Open loops: the Claude prompt that keeps people watching to the end (15 minutes, free)

An open loop is a question you raise early in a video and answer near the end. It is the simplest way to hold viewers on a short video: you tease the most surprising thing right after your hook, then you pay it off in the last few seconds. This guide walks you through it on your own script, with a Claude prompt that finds where you gave the good part away too early.

What you'll have when you're done

• One script of yours rewritten with an open loop: a tease in the first 5 seconds and the payoff near the end
• A leak report from Claude that points at the exact lines where your script spends the good part too early
• A second, smaller loop in the middle of the video, so the halfway point has a reason to keep going
• A last line that hands back to your opening, so a rewatch feels natural
• [SCREENSHOT: before and after script side by side, tease and payoff highlighted]

Before you start

• A Claude account. The free plan is enough for every step.
• One script for a short video, 30 to 60 seconds long. A video you already posted works too: type out what you said.
• A phone with a stopwatch.
• 15 minutes.

Step 1: Find the most surprising thing in your script

Every script has one line that earns the video. It is usually a number, a twist, or a result. That line is your payoff, and the whole loop is built around protecting it.

Read your script and underline the one line a friend would repeat after watching. If you can't pick, ask Claude:

Here is the script for my short video. Find the single most surprising
thing in it: a number, a twist, a result, or the step most people get
wrong. Give me your top 3 candidates, ranked. For each one, quote the
exact line from my script and tell me in one sentence why a viewer
would care.

If nothing in the script is surprising, say so plainly and suggest one
real detail I could add. Don't invent facts or numbers.

My script:
[paste your script here]

Step 2: Tease it right after your hook

Your hook gets the first second. The tease goes right after it, inside the first 5 seconds. It names what's coming without giving it away.

A good tease points at the payoff and stops. A few patterns that work:

• "And the last step is the one almost everybody gets wrong."
• "The third tool is the one I use every day."
• "The number at the end surprised me."

The first one is from my reel on this exact topic. The payoff ("don't tease something that isn't there") lands in the final few lines, not the first few.

Write your tease as one sentence and put it on line 2 or 3 of your script.

Step 3: Move the payoff to the end

The payoff belongs at 85 to 95 percent of your runtime. On a 40-second video, that is between second 34 and second 38. On a 60-second video, between second 51 and second 57.

Then open a smaller loop at about 40 percent, the 16-second mark on a 40-second video. One short line is enough: "but the next one is the one nobody talks about." It gives the middle of the video its own reason to keep watching.

Two more rules while you're moving lines:

• Connect beats with "but" and "so", not "and then". "And then" is a list. "But" and "so" are a story, and a story pulls the viewer to the next line.
• Your call to action comes after the payoff. A CTA before the payoff is an exit ramp. People take it and leave.

Now time it. Read the script out loud at your normal speed with the stopwatch running. Note the second where the payoff line starts.

Step 4: Ask Claude where you gave it away too early

This is the step that catches what you can't see in your own writing. Scripts leak the payoff in small ways: a number in the hook, a spoiler in the setup, a line that answers the tease 20 seconds early. Paste this into a new Claude chat:

You are checking my short-video script for leaks. A leak is any line
that gives away the payoff before the end, so the viewer has no reason
to keep watching.

The payoff of this video is: [paste your payoff line from step 1]
The tease is: [paste your tease line from step 2]

Go through my script line by line and report:

1. LEAKS: every line that reveals, hints too strongly at, or answers
   the payoff before the final 15% of the script. Quote the line, say
   what it gives away, and suggest a rewrite that keeps the info but
   hides the payoff.
2. TEASE CHECK: does the tease come in the first 3 lines? Does it point
   at the payoff without giving it away? Yes or no, plus one sentence.
3. PAYOFF POSITION: count the words in the script and tell me what
   percent of the way through the payoff line starts. Target is 85-95%.
4. MID LOOP: is there a line around 40% that opens a smaller question?
   If not, write me one that fits my script.
5. AND-THEN CHECK: list any beats joined by "and then". Rewrite each
   with "but" or "so".

Don't rewrite the whole script. Don't add facts, numbers or claims
that are not already in my script.

My script:
[paste your script here]

Fix every leak it finds. I think the leak is usually in the first 10 seconds, often in the hook itself, where a number or a result gets said out loud before the viewer has a reason to wait for it.

Step 5: Make sure the payoff is really there

This is the step most people get wrong. A tease that doesn't pay off works once. The next time you say "the last step is the big one", the viewer remembers you lied and swipes. An empty "wait for it" trains your audience to distrust every tease you post after it.

Run this check before you film:

Here is the tease from my short video and the payoff it leads to.

Tease: [paste your tease]
Payoff: [paste your payoff]

Answer three questions, one line each:
1. Would a viewer who waited for this payoff feel it was worth the
   wait? Yes or no, and why.
2. Does the payoff deliver exactly what the tease promised, or does
   the tease promise more? Name any gap.
3. If there is a gap, give me two options: a smaller tease that
   matches this payoff, or a stronger payoff using only facts already
   in my script.

If the payoff is weak, shrink the tease. Never inflate the payoff with a number you don't have.

Step 6: Close the loop at the end

Once the payoff lands, write your last line so it hands back to the subject you opened with. If the video starts with "here's how to make your videos hard to stop watching", end on a line about people staying to watch. When the video restarts on autoplay, the first line answers the last one, and a rewatch feels like part of the video instead of a glitch.

Keep it to one sentence, after the payoff, right before or after your CTA.