Start a YouTube Channel

Weekly Production Run Sheet

Companion to the lesson "Your Real Week: A System You Can Keep"

Week of: Video number: Cadence held? ☐

At beginner speed, one video through the pipeline takes four to eight hours: an hour on idea and packaging, an hour outlining, an hour filming (more with setup and retakes), two to four editing, and thirty minutes to publish and seed.

1. Planning Block (Sunday evening, an hour)

Question	Answer
Which video from the idea bank / ladder this week?
Title and thumbnail text written first?	☐
Outline done, deciding once, in advance?	☐

2. Filming Block Setup Ritual (morning of a weekend day or a free evening)

☐ Same corner, same light, same mic (camera-ready before the first take)
☐ Two or three videos filmed back to back (first take is always stiff; setup cost paid once)
☐ Ten-second test recorded and watched back with headphones before every session
☐ Frame at eye level, a little headroom, far enough from the wall

3. Edit Blocks (twenty to forty minutes daily on weekdays)

Cut	Done
Dead air trimmed; filler words cut by transcript (free editors auto-transcribe)	☐
Hook lands in the first thirty seconds	☐
Handoff to the ladder's next rung at the end	☐
Time spent this week:

4. Publish Ritual (same day, same time each week)

☐ Upload
☐ Description pasted, stating the topic plainly
☐ End screen set to the evergreen ladder's next rung
☐ Pinned comment with one useful link (affiliate where the video genuinely involves the product)
☐ Seeded honestly in two communities you already belong to
☐ Every comment answered in the first hours
☐ Laptop closed

5. The Three-Question Weekly Review (fifteen minutes, once a week)

Question	Answer
Which video's retention curve taught me something, and what?
Which package would I change if I could?
What does the idea bank need next: another rung on the ladder, or a sibling for a format that hit?

This review, not the daily analytics refresh, is where channel strategy actually happens. After your best-performing video, change nothing: same schedule, same format, one more video on the ladder.