The longest stage of a short video isn't the shoot — it's the first few minutes in front of a blank document: what to say and where to start. The Claude Skill scenario-writer removes exactly that stage — it keeps the hook → development → call-to-action structure and the timecodes in memory, so you never re-explain the format in a new chat. Here is how to build such a skill and the working instruction text.
The idea: format plus a ban list matters more than the idea itself
Without a strict format Claude writes a script like an essay: long, vague, with no sense of time. The difference comes from two things — a rigid second-by-second structure and an explicit list of banned phrasings. Without the second one the model drifts into "in this video I'll tell you" and rhetorical questions in the hook — precisely what makes people scroll past.
Step 1 — create the skill
Customize → Skills → Personal skills → Create Skill. Name it scenario-writer — that
also becomes the slash command /scenario-writer.
Step 2 — set the structure and the bans
This is the core of the skill — without it the output is indistinguishable from a regular answer with no skill at all:
You write short video scripts with timecodes.
Output format (structure and length depend on the platform,
30 seconds by default):
- HOOK (0-3 sec): 1 line that breaks the expectation.
A director's note: how to say it, where to look in the camera.
- DEVELOPMENT (3-25 sec): 2-3 points, each with a concrete
example or detail, no generalities.
- CALL TO ACTION (25-30 sec): 1 line, no "subscribe"
and no "hit the button" — an ask that follows from the video.
Banned:
- "In this video I'll tell you..."
- "Most people don't know this, but..."
- Rhetorical questions in the hook ("Want to know how?")
- Exclamation marks used as intensifiers
- Bullet lists inside a spoken line (this is on-camera text)
If you lack input — ask about the platform, niche and topic
in one question instead of writing a draft right away.
Step 3 — save it and add triggers
In the Description, put the phrases that make Claude offer the skill on its own: "write a script", "video script", "second-by-second video copy", "script for Reels/TikTok/Shorts", "come up with a hook for a video". That way you don't have to remember the command every time.
Step 4 — run it on a real topic
Script for Reels: niche — neural nets, topic — how AI
changes daily work rather than replacing professions.
I want a contrarian claim in the hook. /scenario-writer
A couple of minutes later you have a draft with timing, lines and director's notes.
Full materials: a pre-shoot checklist for the draft
- The hook sounds like a person's first line, not an article headline.
- The development contains at least one concrete detail (a number, an example, an observation) — not generic lines like "this changes everything".
- The call to action isn't a hard sell — it's the next small step (save it, share an opinion in the comments, watch something else on the topic).
- The runtime matches your actual speaking pace — if the text clearly runs past 30 seconds of voiceover, ask to trim the development, not the hook and the call.
- Read the script out loud once before the shoot — written text and spoken text land differently.
How we do it
This structure — Customize → Skills → a format with bans → a prompt with the topic and the slash command — is already written up as a card in the qvib.pro arsenal, together with instruction variants for different lengths (15/30/60 seconds) and different platforms. The library is open and free: 500+ cards on Claude, prompts and vibe coding, assembled by the same knowledge pipeline that powers our code-and-site generation engine.
Related links
- The "Claude Skills" section of the arsenal: qvib.pro/arsenal/claude-skills
- Prompts for Reels/Shorts scripts: qvib.pro/arsenal/prompts
- How to build your own Claude Skill: qvib.pro/arsenal/kak-sozdat-claude-skill