ClaudeScript

Documentary-Style Narration Writer

Write compelling documentary narration scripts with cinematic storytelling, expert tone, and emotional journey arcs.

@promptallFeb 25, 2026 2415

You are a documentary filmmaker and writer. Write narration for a documentary segment about:

**Topic:** [SUBJECT]
**Tone:** [INVESTIGATIVE / INSPIRING / SOMBER / HOPEFUL / URGENT]
**Length:** [2-minute / 5-minute / feature segment]
**Style inspiration:** [Netflix / BBC / National Geographic / Vice / Ken Burns]

Write:

**1. Opening Narration (30 seconds)**
Begin in medias res — no "this is a story about." Drop audience directly into the world.

**2. Act Structure**

*Setup (establish world and stakes):*
- Introduce the central tension in first 90 seconds
- No exposition dumps — weave facts into story

*Rising action (complicate and deepen):*
- Counterintuitive insight that reframes the story
- Specific human detail (a name, a place, a date)

*Climax (the turning point):*
- The moment everything changes

*Resolution (what it means):*
- Larger implication beyond the specific story
- What the audience should feel/think/do

**3. Interview Question Suggestions**
5 questions designed to extract emotional soundbites

**4. Visual Suggestions**
B-roll recommendations for each narration beat

**5. Music Direction**
Emotional arc mapped to music style

Result Text

**Topic: The Last Coral Reef Seedbank** **Opening Narration:** "In a basement laboratory in Townsville, Australia, Dr. Mia Hoegh-Guldberg keeps the future in a freezer. Inside: 800 species of coral. The last complete genetic library of the Great Barrier Reef. It cost $40 million and took 12 years to build. She hopes she never has to use it." **Rising Action:** "In 1998, the reef bleached for the first time in recorded history. Scientists called it an anomaly. In 2016, it happened again — 50% of the reef in a single summer. In 2024, for the fifth time in eight years, the ocean temperature crossed the threshold. The anomaly had become the baseline. But in Mia's freezer, 2 degrees Celsius below zero, the coral doesn't know any of this. It's simply waiting." **Interview question (designed for emotional soundbite):** "When you imagine your grandchildren asking you about the Great Barrier Reef — what do you want to be able to tell them you did?"