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Source: business/marketing/skills/briefing-script-SKILL.md

BRIEFING SCRIPT — SKILL FILE

For Writing Voiceover Narratives That Accompany the Briefing Interactive

WHAT THIS SKILL PRODUCES

A word-for-word recording script that the practice owner reads on a second screen while screen-recording the briefing interactive HTML. The script includes stage directions for scrolling and hovering, timing cues per section, and production notes.

This is NOT:

This IS:

Golden examples:

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SCRIPT AND INTERACTIVE

The briefing interactive is the visual layer. The script is the audio layer. Together they form the recorded briefing.

What the interactive shows: Practice profile, discovery items, findings with hover-expand detail, before/after comparisons, results cascade, gap layers, offer cards.

What the script adds: Story context, emotional texture, diagnostic reasoning, commentary on what the viewer is seeing, the "why" behind each finding, and the conversion argument.

The script should never just narrate what's visible on screen ("As you can see, there are six categories..."). It should add what ISN'T on screen — what the client said, what surprised them, why you looked where you looked, what the viewer should be thinking about their own practice.

Division of Labor

On Screen (Interactive)In Voice (Script)
Practice profile cardsWho she is, what she told you, what she thought the problem was
Category count rows appearingWhy each category matters, how you discovered it together
The 53 revealHer reaction, the silence in the room, what that number means
Wound barrier hover detailsWhy each barrier is invisible to the practice owner, your read vs. hers
Before/after message zonesWhy generic fails for each wound type, what you changed and why
Results cascade buildingCommentary between each number, pacing the revelation
$62K hero numberWhat she'd been spending on ads, the comparison that makes the point
Gap layersWhat she could do alone, what required you, what's still unbuilt
Offer cardsWhat each path gives them, which to choose based on where they are

STAGE DIRECTIONS

The script uses specific cues that map to how the presenter interacts with the HTML. Since the briefing interactive uses scroll reveals and hover expansions (no buttons, no clicks), the stage directions must match.

Stage Direction Vocabulary

[SCROLL]        — Scroll down to trigger the next reveal or reach the next section
[HOVER on X]    — Mouse over an element to expand its detail panel
[HOVER off]     — Move mouse away to collapse the detail panel
[PAUSE]         — Stop scrolling. Hold on the current visual for a beat (2–3 seconds)
[PAUSE — X sec] — Hold for a specific duration (used for hero numbers, big quotes)

What NOT to use

[CLICK]         — No click interactions in the briefing interactive
[REVEAL]        — Reveals happen via scroll, not explicit triggers
[TOGGLE]        — No toggle elements — side-by-side zones use hover
[CAMERA]        — No camera in this format (screen recording only)
[SLIDES]        — No slides — this is a scrolling HTML page

How Stage Directions Appear in the Script

Stage directions go on their own line, formatted as code blocks, before the narration they accompany:

`[SCROLL to section header: "Five Different Silences."]`

Here's the part that changes everything. Those 53 people aren't one problem.

When hovering over multiple items in sequence:

`[HOVER on "Her 8 no-shows" — detail expands]`

She assumed they weren't interested. When we dug in, most had canceled same-day...

`[HOVER on "Her 4 quiet proposals" — detail expands]`

All four had engaged deeply through the proposal process...

NARRATIVE ARC

The script follows the same 7-beat arc as the briefing interactive, but the script adds the connective tissue — the transitions, the commentary, the "sit with this" moments.

Beat 1: The Practice (0:00–2:00)

On screen: Profile cards stagger in. Problem card appears in red. In voice: Who she is. What she came to you saying. What she thought the problem was. The quote that reveals her mindset.

Script pattern:

Tone: Conversational. You're telling a story, not opening a show. Mid-thought, not "Welcome to this briefing."

Beat 2: The Discovery (2:00–5:00)

On screen: Count rows stagger in with numbers. Each category appears with a beat. In voice: What each category is and why it matters. How you found them together. The growing realization.

Script pattern:

Key moment: The guess-vs-reality reveal. The script needs to hold the beat here. "She said five. Maybe ten. We found fifty-three." Then silence. Let the visual do the work.

Beat 3: The Findings (5:00–8:00)

On screen: Hover-expand items showing what you found in each group. In voice: Your read vs. her read. What surprised you. What she couldn't see from inside.

Script pattern:

Key principle: The hover detail on screen is the WHAT. The narration is the WHY and the SO WHAT. Don't read the hover text aloud — add what isn't written.

Beat 4: The Rewrite (8:00–11:00)

On screen: Side-by-side before/after zones. Hover reveals the "after" content. In voice: Why the standard message fails for this specific wound type. What you changed and why. What makes the matched version work.

Script pattern:

Beat 5: The Results (11:00–13:00)

On screen: Result lines stagger in. Hero number appears. Comparison block. In voice: Commentary between each number. The pacing creates anticipation.

Script pattern:

Key principle: Less narration here, not more. The numbers tell the story. The script holds the beats.

Beat 6: The Gap (13:00–15:00)

On screen: Layer stack with hover-expand. Three layers building. In voice: The conversion hinge. What she could do once vs. what she can't sustain. The difference between a project and a capability.

