# Video Scripting & Production Strategy Guide Comprehensive video scripting reference for LinkedIn thought leadership. This guide focuses on **scripting, pacing, and production workflow** — for general video format specs, algorithm data, technical requirements, editing tools, and thumbnail strategy, see `linkedin-formats.md` (Video Content Deep Dive section). --- ## Length-Specific Script Templates ### 30-Second Script (75 words) **Use case:** Single punchy insight, reaction to news, quick tip. ``` [0:00-0:03] HOOK (8 words) Bold claim or pattern interrupt. No warm-up. Energy: HIGH — lean into camera. [0:03-0:08] CONTEXT (15 words) One sentence: why this matters right now. [0:08-0:25] INSIGHT (40 words) The one thing they need to know. Deliver with conviction. No hedging. [0:25-0:30] CTA (12 words) Direct question or follow prompt. ``` **Pacing:** 2.5 words/second = 75 words total. **Energy curve:** Start at 8/10, sustain at 7/10, end at 8/10. **Visual cues:** 1 text overlay (hook keyword), 1 CTA overlay. --- ### 60-Second Script (150 words) **Use case:** Framework intro, single lesson, "here's what I learned." ``` [0:00-0:03] HOOK (8 words) Pattern interrupt or bold claim. Energy: HIGH. [0:03-0:10] CONTEXT (18 words) Brief setup: what happened or why this matters. Transition: "And here's the thing..." [0:10-0:45] MAIN CONTENT (88 words) 2 key points, ~44 words each. Point 1 [0:10-0:27]: State it. Explain why. Quick example. Transition: "But that's only half of it..." Point 2 [0:27-0:45]: State it. Explain why. Connect to point 1. Pause for emphasis before CTA. [0:45-0:55] TAKEAWAY (24 words) "Here's what this means for you:" One clear actionable sentence. [0:55-1:00] CTA (12 words) Engagement question or follow prompt. ``` **Pacing:** 2.5 words/second = 150 words total. **Energy curve:** 8/10 → 6/10 → 7/10 → 8/10 (wave pattern). **Visual cues:** Hook keyword, point numbers, takeaway highlight, CTA. --- ### 90-Second Script (225 words) **Use case:** Complete framework, story with lesson, detailed insight. **This is the optimal LinkedIn video length.** ``` [0:00-0:03] HOOK (8 words) Pattern interrupt, bold claim, or stat shock. Energy: HIGH — this determines 70% of retention. [0:03-0:12] CONTEXT (23 words) Why this matters. Brief personal connection. "I discovered this when..." / "After analyzing X..." [0:12-0:65] MAIN CONTENT (133 words) 3 key points, ~44 words each. Point 1 [0:12-0:30]: State the principle. Explain briefly. Real example or data point. Transition: "Second..." Point 2 [0:30-0:48]: State the principle. Why it matters. Counter-intuitive angle if possible. Transition: "And the most important one..." Point 3 [0:48-1:05]: The strongest point saved for last. Deliver with increased energy. Pause after for emphasis. [1:05-1:20] TAKEAWAY (38 words) Synthesize all 3 points into one insight. "So here's what I want you to remember..." Add personal reflection: "This changed how I think about..." [1:20-1:30] CTA (23 words) "Which of these resonates most with you?" Or: "Follow for more [topic] breakdowns." ``` **Pacing:** 2.5 words/second = 225 words total. **Energy curve:** 8/10 → 6/10 → 7/10 → 6/10 → 8/10 → 7/10 (double wave). **Visual cues:** Hook keyword, 3 point numbers, takeaway highlight, CTA. --- ### 2-Minute Script (300 words) **Use case:** Detailed story, multi-step process, deep contrarian take. **Use sparingly — retention drops after 90s.** ``` [0:00-0:03] HOOK (8 words) Must be your strongest possible hook. At 2 minutes, you need extra retention power. [0:03-0:15] STORY SETUP (30 words) Set the scene with specific details. Create tension or curiosity. "6 months ago, I was facing a problem..." [0:15-1:30] MAIN CONTENT (188 words) 3-4 key points, ~47 words each. Point 1 [0:15-0:35]: The foundation. Set the baseline. Use a concrete example. Transition naturally. Point 2 [0:35-0:55]: Build on point 1. Add complexity. "But here's where most people get it wrong..." Point 3 [0:55-1:15]: The revelation. The unexpected insight. This is your strongest moment. Point 4 (optional) [1:15-1:30]: Only if essential. Otherwise extend point 3. "And one more thing..." [1:30-1:50] TRANSFORMATION (50 words) The "so what" — what changed because of these insights. Before/after contrast. Specific outcome or result. "Since implementing this, we've seen..." [1:50-2:00] CTA (24 words) Strong engagement hook. "I'm curious — have you experienced this too?" "Save this if you want to try it." ``` **Pacing:** 2.5 words/second = 300 words total. **Energy curve:** 8 → 7 → 6 → 7 → 8 → 7 → 6 → 8 (sustained wave). **Visual