Screenplay Skill — Video Script Writing

MODE SELECTION (AUTOMATIC)

Read the brief. Pick the mode:

🎭 STORY MODE — if brief contains ANY of these words:

funny

,

humor

,

humorous

,

entertaining

,

fun

,

roast

,

spicy

,

masala

,

comedy

,

joke

,

hilarious

,

witty

,

sarcastic

,

meme

,

viral

,

educate + fun

,

learn + fun

,

edutainment

,

story

,

storytelling

,

emotional

,

captivate

📈 STANDARD MODE — if brief focuses on:

conversion

,

sell

,

download

,

sign up

,

ad

,

campaign

,

product launch

,

showcase

,

explainer

,

demo

,

walkthrough

If both are present, default to Story Mode — entertainment converts better than sales pitches.

---

🎭 STORY MODE: Entertainment That Teaches

Philosophy

You are NOT making an explainer video. You are making a short film that happens to teach ONE thing. The viewer should laugh, feel something, and walk away knowing something new — without realizing they were "educated."

Think: Kurzgesagt meets stand-up comedy meets those TikToks your friend sends at 2am.

The Golden Rules

1. ONE concept per video. MAX. If you can't say it in one sentence, it's too much.
2. Characters > Concepts. "Dave lost $47k washing his jeans" > "Billions are lost annually"
3. Specific > General. "$47,000" > "a lot of money". "Jeans pocket" > "lost it". "Sewer" > "gone forever"
4. Show the FEELING first, explain later. Make them feel the pain/joy, THEN drop the knowledge.
5. If a 12-year-old can't retell it to a friend, rewrite it.

Story Structure (NOT AIDA, NOT PAS)

SCENE 1: THE SITUATION (5-8s)
  → Relatable character in a relatable mess
  → "Meet Dave. Dave had $47,000 in Bitcoin."

SCENE 2: THE TWIST (8-12s)  
  → Something unexpected happens. Funny or shocking.
  → "Dave also had a washing machine. And jeans. With pockets."
  → "Dave's seed phrase is now in the city sewer system."

SCENE 3: THE "WAIT, WHAT?" MOMENT (8-12s)
  → Drop the knowledge bomb disguised as plot progression
  → "But what if Dave never needed that napkin? What if his keys 
     lived inside a vault that not even the wallet company could open?"

SCENE 4: THE PAYOFF (8-10s)
  → Show the solution through the character's story
  → "That exists now. 30 seconds to set up. Dave is still recovering."

SCENE 5: THE MIC DROP (5-8s)
  → Callback to the character + CTA with personality
  → "Don't be Dave. paw.zkagi.ai. Your crypto deserves better 
     than your jeans pocket."

Humor Toolkit

Character Creation

• Name them. Dave, Karen, "your cousin who bought Doge at the top", "that guy in your Discord"
• Give them ONE flaw. Overconfident, clueless, paranoid, cheap
• Make them lovable. We laugh WITH them, not AT them (mostly)

Comedy Techniques

• Rule of Three: Setup, setup, punchline. "Not a hack. Not a scam. He washed his jeans."
• Escalation: Each beat gets MORE absurd. "One spill. One house fire. One nosy roommate."
• Callback: Reference the character/joke again at the end. "Dave is still recovering."
• Understatement: Describe something huge casually. "So that's 47 thousand dollars. In the sewer. On a Tuesday."
• Contrast: Juxtapose serious with silly. "Military-grade encryption protects your keys. Dave's napkin protects his."
• Self-deprecating: Include the audience. "We've ALL been Dave at some point."

Humor DO's and DON'T's

✅ DO:

• Roast the PROBLEM, not the person
• Use specific dollar amounts (funnier than "billions")
• Name everyday objects (napkin, fridge, jeans, sticky note)
• End on energy, not a lecture
• Use "you" — make it personal
• Pause for the joke to land (short scene, beat, next scene)

❌ DON'T:

• Be mean-spirited or punch down
• Use inside jokes only crypto bros get
• Explain the joke ("get it? because seed phrases are...")
• Force humor where emotion works better
• Make EVERY line funny — the serious moments make the funny ones hit harder

Dialogue Rules (Story Mode)

• 10-20 words per scene. Shorter than Standard Mode. Comedy needs space.
• Read it OUT LOUD. If it doesn't sound like a human talking, rewrite it.
• Contractions always. "That's" not "That is". "Can't" not "Cannot".
• Sentence fragments are your friend. "Gone. Just like that." "Thirty seconds. Boom."
• Questions pull viewers in. "You know what Dave didn't have? A backup plan."

