cold_open_craft v1.0.0

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name: cold_open_craft description: Write and cut cold opens for podcast and video episodes: the 25 to 50 second hook that runs before the intro or title. Covers picking the strongest moment or claim, six structures by episode type, a timing system with word budgets, cut points, and a cold listener test. Use when an episode opens slow, when a transcript needs its best moment moved up front, when writing a teaser, pre-title sequence, or podcast intro hook, or when retention drops in the first 30 seconds.

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Cold Open Craft

Purpose

A cold open is the scene, claim, or exchange that runs before the title sequence or host intro. It jumps straight into the story with no greeting, no logo sting, and no setup. Its job is narrow: give a new listener one specific reason to stay, and leave one question open that only the episode can answer.

This skill is a timing and selection system, not a prompt for a catchy first line. A good first line inside a 90 second ramble is still a failed cold open.

Workflow

1. Set the timing budget first

Default target: 25 to 50 seconds.

Word budget comes from speaking rate. The National Center for Voice and Speech puts average conversation at about 150 words per minute, with radio hosts and podcasters at 150 to 160 and presentations at 100 to 150. At 150 words per minute:

• 25 seconds is about 62 words
• 40 seconds is about 100 words
• 50 seconds is about 125 words

At a slower 130 words per minute, 25 to 50 seconds is about 54 to 108 words. Measure the actual speaker when you can: time a one minute sample from the recording and count its words, then use that rate. Run drafts through the checker:

python3 ~/workspace/skills/cold-open-craft/bin/cold-open-check.py --file draft.txt --wpm 150

Exceptions, stated plainly: a video Short or a cold open under 25 seconds can work, and television teasers often run longer. The 25 to 50 second window is this skill's working target for podcast and online video episodes, because YouTube measures its Intro metric at the first 30 seconds and a cold open that is still running at 90 seconds has become the episode, not the open.

2. Inventory candidate moments

Work from the transcript or recording, not from memory of the episode. Pull every candidate that has at least one of these:

• A specific claim someone would repeat to a friend
• A number, name, place, or cost stated out loud
• A decision, a failure, a reversal, or a disagreement
• A laugh, a pause, or a sharp reaction
• The end result of a process, shown or described

Write each candidate down with its timestamp and its exact words. If you cannot quote it, you do not have it yet.

3. Score the candidates

Score each candidate 0, 1, or 2 on five tests. Keep only candidates at 8 or above. Drop any candidate that scores 0 on test 1 or test 2, whatever its total.

1. Standalone: a cold listener understands it with no earlier context.
2. Promise match: it matches what the title and packaging promised. YouTube Help ties a high Intro percentage to the first 30 seconds matching the viewer's expectation from the title and thumbnail.
3. Open loop: it ends with something unresolved.
4. Specificity: it contains a concrete detail, not a general promise.
5. Honest payoff: the episode actually delivers what the moment implies, early enough that a listener does not feel tricked.

4. Pick the structure by episode type

Full shapes and worked examples are in references/structures-and-examples.md. Short version:

• Interview podcast: flash forward. Lift the strongest guest exchange, cut before the reason or outcome lands. 25 to 40 seconds.
• Narrative podcast: in the middle of a scene. Start on action or field sound, name the problem inside the scene, cut before the outcome. 35 to 50 seconds.
• Solo explainer video: cold claim. State the strongest defensible claim first, say why it matters, say what the episode will test or show. 25 to 35 seconds.
• Tutorial: show the end state first, then name the one non obvious step that produced it. 25 to 35 seconds.
• News or daily show: question stack. Central question, sharper second question, one line of stakes. 25 to 35 seconds.
• Business or learning show: failure or confession, in the speaker's own words, with the cost stated. 30 to 45 seconds.
• Comedy or recurring character show: standalone emblem scene that sells tone. Use sparingly outside scripted work.

Television craft names three basic kinds, standalone, episode setup, and teaser that moves a later event up front. The six shapes above are those three kinds fitted to podcast and video episodes.

