Papercut Script

Papercut script

Research, script, banner track, staging and gags are written together, because each one feeds the others. The full system, with the phrase bank and two staged examples, is references/storytelling.md. Gag and format banks: references/comedy.md.

Every beat runs three tracks that do different jobs:

• Voiceover (shown as caption tags): tells the story, casual and second person, changes every sentence.
• Banner: adds the hard fact, number or honest caveat the voiceover skips, changes every 1.8-3 s.
• Set: literally illustrates a concrete noun from the voiceover, with the product UI doing the demo, changes with the banner.

Preflight

• Install: Minimal is enough. Resolve $PAPERCUT_LIB only if you want the backdrop sheet (library/papercut/public/bg/backdrops/_sheet.jpg) when choosing sets. Each image costs about 0.7-1.5k tokens, so open only what the step needs.
• Needs the BRIEF at the top of episodes/NN-slug/research/facts.md and the HOOK block at the top of episodes/NN-slug/papercut/STORYBOARD.md. Missing one: run papercut-strategy or papercut-hook first.
• Research needs web fetch or search, and any browser tool for screenshots. Without them, ask the user for screenshots and facts.

1. Research and rough UI

• Collect facts from the source with a source for each: name, maker, numbers, price, requirements, limitations, competitor numbers. Mark anything uncertain.
• Grab the key screens (2-4), real labels and button text, the accent colour and hero images. The video rebuilds a rough version of the UI as papercut props, not a screen recording (references/storytelling.md section 5).
• Confirm the role framing from the BRIEF. Never invent product behaviour. See the role-framing note in ../papercut-explainer/references/frame-breakdown.md.
• Write the list to research/facts.md under the BRIEF. Every number in the script, banners and UI must trace back to it.

2. Pick the mode

Hook formulas and the middle of each mode: references/storytelling.md section 6. Apply the hook update: open the gap and the stake, not the news.

3. Script on the spine

Write 75-95 words for 22-30 s, about 3.5-4 words a second, inside the chosen format, with a new set every 1.5-3 s. The 10 beats:

1. Hook (0-3 s), already fixed by papercut-hook
2. Proof or tension
3. Reframe ("So instead of..., you can...")
4. Name reveal ("It's called...", never before the hook)
5. How it works, one concrete demo
6. Escalation ("And X is just the start, because..." plus a stack of exactly three)
7. Peak ("And get this:" plus the biggest number)
8. Catch (the honest counterpoint)
9. Payoff ("which means...")
10. CTA ("Good thing I made [freebie]. For the link, comment KEYWORD.")

Shorten beats rather than speeding up the voice. Rules:

• Second person, contractions, short clauses joined by "and", "because", "which means". Vocabulary at the audience level in SERIES.md.
• Name a big brand in the first sentence, even when the subject is something else.
• Every number is concrete and sourced. One feature stack, always three items.
• At least one real limitation, in the VO or the banners. The CTA keyword is one short word tied to the topic.
• The last line repeats the hook's key word or number, then gives the keyword.

Write it to narration/script.json as [{"id": "l1_hook", "text": "..."}, ...], one line per sentence or clause group. Line l1_hook is SAY from the HOOK block. Mark the one or two words each line leans on (the number, the twist word, the verdict) in the staging table; papercut-voice uses them.

4. Banner track

10-18 banners, 3-7 words, ALL CAPS, one fact each, about one every 2-3 s. They never repeat the VO: read alone they are a fact sheet. Include a headline stat, a price translation, a credibility fact, availability, at least one honest caveat, at least one trust or safety fact, feature claims, at least one competitor contrast, and a range/decision banner before the CTA. Types and examples: references/storytelling.md section 3.

5. Staging table

One row per banner, written into STORYBOARD.md under the HOOK block:

t (s) | VO words under it | BANNER | SET (room + bg colour) | HERO PROP (a visual pun from the VO's concrete noun) | PRODUCT UI moment | MASCOT action and costume prop | GAG

• A new set for every banner, background colours rotating. The set illustrates a word in the VO line, not the banner.
• Numbers become physical props: price signs, scales, multiplier walls, gauges, meters, races. Competitors appear as pinned cards, never as the hero.
• The mascot is the viewer's proxy and reacts. Product UI is a rough rebuild on a paper monitor or laptop with fake interactions.
• One callback to an earlier set before the CTA. The CTA set shows a comment box typing the keyword.
• papercut-storyboard adds the camera and transition columns.

6. Humour pass (after the script, before staging is final)

Add the GAG column. The voiceover stays straight; only the picture is silly.

1. One format for the whole reel.
2. One gag per banner that acts out the point, from references/comedy.md.
3. A costume prop per idea. The mascot's own item stays on and gets one prop on top.
4. One struggling-mascot beat, on the catch line.
5. A prop on frame 0 that returns changed in the CTA set (I'M OUT becomes FREE).
6. One absurd, unexplained background moment.
7. At most one meme, rebuilt in the series' own style, never a real clip, still or audio.

No gag may cover the banner, the captions or the key number, and each must read in under 1 s.

Gate

• 75-95 words, 22-30 s, one honest limitation, a stack of exactly three.
• Every number and banner traces to facts.md; banners alone read as a fact sheet.
• Last line repeats the hook's key word or number.
• Humour pass done: costume per idea, a struggling beat, a returning prop, one absurd moment, at most one meme.

Hand-off

Next is papercut-storyboard. It reads narration/script.json and the HOOK block and staging table in episodes/NN-slug/papercut/STORYBOARD.md. For a script-only run, stop here and give the user those files. The copy-paste storytelling prompt for another tool is references/storytelling.md section 7.