Should You Create Scripts For Your Videos?

The cold hard facts are that you are not an actor. Sorry. However, there is a better way. On today's episode of Digital Champions, I discuss the common question - Should You Create Scripts For Your Videos.

Often people ask me, do I script my videos? And the answer is no I don't.

And the reason being is, that is a lot of time and work to be writing word for word what I'm going to say. And the truth is, if you're an expert in your business, you should know what you are going to say. Most of the time we're designing our content based on what we know, we're supposed to be the experts. We should be able to talk about what it is that we know.

One of the big things that happens that I see with scripts is that people come off like they're reading and it's so obvious as you noticed in the beginning clip that I showed. It's so monotone and most people lacked the skills to do this successfully.

The truth is we're not actors, you're not an actor. It's very unlikely that you're gonna be really good at reading a script. You either have to memorize it or you can get a teleprompter, which is an option. I will talk about options for you to use at the end of this. But I wanted to really stress about why I don't like scripts.

When it comes to creating scripts, it often comes off unauthentic. Now the one thing that can happen is you may fumble on your words and that happens. I had somebody post a comment on one of my videos that I said film too many times.

Maybe I did, I'm human. That's just how it is. That's what makes this real. I'm not scripting my videos right now and I don't believe you should either because this is supposed to be real. This is supposed to be authentic.

I'm providing value, I don't need to be perfect. Nobody's perfect and you're not gonna be perfect. So if I came off perfect, then it disrupts the whole fact of what I'm trying to teach. Oh, here I go. I'm preaching again, I'm sorry.

The thing is, I just really don't recommend that you come off scripted.

That being said, there are some options. You can get a teleprompter that actually attaches with a DSLR camera that allows you to look directly into the lens. But the problem is that most people don't have that type of equipment and it's not that cheap, which means that you're looking off screen and not looking at the lens and not connecting with your audience. That's a big mistake. We wanna make sure that we're looking right at our audience.

Now when it comes to filming on your phone, there is an app like BIGVU, that allows you to film on your phone and it's a teleprompter. Now the problem with that is again, you're looking at the screen instead of looking at the lens.

Again, if you're not a great performer in reading the script so that it doesn't sound scripted, then it's not gonna come off well. It's much better to just be yourself, be natural and say what comes to you.

Yes, you should have a plan and a strategy of what you're gonna talk about, breaking it up into segments. I'm first going to talk about this and I'm gonna talk about this and I'm talking about that. And with editing magic, it can seem as if the video is going off without a hitch, without you even stopping and breaking in between. That's just some video magic that you can use when you have your videos being edited.

In summary, I don't recommend scripts, but I do recommend that you have a plan of knowing exactly what you're gonna talk about, breaking it up into clear points so that you don't just go off on tangents.

So what you can do with that strategy is you have your bullet points and you just tape them underneath your tripod, but you don't wanna read it in between lines. So what you wanna do is you look at where the notes are, stop yourself, look up, speak. Once you finish your thought, stop, look back down, look back up, and then continue on with the second thought.

With the editing, it won't even appear that there were any breaks and that you were stopping. So in other words, you don't have to film in one take either. That's a little bonus tip for you.

I hope this helps and really helps you to kind of strategize and plan because if you're spending so much time scripting, that's less time of getting that content out there and knowledge that your audience needs to hear.

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