line that adds what it can't show | | a vague hopeful ending ("the future is bright") | the payoff, then cut; or one action | | speakers who all sound formal and alike | a want and a way of talking for each person | | Sarah, Emily, Elara Voss, Elias Vance | names from the brief, or plain specific ones | | the first twist that comes to mind | the third idea; drop what two drafts share | | clipped fragments everywhere ("Simple. Fast. Done.") | mixed sentence lengths, as people talk | | "a testament to", "seamless", "game-changer", "unlock", "elevate", "delve" | the concrete thing | | invented stats, "experts say", "studies show" | a fact from facts.md with its source, or nothing |

Fit the clock

| Length | Spoken words, max at 150 wpm | Beats | |---|---|---| | 15 s | 37 | 3–4 | | 30 s | 75 (60–70 reads better) | 5–7 | | 45 s | 112 | 6–9 | | 60 s | 150 (90–120 when the product must be watched) | 7–12 | | 3 min | 450 | chapters of 3–5 beats |

• Narration: 150 words a minute is 2.5 a second (audiobooks run 140–180). Go to 170–190 only for light, fast social voice-over. Lip-synced close-ups: under 10 words per 5 s shot. Measure one take of the real voice and set wpm:.
• On screen: at least 0.33 s per word; a 4-word caption stays 1.2 s or longer (BBC subtitle guidelines).
• Shots: each generated clip must fit the model's window (Veo 3.1: 4, 6 or 8 s; Seedance 2.5: 4–30 s; Kling 4: 3–30 s; check https://varg.ai/models/llms.txt), but runs of 4–11 s obey better and retake cheaper. Set max_shot:.
• Hook: lands by 3 s in feeds, 5 s on YouTube and in demos.

Strategies

| Strategy | Use for | Beats | |---|---|---| | But / therefore | true stories, founder stories, history, anything with a plot | situation → BUT → THEREFORE → BUT → THEREFORE → payoff | | Question ladder | social shorts, mysteries, lists, skits | hook + what's coming → question → bigger question → twist → cut | | Problem, agitate, solve | ads to people who know the problem | problem → why it's worse → product as the fix → proof shown → one action | | Result first | demos, tutorials, app ads | finished result → how, in the fewest steps → payoff moment → one action | | Misconception first | explainers, science, how it works | question → the common wrong answer → why it seems right → evidence that breaks it → the right model | | What is / what could be | launches, pitches, brand films | today's pain → the possible → today → the possible, made real → one action |

Sources: Parker & Stone; Hoyos and Stanton; Ogilvy ("above average in sales results"); Peter Cohan's "Do the Last Thing First"; Derek Muller's PhD (refuting the misconception beat clean exposition); Nancy Duarte's sparkline. Story Spine, Harmon's circle and Save the Cat are in references/sources.md as audits, not molds.

But / therefore: the Post-it Note (30 s)

format: explainer
length: 30s
facts: National Inventors Hall of Fame, Art Fry and Post-it Notes
promise: the sticky note started as a glue nobody could use
strategy: but-therefore

| # | time | spoken | on screen | visual | sound | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | 1 | 0:00-0:03 | "This glue failed at its job." | THE GLUE THAT FAILED | a yellow square peels off a page, leaves no mark | soft peel | | 2 | 0:03-0:09 | "Spencer Silver at Three M made it: sticky, but useless for tape." | SPENCER SILVER · 3M | lab bench, a tape strip lifts away clean | lab hum | | 3 | 0:09-0:16 | "But in nineteen seventy-four, Art Fry's bookmark kept falling out of his hymnal." | 1974 | church choir; a paper slip slides out and drifts down | choir humming | | 4 | 0:16-0:21 | "So he made bookmarks with a thin coat of Silver's glue." | | brush on paper; the slip holds