DON'T USE A SCRIPT for your next nonprofit video production!
Websites are so early 2000's...it's all about video these days. Are you feeling pressure to produce a video for your nonprofit? If you are, do yourself a favor and forego the painful process of writing a script. Why, you ask?
Scripts are really hard to write. If you've ever sat down and tried to write a script, you know
how hard it is. Trust me...I'm having a hard enough time writing this blog article. There are plenty of people out there who make a lot less money than you do writing scripts. That's not to say they will do any better job than you or someone else at your organization. It's really hard for an outsider to create something authentic. And writing the script is just the beginning. Let's not forget the internal review the script will have to go through before it has been blessed.
Scripts have a way of making groups focus on the wrong level of content. Oddly scripts tend to be more about words and less about ideas. If you have ever been involved in any kind of group writing endeavor, you know exactly what I mean. People quickly lose sight of the big picture and fixate on grammar and punctuation and obsess about word choice. It can sound something like this. "Sally I just read your draft and noticed your use of the word 'crestfallen', I'm not sure we want to be that dramatic." "Hey Bill, I noticed that as well but thought it wasn't dramatic enough...I was thinking of something like 'ass in a sling.'" "Hey Steve, I appreciate your sentiment but that's a little too gutteral. I'm not sure our board would appreciate that. Why not something like 'woebegone.' It has an everyman kind of feel. The subconscious connection to Prairie Home Companion doesn't hurt either."
Scripts are hard to pull off. Do you have any retired actors on their second career flight? Maybe some community theater veterans? If you do, you may have a fighting chance of making a script sound genuine and authentic. If not, I'm afraid you're in for tough sledding. There are plenty of people who make a ton more money than you that struggle with making scripts sound lively and interesting (Steven Colbert is not one of them). Nonprofit work is about making a difference, upholding an ideal, moving people on an emotional level. If you set up a microphone and have someone read a script, you are forfeiting that card. You have charismatic people in your organization. Passionate people who know their stuff and are very persuasive. By all means...let them speak from the heart.
Get to the point by asking smart questions. Now that you've ditched the scriptwriting process, get your best creative people around a table and start talking. Ask The 5 Critical Questions For Any Nonprofit Video Production. Once you have set a foundation for your video, have a spirited brainstorm. What are the main messages you're trying to communicate? Dump as many ideas as you can on to the table. Remember no idea is a bad idea. When you've exhausted all your ideas, start categorizing them. You should start to see a hierarchy forming. Some ideas will serve as your main themes and others will be subpoints that relate to those themes. More is less and nowhere is this truer than internet video. Ideally, you should limit yourself to three or fewer themes. Add more at your own peril. The more you add...the less likely someone will remember them.
Turn those ideas into a great interview with your best people. Remember those charismatic people that I was talking about earlier. Well, go round them up. They are waiting to be the stars of your next nonprofit video production. If you have done a good job of identifying your themes, there are people in your organization that can speak passionately about them. The key is to take all the ideas from your creative brainstorm and turn them into thoughtful questions. Be sure and give those question to people well ahead of time. The more prepared your subject is, the better your interview will be.