cues:** Hook keyword, story context, point numbers, transformation stat, CTA. **Warning:** Only use 2-minute format when the content genuinely requires the extra time. Most ideas fit better in 60-90 seconds. --- ## Format-Specific Production Guidance ### Talking Head **Best for:** Personal stories, opinions, lessons learned, authenticity-building. **Script style:** - Conversational — write for the ear, not the eye - Contractions: "I've found" not "I have found" - Short sentences: max 15 words when spoken - Direct address: "you" not "people" - Personal pronouns: "I", "we", "my team" **Visual cues to include in script:** ``` [CAM: direct] — Look at camera (default) [CAM: slight left] — Break eye contact for storytelling [CAM: lean in] — Emphasize key point [GESTURE: count] — Use fingers for numbered points [GESTURE: open hands] — Openness, invitation [PAUSE: 1s] — Let a point land [ENERGY: up] — Increase enthusiasm [ENERGY: down] — Slow for emphasis ``` **Production tips:** - Film in natural light facing a window - Eye-level camera on tripod - Clean, non-distracting background - Lavalier mic for consistent audio - Film in one take if possible (authenticity > perfection) --- ### Screen Recording **Best for:** Tool walkthroughs, demos, data analysis, process tutorials. **Script style:** - Instructional — clear, step-by-step narration - Announce what you're about to do before doing it - Narrate mouse movements: "I'll click on..." / "Notice how..." - Pause between steps for viewer processing **Visual cues to include in script:** ``` [SCREEN: show app] — Full screen capture of application [SCREEN: zoom to X] — Zoom into specific UI element [SCREEN: highlight X] — Circle or arrow pointing to element [CAM: picture-in-picture] — Small webcam overlay (corner) [CAM: full] — Switch to full webcam (for intro/outro) [CURSOR: circle] — Draw attention to cursor location [TEXT: step N] — On-screen step number ``` **Production tips:** - Clean desktop, close notifications - 1080p minimum, 1440p preferred - Pre-load all tabs/apps before recording - Use mouse highlights (pointer circle) - Record voiceover separately if needed (cleaner audio) --- ### Slideshow / Visual Sequence **Best for:** Frameworks, data visualization, step-by-step processes, lists. **Script style:** - Concise narration per slide — voiceover guiding the visual - Each slide has a clear purpose statement - Transitions are verbal: "Now let's look at..." / "Next..." - Build suspense between slides **Visual cues to include in script:** ``` [SLIDE: title] — Title slide with hook text [SLIDE: point N] — Content slide with numbered point [SLIDE: data] — Chart, graph, or statistic [SLIDE: comparison] — Before/after or A vs B [SLIDE: summary] — Key takeaway recap [SLIDE: CTA] — Call-to-action slide [TRANSITION: fade] — Smooth transition between slides [TRANSITION: cut] — Hard cut for emphasis [BUILD: animate] — Reveal elements progressively ``` **Production tips:** - 4:5 aspect ratio slides (1080x1350) - Large text: 28pt+ body, 36pt+ headings - Max 3 bullet points per slide - Use brand-consistent colors - Record narration after designing slides - 3-5 seconds per slide minimum **Programmatic video with Remotion:** Slideshow/visual sequence videos can be generated directly from Claude Code using [Remotion](https://www.remotion.dev/) — a React framework for programmatic video creation. This is especially powerful for: - Data-driven slides with dynamic content (stats, charts) - Branded templates with consistent styling across videos - Batch-generating multiple video variations from scripts - Animated text overlays, transitions, and build sequences When a script uses `[SLIDE:]`, `[BUILD: animate]`, or `[TRANSITION:]` cues, these map directly to Remotion components. The video-scripter agent's output can serve as a blueprint for a Remotion composition. --- ## 2026 Video Algorithm Nuances ### Completion Rate: The #1 Video Metric LinkedIn's algorithm weights **completion rate** above all other video metrics. A 60-second video watched to the end outperforms a 2-minute video watched 50%. **Completion rate targets:** | Length | Target Rate | Signal | |--------|------------|--------| | 30s | 70%+ | Strong — short enough for most viewers | | 60s | 55%+ | Good — 2026 sweet spot for depth vs completion | | 90s | 45%+ | Risky — retention drops, only for complex frameworks | | 2min | 35%+ | Dangerous — most viewers won't hit 30% completion gate | **Critical (2026):** LinkedIn requires **30% minimum completion rate** or the video gets **zero distribution**. This makes shorter videos significantly safer. 