This is a classic news story layout and basic workhorse format that will help you communicate many different issues and stories. You can use this whenever you want to get a story out quickly since it guides you through a tried-and-tested dramaturgy for a news story. It tells the story in that classic inverted pyramid form, starting with the most important and moving to “what happens now.” If you can’t use a more specialised format, then this will work.
This is a step-by-step guide on how you use this template to write your year in review video script.
Any place where there can be anything "newsy" to tell. This is great for press releases, announcements, even for blog posts.
It depends: if you are writing about a person you should try to find a headshot of them. In oher cases a relevant stock image can work too.
Mostly you already have the information, so just start there and follow these instructions.
Use a headline that is “newsy” insomuch that you want it to be active. Make sure that the viewer understands this has happened relatively recently, even if you are re-circulating information. A good news headline should always be accurate – but does not need to tell the whole story; that’s what the rest of the script is for. You want it to be direct, accurate, and straightforward.
This is where you convey the short version of the news; this would be the pre-amble in a written article. Here you want to summarise the story without going into the details. You should view this as if the viewer were to leave the video after this; they would still have gotten the gist of the story.
In this part, you get to the facts of what has happened and give the basic info. You will probably include timestamps, numbers, or other actual details here. Don’t make it too extensive; if there is a lot to unpack, you may need to refer to an article anyway. Remember that this is a video, after all.
This is a straightforward quote from someone in your organisation or affected by the news. The quote should directly refer to the news item.
Use this block to give the viewer a sense of “what happens now” or “what happens next.” This is a kind of wrap-up, even if the facts or the situation are unclear. The information here can be “we are monitoring the situation” as much as it can be actual follow-up.
Include a standard message or let the viewer know where they can get more information if relevant. Otherwise just finish with your logo.
