YouTube explainer, 8 minutes: the outline prompt with timestamps
A prompt that produces a timed outline for an 8-minute explainer: a cold open, a promise, five sections with a visual each, the mistake, a recap and one ask, before any script is written.
Outline an 8-minute YouTube explainer on {topic} for {audience}. Output a table: Timestamp | Section | What is said (one sentence) | What is on screen | Why the viewer stays. Structure, with timings: 0:00-0:20 Cold open: the most surprising moment or result from later in the video, shown, not announced. 0:20-0:45 Promise: what the viewer will be able to do by the end, in one sentence, plus who this is not for. 0:45-6:30 Five sections of 60-75 s. Each one answers one question the audience actually asks (write the question). Each needs one visual that is not the presenter: a screen, a diagram, an object, a demo. 6:30-7:15 The mistake: the one thing people get wrong, with the fix. 7:15-7:45 Recap: the five answers as five lines. 7:45-8:00 One ask: a single next step (a link, a question in the comments, the next video). Rules: no section longer than 75 s; a section with no visual gets rewritten until it has one; the cold open is cut from section 3 or later. Budget the narration at 150-170 words per minute (a parameter, check it against your own delivery). After the table, list the visuals to record.
In Claude Code, paste the prompt as a message.
Steps
- Fix the five questions first. If the agent invents questions nobody asks, replace them with the ones from your comments, support inbox or search suggestions.
- Record section by section; each is its own file, so a bad take costs 75 s, not 8 min.
- Paste the final timestamps into the description as chapters (see the chapters entry).
Tips
- The cold open is the hook of a long video. Pick it from material you already have, the way a trailer is cut from a finished film.
- If the outline comes back under 6 minutes, that is the length. Do not pad; cut the target.
| works with | Claude Code: Runs as a skill or a prompt in the terminal; can read your files and write the result. · Claude: Paste into claude.ai or the Claude app. · ChatGPT: Paste into ChatGPT; works with any GPT model. · Any LLM: Model-agnostic: Gemini, Mistral, a local model. |
| cost | Free. No API, no key. |
| status | Unverified: written from the technique, not yet run end to end by us. |
| license | CC BY 4.0 for the text here; skills are MIT. |
| updated | 2026-11-01 |
| for agents | youtube-eight-minute-explainer-outline.md |
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