How to write a Million View short

Storytelling is the fastest way to go viral because not only does it get attention, it keeps it. And I know this cuz 93% of my storydriven videos all got over a million views. 99% of them got over 100,000. And brands, pay attention, cuz I'm not just talking about animations here. In this video, you're going to learn exactly how to write a viral story for the shorts feed. I don't just mean tips. I mean the entire process. every idea that comes up, every line that gets cut, every thought that gets thunk. And by the end, you'll know how to write a short that got just under 5 million views. Let me show you that real quick. This bus is about to get robbed. But this woman, she's got a plan. One by one, the thief stole from each passenger, but as soon as his back was turned, this woman started digging in her purse. And just as the thief was about to get to her, she pulls out her phone and quickly hides it under her leg. But when she looked back up, there he was. So, she looks back down, reaches in her purse, pulls out a phone, and hands it to him. Turns out this was not her first robbery. All right, so I recorded this writing session as the first video of many to teach people how to make my viral 3D animations, but since this can help brands and businesses, I decided to make it public. So, enjoy. The results I get from YouTube, I owe a fraction of that towards the style that I came up with. the John looks real, but he's inside a 3D environment. I think that that's cool. I think that it catches people's eyes. It makes them stick around for a second to see what is this, right? But what really makes them stick around is the storytelling, the way that I craft the words that I say, cuz I do have shorts that perform very well that aren't animated. So, it's not just the animation I owe it to, it's the storytelling. So, today we're going to write a million view story. And like I said before, I get my ideas from everywhere. So, we're just going to have to pick one inspiration lane and stick with it. But if you have the time, I think it would be super beneficial for you to watch me build a story from scratch. So, I've included a 40minute video of that as a bonus module. But for this module, I have a different plan. There's a video on my channel that has just over 50 million views. And the way that I came up with that idea is the exact same way I came up with the idea that we're going to do today. I saw the video online and then I kind of crafted a different story around it. And so here is the video that I saw recently that we're going to craft a different story around. Woman gets robbed so often she keeps a throwaway phone. I saw this on Reddit. It must have been a repost cuz this one was from 2 years ago. But basically, this guy hops on this bus and he robs everybody. And this woman, she puts her real phone under her leg and then pulls out a fake phone, hands it to the thief, and then he runs off. And then she pulls out her real phone and she's like, "Me like, didn't get me." So, I think that we can turn this into a story. Let's just go ahead and open up the new docs and we will get to it. Now, before we get into this, I just want you to know that I'm going to cut it down to like when I get the idea and we write it. There's going to be a lot of thinking that I'm going to cut out in here, but like I said, if you want to see how I come up with the ideas, there's that video in the bonus module. All right, so we need to start with a hook. The hook needs to say something that promises something more is coming. Sometimes that can be a very weird thing, like nobody was buying this man's food, so he took out his iPhone and he glued it to the ground. That kind of set the stage for the entire story. Like, here's this guy's problem, and then he does something really weird. I have no idea why he would do that. I have to stick around to the end to understand why he would glue a phone to the ground. So, this woman has a decoy phone in her purse. What kind of hook can we come up with that kind of gives that same vibe? Maybe we don't have the weird angle so much like the the weird angle would be something with the fake phone, but the fake phone is actually the twist that we want to save until the end. I guess the best way to go about this is this woman's about to get robbed or this bus is about to get robbed. If you say about to get sorry, if you say that it's about to get robbed, then the viewer knows, oh, I I better stick around to see that, right? They know something's about to happen. This bus is about to get robbed and this woman knows it or okay, she knows it. Cool. That's kind of like the end. But if we say something like, "But this woman's got a plan." Then it's like, "Ooh, I got to stick around to see what the plan is." Right? But this woman's got a plan. This bus is about to get robbed. But this woman, she's got a plan. So the way that I write is I kind of say the the words out loud. But this woman's got a plan is like fine. But when I say, "But this woman, she's got a plan." There's like a little bit of tension in the way that I say it. I I kind of space it apart. And that's not quite something you teach. It's kind of something that you get used to like the way that you deliver lines. And so that's why I speak my lines out loud because a lot of times it allows me to plan for the entire video. So yeah, I definitely recommend reading things out loud over and over because when I do that, but this woman, she's got a plan. I can almost feel the the next line come out of me. That helps sometimes. I need to jump into the action now. This bus is about to get robbed. But this woman, she's got a plan. I've never done this before, but I think on this short if are you allowed to do gunshots and stuff? Censorship is ridiculous these days, but um but she's got a plan. Gunshot, scream, right? And then like the camera pans to the thief who's standing at the front of the bus with a bag or something like that. What I'm doing right now is I'm kind of planning the shot list in my head. But that is the next step. After we get the lines, then I just draw out the plans of like what I want it to look like and then we get to filming. So, um, no worries. All of that stuff that I'm imagining, we actually do get down on paper here soon. All right. This bus is about to get robbed. But this woman, she's got a plan. POW. AH. ONE by one, the thief steals from from the passengers. This is not the way I would say this, but just write it out and then reform. All right. So, when it comes to storytelling, one of the main things that everybody says you should do is but therefore storytelling. So, this thing happened, but this thing happened, therefore, but this thing changed, but this thing. And so, these twists each time build enough tension to where the viewer has to stick around to understand what happens next. When I'm writing something like this, I think, what can I say that promises to the viewer something is about to happen, but I don't give it away completely. And also, when you do eventually give it away, if it's not the end of your content, you have to provide something immediately as promising backto back with it. So, this bus is about to get robbed, but this woman's got a plan. That's a hook because they got to stick around to understand what the plan is. One by one, the thief steals from the passengers. Let's do another hook here. But he had no idea what was going on behind his back. Behind him is faster. So, we'll say that. But he had no idea what was going on behind him. Right now, we want to answer the question, what's going on behind him? I'm imagining the camera is like kind of at his back and it flips around and then the woman is behind him. In the video, it looks like she is the very first passenger on the left. So, if he starts stealing on the right and goes down the line and then comes back up on the left, she's the last person. So, she doesn't immediately get robbed. I guess I should have said that out loud, but that was kind of what was going on in my head. So, his back is turned going down the right side. She's got something going on. What is the thing? Well, she's doing something funky with her phones, right? Or with her phone. You don't know that there are two phones yet. This bus is about to get robbed. But this woman, she's got a plan. Pow. One by one, the thief steals from the passengers. But he had no idea what was going on behind him. The woman. Okay. I don't know what's happening yet, but naturally, I I go back to the woman. The woman or he had no idea what was going on behind him. Okay. As soon as the woman noticed he wasn't looking at her. Okay. as soon as the woman. No, you know what? Cuz now I'm saying the same thing twice. Basically, this has to be an action. Okay. All right. That would be so funny. Okay. So, I get the idea from the video. I don't have to stick with the video exactly. And so, I'm going to do something a little different. So, the woman hands him the phone and it's obviously a decoy phone. At this time, we know it. And just as he's about to walk off the bus, my brain is going a mile a minute. But the punchline or the twist is that it's a decoy phone and the viewer is like, "Oh wow, she's so clever." And then like the double punchline is that her phone rings right at the end. Oh she got caught. Right. That's pretty good. It turns out I always do that sort of near the punch line. It turns out this woman came prepared. I'm just trying to fill out the sentences. Now, this is the tough part is holding back the punchline. We know that it's a decoy phone that she hands at the end, and we know that she hides the real phone under her leg, but at the end, we don't have to say it's a decoy phone right away. We can say that after the turns out. Okay. Sorry, man. I I I feel like I'm not being a good teacher, but hopefully this is like showing you how this happens. Okay. One by one, the thief steals from the passengers, but he had no idea what was going on behind him. The woman, as soon as the woman, no, as soon as the thief turned his back, the woman reached in her purse, pulled out her phone, and hid it under her leg. All right, I'm going to write this in a way that she pulls out her phone again from the purse. The words that I say are going to seem like she has two phones or something weird happened and we just didn't see it. Um, which that's the case. It's a decoy phone. But she pulled out her phone and hid it under her leg. And when finally got to her, she reached in her purse. I'm thinking that the repetition of these words, like the pattern of these words, is what makes this hit so well. She reached in her purse, pulled out her phone, and handed it to him. Turns out this was not the first time this woman had been robbed. That's a long sentence. I got to think of a way to shorten that. Turns out this was not the first time. This was not her first rodeo. Turns out this was not her first robbery. We'll just say that because anybody outside of America might be like, "What the This bus is about to get robbed." But this woman, she's got a plan. One by one, the thief steals from the passengers. But he had no idea what was going on behind him. Okay, this line does not need to be there. But as soon as he turned his back, the woman reached in her purse, pulled out her phone, and hid it under her leg. And when the thief finally got to her, she uh No, I can't say it that fast. She reached in her purse, pulled out her phone, and handed it to him because there's only like one line break. Uh, I need one more line in here. And as the thief got closer. All right. Now, we might be building some unintentional tension here. The woman reached in her purse, pulled out her phone, and hid it under her leg. Nope. Okay. All right. Let's expand it just a little bit. The woman started digging in her purse. We don't need to make this one action where she reached in and hid it. We can build more tension by saying she reached in her purse, started digging for her phone. And as the thief got closer, she finally found it and then stuck it under her leg and finally when the thief got to her, like instead of stating it outright, you can build a little mini story around it. So the woman started digging in her purse. And often times I'll do this. I'll expand a little bit and build a lot of tension. Then I'll start cutting lines and then I make the shortest compact story I possibly can because those are the ones that perform well. One by one, the thief went down the line stealing from each passenger. That went down the line. I don't know if that line is super important. We want them to know that there's some time before he gets to the woman. So, however we can state these words to make that feeling of tension there, that's what we got to do. One by one, the thief went down the line, stealing from each passenger. But as soon as his back was turned, the woman started digging in her purse. But as the thief got closer, and by the time the thief and when the thief was two seats away and when the thief Damn, this is tough. And as the thief got closer, and just as the thief was about to turn to her, all right, that's a better place about this woman. She's got a plan. One by one, the thief went down the line, stealing from each passenger. But as soon as his back was turned, the woman started digging in her purse. And just as the thief was about to get to her, to get to her, not turned her, she pulled out her phone and hid it under her leg. She looks up at him. Ooh, this is interesting. There's like a little bit of tension between the two. Maybe we can extend that. This is tough because I try to keep my stories as short as possible, but this one just I don't know. There's there's still more tension to build. I guess the shape of the bus, him going down and coming back up has just built this story on its own and uh I didn't expect that. Okay. Um I think I'm I'm close. That's fine, I guess. And just as the thief was about to get to her, she pulled out her phone and quickly hid it under her leg. Finally, the thief hid it under her leg. hid it under her leg. When she looked up, she pulled out her phone, hid it under her leg. But when she looked up, he was standing there, but when she looked back up. All right. Um, I never said she looked down, but that is going to be in the animation. She looks down as she as she hides the phone, but when she looks back up, if this was like just written and there was no animation for the context, then I would have had to say she looks down at some point or alluded to the fact. Um, but because I can plan to show things and not say them, this works. She pulled out her phone and hid it under her leg, but when she looked back up, there he stood. This I'm trying to make the viewer think that she got caught, but she didn't, right? But when she looked back up, there he was. Oh, there he was. I like that. There. There he stood is too much to author. [laughter] There he stood. There he was holding out his hand. Ooh, this is a good spot for engagement, babe. He holding out his robber bag, right? Like that's not a a saying. That's not a phrase, but it's something that people would be like robber bag and then uh skull emoji like laughing at it. Holding out his or if I said pillowcase, that would be funnier. [laughter] That's stupid. All right. Holding out his pillowcase. She looked down. She reached into her purse, pulled out a phone, and handed it to him. Can I say that in a way where it almost seems like she's reaching toward her leg, but then she reaches to the purse. Okay. I think that this is the way to go about it. Um, I've got a part that will confuse a lot of commenters, a lot of viewers. I was thinking the twist I say something like extra phone or decoy phone, but if I don't say it at all. Turns out this was not her first robbery. And then the phone rings and we look back. That was it. It might not seem like it should confuse people, but trust me, it will. I've done this before. I have this video called uh parents discover boy's dangerous secret. The boys had a secret and they never told a soul until now. And there are so many comments that are like, well, if they never told a soul, how are you telling the story? Well, the part where I said until now kind of alludes to the fact that I was one of the boys and I never told a soul until now. And uh I know that's a bit confusing, but if you watch the video, you'll understand. But there were so many comments saying like, "Well, how do you know then?" And then there were so many more comments explaining to them, "He's one of the boys. How do you guys not get this?" And so they argue with each other. I think that this is one of those cases. They'll say, "I don't get it." And then there will be more comments saying, "How do you not get it?" Which is a blessing in disguise, I guess. I think that this is just the right amount of if you're not a full-on idiot, you'll get it. You'll think, "Oh, that's clever." Clarity is better than clever, right? That's just how it is. But if you go the clever route, you will get a lot of comments from people that understand it trying to explain it to people that really needed the clarity. Anyway, so she pulled out her phone and hid it under her leg, but when she looked back up, there he was holding out a pillowcase. Holding out his pillowcase because we got this confusing line afterward. I don't know if the pillowcase is like the appropriate time for a fun funny engagement bait. hid it under her leg, but when she looked back up, there he was. So, she looks back down, she reaches in her purse, grabs a phone, and hands it to him. Yeah, I'll say it like that. That way, it's like, "Oh, wait. I thought she was going to go under her leg, but she reached in her purse." And so, me accenting the way that I say her purse might just make more people understand that that was an important part. Maybe they'll watch it again. She looks back down, reaches in her purse, pulls out a phone, and hands it to him. Turns out this was not her first robbery. There we go. Okay, let's go ahead and time it. Get out your phone, stopwatch, and time. This bus was about to get robbed, but this woman, she had a plan. Pow! One by one, the thief went down the line, stealing from each passenger. But as soon as his back was turned, the woman started digging in her purse. And just as the thief was about to get to her, she pulled out her phone and quickly hid it under her leg. But when she looked back up, there he was. So she looks back down, reaches in her purse, pulls out a phone, and hands it to him. Turns out this was not her first robbery. 28 seconds. That is right on par with all of my other content. I think we have a winner. All right. If you want to learn the rest of my viral 3D shorts process and get results like mine and my students who have never created content before yet they're going viral, links in the description. But if you're not into animation, let's say you're a business and you want help going viral on the shorts feed or you just want me to do it for you, then go to shorts.expert because storytelling is great, but storytelling alone won't make you go viral. There are a couple other things you need to know. Otherwise, you might get caught in shorts jail. If you're stuck under a certain view count, maybe even zero, then you might already be there. But this video here will help you break [music] out. And there's a free tool in it for you that will help you break out. So watch that video. Break out.