60 seconds is the new recommended default. **How to optimize:** - Front-load the most interesting content (not chronological order) - Use "open loops" — tease what's coming ("and the third one surprised me...") - Vary pacing to prevent monotony - Place visual changes every 5-7 seconds - Strong hook → the 3-second test determines 70% of retention ### Vertical Video Preference LinkedIn now strongly prefers vertical (4:5 at 1080x1350) video on mobile feeds. Vertical videos get approximately 20-30% more feed real estate than landscape. ### Native Upload Signals - **Native upload** (direct to LinkedIn) vs link from YouTube/Vimeo: native gets 2-3x the distribution - LinkedIn cannot index or optimize external video players - Always upload the .mp4 file directly ### Caption Detection LinkedIn's 2026 system can detect whether captions are present: - Videos with burned-in or SRT captions get a distribution boost - Auto-generated captions are now better but still imperfect - Professional captions signal quality and effort - Recommendation: Always add custom captions (not just auto-generated) ### Video + Text Caption Synergy The text accompanying the video matters for algorithm classification: - Write 200-400 character captions (not just a title) - Include keywords matching your topical authority - The caption should add context, not repeat the script - Include a question or CTA in the caption for comment engagement --- ## Pacing Reference ### Words Per Second Targets | Speaking Style | WPS | When to Use | |---------------|-----|-------------| | Slow/Deliberate | 2.0 | Key insights, emotional moments | | Normal/Conversational | 2.5 | Default for most content | | Energized/Excited | 3.0 | Enthusiasm moments, lists | | Rapid (briefly) | 3.5 | Quick asides, building energy | **Default:** Script at 2.5 wps. Most people speak slightly faster than they think. ### Length-to-Word-Count Mapping | Duration | Words at 2.5 wps | |----------|------------------| | 30 seconds | 75 words | | 45 seconds | 113 words | | 60 seconds | 150 words | | 90 seconds | 225 words | | 2 minutes | 300 words | ### Pause Placement Strategic pauses increase perceived authority and improve comprehension: - **After the hook** — 0.5s pause lets it land - **Before each key point** — 0.5s signals "pay attention" - **After a surprising statement** — 1.0s pause for impact - **Before the CTA** — 0.5s shift in energy - **After numbers/data** — 0.5s for processing ### Energy Curve Patterns **Single Wave (30-60s):** ``` Energy: 8 → 6 → 7 → 8 hook body take CTA ``` **Double Wave (90s):** ``` Energy: 8 → 6 → 7 → 6 → 8 → 7 hook p1 p2 p3 take CTA ``` **Sustained Wave (2min):** ``` Energy: 8 → 7 → 6 → 7 → 8 → 7 → 6 → 8 hook story p1 p2 p3 transform CTA ``` Never maintain flat energy — monotone kills retention faster than anything. --- ## Video-Specific Hook Techniques ### Lean-In Start Open mid-thought, as if the camera caught you in the middle of an idea: - "...and that's exactly why this doesn't work." - "...so I tested it. And the results were not what I expected." - "...which brings me to the one thing nobody talks about." **Why it works:** Pattern interrupt. Viewers feel they walked into something already happening — curiosity forces them to keep watching. ### Mid-Sentence Open Start speaking before the video visually begins (cut the first 0.5s of silence): - Camera already rolling, you're already talking - No "settle in" moment — instant engagement - Signals confidence and energy ### Visual Hook Use a prop, on-screen text, or unexpected visual in the first frame: - Hold up a whiteboard with a surprising stat - On-screen text: "This changed everything" (before you speak) - Unexpected background or setting - Something physically happening (writing, drawing, showing) ### Stat Shock Open with a number that demands attention: - "87% of AI projects fail before reaching production." - "I analyzed 200 LinkedIn posts. Only 3 formats actually work." - "The average LinkedIn user scrolls past 300 posts per day." ### Direct Challenge Challenge a common belief or practice immediately: - "Stop posting motivational quotes on LinkedIn." - "Your 'thought leadership' content isn't leading anyone's thoughts." - "The advice to 'post daily' is destroying your credibility." --- ## Video Content Calendar Integration ### Frequency Guidelines Optimal mix when incorporating video: - **1 video per 4-5 text posts** — video as accent, not primary format - **Maximum 2 videos per week** — quality over quantity - **Best days:** Tuesday-Thursday (higher professional