# Viral Short Script > Use when writing or planning the script and structure of a short vertical video (Reel/TikTok/Short, under ~60s) - a visual-first, sound-off scroll-stopper skeleton. Triggers on "viral script", "hook for a reel", "structure of the video", or feeding a video-generation pipeline. Theme-agnostic - it produces the skeleton; the topic is plugged in afterwards. - Skill: `raphaelbgr/viral-short-script` (Agent Skill) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add raphaelbgr/viral-short-script` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/raphaelbgr/viral-short-script/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: DevOps & Infra - Author: raphaelbgr (https://skillmd.com/u/raphaelbgr) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/raphaelbgr/viral-short-script --- # viral-short-script A theme-agnostic **skeleton** for sub-60s vertical video. Structure first; the topic is plugged in afterwards. **Provenance, stated honestly:** the story shape (hook → escalate → turn → pay off) was *inspired* by a structural read of 47 acclaimed films, then stress-tested by a panel of seven frontier models. It is a **heuristic, not a proven formula** — the film study had no control group and no engagement data. Treat it as a strong starting structure and validate it against your own retention numbers. **The reality it is built around:** the feed is hostile, watched **muted**, and frame 1 is a **thumbnail**. You do not earn attention — you stop the thumb in about one second with a *picture*, then hold it with rising tension and a sensory change every couple of seconds. **Use for:** anything under ~90s; writing or fixing a hook; feeding a generation pipeline; when a draft trails off, buries the payoff, or reads like a monologue. **Not for:** long-form (>3 min), carousels, or news briefings with their own planner. --- ## THE GATE — the 3-second silent test Do this before anything else. **Mute the first 3 seconds.** From the frame and the on-screen text alone, can a stranger tell who it is for and feel a question or a tension? **No → rewrite frame 1.** This single binary gate replaces manual hook-scoring. --- ## The skeleton — 4 beats, two parallel layers Every beat is written on two layers at once, because most viewers never turn the sound on: - **SCREEN** — what is seen and read: first frame, burned-in text, cut, zoom, sound hit. - **STORY** — what is said, and what happens. Times are **soft defaults for a ~45–60s clip, in absolute seconds — not laws.** (Film act percentages do not port to 60 seconds. Ignore them here.) | Beat | ~Time | Job | Pass criterion | |---|---|---|---| | **1. STOP** | 0–2s | Stop the scroll | Survives the 3s silent test. Frame 1 works as a thumbnail. No "hi guys", no setup shot. | | **2. STAKES** | 2–8s | Earn the next 5s | One line names the payoff or the risk, and for whom. Exactly ONE question is open. A claim carries a proof token. | | **3. RUN** | 8s → last 8s | One rising arc + interrupts | No plateau. A micro-payoff every ~5–8s. Exactly ONE turn. A sensory change every ~2–3s. | | **4. LAND** | last ~5–8s | Emotional punctuation + 1 trigger | Closes on emotion (clean snap or open loop), ideally loops back to frame 1. Exactly ONE action trigger. | ### Beat 1 — STOP - **SCREEN:** frame 1 is motion, a reacting face, a strange object, or a visual contradiction — plus a burned-in text hook. The text may *contradict* the image for surprise. - **STORY:** show a **result-glimpse** or a **tension**, never a preamble. Qualify the viewer implicitly ("if you're the kind of person who…"). Identity and confessional framings beat tired angles like "Stop doing X" or "3 things about X". ### Beat 2 — STAKES One sentence: what is at risk or what they get, and for whom. Install exactly one question. Any claim gets an instant **proof token** — a number, a receipt, a screen recording, a before/after. Credibility in seconds, not paragraphs. ### Beat 3 — RUN (keep the two layers independent) - **STORY:** one tension arc — single problem, escalation with no plateau, then ONE turn that flips the meaning. The turn has **no fixed timestamp**; place it where it hits hardest. In short-form the turn *is* the biggest pattern break. Drop a **micro-payoff every ~5–8s** so someone who leaves early still got something. - **SCREEN:** change **one** sensory channel every ~2–3s. Menu: punch-in · hard cut · zoom-to-keyword · whip-pan · snap-cut · text pop · sound hit · angle change · colour shift · number-appears · before/after · progress marker (1/3, 2/3, 3/3). ### Beat 4 — LAND (close on emotion, not on theme) - Made them **laugh / gasp / feel satisfied** → close **clean**, with a snap line. - Made them **curious / angry** → leave an **open loop**. - Premium close: **loop back to frame 1** so a rewatch feels seamless (lifts average percentage viewed). - Exactly ONE action trigger, native to the emotion: **share** ("send this to the person who…"), **save** ("save this before you forget"), or **comment** ("which one did you guess?"). Never a generic "follow for more". --- ## Format modes — pick one; it decides where the payoff sits | Mode | Payoff placement | |---|---| | story / confession | hold the turn for near the end | | myth-bust | hold the "but actually" for the turn | | tutorial / how-to | micro-payoffs throughout, result near the end | | demo / transformation | **front-load** a result-glimpse, full reveal at the end | | ranked list | progress markers (1/3…), save-bait close | | reaction / commentary | react first, sharpest take last | | news / explainer | the "so what" *is* the turn | | product / ad | value first, ask once, late | Also consider **platform divergence** (Shorts, TikTok and Reels reward different lengths and pacing) and **series / Part 2** as a growth lever. --- ## Optimise for the real signals 3-second retention → average percentage viewed / completion → **shares (sends per reach)** and **saves** → comments. Iterate hooks against **watch-time data, not opinion.** **Density budget:** short-form is roughly 40% visual beats, pauses and on-screen text. Write *line + text + visual* per beat, not a 130-word monologue. --- ## ADAPT TO THEME (the deliberately-later step) 1. Pick the **mode** from the table. 2. Name **audience / pain / desire**, one line each. 3. Pick the **goal** (reach vs authority) → which **close** (loop vs clean). 4. Fill each beat's **SCREEN + STORY**, then run THE GATE. **Credibility play for factual topics:** source every claim to an official record, include the skeptical counterweight *on purpose*, and never overclaim. It reads as confidence, and it survives the comments. --- ## Handing the script to a generator Write the finished script as a machine-readable object so the render step skips AI planning entirely: ```json { "hook": "...", "segments": [ {"text": "...", "keywords": ["...", "..."], "duration_seconds": 4} ], "cta": "...", "total_duration": 48 } ``` Then feed each segment's visual into the model-specific prompt block — see [`veo-flow-prompting`](../veo-flow-prompting/SKILL.md), [`wan-3-prompting`](../wan-3-prompting/SKILL.md) or [`seedance-prompting`](../seedance-prompting/SKILL.md). For the hook shot specifically, generating it is usually worth the money even when the rest is stock footage — the first two seconds are where every cold account looks generic. --- ## Common mistakes - A strong first *sentence* but a weak first *frame* → dead on arrival in a muted feed. - Two competing questions → pick one. - A fixed "midpoint reversal at 30s" → that is the retention death-zone. Place the turn by impact. - Best line at the start with nothing to climb to → keep a turn for late. - A 130-word monologue → short-form is visual + text + pause, not narration. - "Resolved, tidy, follow for more" → close on emotion with one native trigger instead. --- ## How to improve this skill 1. **Real feedback loop (highest value):** log retention, shares and saves; tag which hooks, closes and modes won; reweight the defaults by *measured* performance. 2. **Better evidence:** re-extract structures with several models and keep only the flags they agree on; add a control corpus (un-acclaimed films + actual viral videos). 3. **A/B:** three hooks per topic, ship the variants, keep the winners.