The Reel Formula

The skeleton (for a ~50-second video)

0–3s — the hook IS the first word. No “hey guys,” no intro, no “in this video.” The subject and the stakes, inside 15 words. Winners open with the payload: a promise, a warning, a shocking claim, or a curiosity gap. (50 fill-in-the-blank hooks: /r/hooks.)

3–8s — the frame. One or two sentences of why-now or why-you: the credibility beat (“as someone who runs two businesses on this”) or the stakes beat (“and you have until Friday”).

8s–80% — the body, as a list. The dominant winning shape is a numbered list — 3 or 5 items — delivered as flowing speech (“First… Second… And third…”). Each item: name it → what it does → one concrete specific (a number, a named tool, a before/after). Vague items are where viewers leave.

Sprinkled mid-body — retention spikes. The winners plant 1-2 of these: “this one’s my favorite,” “here’s the best part,” “especially the last one” (an open loop pointed at the end), or a visceral reaction line. They exist to re-hook wandering attention.

~85% — the belief line. One quotable opinion that makes the video yours — a sentence someone could screenshot. It converts a list of tips into a point of view.

Final 5-8s — one CTA, matched to the goal. Growing a DM list: “comment [WORD] and I’ll send you [the bigger version of this video].” Growing follows: give a reason (“follow for part two”). Never stack asks, never end on “like and subscribe” energy.

The numbers to write by

Speak at 3.5–4 words/second — so a 50s script is ~180-200 words, a 30s is ~110, a 20s teaser is ~85. Sentences 8-20 words, joined with “so / then / and.” Second person throughout: “you” every couple of sentences. Zero filler words — write it, read it aloud, cut every stumble.

One more finding that surprised me

Duration didn’t decide performance — breadth did. A 90-second video on a topic everyone can act on beat 20-second videos on niche topics, every time. Go deep on broad topics; keep niche topics short.

Related: /r/hooks · /r/captions · /r/viral · /r/spy