Script Writing for Videos: Does Size Matter?

We’ve all been there. You’ve got a video idea in your head that you think will do well, you sit down to write up an initial draft, and…nothing.

Converting thoughts into words on a piece of paper, which is churned out as speech can be a difficult task. And while your approach may vary depending on the situation, I have comfortably settled for two different yet equally effective processes — full writing and outlining.

Let’s go over full writing first. What I describe as full writing is just sitting down and writing whatever comes to mind in relation to that topic. Don’t stop to edit, don’t worry about tone, and don’t stop typing or scrawling until you think you have enough material. After that, go back to edit, proofread, add fluff and other things that you need to do.

Pros:
- No fuss over your work until after it’s completed.
- It’s much easier to keep going on a train of thought rather than starting and stopping constantly.
- Reading from a full script means that you won’t have to stop and think, just do.

Cons:
- Tends to lead to overwriting (but hey, that’s what editing is for, right?)
- It takes longer than outlining.
- Reading from a script feels less genuine compared to ad-libbing portions of it.

Example of what a full writing script would look like in my videos.

Bonus: I’m actually using full writing currently as I’m writing this article!

Next, we have outlining. Outlining, as it is usually done, just involves jotting down notes and important points that you may want to make within the video rather than word for word verbatim what you will say. This is the process that I’ve been experimenting with recently in my videos, swapping scripts for notes.

Pros:
- Speed. There’s no doubt that jotting down notes is way quicker than writing a full script.
- Tone. Speaking as if you were talking to someone instead of reading from a script helps make a person feel more relatable.

Cons:
- Details. What you make up for in speed you can easily lose out on detail. Nothing hurts more than kicking yourself in the foot about a point you missed while editing things together.
- Cohesiveness. Like the above point, when you’re using notes, you really are on your own. Any stutters and dead noise will be much more noticeable and will likely need to be removed.

Example of what outlining looks like in my videos. Note the short points in place of paragraphs.

All in all, there is no “write” way to tackle this problem. I’ve experimented with both, and while I do enjoy writing out full scripts to better organize my thoughts, sometimes life just doesn’t have enough time for something like that.

Do you have any tips for writing articles or scripts for videos? Let me know!