5. Build the beat map

Lay the chosen cold open out in beats before writing or cutting a word:

• 0 to 5 seconds: the strongest line, image, or sound. No greeting before it.
• 5 to 20 seconds: just enough context to make the first beat land harder. One or two facts, no biography.
• 20 to 40 seconds: raise the cost or sharpen the question.
• Final beat: cut on the unresolved part. A question, a decision before it is named, a reaction, or item one of a list.
• Then title, sting, or host intro, in that order.

If beat two needs more than two facts to make sense, the candidate failed the standalone test. Pick a different candidate instead of adding explanation.

6. Write or cut it, then time it for real

For a recorded moment: cut tight. Remove greetings, false starts, and any sentence that repeats what the previous sentence said. Keep one natural pause before the final beat if the speaker took one. Do not cut so tight that the speaker sounds rushed.

For a written open: draft to the word budget, read it aloud with a timer, and cut to the spoken time, not the page count. Reading speed on paper lies.

Run the checker on the final text. Fix every failure it reports, then do the human test in step 7. The checker catches length and throat clearing. It cannot judge whether the moment is interesting.

7. Run the cold listener test

Play or read the cold open, and nothing else, to someone who knows nothing about the episode. Ask four questions:

1. What is this episode about?
2. What do you want to know next?
3. Who is speaking, and do you need to know more about them yet?
4. At what moment, if any, did your attention drift?

Pass marks: they name the topic in one line, they name a specific thing they want answered, and they report no drift. If question 2 gets a shrug, the open has no loop. If question 1 gets the wrong topic, the open fails promise match, even if it is exciting.

No spare listener available: read it aloud yourself after a break, and answer the four questions in writing from the text alone. Weaker than a real listener, better than skipping the test.

8. Protect the payoff

A cold open teases. It does not deliver.

• Never include the answer, the outcome, or the punchline in the open.
• Never use a moment the episode only reaches in its last quarter, unless the episode signposts it early. Listeners who feel the promised moment was withheld too long leave and say so.
• Never lift a quote out of context so it sounds stronger than the speaker meant. If the full exchange softens the line, use the softer true version or pick another moment.
• If the episode is re edited later, recheck the cold open against the new cut. A moved or deleted payoff turns an honest open into a misleading one.

9. Check it after publishing

For YouTube: open the audience retention report in YouTube Studio. YouTube defines Intro as the percentage still watching after the first 30 seconds, and flags spikes for rewatched or shared moments and dips for skipped or abandoned moments. Compare this episode's Intro percentage with your own recent episodes of similar length, not with a number from someone else's channel. A dip inside the cold open itself points at the exact beat to cut or move next time.

For audio podcasts: use the consumption or completion data your host provides, compare the episode against your own recent episodes, and note where you changed the open. Keep a one line log per episode: structure used, length in seconds, and the result. Ten episodes of that log teaches more than any general rule.

Output Contract

When asked to write or fix a cold open, return:

1. The cold open script or edit decision, word for word, with its beat map and timestamps.
2. Its measured or estimated duration, the speaking rate used, and the word count.
3. The structure name and why it fits this episode type.
4. The candidate list you rejected, with the score test each one failed.
5. The exact cut point into the title or host intro, and the one line bridge if a time jump needs one.
6. The checker output for the final text.

Operating Rules

1. No greeting, logo sting, sponsor line, or housekeeping inside the cold open. All of it goes after the title or intro.
2. Every factual claim in the open must be true in the full episode, in context. Verify quotes against the transcript before using them.
3. Timing numbers in this skill come from speaking rate arithmetic and from YouTube Help for the 30 second Intro metric. Do not state retention percentages, drop off rates, or lift figures as facts unless a primary source for that exact figure is in hand.
4. One cold open, one open loop. Two competing hooks split attention and both lose.
5. Quality over a clever line: a plain true moment that scores 8 or above beats a sharp line that fails promise match or honest payoff.
6. Write all output in plain, direct language. No em dashes. No filler phrasing.