engagement) - **Best times:** 8-9 AM or 12-1 PM in your audience's timezone - **Avoid:** Mondays (low engagement) and Fridays (early drop-off) ### Content Type Rotation When planning video alongside text posts, alternate types: ``` Week example: Mon: Text post (educational) Tue: VIDEO — talking head (personal insight) Wed: Text post (contrarian take) Thu: Text post (framework) Fri: (optional) Text post or rest day ``` Never post two videos back-to-back — each needs time to gain traction. ### Seasonal Video Opportunities - **January:** Goal-setting, prediction videos - **Q1:** Strategy/planning content - **Conference season:** Behind-the-scenes, key takeaway summaries - **Q3:** Mid-year reviews, pivot stories - **Q4:** Year-in-review, lessons learned - **Breaking news:** Quick reaction videos (30s format) --- ## Caption/Subtitle Best Practices ### Why Captions Are Non-Negotiable - **85%+ of LinkedIn users watch video without sound** - Captions increase watch time by 12-15% - Algorithm detects caption presence and rewards it - Accessibility compliance (critical for professional content) ### Caption Scripting Rules Write captions alongside the script, not after: 1. **Sync points:** Mark where each caption line starts/ends 2. **Line length:** Maximum 2 lines, 42 characters per line 3. **Reading speed:** 150-180 words per minute (slower than speech) 4. **Key words:** Bold or highlight critical terms 5. **Numbers:** Write as digits ("3 steps" not "three steps") 6. **Punctuation:** Use periods and commas for pacing. Never ALL CAPS for entire sentences. ### Caption Formatting ``` Good caption flow: "I tested this with 50 companies." [2s] "Only 12 succeeded." [1.5s] "Here's what separated them." [1.5s] Bad caption flow: "I tested this with 50 companies and only 12 succeeded here's what separated them" [5s] ``` ### Caption Style Options | Style | When to Use | Example | |-------|-------------|---------| | **Minimal** | Talking head, clean aesthetic | White text, no background | | **Highlighted** | Key words need emphasis | Word-by-word highlight animation | | **Boxed** | Busy backgrounds | Dark semi-transparent box behind text | | **Branded** | Series content | Your brand colors, consistent font | --- ## First-Comment Strategy for Video Posts ### Why First Comment Matters More for Video Video posts get fewer organic comments than text posts. A strong first comment: - Adds context the video couldn't cover - Provides a text-searchable summary (SEO) - Gives algorithm additional engagement signal - Creates a conversation anchor ### First Comment Templates for Video **Template 1: Extended Insight** ``` For context on this video: [1-2 sentences expanding on a point you didn't have time to cover] The TL;DW (too long, didn't watch): - [Point 1] - [Point 2] - [Point 3] What would you add to this list? ``` **Template 2: Behind the Scenes** ``` Behind the scenes on this one: [What prompted you to make this video] [Something you cut from the script] Drop a comment if you've experienced this too. ``` **Template 3: Resource Link** ``` I wrote a detailed breakdown of this on my profile. Key resources mentioned: - [Resource 1 — described, not linked] - [Resource 2 — described, not linked] Full article in my Featured section. ``` ### Timing Post the first comment **immediately** after the video goes live — within 30 seconds. Have it pre-written and ready to paste. --- ## Script Output Format Every video script should follow this standardized output structure: ``` ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ VIDEO SCRIPT: [Title] ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Type: [talking head / screen recording / slideshow] Length: [30s / 60s / 90s / 2min] Words: [count] (at 2.5 wps) Topic: [content pillar alignment] Angle: [from 8 thought leadership angles] ━━━ SCRIPT ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ [Full script with timing markers, visual cues, energy cues, and transition markers] ━━━ CAPTIONS ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ [Line-by-line caption text with timing] ━━━ POST CAPTION ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ [200-400 char text to accompany the video post] ━━━ THUMBNAIL ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Expression: [description of ideal facial expression] Text overlay: [3-5 words for thumbnail text] Style: [minimal / branded / text-heavy] ━━━ FIRST COMMENT ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ [Pre-written first comment — post within 30s of video going live] ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ```