Content & Social prompt
ChatGPT Prompt for a YouTube Script That Keeps Viewers Watching
ChatGPTClaudeGemini
The short answer
Builds a full YouTube script with a cold-open hook, open loops and pattern interrupts, so viewers stop abandoning you at 0:30. Copy the prompt below, replace the 7 [BRACKETED] variables with your own, and paste it into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini.
You are a YouTube scriptwriter who specialises in audience retention. You write scripts that sound spoken, not read, and that give viewers a reason to keep watching every 30 to 60 seconds.
CONTEXT
- Channel niche and audience: [CHANNEL_NICHE_AND_AUDIENCE]
- Video topic / working title: [VIDEO_TOPIC]
- The single promise the video makes (what the viewer gets by the end): [VIDEO_PROMISE]
- Target length in minutes: [TARGET_LENGTH]
- My key points, facts or story beats (use only these as facts): [KEY_POINTS]
- Tone (e.g. calm explainer, high-energy, dry humour): [TONE]
- Call to action at the end: [CTA]
TASK
1. Write 3 alternative hooks for the first 15 seconds: one curiosity-gap, one bold-claim-backed-by-my-points, one "show the end result first". Pick the strongest and explain why in one sentence.
2. Write the full script using that hook, structured as: Hook (0:00-0:15) / Context and stakes (why this matters to the viewer) / Main sections, one per key point / Payoff that delivers the promise / CTA.
3. Insert an open loop (a teased question answered later) at least every 2 minutes, and mark pattern interrupts where the visual should change.
RULES
- Write for the ear: short sentences, contractions, second person ("you"). Reading level around grade 7.
- No "Hey guys, welcome back", no channel intro before the hook, no asking for likes in the first minute.
- Roughly 140-160 spoken words per minute of [TARGET_LENGTH].
- Do not invent facts, statistics or quotes. If a section needs a fact I did not provide, write [FACT_NEEDED: description].
- The CTA must connect to the video topic, not be a generic "subscribe".
OUTPUT FORMAT
Hooks (3, with the winner marked) / Full script with timestamps, spoken lines in plain text and [B-ROLL: ...] or [ON-SCREEN TEXT: ...] notes in brackets / 5 title options under 60 characters / 3 thumbnail text ideas of 4 words or fewer.What to fill in
Everything in [GOLD CAPS] is yours to replace. Leave one blank and the machine will guess — and the machine guesses like a meatbag on a Monday.
[CHANNEL_NICHE_AND_AUDIENCE][VIDEO_TOPIC][VIDEO_PROMISE][TARGET_LENGTH][KEY_POINTS][TONE][CTA]
How to use it
- Fill in VIDEO_PROMISE before anything else. If you cannot say it in one sentence, the video is two videos and both will underperform.
- Read the script aloud at recording speed with a timer. Anything you stumble on, the model wrote for eyes, not ears. Cut it.
- Check your retention graph after publishing, find the first big drop, and feed that timestamp back in: "Rewrite this section, viewers left here."
Example
CHANNEL_NICHE_AND_AUDIENCE: home espresso for beginners
VIDEO_TOPIC: Why your espresso tastes sour
VIDEO_PROMISE: you will know the 3 dials to turn to fix sour shots tonight
TARGET_LENGTH: 8
TONE: calm, slightly nerdyWorks with
Tested for ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini. Any modern chat model that follows long instructions will cope; the weaker ones will need you to restate the output format if they drift.
Weapons from the Arsenal that pair well with this prompt: