Capstone, The Complete 30-Second Commercial Package

Write, format, and deliver a complete 30-second commercial script package for a real product, SkyRyd or a Technicolor Games service: a hook-opened, one-message, four-beat AV script with a non-generic CTA in a chosen brand voice, plus its shot list, plus a recorded read-aloud to time.

Interactive demo · Script, Shot List, Timeline: Same Beat, Three Forms

Objective

BehaviorWrite, format, and deliver a complete 30-second commercial script package for a real product, SkyRyd or a Technicolor Games service: a hook-opened, one-message, four-beat AV script with a non-generic CTA in a chosen brand voice, plus its shot list, plus a recorded read-aloud to time.

ConditionSingle real product used throughout the whole package, delivered as three linked artifacts (AV script, shot list, timed audio recording), no outside help on the read, first clean take or best of 3.

CriterionThe recording reads 28 to 32 seconds, the hook lands under 3 seconds, the spot carries exactly one message, all four structural beats are present, the CTA contains no banned stock phrase, and the shot list accounts for every video beat with durations summing within 2 seconds of the recorded time.

Why This Matters

This is every earlier lesson running at once, on a real product, under the actual condition you’ll face on the job: one shot at getting a client-ready script, shot list, and timed read out the door together, with nobody available to walk you through it live. If a gap shows up here, that gap was always there in your earlier work, it just hadn’t been tested under full load yet. Better to find it now, on a practice product, than in a client review.

The Technique

There is no new technique in this lesson. It’s assembly and self-audit against every checklist that came before it, worked in this order:

- Lesson 1: does it read clean, no stumbles, on a cold read. - Lesson 2: does the hook land under 3 seconds with the product withheld. - Lesson 3: is there exactly one message, kill list applied and nothing resurrected. - Lesson 4: are all four beats present and timed correctly. - Lesson 5: is it in proper two-column AV format with no blank cells. - Lesson 6: does the CTA avoid stock phrasing and pass the blind listener test. - Lesson 7: is the brand voice identifiable by ear, not just on the page. - Lesson 8: if it’s running long, cut by percentage, don’t compensate by reading faster. - Lesson 9: does the shot list cover every beat with correctly typed shots.

Work in that exact order. Don’t build the shot list before the script itself is timed, cut, and locked, a shot list built against an unfinished script has to be rebuilt anyway.

Watch For This

Good

The package feels like something you could hand a producer and a director tomorrow with no explanation required.

Classic Failure

The script is polished but the shot list was rushed at the end and doesn’t hold up to a cross-check.
The timed read reveals the script actually runs 35 seconds because it was never re-read aloud after the final round of edits.
The CTA quietly reverts to a stock phrase under deadline pressure.

Your Drill

Choose SkyRyd or one specific Technicolor Games service. Build the full package: an AV script with a hook, one message, four labeled beats, a chosen brand voice, and a CTA; a numbered shot list; and a timed audio recording of the read, best of 3 takes. Submit all three as one linked package.

Done? Paste what you made into the AI coach below for notes against this lesson's pass checklist.

Pass Checklist

Lesson complete

Criterion met: The recording reads 28 to 32 seconds, the hook lands under 3 seconds, the spot carries exactly one message, all four structural beats are present, the CTA contains no banned stock phrase, and the shot list accounts for every video beat with durations summing within 2 seconds of the recorded time.

Back to Commercial Scriptwriting dashboard

How solid did that feel?

Noted.

0 / 7

Recording runs 28 to 32 seconds. Hook, the first 3 seconds of the read, creates curiosity before the product is named. Exactly one message carried from Problem through CTA. All four beats (Problem, Turn, Payoff, CTA) present in the AV script. CTA contains no banned stock phrase and passes the blind listener test. Brand voice is identifiable and consistent throughout. Shot list covers every video beat, with durations summing within 2 seconds of the recording.

Coach Note

You’ve now done, on paper and on tape, everything a $50,000 agency creative team does before a single camera rolls. The filmmaking tracks pick up exactly where this shot list ends. Don’t let this package sit unshot, it’s designed to hand off, not to file away.

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Resurfaces In

This capstone is terminal for the Commercial Scriptwriting track. It feeds directly into the Smartphone Filmmaker course, Lesson 12 (Building a Scene From Three Shots) and Lesson 14 (Capstone), when you actually shoot it.