QC CHECKLIST — BRIEFING SCRIPT

For Voiceover Narratives That Accompany the Briefing Interactive

HOW TO USE THIS CHECKLIST

Run after the script is drafted. Read the script aloud while scrolling through the briefing interactive HTML — that's the real test. Items marked with ⚠️ are the most common failure modes.

1. CONTENT FRAMING

• [ ] ⚠️ Behind-the-scenes, not framework. Read every paragraph. Does it tell what happened with a client, or does it teach a concept? Every paragraph should answer the former. If a sentence could appear in the article unchanged, rewrite it.
• [ ] Specific client, not composite. The script should feel like one engagement, not a generalized composite (even if the details are composited for privacy). The viewer should feel like they're watching a real story unfold.
• [ ] Client voice present. At least 1–2 paraphrased or direct quotes from the client showing their mindset — what they believed before the discovery, their reaction to a finding.
• [ ] Your read vs. their read. At least one moment where you describe what the client assumed and what you actually found. This is the value demonstration.
• [ ] ⚠️ No overlap with the article. Read the article and the script side by side. No section of the script should restate the article's framework. Different case, different emphasis. If someone reads the article and watches the briefing, they should get two complementary experiences, not the same content twice.

2. STAGE DIRECTIONS

• [ ] ⚠️ Stage directions match the interactive. Open the HTML. Walk through every [SCROLL] and [HOVER] cue. Does the element exist? Is it in the right section? Does the label match?
• [ ] ⚠️ No [CLICK] directions. The briefing interactive uses hover-expand and scroll-reveal only. Search the script for "CLICK" — there should be zero results.
• [ ] No [REVEAL] directions. Reveals happen via scroll (IntersectionObserver). Use [SCROLL] instead.
• [ ] No [TOGGLE] directions. Side-by-side zones use hover, not toggle controls.
• [ ] No [CAMERA] or [SLIDES] directions. This is a screen recording, not a camera+slides setup. The presenter's face is not visible.
• [ ] Stage directions use correct vocabulary: [SCROLL], [HOVER on X], [HOVER off], [PAUSE], [PAUSE — X sec]
• [ ] Stage directions on their own line. Formatted as code blocks, before the narration they accompany.
• [ ] Hover cues reference actual element labels. If the script says [HOVER on "Her 8 no-shows"], verify the interactive HTML has a hover-expand item with that exact label.

3. NARRATIVE ARC — ALL 7 BEATS

• [ ] Beat 1 — The Practice (0:00–2:00). Opens with the presenting problem. Describes the practice in human terms. Ends with the question that started the real work.
• [ ] Beat 2 — The Discovery (2:00–5:00). Shows the counting/discovery exercise. Narrates categories as they appear. Lands on the total with a pause.
• [ ] Beat 3 — The Findings (5:00–8:00). Hover narration on 3–4 key findings. Your read vs. their read. Doesn't narrate every single hover item.
• [ ] Beat 4 — The Rewrite (8:00–11:00). Before/after for 2–3 pairs. Varying depth (deep on one, medium on one, brief on one). Not all equal.
• [ ] Beat 5 — The Results (11:00–13:00). Numbers land with pauses between. Context the viewer can't see (response rates, what she'd been spending). Hero number gets a hold.
• [ ] Beat 6 — The Gap (13:00–15:00). Conversion hinge. What she did, what you did together, what's still unbuilt. Slower pace, more deliberate.
• [ ] Beat 7 — The Offer (15:00–17:00). Two paths framed naturally. No pitch. Reframe line echoing the core insight. Pause and end.
• [ ] ⚠️ No missing beats. Every one must be present. The most commonly underdeveloped: Beat 6 (The Gap). If the gap section is thin, the offer feels disconnected.

4. VOICE AND TONE

• [ ] ⚠️ Opening line is mid-story. Not "Welcome to..." or "Thanks for watching..." or "Today we're going to cover..." The first sentence should feel like you're already in the middle of telling someone something interesting.
• [ ] No webinar language. Search for: "today we'll cover," "let me walk you through," "as you can see," "moving on to," "in this section." All should be absent or minimal.
• [ ] First person singular. "I asked her," "What I saw," "My read was." Not "we" (unless describing work done together with the client) and not passive voice.
• [ ] Conversational pacing. Read each section aloud. Does it feel like someone talking, or someone reading? If it feels written, loosen it.
• [ ] No screen narration. The script never describes what's visible on screen. "As you can see, there are six categories" → Cut. "I asked her to pull up her calendar" → Keep.
• [ ] Transitions between sections are invisible. No "Now let's move on to section three." Natural bridges: "Now let me show you what we actually found" or a simple pause and scroll.
• [ ] ⚠️ Closing is not a pitch. The last 60 seconds should feel like a natural conclusion to the story, not a gear-shift into sales mode. Two paths, a reframe, a pause, done.

