TikTok is the one format where the copy is a script and the script is a shot list. Aiter splits it accordingly: concepts first, then the full version of the one you keep.
Step one: concepts with hooks
Concepts come with archetype-based hooks, which is the part that matters. On TikTok the first two seconds decide whether anything else you wrote gets seen, and a hook is a structural choice rather than a clever line.
Read the concepts and pick on the hook alone. Ignore whether the body sounds good. If the hook does not make you want the next two seconds, nothing downstream saves it.
Step two: the full script
Turn the chosen concept into a script and you get scene-by-scene visuals plus audio direction. This is a production document, not just words: it tells whoever is filming what should be on screen and what should be heard.
Two lengths, and they are different formats rather than different edits:
15 to 30 seconds for an ad. One idea, one hook, one call to action.
45 to 60 seconds for a storytime. A narrative arc, which needs a reason to keep watching at the twenty-second mark, and which fails badly if it is just an ad stretched out.
Pick the format by the argument you have. A single sharp claim wants 15 seconds. A situation with a turn in it wants a storytime.
Making it filmable
A generated script is only as useful as your ability to shoot it. Two habits help.
Read the visual direction and delete anything you cannot film this week. A script requiring a drone and four actors becomes a script you never make.
Keep the hook and rewrite the rest to fit what you can actually produce. The hook carries the performance; the middle is more forgiving than people think.
If you would rather not film at all, the Video Studio produces a finished video ad from the same campaign brief: scripted, voiced, scored and cut, with your logo on the end card.
What TikTok punishes
Copy that sounds like an ad in the first second. Slow openings. On-screen text that repeats the voiceover word for word. A call to action that arrives before anyone has a reason to care.
Generated scripts avoid most of this by default. Check them against the list anyway before you spend a morning filming.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to film these myself?
For TikTok ads and posts, yes, these are scripts. If you want a finished MP4 without a camera, use the Video Studio, which renders one from the brief.
Are TikTok posts and TikTok ads different?
Yes. Ads are paid placements with a conversion job. Posts are organic content with archetype hooks and their own concepts, and both are generated separately.
How long should the hook be?
Two seconds is the working assumption. Whatever your hook is, it needs to be complete before someone's thumb makes a decision.