These two YouTubers have blown my mind: Leon Hendrix and Film Booth. Leon gains millions of views and he gave us his script for success, it’s amazing! You’ll find their interview and my summary notes on this page.
Before I ever even recorded my first YouTube video, I made two huge mistakes. Let me explain…
There are two approaches to YouTube success:
- Studying the YouTube algorithm
- Studying human behavior.
I came to the YouTube platform as a former blogger who was heavily invested in SEO (Search Engine Optimization). And so it seemed only natural to me to study the YouTube algorithm. This was my first mistake.
Thankfully, the more I got into it, the more I realized that what I really needed to study was human behavior.
But then I made my second mistake: I confused video content with sales and marketing. I’ve been studying sales and marketing for years, which was very beneficial for my work and online business… but not good for youtubing.
Through trial and error, I slowly arrived at the one solution that is at the top of my mind these days: Storytelling.
The most popular YouTube videos combine stories with emotions while leaving you with one big takeaway.
I’m currently in a process which looks like this:
- Research an important aspect of storytelling.
- Summarize the key points.
- Implement it in my next video.
- Review my work and identify gaps.
- Go back to step 1.
In this process, I have come across this video by Film Booth where he interviews Leon Hendrix. Leon Hendrix has grown his channel to over 100k subscribers in less than 4 months.
What I love about this interview is how clear Leon was in his action steps. You can tell that Leon has studied this extensively and he knows the steps off the top of his head. Not only that, he can also articulate the steps and key aspects in simple terms.
In other words, he has mastered this! And his results obviously prove that.
Because I want to implement what he shared in this interview, I have summarized Leon’s action steps for successful YouTubing. Below you will find all my notes.
Feel free to bookmark this blog post for future reference.
But before you read my summary below, I urge you to watch the interview in its entirety above. It is worth the time!
And don’t forget to implement it in your next video. When you do, please let me know in the comments below how it went for you!
Thumbnails:
- Thumbnail has a peculiar object.
- You click because: “You want to know what it is. I want clarity on that.”
- Show an interesting object that people want clarity on
Things to look for in a story, and things that need to be hit:
- Who’s the character?
- What’s the desire?
- What’s the obstacle?
- What are the stakes?
- Why is it really important?
- What’s the resolution?
- What’s the one core idea that is the final message of the video, that wraps everything up?
Is there incentive to watch until the end?
- Can I add something?
- What are the different loops I can open?
- What are the different questions that the viewer could ask themselves?
What’s the hook?
- What do viewers need to see in the first 10 seconds, based on the title and thumbnail, so they feel like: “Hey, I’m gonna get what I clicked for.”
- Is there a way to make them laugh, feel surprised, or feel something in the first 10 seconds?
–> If they feel something from the very beginning, that’s one of the strongest hooks.
Is there a way to have 2 story lines?
- Giving people a 2nd reason to potentially watch
- Maybe the only reason they watch is the 2nd storyline
- Having multiple storylines gives you a higher chance that people keep watching
Storyboarding process:
- What are the storylines that I have?
- What can be the hook?
- What can be the different things that can happen throughout it?
- How can I plan out everything?
Preparation is everything: You have to know what the video looks like before you start making it.
Educational content:
- There has to be a story attached to it.
- 80% telling why it’s important
- Best way to tell why it’s important is to tell a story that they can identify with
- Only last 10% – 20% should be: Here’s how you do it.
- “Hey, I have this big problem; and if I don’t fix this, it’s going to be really, really bad.”
Story:
- Desire
- Obstacle
- Stakes
–> Ideally something that viewer can identify with. Not just me, me, me.
–> What is something relatable that everyone can relate to?
–> Showing them why it’s really important
–> Going through the experience myself
–> And then at the end, just giving them a few thoughts
When you make a list of points:
- Have a story attached to every point you make
- Tell the story before you make your point
Leon recommends to new youtubers, 1 hour per day build up your skills:
- Taking a class
- Optimizing storytelling
- Learning about titles & thumbnails
You will win when:
- You have storytelling skills
- You know what makes people click
Film Booth recap on what he sees as the key activities of a successful youtuber:
- Patterns
- Research
- Thumbnails & Titles
- Stories
- Feeling
I went back and re-watched the video multiple times. I wanted to find out how Film Booth implemented the lessons learned by Leon Hendrix. So I’ve broken down the structure of the video interview into steps and described each step as it relates to storytelling.
After doing that, I came up with the script below. You can use this script to plan your next YouTube videos and increase retention, engagement, and content quality.
Step-by-Step Breakdown of the Video Interview:
1. Intro (SHORT)
- Describe who this video is about.
- Describe transformation that this video promises.
- B-rolls showing the person or transformation.
- Background music that fits the “excitement level”.
2. Story:
- Share challenge. Problem. Roadblock.
- Stakes and why it’s important.
- Story must be relatable.
- Viewer must be able to identify with the challenges and desire.
- What did I do next.
- Many b-rolls where it supplements the story.
- Different music from intro and lesson, or no music at all.
3. What did I find out from doing that, what did I learn.
When sharing the lesson (SHORT):
- Epic background music
- Music that signals: A secret is being shared here.
4. How does this lesson apply specifically to the avatar who’s watching this video?
5. Now that you’ve learned this. What is the next step?
6. What was the biggest mistake during this journey?
- How to avoid this mistake?
- Step-by-step instructions to avoid it (SHORT)
7. Big takeaway: “Take away channel, but with skills, millions of viewers again.”
8. CTA: Next video.
Looking back over my notes above, this might be one of my most valuable blog posts for YouTubers. Both Film Booth and Leon Hendrix are incredibly skilled in all aspects of YouTube. I’m very grateful they share their knowledge freely with us like in that interview above.
Check out their channels here and subscribe to them:
What is currently your biggest challenge to YouTubing? Let me know in the comments below!
And don’t forget to contact me if you want to start making money online. We’ll just have a chat and identify your goals and next steps. Click here to get in touch.