A short-form video workflow from idea to posting

Pick the workflow that matches how you make videos

The steps are the same for everyone, but the tools and the time they take depend on your source material. Choose one of these to start.

• Phone: make YouTube Shorts with just your phone.
• Long videos: the long video to Shorts workflow.
• Faceless: start a faceless YouTube channel.
• Captions: the caption and retention stack.

Times and costs from our creator stacks, which list each tool and price.

Batch your ideas once a week

Coming up with an idea per video every day is what breaks most posting schedules. Collect ideas in one sitting and keep a list you can pull from.

• Write each idea as a one-line hook: what the viewer will get, not what the video is about.
• Keep a running list in your notes app and add to it whenever an idea comes up.
• Sort the week's ideas by what you need to make them, so you film or generate similar videos together.
• If you get stuck, see the AI hook generators we tested.

Script the hook and the beats

You do not need a full script for every Short, but you do need a first line and an order of points. That alone cuts most of the rambling that viewers skip.

• Write scripts for the whole batch in one sitting.
• For a faceless video, write the full narration. About 120 to 180 words fills 45 to 70 seconds.

Record or generate in one session

Setting up takes as long as recording, so do all of the week's videos while you are set up.

• Film vertically, facing the light, and record two or three takes of each hook.
• For clips from long videos, run the whole episode through an AI clipper and pick the moments that stand on their own. See free AI clipping tools, tested.
• For voiceovers, generate every script in the batch with the same voice.

Edit to a template, not a copy

A saved project with your fonts, caption style and export settings saves time on every video. Change the structure and pacing per video, so the channel does not look templated.

• Use a 9:16 canvas and export at 1080x1920.
• Cut every pause and any shot that runs longer than the line it shows.
• Put the strongest line in the first two seconds.
• YouTube counts square or vertical videos up to 3 minutes as Shorts.

Caption and add audio

Many people watch with the sound off, so captions carry the message. Music needs to come from a source you are allowed to use.

• Run auto captions, then fix names and numbers by hand.
• Keep captions out of the bottom and right edges, where the app buttons sit. Our caption checklist covers the details.
• For YouTube, use tracks from the YouTube Audio Library, which YouTube says are not claimed through Content ID.

Package and schedule

The title, cover and description decide whether people tap. Scheduling the whole batch at once is what keeps you posting on the days you do not create.

• Write a title that repeats the hook's promise, and a cover with 3 to 5 large words.
• Turn on the AI label for realistic AI scenes on YouTube and TikTok.
• Schedule the batch across YouTube, TikTok and Reels. Compare tools in the best TikTok scheduling tools.

Review the numbers before the next batch

The review is what makes each batch better than the last. Do it once a week, before you pick the next ideas.

• Wait 1 to 2 days after posting. YouTube says retention data takes that long to process.
• For each video, note the second where the biggest drop happens and the script line it matches.
• Make more of the hooks that held viewers past the first few seconds, and drop the ones that did not.
• On TikTok, review each video in TikTok Studio.