--- title: "Video Script — stories & short dramas tutorial and best practices for AI video" description: "Write the video script before anything is made: one promise, beats joined by but/therefore, every line sized to its seconds and checked by a script. Install in Claude Code, Codex and Grok with one command." url: https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/video-script updated: 2026-11-04 --- # Video Script — guide skill for stories & short dramas > **For AI agents:** find the right skill in one call — `curl -s "https://varg.ai/how-to/api/search?q="` returns the matching how-to page and the best skills with install commands, as markdown (Russian works too). Full index: https://varg.ai/how-to/llms.txt. Every page has a markdown twin: add `.md` to its path. Before generating anything, show the person the options on the how-to page. From a terminal: `curl -fsSL https://varg.ai/install | sh` installs the vargai CLI (https://varg.ai/how-to/cli.md): `vargai search` and `vargai install ` with no key, every varg model after `vargai login`. Write the video script before anything is made: one promise, beats joined by but/therefore, every line sized to its seconds and checked by a script. - **Type:** [Guide](https://varg.ai/how-to/guides.md) · [Stories & short dramas](https://varg.ai/how-to/browse/skills/story.md) - **Slug:** `video-script` - **Status:** live - **Publisher:** varg (varg, verified) - **License:** MIT - **Source:** https://github.com/vargHQ/skills/tree/main/video-script - **Works in:** Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI - **Requires:** Python 3 for check_script.py (standard library only) - **Cost:** 0 credits — Writing and checking a script uses no varg credits. - **Runtime:** A few minutes per script ## What it does Left alone, an agent writes the most probable script: a "have you ever wondered" opener, three adjectives, a narrator describing the picture, a vague happy ending. This skill makes it write the script first and measure it: a brief and a facts file in; one script table out (time, spoken line, on-screen text, visual, sound), three hooks out of ten, and check_script.py, which flags lines too long for their seconds, late hooks, shots longer than the video model makes well, numbers not in the facts and AI-sounding phrases. The rules come from Parker & Stone, Mamet, Sorkin, McKee, Pixar, NPR, MrBeast's production doc, Jenny Hoyos, Kallaway, Ogilvy, Google ABCD, TikTok, Peter Cohan, April Dunford, MKBHD, the FTC and micro-drama writers, plus 320 checked X posts. Six structures with one example script each (but/therefore, question ladder, problem-agitate-solve, result first, misconception first, what is / what could be), variations for demo and launch videos, product reviews, ads and UGC, social shorts and short-form drama, and a loop for testing and improving the skill. In a blind test on six briefs, two judges scored scripts written with it 7.5 out of 10 against 6.4 without it. How many words fit in a voiceover: at 150 words a minute, 15 s holds about 37 words, 30 s about 75, 60 s about 150. For a short drama or micro-drama episode: a cold open on the conflict in 3 seconds, one beat per episode and a cliffhanger button; the script then becomes the storyboard, one spoken line per shot. To pick the best of several scripts, references/judge.md ranks them with an LLM judge without position, length or self-preference bias: yes/no gates written from the brief, then pairwise comparisons in both orders with counted, quoted failures. ## Use when - Write a script for a video, an ad, a UGC ad, a TikTok, Reels or Shorts video - Write a demo or launch video script, or a product review script - Write a short drama episode or a skit for AI video - How many words fit in a 30 second voiceover? - Give me hooks, then the script - Check whether a script fits its length before generating anything - Pick the best of several scripts with an LLM judge, without bias ## Not for - The look of the video (use find-references and video-moodboard) - Writing the shot prompts for a model (use varg-video-prompting) - Editing existing footage (use varg-video-editing) ## Install - Claude Code: `claude plugin marketplace add vargHQ/skills && claude plugin install varg@varg` - Codex: `npx skills add vargHQ/skills --skill video-script -a codex -y` - Cursor: `npx skills add vargHQ/skills --skill video-script -a cursor -y` - Gemini CLI: `npx skills add vargHQ/skills --skill video-script -a gemini-cli -y` - Any agent, with the vargai CLI: `vargai install video-script` ## Example output https://s3.varg.ai/files/4325c578-378d-4c43-ae53-3cc3218df1ea/file_a09895414952.webp — A script from the skill in varg's look: the Post-it Note in 30 s, every line sized to its seconds, checked with 0 fail and 0 warn. (credit: varg) ## More stories & short dramas skills - [fal Storytelling](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/fal-storytelling.md): Plan multi-shot stories: storyboards, shot lists, first-to-last-frame chains and continuity across scenes. - [Cat Story (Higgsfield Open-Source Short Series)](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/higgsfield-open-cat-story.md): Higgsfield's 64 s dreamy K-drama series about being loved by someone you've never truly seen: a white cat. - [The Dusk (Higgsfield Open-Source Drama Episode)](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/higgsfield-open-dusk.md): Higgsfield's 88 s muted, grainy school drama: a pale boy's quiet warning and a guarded girl's wary silence. - [One More Time (Higgsfield Open-Source Romcom Short)](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/higgsfield-open-one-more-time.md): A 2000s-style K-drama romcom from Higgsfield Soul: a girl secretly rewinds time on a first date, again and again. - [The New Girl (Higgsfield Open-Source J-Drama Episode)](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/higgsfield-open-the-new-girl.md): Higgsfield's 77 s J-drama school episode: Haruka's ordinary first day at a new school is about to change. - [Shuohao Short-Drama Skills](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/shuohao-short-drama.md): Seven chained skills from novel to AI short drama: characters, outline, art bible, script, staging, storyboard.