Episode outlines

What an episode outline is

An episode outline is a single page the host holds while recording. It sets out the opening, the three or four segments the conversation moves through, the questions inside each one, the point each segment has to reach before it can end, and the exit: the last question and the closing line. It exists so that an hour of talking arrives somewhere.

It is not a script. Nobody reads an outline aloud, and a guest never sees the whole of it. It is also not a list of questions, which is a different and smaller thing; a list tells you what to ask, an outline tells you when to stop asking and move. A conversation with a list goes on until someone gets tired. A conversation with an outline ends when the last segment lands.

When you need one

You need outlines when your episodes are long and nobody can say afterwards what they were about. The usual symptom is an editor cutting twenty minutes from the middle of every recording, or a host who realises at minute fifty that the interesting subject was never raised. Both are structural problems, and neither is fixed by a better microphone.

They also earn their price when the guest is busy or senior. Someone who has given you forty minutes should be asked forty minutes of good questions, and the fastest way to waste that booking is to improvise the first fifteen. Recorded webinars and customer conversations benefit for the same reason.

You do not need this if the show does not yet exist. The question of whether to start one at all is podcast strategy, and the answer is more often no than people expect. And if what you want is purely the questions for a one-off video interview, buy the question set instead, which is cheaper and does that job on its own.

What goes in one

Every outline is written to the same shape and fits on one side of paper, because a host cannot read two pages while listening to someone.

• The opening. The first ninety seconds written almost word for word: what this episode is, who the guest is, and the one question it will answer. Scripted, because it is the part most often fumbled.
• Three or four segments. No more. Each one a subject, in an order that builds, with the turn into it written as a sentence the host can actually say.
• The questions. Four to six per segment, open, short, and phrased so they cannot be answered with a yes. The first is easy, the third is the one you are really asking.
• The point each segment must reach. One line saying what the listener should be holding before the conversation moves on. If the segment has not reached it, the host has a written follow-up to get there.
• The exit. The final question, the thing the guest should be invited to say, and a closing line that sends the listener somewhere specific. Written, because the end is where most episodes drift.

A good outline makes an interview shorter rather than longer. Segments that reach their point close early, the meandering third quarter never happens, and a recording that used to run seventy minutes tends to run fifty and lose nothing.

What you get

The host's outline. One page per episode, readable at a glance on a screen or on paper, with a timing beside each segment so the host knows whether they are running long.

The guest's brief. A short version sent ahead: the subjects, three of the questions, and what the guest should bring. Not the full question list, because a rehearsed guest is a dull one.

The recording notes. A few lines for the editor and host on what to watch for: the moments likely to be worth a clip, and anything to record twice.

A template. After the first batch, the blank structure with instructions, so the show can keep the shape if you take the work in-house.

A worked example

An illustration, not a client. A commercial cleaning company in Calgary runs a monthly show for facilities managers. The host records without preparation. Episodes run seventy to eighty minutes, the first twenty are pleasantries, and the editor cuts a third of every recording. Eleven episodes exist and no two have the same shape.

Outlines are written for the next six. Each has an opening that names the question in the first minute, three segments, five questions in each, and a stated point per segment. The episode on winter entrance matting has a segment that must end with a listener able to say what salt does to a floor; the host has two written follow-ups if the guest talks around it. Recordings now run fifty to fifty-five minutes, the editor cuts four minutes instead of twenty-five, the episode pages write themselves from the segment headings, and the host can say what an episode is about before recording it rather than after.

How it runs

1. A half-hour call. The show, the audience, who hosts, how long episodes run now and what tends to go wrong in them. No charge.
2. A fixed price in writing. Per episode, or per batch of episodes, agreed before anything starts.
3. What you send. Two recent recordings, the guests or subjects coming up, and anything the host must not be asked to say.
4. The work. Two working days per outline. A batch of six arrives inside two weeks, in two halves, so the first is tested on a real recording.
5. Delivery. The host's outline, the guest brief and the recording notes for each episode, with the template after the first batch.

What it costs

Episode outlines are quoted as a fixed price in CAD per episode after the half-hour call. The price depends on how much research each guest needs, whether the subjects are technical, and whether this is a one-off or a standing arrangement for every episode. A standing arrangement is priced per episode and stated in writing so the monthly figure is known in advance. The pricing page explains how fixed pricing works across every service.

What happens next

An outline is the front end of a chain. After recording, the episode needs an edited transcript and a page written from it. The title and the two lines beneath it are episode titles and descriptions, which decide whether anyone presses play at all. If a conversation turns out better than the show deserves, the recording can be rewritten as a readable article. The outlines are complete on their own, and nothing further is assumed.