You could try this right now.
Open your feed for a minute. You’ll see something with 500K views… maybe 1M. Then come back to this email.
It looks simple and feels obvious (easy to scroll past).
So why did it work?
What made 1M people stop?
What kept them watching?
What made it spread?
If you can’t answer that…you won’t be able to recreate the success.
I wish I knew this when I started
When I was new, I thought I had to come up with something new and original.
Something nobody’s seen before.
But I’ve since found it’s more useful to build an understanding of what already works and why, instead of just coming up with new ideas all the time.
Even the biggest creators don’t start from zero. They study and observe. Then build on what’s already proven.
This is how I stopped guessing, and grew my account to almost 400k followers in 2 years.
Because I realised the quality of my content (output) is directly determined by the quality of the content I’m inspired by (input).
So you just need better inputs
And that comes from studying the outliers.
That means no scrolling randomly. Instead, study content intentionally.
Here’s my system:
Find outliers
Look for posts that perform way above average in your niche. Not just “that did well” but in a different league.
Example: A creator averaging 10K views suddenly hits 500K+
Each week in the Sunday Edition of this newsletter, Film and Flow Premium members get exclusive access to a breakdown of three currently trending Short-Form Outliers.
In this report, we always include the ‘Outlier Score’, which is the number of times more views a video got compared to the creator’s typical view count.
It’s a nice way for readers to quickly understand just exactly how far above average a video performed, but you don’t need to calculate this. You can figure out very quickly if a video is an outlier just by scrolling through the creator’s feed.
Study the first 3 seconds
Don’t watch the whole video at first.
Focus on:
The hook
The opening visual including any on-screen text
The first line
Ask yourself: Why did this make me stop?
Break down the structure
Instead of copying the idea, break it down:
Hook style
Format (story, list, reaction, etc.)
Pacing
Copy how it works.
Add your own angle
Keep the structure same, add your message and story. Add your unique perspective to it.
This is how to stay original without starting from scratch every time.
A checklist for you to implement this today:
✅ Find 3 videos in your niche with unusually high views
✅ Study the first 3 seconds of each
✅ Write down what made you stop
✅ Create 1 post using a similar structure
If you want every extra advantage in your corner and you want me to send three currently trending winning videos to your inbox every Sunday, my team and I personally dive down the short form rabbit hole to find outliers you can use for inspiration.
Sign up now for less than 50 cents a day (price goes up soon):
I’ve been mentioning Film and Flow Premium a lot because it’s a new format my team and I are developing and prices will go up soon. So I don’t want anybody to miss out on the current price because they didn’t see.
Don’t mistake my excitement though, this isn’t some magic bullet. You still have to film and upload videos.
Two possible benefits to consider if you’re on the fence:
a) You could potentially find the idea that changes things for you. For example, I shared the other week how I almost didn’t post one of my most viewed reels (at 83.7M views), because I thought it was dumb. All it takes is one like that to start getting momentum.
b) By reading my reactions and breakdowns on currently trending content, you might develop a similar perspective to me on why viral videos tend to do well. Not that I’m assuming you want to emulate my taste, but I am currently growing my own account (394k followers in 2 years) as well as doing the same for clients, so you might find that valuable, or you might not.
What do premium readers get?
Weekly breakdown of three currently trending viral Short-Form Outliers
Suggestions and prompts to make the core ‘ingredients’ of each Outlier your own (especially useful when the videos are in a completely different niche to you).
Access to custom feedback.
Access to my full resource vault which includes LUTs and overlays
My Cinematic Transitions Mini-Course
Eligibility to compete in exclusive challenges to win premium gear and software.
Btw, I (or my team) personally read and respond to all emails, so if you have any questions or topics you want me to cover in a future edition of the newsletter, don’t be a stranger.
– Kien
