How to find a video worth remaking in your niche
A video worth remaking has a format you can name and film, not only a big number underneath it. Before you save one, check that you can explain why it works in terms of its hook, beats and turn, that the shape would survive a different subject, and that nothing outside the format was carrying it.
What makes a video worth remaking?
A video is worth remaking when the reason it works is structural and you can write that reason down. “It's funny” is not a reason you can reuse. “It opens on a complaint, shows two failed fixes fast, and turns on the third” is. The first sentence describes how you felt. The second describes a format, and the format is the only part of someone else's video you can take with you, as remaking a viral video without copying it sets out.
A high view count tells you a video reached people. It doesn't tell you why, and it can't tell you whether the why is something you can film. Treat the number as a reason to look closer, never as a reason to remake.
Which signals can you trust?
Trust signals that point at the structure of the video, and treat signals that only point at its success as incomplete.
| Signal | Keep or skip | Why |
|---|---|---|
| You can say what the hook promises in one sentence. | Keep | The promise is what carries over to a new subject. |
| You can describe every beat without quoting the original's words. | Keep | The shape lives in what happens, not in one clever line. |
| You have seen the same shape used for an unrelated subject. | Keep | It has already moved between niches at least once. |
| You saved it, and you can say which second made you save it. | Keep | That second is usually the hook or the turn, which are the parts you need. |
| It has a very large number under it. | Skip, on its own | Reach shows that it worked, not how it worked. |
| You enjoyed watching it. | Skip, on its own | Enjoying a video and being able to film its shape are different things. |
The two skip rows aren't reasons to throw a video away. They are reasons it caught your eye. Run it against the keep rows before it goes on your list.
Where should you look?
Start with videos that already stopped you. Your own saved videos on TikTok and Instagram are a list of formats that held your attention, collected before you were looking for them. Go through them and ignore the subject entirely. Sort them by what they do in the first second.
Next, search your niche the way a viewer with the problem would, using the problem your brand solves rather than the product's name. If you make content for a meal-kit service, search for weeknight dinner problems, not for meal kits. The videos that come up are the ones your viewers are already watching.
Then look one niche over. A format that is working in a neighbouring niche is often the most useful find, because the people you're making content for may not have seen it in their own feed. A homework-routine format can carry a desk lamp. A morning-skincare format can carry a shaving kit.
What is the five-line test?
Before you keep a video, write its beat map in five lines or fewer: the hook, each beat, the turn, the close. If you can, the format is clear enough to reuse. If you can't, either the video has no clear structure or you haven't found it yet, and in both cases it isn't ready to remake.
Here is a passing test for a described video, a creator complaining about their packed lunches:
- Hook: a complaint said straight to camera, with the evidence in hand.
- Beat: the first fix they tried, and why it failed.
- Beat: the second fix, and why it failed faster.
- Turn: the change that worked, shown rather than explained.
- Close: what the week looks like now, in one shot.
Nothing in those five lines is about lunch. That is how you know the shape will survive a different subject. Writing each of those beats out in full is the second step of how to turn a video into a script for a brand.
What are the red flags?
Skip a video, however well it did, when something outside the format was carrying it. There are three common versions.
- A sound. If the video only works with its audio, the audio is the video. Imagine it muted and describe what is left. If the answer is someone pointing at text while a song plays, there is no format to take.
- A person. If it works because of who is in it, such as a well-known face or a creator with a long-running bit their followers recognise, the video is borrowing that familiarity. Your version won't have it.
- A moment. If it caught something that happened once, like a pet doing something unrepeatable or a stranger walking into frame, you can't script it. You can only wait for your own.
A video can have a red flag and a usable format underneath it. When it does, keep the format and leave the flag behind. The test is the same as before: if the five lines still make sense without the sound, the person or the moment, the video is worth remaking.
Do it with lynxr
Once a video passes the five-line test, lynxr can write out its format and turn it into a script for your brand. Paste a public TikTok or Instagram link on the homepage and lynxr works out the format — hook, beats, turn, close — and writes it as a script for the company you make content for. Free to start: 25 scripts, no card.
Keep reading
- How to remake a viral video for your brand — without copying it — what to keep, replace and drop once you have picked a video.
- How to script a storytime video for a brand — one format you are likely to find, mapped beat by beat.
- All posts on the lynxr blog — every guide, grouped by topic.