Overview
Your production script is the secret to creating successful content because it acts as a comprehensive blueprint, ensuring that stakeholders and content creators are aligned before production begins.
Would you build a house without a plan? No, I thought not - it might stand up, but you'll probably find a bed in the bathroom!
By understanding the business requirement, applying the “what’s in it for me?” principle explaining to the learner how relevant this course is personally, as well as how much of their time they’ll be investing; and defining clear interaction rules upfront, such as requiring learners to finish a video or click through every section before moving on - you guarantee a consistent and high-quality user experience.
Here are a few more reasons why you might want to use a script …
It’ll help you to map each word, phrase and interaction back to your learning objectives. Without it, "content creep" sets in, and you could end up with "nice-to-know" fluff that distracts from the "need-to-know" skills.
It will streamline the review process. Time is money and it is much cheaper and faster to:
edit a shared document than it is to change a published course
get stakeholders to sign off on the message before you spend hours on creating engaging, interactive media
catch tone-of-voice issues, or terminology errors early - your learners will let you know if the message didn’t land well!
A good script acts as a set of instructions for the entire development team:
For content curators it acts as a "single source of truth" by capturing essential administrative and high-level data in one place, starting with a meaningful Course Code. Your courses need to be immediately recognisable to the learner as well as quick and easy to find and update to keep them relevant.
For Designers a script template separates the content from the delivery method, making it easier to craft a creative solution to a real business need, and coordinate the different production roles. A particularly important design area is a comprehensive quiz framework, ensuring that the learners are evaluated fairly and robustly. Example: critical settings like pass marks (100% for compliance content), randomised question/answer orders, and attempt limits as well as timely learner feedback for both passing and failing scenarios. This ensures the learner knows exactly how to improve if they didn't succeed on the first try.
For Narrators it provides clear dialogue and pronunciation guides, enabling you to specify exactly who is speaking, what they are saying and how your message should be put across for every video.
For Developers it removes any guesswork by providing exact technical requirements for every media type including:
image dimensions. Example: 764x764 for general images, 52x52 for section icons, and 400x400 for quiz questions
video standards. Example: all video files are standardised at 1920x1080 and placeholders are provided for Vimeo numbers and source asset locations
asset mapping - every item from a simple text section to a complex "Reveal" interaction is clearly labelled with its required introductory text, summary text, and associated media
quiz question detail: Each question is mapped with its specific image, video, options, and targeted feedback for correct or incorrect answers
You may find this script template useful when creating your learning: USP Script Template.docx