Whistleblower — beat sheet + line rules
Runtime 60-180 s; Test 1 target 90-150 s (≈ 310-560 spoken words at 3.4-3.8 wps narration). Percentages are of runtime; beats are pack-line ranges, never mid-sentence. Line numbers below are for a ~120 s cut.
| # | Beat | % | Lines | Speakers | Job | Line rules |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Confession hook | 0-8 | 1-3 | INSIDER (or [Q] asks, INSIDER answers) | An against-interest admission that names the mom by a symptom | Line 1 ≤12 words, in action, no backstory. The admission is about her own system ("we write up the wrong parent"), never a sin or taboo. Role clear by line 2 (said or in title:). No product |
| 2 | What I see every morning | 8-28 | 4-12 | INSIDER | Prove the pattern from her side of the counter | Concrete counts/times are fine in video ("eight twenty", "third slip this month"), each traceable to VOC or the stake bank. The moms carry it: robes, car keys, apologising. Failed solutions are what the moms tell her, generic (louder alarms, phone across the room, lights on, taking the phone away), never brand names, never bed shakers |
| 3 | The wrongly-blamed parent | 28-50 | 13-24 | INSIDER (+MOM 1 line) | One mom; the blame lands on HER | One specific mom, described by what the insider saw, not a name. The cost is concrete: a letter in her name, a meeting, the CPS warning, her husband/ex using the tardies. Quote her verbatim VOC line once (in MOM's voice or quoted by the insider). Stake must be caused by the mornings |
| 4 | The real cause | 50-65 | 25-30 | INSIDER | Root cause; clear her | ≤4 lines. Fish's ruled root-cause line verbatim (sound doesn't reach a deep-sleeping brain). One line that clears her ("it was never her"). One line on how she knows (the nurse told her / she sees the same kids every year / her own son). No lecture, one picture |
| 5 | What works | 65-88 | 31-40 | INSIDER (+MOM or KID 1 line) | Mechanism + product + the payoff on her | Touch gets through; silent to everyone else; keeps going until he turns it off (Fish's ruled line; "gets stronger" is a product fact, add it as its own line if needed). Product named once here. Payoff = the insider sees that mom cleared: no slip, on time, the letter stopped; optionally the kid says he set it himself |
| 6 | Offer | 88-100 | 41-43 | INSIDER (or MOM) | CTA | Product name + 60-night wake-up guarantee, spoken; the insider's closing wish to have fewer letters to sign; end card (optional, --end-card; off by default per Fish 10-06). No price in VO |
Line rules (all beats)
- One sentence per pack line, 5-14 words; interviewer
[Q]lines ≤8 words, ≤2 in the whole ad. - Said-out-loud test on every line; pronoun-first; the insider talks like someone at a counter, not a press release ("I see it every day" not "Statistics indicate").
- Numbers spelled with spaces for EL ("eight twenty two", "forty a day").
- The insider is kind to the mom, honest about her own system, never cruel about the kid. The mom is never the butt of the joke.
- The insider never reviews the product ("I love this band"). She reports what she saw change.
- She is a role: no name, no real school/district/hospital, no "certified expert" credential beyond the role and years at the desk.
- Every INSIDER line's intent is obscured staging or a cutaway of what she describes.
Structure example (ILLUSTRATIVE — shows the shape only, not shipping copy; real lines come from VOC and Fish's approval)
- [INSIDER] "I sign the late letters at a middle school." (confession hook; silhouette at the office window)
- [INSIDER] "Most of them go to the mom who tried hardest." (hook; the mom in a robe at the counter, fully lit) …
- [INSIDER] "She comes in at eight twenty, still in her slippers." (what I see) …
- [INSIDER] "The third letter had her name on it. Not his." (wrongly-blamed parent)
- [MOM] "
" (staged on the insider's back, mom's face over her shoulder) … - [INSIDER] "The school nurse told me why. Sound doesn't reach a deep-sleeping brain." (real cause)
- [INSIDER] "It was never her." (clears her; hands stamping a slip, then setting the stamp down) …
- [INSIDER] "She told me about a band that buzzes on his wrist." (what works; the band on the sleeping kid's wrist, wrist resting, display dark) …
- [INSIDER] "Last month her name came off my list." (payoff) …
- [INSIDER] "It's called Dawn. Sixty nights, or your money back." (offer)