Education Disguised as Entertainment

The teaching happens INSIDE the story, never as a separate lecture:

❌ BAD (lecture inserted):

"Seed phrases are 24 random words used as cryptographic keys to access your wallet. If lost, funds are irrecoverable. PawPad uses TEE to eliminate this risk."

✅ GOOD (knowledge woven into story):

"Dave's entire fortune was protected by 24 words on a napkin. Not a vault. Not a bank. A napkin. What if his keys lived inside hardware that nobody — not hackers, not Dave, not even the people who built it — could touch?"

The viewer learns:

• Seed phrases = 24 words (from the Dave story)
• They're fragile (napkin metaphor)
• TEE = hardware nobody can access (vault analogy)
• ...without EVER hearing "TEE", "cryptographic", or "irrecoverable"

Analogy Library (Use These)

Technical concept	Story-mode analogy
Seed phrase	"Writing your bank password on a napkin and praying"
TEE/hardware vault	"A vault inside a vault inside a volcano"
Private key never leaves	"The pen never leaves the room. Only the signed paper comes out."
Multi-chain support	"One key that opens every door — Ethereum, Solana, Zcash"
TOTP recovery	"Google Authenticator = your secret handshake to get back in"
ZK proofs	"Proving you're old enough to drink without showing your ID"
AI agents	"A robot butler that trades crypto while you sleep"
Decentralized	"No single person has the off switch"

Hook Formulas (Story Mode)

1. The Character Intro: "Meet Dave. Dave had $47,000 in Bitcoin. Dave also had a washing machine."
2. The Rhetorical Question: "What's dumber than writing your life savings on a napkin? Putting it on the fridge."
3. The Bold Claim: "This wallet can't be hacked. Not by hackers. Not by governments. Not by us. Not by anyone."
4. The Time Machine: "It's 2019. You just bought Bitcoin. Now find those 24 words you wrote down. I'll wait."
5. The Plot Twist: "I lost $12,000 in crypto. Not to a hack. To a cup of coffee. On my notebook."
6. The Comparison: "Your bank has a vault, guards, cameras, and insurance. Your crypto has... a napkin."

Example: Full Story Mode Script

Brief: "Funny educational video about why seed phrases are dangerous. Promote PawPad."

SCENE 1 — THE SITUATION (6s)
"Meet Dave. Dave had forty seven thousand dollars in Bitcoin. 
Dave also had a washing machine."
[Visual: Cartoon Dave, confident smile, holding phone showing BTC balance]

SCENE 2 — THE TWIST (10s)  
"One laundry day later, Dave's seed phrase went through a 
spin cycle. His crypto is now technically in the city sewer 
system. Dave tells people he's 'HODLing.' Dave is lying."
[Visual: Washing machine churning, paper dissolving, Dave staring blankly]

SCENE 3 — THE KNOWLEDGE DROP (10s)
"But what if Dave never needed that napkin? What if his keys 
lived inside a hardware vault that nobody could open? Not 
hackers. Not the company. Nobody."
[Visual: Glowing vault materializing, force field around keys, dramatic reveal]

SCENE 4 — THE PAYOFF (10s)
"PawPad generates your keys inside sealed hardware. They 
never leave. Three taps to set up. No words to write down. 
No napkins to lose. Dave wishes he knew this six months ago."
[Visual: Phone showing PawPad, tap-tap-tap, satisfying checkmark animation]

SCENE 5 — MIC DROP (6s)
"paw dot zkagi dot ai. Don't be Dave."
[Visual: Dave waving sadly in background, PawPad logo front and center]

---

📈 STANDARD MODE: Conversion-Focused Scripts

Philosophy

Direct response. The viewer should feel a problem, see a solution, and take action. Every word earns its place or gets cut.

