# Narration-Led Documentary Script Outline

> An audio-first script outline that gives every chapter a claim, emotional movement, evidence job, and visual function.

Canonical: https://onira.studio/templates/documentary-script-outline
Audience: YouTube documentary writers and producer-editors
Production job: Documentary screenplay
Runtime: 1-3 minutes for a pilot; longer targets up to the workspace plan limit
Format: Narration-first outline

## Use this brief

Write a narration-led documentary outline about [subject] that answers [central question]. For every beat, include the claim, evidence, audience question, emotional movement, visual purpose, and transition. Target [words per minute] and [runtime], and label uncertainty explicitly.

## Required inputs

- Approved research brief and claim ledger
- Central question, thesis, audience knowledge, and target runtime
- Narrator voice, pacing target, pronunciation guide, and tone exclusions
- Must-include evidence, must-avoid claims, and intended final takeaway

## Editorial structure

1. Cold open: consequence, contradiction, or unresolved question supported by the evidence.
2. Orientation: the minimum context required for the viewer to understand the stakes.
3. Development: three to five beats where each claim changes the viewer's model of the subject.
4. Turning point: the decision or evidence that resolves the central question.
5. Conclusion: consequence, uncertainty, present relevance, and no unsupported moral certainty.

## Acceptance checks

- Read the narration aloud and measure it before committing the visual architecture.
- Remove claims that lack a source or exceed the evidence's certainty.
- Confirm each beat has a distinct editorial and visual purpose.
- Check that transitions advance the argument rather than restating the previous paragraph.

## Visual direction

Visual beats should reveal place, process, scale, causality, or emotion. Avoid literal illustration of every spoken noun.

## Narration direction

Natural spoken syntax, controlled sentence length, deliberate pauses, and no trailer-voice imitation unless the format truly calls for it.

## Product boundary

- Onira delivers a final MP4; it does not upload or schedule posts on YouTube or social platforms.
- Onira provides a reviewable production workflow; creators remain responsible for approving the story, facts, rights, disclosure, and final publication.
- Director chat is limited to regenerating one selected PREVIEW timeline video clip; other available Studio controls are separate direct actions.
- Creators must review facts, sources, rights, realistic-synthetic-media disclosure, and platform policy before publishing.
- Onira does not guarantee YouTube monetization, reach, factual accuracy, or legal clearance.