Everything That’s Broken About Video Content Planning

We’re currently building the prototype for a video planning web app. Central to this work has been talking to video creators and using their feedback to guide functionality.

We started gathering feedback about creator workflows last year—specifically, about planning and pre-production. We had already learned from our own experience that while there’s no shortage of apps for video post-production, it’s a ghost town for pre-production tools.

Video Planning Tool? No Such Thing

Earlier this month we posted about it on Reddit: “We asked YouTubers how they plan their content. Here’s where the answers led us”

The response to the post was eye-opening: video content producers have been pushed into using broken, disorganized workflows cobbled together from business apps and “productivity” tools—because no dedicated tool exists for the creative workflow.

It’s a 65-million-strong workforce that has normalized using tools that were never designed for planning entertainment content.

There’s real frustration.

We studied the feedback closely and engaged with creators to really understand their pain points (and their wishlists). From this, we focused on a plan for the app’s functionality and features.

Creators’ Biggest Frustrations

• “too many tools”, no universal app/platform, “not all-in-one”
• Disorganization. ie. managing content/media files across multiple apps
• “Content overload” and burnout, repetitive tasks
• No accessible/central workspace, for “phone / tablet / laptop”
• Tracking/categorizing ideas and media is tedious, there’s no tagging system
• Planning, creating scripts/outlines, creating metadata, marketing/promo content
• Finding ideas/topics
• Some tools/services are expensive

Workflow Bottlenecks—and What’s Missing from Current Tools

• No “simple workflow”, no planning workspace “to see the bigger picture easily and breaking it down into steps”
• No ideas manager/content organizer
• Not enough user-friendly templates
• No AI tools specific to creating videos
• Limited/clunky collaboration features. Ie. sharing ideas/scripts/media files that are up-to-date. No integrated feedback for teams

Presenting/Shooting

• “Sticking to a script”/“lack of script”, rambling/going off-topic, missing talking points
• Having easy talking points visible when filming hands-on content
• Nerves/awkward/no confidence
• Switchable teleprompter, voice-activated scrolling

There’s more feedback coming in every day (take the survey—4 quick questions) but this is already a solid picture of what creators want.

The Essentials, The Upgrades, The Vision

So. How to reduce editing time for YouTube videos?

We’ve split features and functionality into three phases: “launch version”, “in the pipeline”, and “future/wishlist features”:

1. Launch Version (Essential Video Planning Tools)

• Ideas organizer: save/tag ideas and media, take notes (mobile)
• Media manager: integrated cloud storage drive for media files and content (text, links, audio/video files, images)
• Tagging: for searching/tracking usage of ideas, media files, templates, scripts
• Drag-and-drop scripter: pull in ideas and media, custom/pre-built templates for creating outlines, add talking points, hooks, intros/outros, sponsor plugs...
• Live script viewer: interactive reference app for following the script on camera, teleprompter mode, formats for phone/tablet/monitor

2. In the Pipeline (Collaboration/Helper Tools)

• Collab tools: sharing ideas/scripts/media, editing/commenting, setting content priority
• Content repurposing: using tracking for reusing or creating new formats of ideas/scripts/media
• Version control: track changes, create new branches for alternate versions
• AI metadata helper: for titles, descriptions, tagging, blog/marketing/socials copy

3. Future/Wishlist Features (for Producing at Scale)

• Production planning: scheduling, timeline management, task/progress tracking
• Quality control tools: monitoring video stats, optimizing content production
• Voice-to-text notes: for capturing ideas on mobile, synced to the cloud
• Multimedia integration: audio/visual script markers for referencing in post, visual storyboarding for narrative/animation formats
• AI creation tools: for ideas, outlines, talking points, templates, and full scripts
• Language tools: scripting/voiceover helpers for non-native speakers

The vision is a single creative workspace to save ideas, manage media, script videos, and present on camera.

We’re still gathering feedback and ideas from creators. Got anything to add?

We’re aiming to have a working prototype ready to go in the coming months. If you’d like a peek at an early version, join the waitlist. We’ll also need beta testers—interested?