Scripting and storyboarding

scripting-and-storyboarding

The pre-production system — start from the spine, write both columns, envision every beat, number the shots, and edit on paper first. The agent writes the plan; the human shoots and judges; WoopSocial publishes the finished video. (Craft skill — no tool file.)

The POV: videos are won in pre-production — the cheapest edit is on paper

Chaotic shoots and endless edits are a pre-production deficit, not a talent deficit: the plan is "where you catch problems before they become expensive fixes on set or in post." Four truths carry this skill. (1) A words-only script plans half the video — the visual half gets improvised, and improvisation defaults to a static talking face; the two-column AV script (audio | visual) writes what's seen, beat by beat, so the change-every-few-seconds rhythm is planned, not hoped for. (2) The storyboard is a decision document, not art — its only question is "what's on screen at this beat?", answered by a shot table, stick figures, or AI previz frames (2026 pipelines make character-consistent boards in minutes — the tested benchmark: 12 frames from ~3 hours to 40–60 minutes, with explicit camera intent and a character bible as the craft rules). (3) The shot list regrouped BY SETUP is the batching trick — two weeks of content in one afternoon comes from sorting shots by location/framing/outfit, never by video. (4) Runtime math doesn't negotiate — ~130–150 wpm means a 300-word script is a 2-minute video; the stopwatch pass and the paper cut happen before the shoot. And the 2026 twist: AI video sequences need more pre-production, not less — every panel becomes a generation's shot brief, and previz frames cost cents where generations cost credits.

Read these first

1. idea-generation-and-ideation — the idea being productionized.
2. short-form-video-script (or the long-form skill) — the retention spine this turns into production.
3. brand-profile + design-and-templates — visual language, end cards.

The framework: SCENE

(Depth: references/the-scene-framework.md.)

• S — Start from the spine: one job, audience, format target, beat outline — before any words.
• C — Columns: audio + visual: the two-column AV script with [VO]/[SFX]/[Action] tags; if the visual isn't written, it will be improvised; no "me talking" twice in a row.
• E — Envision every beat: the cheapest board that answers "what's on screen" — shot table → stick figures → AI previz frames (explicit camera intent, character bible + ref image, micro-beats, directional not final); skip boards honestly where a shot list suffices; for AI video, each panel = the shot brief.
• N — Number the shots: shot list with setups → regroup by setup for batching (sequence setups, buffer takes on hooks, label footage vid#-shot#); runtime math + feasibility pass.
• E — Edit on paper first: table read with a stopwatch, cut the middle not the spine, the honesty pass (no staged-as-candid, no lifted scripts) — then hand off to the shoot, the edit, and WoopSocial.

The reality (verify-quarterly)

Stable craft: the two-column AV script (broadcast standard), ~130–150 wpm runtime math, the storyboard-as-decision-document, the by-setup batch regroup. The 2026 AI layer (attribute): script→board pipelines matured (Boords — free tier, sign-off layer; Storyboarder.ai — 250K+ creators, animatics; LTX, mStudio, Studiovity; free Wonderunit); character consistency is now baseline; the practitioner benchmark cut 12-frame boards from ~3 hrs to 40–60 min using LLM-beats → visual directives → seeded frames — with tags ([VO]/[SFX]/[Action]), explicit camera intent ("the AI will guess — don't make it"), locked palette, and a character bible; boards stay directional; traditional illustration runs ~$50–300/frame (the economics behind the shift). AI-video sequences: panel = shot brief (luma's DREAM); board first, generate second. Attribute all; verify-quarterly. Full detail: references/scripting-and-storyboarding-2026-reality.md; the templates and two worked examples: references/templates-and-examples.md.

Honest scope (never violate)

• The agent writes every planning artifact (beats, AV script, board/briefs, shot list, batch plan, timing pass, footage map); the human shoots/generates, judges every take, and approves — the agent cannot see footage or operate a camera and never fabricates "that take works." AI previz follows the image rules (no unpermitted likeness; original/consented characters; disclosure if frames publish).
• Production integrity: no staged-as-candid content (actors posing as unaffiliated strangers = deceptive endorsement; skits are fine disclosed); no lifted scripts (structure study yes, verbatim no); honest runtime/feasibility. WoopSocial publishes the finished video; it does not script, storyboard, shoot, or edit. (Full scope: references/scope-and-connections.md.)

Distinct from its siblings (route correctly)

scripting-and-storyboarding (this) = the pre-production system · short-form-video-script = the retention-words craft (WATCH writes the spine; SCENE productionizes it) · talking-head-and-piece-to-camera = the on-camera delivery · capcut / descript = the edit executing the AV script's visual plan · luma / ai-video = the generations whose shot briefs the panels become · flux / image-prompt = previz frames + reference stills · storytelling-and-narrative = the narrative angle/WHAT this schedules into shots · idea-generation-and-ideation = supplies the idea.

Where this connects

Reads first: idea-generation-and-ideation + short-form-video-script/long-form + brand-profile + design-and-templates. Feeds: the shoot day (the human), talking-head-and-piece-to-camera, luma (shot briefs), capcut/descript (footage map + AV script), content-calendar (the batch). Publishes via: the finished video → scheduling-and-queue → WoopSocial. Measure with: shoot efficiency + edit speed + published retention via analytics-and-reporting — never fabricated.

Definition of done

A shootable, editable plan: the spine confirmed (one job, beat outline from the script skill), the two-column AV script written with every visual beat specified ([VO]/[SFX]/[Action] tags; no "me talking" twice in a row), the storyboard produced at the cheapest sufficient fidelity (shot table, stick figures, or AI previz frames with explicit camera intent + a character bible — directional, never final art; skipped honestly where a shot list suffices), a numbered shot list regrouped by setup with the batch plan, buffer takes, and a labeled footage map, the runtime verified by stopwatch math (~130–150 wpm) and cut on paper before the shoot, and the honesty pass held (no staged-as-candid, no lifted scripts, feasibility stated straight); AI-video panels written as generation shot briefs with previz-before-credits economics; the human shooting and judging, the edit receiving a clean handoff, and the finished video publishing via WoopSocial; nothing staged as real, nothing plagiarized, no fabricated production claims; and correctly distinguished from short-form-video-script, talking-head-and-piece-to-camera, capcut/descript, and luma.