Remix Recipe №89
The Told-To-You Trick
Pass along a one-sentence trick you learned from someone else, so viewers trust it like insider advice.
The hook template
My who taught you has a trick to get who it works on to what it gets them to do.
The hook in the wild
“My old mentor has a trick to get toddlers to stay in bed.”
“My mom's hospice nurse has a trick to get stubborn parents to accept help.”
The recipe
- Topic
- A stubborn people problem your audience keeps running into
- Take
- A one-sentence rule you learned from someone who has lived it
- Format
- A warm, seated talking head storytime with bold captions
The structure
- The tip-off
Open by crediting the trick to someone you know, not yourself. Sound like a friend letting the viewer in on a secret, not an expert selling an idea.
- The proof
In one or two lines, say why this person knows what they're talking about, like years of real experience. Keep it casual and specific.
- The one-sentence rule
Deliver the whole trick in one short, memorable sentence, then pause on it. It should be easy enough to repeat to a partner that night.
- Why it's hard
Briefly explain why the problem happens in the first place, from the other person's point of view. This makes the rule feel obvious once they hear it.
- The memory test
Ask the viewer to picture their own real moments where the rule was true, with two or three quick scenes. Let them prove it to themselves rather than taking your word for it.
Your Studio follows these beats when it writes your script.
Why it worked
The biggest reason it works is that he's passing along his wife Sharny's trick, not his own. Framing it as something shared with you makes it feel like an insider tip, and people connect more easily with a messenger letting them in on a secret than with an expert pitching their own idea.
Five sons and all their friends back it up. The trick fits in one line ("boys' mouths work when their hands are busy"), and he paints scenes every parent recognizes (the car, the dishes), so viewers prove it from their own lives.