Joe OviedoIn late August, on a call at Voy Bien, we were trying to turn a broad topic into a YouTube series. We wanted to talk about what it's like to deal with a mental health difficulty at work. There was plenty to say. That was exactly why “let's make a few videos about this” didn't tell us what to shoot.
The conversation took shape when we separated three angles: how someone sees themselves, what's happening around them at work, and how their relationship with performance changes. It sounds like a small distinction until you try writing the first script. We'd gone from a topic we could repeat three times to three questions that called for different treatments.
One question per video
I like to test each idea as if someone found it through search and had never seen the rest of the series. What do they want to understand? Can we help without sending them to two other episodes first?
Think of a series about going freelance. You can divide it into parts one, two, and three. That keeps your files organized but tells a new viewer very little. “Which service should I offer first?”, “How do I set a price?”, and “What should I clarify before taking on a project?” are three different decisions. Each video can stand on its own, and together they give someone a path to follow.
My test is to write a sentence under each title that starts with “By the end, the viewer can…” If two sentences say the same thing, I probably have two versions of one video. If one needs four verbs, I'm probably still trying to put too much in it.
What the team needs before writing
On that call, we also divided the work. I would organize the concepts and thumbnails. The specialist would review the ideas with me, write the scripts, and record. The point was to establish an editorial direction without speaking for her or deciding in advance how she should explain her subject.
That changes what I hand over. I'd rather send a specific question, a scene that makes it recognizable, and a reason it's worth addressing. The person who knows the subject can then tell me whether the angle holds up, what needs nuance, and which example will actually help.
We still had to make the series. What we knew when we left the call was what each video needed to do and who could make the decisions that remained. To me, that's a useful outcome for an editorial session.
The next time I hear “there's a series in this,” I'll ask: What different question deserves each video? If I can't tell them apart yet, I have an interesting topic and a little more work to do.
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