---
title: "Making a viral YouTube video"
description: "Idea to shoot to edit to publish, the way the biggest videos in the catalogue were made."
canonical: https://tomsharman.com/playbooks/how-i-work/making-a-viral-youtube-video/
updated: 2026-10-25
---

# Making a viral YouTube video

> Idea to shoot to edit to publish, the way the biggest videos in the catalogue were made.

Playbook 5, How I work. Animation: /playbooks/how-i-work/making-a-viral-youtube-video.mp4

Our biggest video, the KKK one, took 90 minutes of planning because Niko rang me mid trip and said he had convinced the leader of the KKK he was from the BBC. Most of the others took weeks. What they had in common was story. We spent 30 to 50 grand on an idea and asked if it could do 10 million. And the ideas never came in the planning session itself. They came two or three days later. Then the first hour decides everything.

## How do I use it?

1. Book a regular planning session with the creator and arrive having watched what is performing in the niche and the genres next to it.
2. Give each topic a fixed slot in the session and expect the answers to arrive in the days after it.
3. Pick the idea that has a single moment the whole video hangs on, and write down what you will do if that moment never comes.
4. Price it honestly against the outcome: ask whether this idea can do 10 million before you spend on it.
5. Do the casting, the build and the logistics yourself, and give the creator the final say on anything creative.
6. Keep secret shoots small, because the creator space is small and everyone talks.
7. Edit for the story first, with a turn partway through that gives the audience a reason to care.
8. Treat the first hour after upload as the test, and if it dies, take it down and re-upload with a different angle.

## Questions

### What does "Making a viral YouTube video" mean?

The biggest videos Tom produced won on story and on planning that survived chaos. Ideas come out of a planning session days later, the shoot is built around one moment, and the first hour after upload decides the rest.

### How do I put "Making a viral YouTube video" into practice?

Book a regular planning session with the creator and arrive having watched what is performing in the niche and the genres next to it. Give each topic a fixed slot in the session and expect the answers to arrive in the days after it. Pick the idea that has a single moment the whole video hangs on, and write down what you will do if that moment never comes.

### Why does "Making a viral YouTube video" matter?

Our biggest video, the KKK one, took 90 minutes of planning because Niko rang me mid trip and said he had convinced the leader of the KKK he was from the BBC. Most of the others took weeks.