5. VOICE/VISUAL SPLIT

For each section, verify the script adds what the screen doesn't show:

• [ ] Beat 1: Screen shows profile cards. Voice adds who she is as a person, what she told you, her mindset.
• [ ] Beat 2: Screen shows categories and numbers. Voice adds the discovery process, how you found them together, the growing realization.
• [ ] Beat 3: Screen shows hover detail text. Voice adds your interpretation, her reaction, what she assumed vs. what you found.
• [ ] Beat 4: Screen shows before/after zones. Voice adds why the standard fails for this wound type, what makes the matched version work, the reasoning.
• [ ] Beat 5: Screen shows numbers cascading. Voice adds context (percentages, comparisons, what she'd been spending). Less narration here, not more.
• [ ] Beat 6: Screen shows layer stack. Voice adds the "she did / we did / still open" framing and the conversion reasoning.
• [ ] Beat 7: Screen shows offer cards. Voice adds which path is for whom and the reframe.
• [ ] ⚠️ No section where the script just reads what's on screen. If you muted the audio and just watched the screen, you should miss the story. If you closed your eyes and just listened, you should miss the visuals. Both layers must carry unique content.

6. TIMING AND PACING

• [ ] Total runtime is 15–20 minutes. Read the full script aloud at natural speaking pace. Time it.
• [ ] Beat 3 (Findings) and Beat 4 (Rewrite) are the longest. These are the core — where the real work is shown. ~3 minutes each.
• [ ] Beat 5 (Results) is tight. ~2 minutes. Numbers, pauses, minimal narration. Don't over-explain.
• [ ] Beat 7 (Offer) is ~2 minutes max. Any longer and it feels like a pitch.
• [ ] Pauses are marked. Every hero number, every big quote, every guess-vs-reality moment has a [PAUSE] cue. Without these, the presenter will rush past the best moments.
• [ ] ⚠️ Hover narration isn't too long per item. Each hover-expand item should get 15–30 seconds of narration max. If you're spending a minute on one hover item, the viewer will wonder when you're moving on.

7. HOVER NARRATION DEPTH

• [ ] Not every hover item is narrated. The script picks 3–4 per section and goes deep. Others are scrolled past or mentioned briefly.
• [ ] Hover narration doesn't read the detail text verbatim. The text is on screen — the viewer can read it. The narration adds context, interpretation, or story.
• [ ] Depth varies. One hover item gets the full story (30 seconds). One gets a medium treatment (15 seconds). One gets a brief mention (5–10 seconds). This feels natural, not mechanical.
• [ ] The most compelling findings get the most time. Not the first three in order — the three that best demonstrate diagnostic value.

8. PRODUCTION NOTES

• [ ] Format line present. States format (screen-recorded walkthrough + voiceover) and runtime.
• [ ] Recording workflow documented. Open HTML, screen record + audio, scroll and hover.
• [ ] Interactive elements table. Each element, section, what it does, why it works on video.
• [ ] Article vs. briefing differences documented. Explicit list of how the briefing differs — different case, different emphasis, no content overlap.
• [ ] Voice-only content listed. What stays in narration and doesn't appear on screen.
• [ ] On-screen content listed. Visual elements the viewer sees.
• [ ] Timing table. Section-by-section breakdown with time ranges.

9. COPY QC

• [ ] ⚠️ No twinning. Scan for negation-then-correction patterns ("It's not X. It's Y."). One instance acceptable. Two or more is a pattern violation.
• [ ] ⚠️ No parallel structures across 3+ items. Scan wound descriptions, layer descriptions, and offer descriptions for repeated sentence structures.
• [ ] No formulaic AI patterns. No "here's the thing," "let's be honest," "the reality is," "it's worth noting."
• [ ] Client quotes sound human. Slightly messy, the way people actually talk. Not polished or strategic.
• [ ] Numbers are consistent. If the interactive shows 53 contacts and $62K, the script uses the same numbers. No rounding discrepancies.
• [ ] Numbers match the interactive exactly. Category counts in the script must match the category counts in the HTML.

10. SCRIPT-TO-INTERACTIVE SYNC

The final check. Open the HTML in one window and the script in another. Walk through both simultaneously.

• [ ] Every [SCROLL] cue corresponds to a real scroll target. Section headers, transition lines, offer sections — all exist in the HTML.
• [ ] Every [HOVER on X] cue corresponds to a real hover-expand element. The label matches. The element is in the right section.
• [ ] The section order in the script matches the section order in the HTML. No sections out of sequence.
• [ ] Timing feels right. Scroll through the HTML at narration pace while reading the script aloud. Do the visual reveals sync with the narration? Does the pace feel comfortable for a ~17 minute walkthrough?
• [ ] ⚠️ No orphaned stage directions. Every [SCROLL] or [HOVER] cue should have narration following it. No "scroll to this thing" and then immediately "scroll to the next thing" without narration in between.
• [ ] Pause moments align with visual beats. The script pauses on the hero number, the guess-vs-reality reveal, the big quotes — and the interactive has these as distinct visual elements.

QC checklist for: Briefing Script (voiceover narrative) Companion to: briefing-script-SKILL.md Created: February 2026