Structure: PAS + AIDA Hybrid

SCENE 1: HOOK (3-5s)
  → Stop the scroll. Shock, question, or bold claim.
  → PAS: Pain identification

SCENE 2: AGITATE (8-12s)
  → Twist the knife. Make the problem feel urgent and personal.
  → Stats, consequences, "what happens if you don't act"

SCENE 3: SOLUTION (8-12s)
  → Present the product as the answer. Features = benefits.
  → Show, don't just tell. Demo clip if available.

SCENE 4: PROOF (8-10s)
  → Social proof, stats, authority, or demo walkthrough
  → "Here's how easy it is" or "Here's what it does"

SCENE 5: CTA (5-8s)
  → Clear action. URL. Urgency. One sentence.
  → "Try it free at [url]. Takes 30 seconds."

Hook Formulas (Standard Mode)

1. Shocking Stat: "$140 billion in crypto lost forever. And most of it? Human error."
2. Direct Question: "Is your crypto wallet actually secure? Or are you just hoping?"
3. Bold Claim: "This wallet cannot be hacked. Period."
4. What If: "What if you never had to write down a seed phrase again?"
5. Controversy: "Seed phrases are the worst idea in crypto. Here's why."
6. Roast: "Your wallet's security plan is a piece of paper. In 2026."

Dialogue Rules (Standard Mode)

• 15-25 words per scene. Slightly longer than Story Mode.
• Benefit-first language. "Never lose access" not "Uses TEE technology"
• Power words: free, instant, secure, proven, guaranteed, simple, now
• Urgency triggers: "right now", "before it's too late", "while it's free"
• Social proof: numbers, stats, comparisons to known brands

Tone

• Confident, not arrogant
• Urgent, not desperate
• Clear, not dumbed down
• Professional but warm — NOT corporate
• Still conversational — avoid jargon

Example: Full Standard Mode Script

Brief: "Conversion video for PawPad. Get downloads."

SCENE 1 — HOOK (5s)
"One hundred and forty billion dollars in crypto. Gone forever. 
Not hacked. Just... lost. Forgotten seed phrases. Misplaced 
backups. Human error."
[Visual: Counter ticking up from $0 to $140B, dramatic red]

SCENE 2 — AGITATE (10s)
"Twenty percent of all Bitcoin is permanently inaccessible. 
That's someone's retirement. Someone's house. Maybe yours. 
And all because security meant writing 24 words on paper."
[Visual: Paper burning, wallet balance dropping to zero]

SCENE 3 — SOLUTION (10s)
"PawPad eliminates seed phrases entirely. Your keys are 
generated and stored inside a hardware vault. They never 
leave. Not to your phone. Not to the cloud. Not to anyone."
[Visual: Product demo or vault animation]

SCENE 4 — PROOF (10s)
"Three taps to create a wallet. Scan a QR code for recovery. 
Download your backup. Done. Multi-chain — Ethereum, Solana, 
Zcash. Built-in AI trading. All secured by hardware."
[Visual: Product walkthrough, step by step]

SCENE 5 — CTA (5s)
"paw dot zkagi dot ai. Free. Thirty seconds to set up. 
Your crypto deserves real security."
[Visual: URL reveal, logo, energy burst]

---

UNIVERSAL RULES (Both Modes)

Never Say

• "In this video..."
• "Welcome to..."
• "Let me explain..."
• "Hey guys..."
• "Before we begin..."
• "Don't forget to like and subscribe" (unless ironic)
• Any jargon without immediate analogy: TEE, ROFL, cryptographic, consensus, byzantine

Always Do

• Read the product's PRODUCT.md first
• Match voice character to brief (paw = energetic, pad = calm authority)
• Write dialogue that sounds natural when spoken aloud
• End with energy, never with a whimper
• Include at least one moment that makes you smile while writing it

Scene Duration Guide

Scene type	Audio target	Word count
Hook	3-6s	10-20 words
Story beat	8-12s	20-35 words
Walkthrough	10-15s	25-40 words
CTA	5-8s	10-20 words

Quality Check Before Submitting Script

1. Read it out loud. Does it sound like a human talking to a friend?
2. Could a 12-year-old understand it?
3. Is there at least ONE moment that makes you smile?
4. Does every scene EARN its time? Cut anything that doesn't.
5. Would YOU watch this? Or would you scroll past?