Storytelling V2.0

Hello Porcelain Kings and Queens!

This week I want to talk about the ancient art of storytelling and why it needs to be dragged kicking and screaming into 2025 for you to have ANY impact with your or your clients content.

If your content isn’t landing, if people are scrolling past, clicking off, or zoning out, it’s probably not your ideas. It’s how you’re telling the story. The literal structure.

Most new creators are using a storytelling playbook that died in 2018. If you want people to actually stick around and care, these two mistakes need to go:

1. You’re Still Using the Hollywood Movie Format

You know the one: slow intro… gradual rise… big payoff at the end. Journey of a hero stuff.

That structure works for Oscar-winning films and ANYTHING Henry Cavill is in (God bless that man) but it doesn’t work on Youtube or Instagram.

Modern attention doesn’t have patience. Our attention spans are getting shorter and shorter, with more opportunities for people to jump ship from your videos. If your video doesn’t grab in the first 5 seconds, it’s dead.

How To Fix it:

Start fast. Skip the setup. No “Hi everyone, welcome to the channel” or any of that. Give me the meat asap. The audience don’t care who you are when they first find you. They click and stick for the value you give as fast as possible.

This isn’t a hill climb, it’s a glorious Usain Bolt sprint.

2. You’re Starting With the Wrong Info

Nobody cares what time it was, what the weather was like, or where you were, or how long it took.

They care about what happened and why it matters to them. The audience are delightfully selfish, it’s all about them ;)

And yet, most creators still open with context no one asked for.

How To Fix it:

Here’s your new storytelling sequence:

• What happened?
  Henry Cavill is officially the new James Bond.

• Why does it matter?
  This could completely redefine the future of the franchise, and Cavill's career.

• Who’s involved?
  Henry Cavill, the Bond producers, and a fanbase that’s been demanding this for years.

• How did it happen?
  After Daniel Craig stepped down, the studio spent over a year auditioning replacements which was stupid because only one man could take his place…

• When and where (if required)?
  The casting was announced this morning at a press event in London on Marshmellow Island.

Start with the punchline, not the backstory.

Start with the fire, then explain the spark.

If you’re losing people early, it’s probably not your value, it’s your packaging.

The internet rewards speed, clarity, tension, and Henry Cavill….

Fix these two things, and your content immediately becomes 10x more watchable. Add Henry Cavill to your content… who knows how many billions of views you’d get…

Have a great week

Bo

(I’ve no idea where all the Henry Cavill stuff came from today…)