The Five-Block Structure
Hook, context, conflict, twist, and call to action. The hook must fit within three seconds and deliver the video's main promise. Context brings casual viewers up to speed. Conflict builds tension. The twist delivers the payoff the viewer was waiting for. The call to action converts engagement.
Without conflict, your video is just an announcement—and nobody watches those to the end. Always ask: what’s the problem here? Who disagrees? What could go wrong?
Estimating Duration by Character Count
Voiceovers for short-form videos average around 17 characters per second. That places a 60-second script at roughly 1,000 characters and a 90-second script at around 1,500 characters.
Treat this as a baseline, not a strict rule: read your script aloud with a stopwatch to calibrate your personal pacing. If you go over time, trim adjectives and repeated explanations—never cut the twist.
Writing for the Ear
Keep sentences short, one idea per sentence, and stick to the present tense. Avoid odd decimals, unexplained acronyms, and long subordinate clauses—viewers can't rewind spoken audio easily.
Use transitional phrases to maintain tension between blocks: 'but here's the catch,' 'the problem is,' or 'then things get weird.' These bridge the viewer's attention seamlessly from one segment to the next.
Timestamping Each Block
Note how many seconds each block should take directly in your script. During editing, this serves as a checklist: if the context runs past twenty seconds, it's stealing screen time from the climax.
Block-timed scripts also make cutting long-form versions easier: you already know where to expand without ruining the pacing.