Script pattern:

Tone shift: This is the conversion hinge. Slower, more deliberate. Not a pitch — a reframe. The viewer should feel the gap between knowing the framework and having the system.

Beat 7: The Offer (15:00–17:00)

On screen: Two offer cards. Hover reveals details. In voice: What each path gives them. Which to choose based on where they are.

Script pattern:

Tone: No pressure. Two options. Either one starts the process. The diagnostic is for people who are ready to build, not people who need convincing.

TIMING

Target runtime: 15–20 minutes. Each section has a time range. These are guides, not hard constraints.

BeatSectionTimeDuration
1The Practice0:00–2:00~2 min
2The Discovery2:00–5:00~3 min
3The Findings5:00–8:00~3 min
4The Rewrite8:00–11:00~3 min
5The Results11:00–13:00~2 min
6The Gap13:00–15:00~2 min
7The Offer15:00–17:00~2 min

The longest sections are the Findings and the Rewrite (beats 3–4) — this is the core of the briefing where the real work is shown. The Results and Offer should be tighter.

VOICE AND TONE

What It Should Sound Like

What It Should NOT Sound Like

Specific Patterns

Opening line: Start mid-story. Not with a greeting, not with an agenda. "I've been asking practice owners the same question for the last few weeks." or "There's a pattern I keep running into in advisory practices."

Transitions between sections: Don't announce them. "Now let me show you what this actually looks like" is fine. "Moving on to section three" is not.

Client quotes: Paraphrase in your own voice unless the exact words matter. "She said — and this is almost exactly what she told me — 'I don't even know where to spend the next dollar.'" Use sparingly.

Hover narration: When hovering over expandable items, don't read the detail text verbatim. Add what's NOT written — the context, the reasoning, the pattern you've seen in other practices.

Closing: No big wrap-up. No "thanks for watching." End with the offer framed as two paths, a reframe line that echoes the briefing's core insight, then a pause and stop recording.

PRODUCTION NOTES SECTION

Every script ends with a Production Notes section that documents:

  1. Format: Screen-recorded walkthrough of interactive HTML + voiceover
  2. Recording workflow: Open HTML in Chrome full-screen, screen record + audio, scroll and hover through as you narrate
  3. Interactive elements table: Each element, which section it's in, what it does, and why it works on video
  4. What's different from the article: Explicit list of how the briefing differs from the article — different case details, different emphasis, no content overlap
  5. What stays in voice only: Story context, emotional texture, diagnostic reasoning — things that aren't on screen
  6. What appears on screen: Visual elements the viewer sees
  7. Design notes: Theme, type size, interactive behavior

This section is for the presenter's reference during recording prep.

WRITING SEQUENCE

  1. Read the briefing interactive HTML. Scroll through the actual page. Note every section, every hover-expand item, every visual element. The script must map to exactly what's on screen.
  1. Map the story. Before writing any script, outline the client story: who they are, what they thought the problem was, what you found, what you changed, what happened, where they got stuck. This is the narrative backbone.
  1. Write beat by beat. Start with Beat 1. Write the narration. Add stage directions. Move to Beat 2. The stage directions should reference actual elements in the HTML — section headers, item labels, visual transitions.
  1. Check the voice/visual split. For each section: is the narration adding something the screen doesn't show? If you deleted the narration and just watched the screen, would you miss the story? If the narration just describes what's visible, rewrite it.
  1. Read it aloud. Time each section. The script should feel conversational at speaking pace — not rushed, not dragged. Cut anything that feels like filler.
  1. Write the Production Notes. Document everything the presenter needs to know for recording day.

COMMON FAILURE MODES

Narrating the screen

"As you can see, there are six categories of silent contacts." — The viewer CAN see. Tell them what they CAN'T see: "I asked her to pull up her calendar. We counted category by category."

Teaching the framework

The article teaches. The briefing shows. If a sentence could appear in the article, it probably doesn't belong in the script. "There are five wound types" is article language. "Her 8 no-shows were embarrassed — three of them had even looked at her website again in the last 60 days" is briefing language.

Equal depth on every item

Not every hover-expand item needs full narration. Pick 3–4 per section and go deep. Skim the rest. The viewer gets the pattern from the first few — they don't need equal time on every one.

Missing the conversion hinge

Beat 6 (The Gap) is where the viewer realizes they can't do this alone. If this section is too brief or too abstract, the offer in Beat 7 feels disconnected. Take your time here. This is where "I could probably do this myself" becomes "I need someone who's done this across dozens of practices."

Generic offer close

"Book the diagnostic" is not a close. "If you watched this and your number is already bigger than you thought — that's exactly why this matters" is a close. The offer should feel like a natural next step from the story, not a pitch bolted onto the end.

Stage directions that don't match the interactive

If the script says [CLICK] but the interactive uses hover, the presenter will be confused during recording. Verify every stage direction against the actual HTML. Scroll = IntersectionObserver reveals. Hover = CSS :hover expansions. No clicks.

WHAT THIS SKILL DOES NOT COVER

Skill file extracted from: The Subtract/Add Briefing Script + The Silent List Briefing Script Created: February 2026