How to script an interview-style video

So you want to put together a brand video or a testimonial that includes interviews from employees, stakeholders, customers, whoever it might be.

You want it to feel authentic and natural and unscripted, but at the same time…you want to make sure you’re hitting the right talking points and actually getting your message across. (That’s the whole point of making a video, isn’t it?)

But…how do you guide your interview subjects toward what to say without putting words in their mouths? And how do you make sure your editor gets the message?

Here’s a guide for creating a talking head video that feels authentic and unscripted.

Write down your goals for your video.

Start out by writing down what it is your video needs to do. Who is it directed toward? What are you trying to promote or sell? What do you want your audience to feel after they’ve seen it? How long do you want the video to be?

We’re going to put all of these things into a ChatGPT prompt in a minute, so formatting it like a sentence can help. For example:

“I’m filming an interview-style video for a box-making company. It’s aimed toward new customers who are deciding between the best box manufacturers in the country, and I want to give them a reason to hire us. I want my audience to feel connected to the people in the company, to perceive them as trustworthy experts, and to walk away thinking that my technology is the best in the business. I want them to think they’re missing out if they’re not working with me.”

Think about the type of people you need to interview.

Do you want to talk to customers, internal stakeholders, employees, a man on the street? It’s important to know who you want to talk to and what concrete value they’re going to bring to the video.

You want to choose people with a good story—people who are passionate about the mission, product, or something related to the end goal of your video.

Pro tip: think back to the length of your video. If your final export is going to be 1:30 or less, you don’t want to cram it with 15 people—your editor is going to be very unhappy, and your production crew is going to need a lot of time (even if your production crew is you with a cell phone). A general rule of thumb is no more than 2 people per minute. However, it’s good to have backups just in case someone gives a bad interview. Just don’t go crazy.

Write down a list of questions that will lead the narrative toward your goal.

Sometimes, it’s helpful to just brainstorm right down the page. Later, split up questions based on the interview subject. For instance, what you ask the CEO is going to be very different from what you ask a user of the product or service.

Start broad and then focus. This can help you zero in on questions that you might have glossed over in your original pass.

Run a few ChatGPT prompts to put it all together.

This is where I really like to leverage AI, because in my opinion, actually structuring the script is one of the most tedious parts of this style of video.

I like to think through my cast of characters and get particular about what I want to ask them—usually at this point, I’ve spoken to the client/stakeholder and got a really good idea of the inner workings of their business. I don’t expect ChatGPT to know those things (unless, of course, I’m pumping discovery call transcripts into it).

I like to do this in two separate parts.

Prompt #1: Review my list of questions

Go back to your video goals, and start your prompt with those. For example:

I’m planning out a 1:30 video for a box making company to help us attract new customers. I’m interviewing 3 people: the CEO, a customer, and the operations manager. I want this video to [insert goal] and [have this tone]. I want it to show off the heart of the owner and the way the customers feel supported. I have a few questions outlined below. How would you update or changes these so I can get the best result?

[paste your questions here]

ChatGPT should give you some kind of encouraging speech about how you’re on the right track, and then show you some improvements you can make.

Now, on to prompt 2.

Prompt #2: Create an interview guide

Next, you want ChatGPT to create an interview guide for you from your improved questions. Here’s a prompt to get you there:

Can you take all of the questions and structure them into an interview guide? Make sure it’s clear who I should be interviewing for each section and which questions should be tailored for them.

It should spit out a guide for you that you can copy and paste right into a Word Doc, and you can take that with you to your shoot and use it to guide your questions.

As you interview, keep a few things in mind.

Take notes: While you’re interviewing, take notes as you go—what did they say that was particularly on-message? Was there anything said that should absolutely NOT make it into the video?

Don’t be afraid to stray from the guide: Listening to the story is the biggest part of the job, and answers you get may surprise you. Or, you may have a subject who doesn’t want to talk a ton, and you need to be prepared to dig in.

Either way, remember: this is an interview guide, not an interview bible.

Remember to set up context: Have your participants introduce themselves so you can get their names, titles, or anything else important about them that hints to their role in the story. If they’re running sentences together, ask them to repeat something. And prompt them to answer with the question in the response, i.e., if you say, “What’s your name?” ask them to respond, “My name is John Smith,” not just “John Smith.”

Give your editor your interview guide.

Once you’ve filmed your interviews, you should plan to give your interview guide to your editor. That way, they’ll know more about the project, have an idea of what to include and what to drop, and be more likely to nail the story sooner.

It’s okay to feel nervous.

If this is your first time conducting interviews, it’s totally normal to feel nervous and a little adrift. It’s going to take a few turns to feel totally comfortable, so don’t get discouraged. You got this!

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