A 15-second sitcom with a fixed cast
A pigeon family sitcom reached 183K followers with a median of 417K views a video, posting 7 or 8 times a week. Each episode is one human family fight, played by animals, in about 15 seconds.
The shape of an episode
About 15 seconds, 4 to 6 short lines, and one physical payoff: a slap, a fall, a splash. Its best episode has 2.7M views and six lines. A rival flirts with the husband. The wife: “Who you calling honey?” The rival: “Mind your own business.” A pause. She slaps him, pulls her husband close and says: “He’s my business.”
Why short and standalone wins
In our sample of 58 series videos, clips of 15 seconds or less got 4.2× the account’s usual views. Episode labels went with fewer views, and so did cliffhangers. Each episode must work alone: someone who finds episode 30 first should still get the joke.
A cast you can read at a glance
Three or four characters, each with one thing you can see at thumbnail size. Our seagull family, The Codfathers, lives on the railing outside a chip shop. Gary, the dad, always has one chip in his beak. Tina, the mum, has sharp dark eye markings and solves problems with her wing. Chip, the baby, is grey and fluffy with huge eyes. Kevin, the rival, has slicked-back feathers and always says “Alright, Gaz.” A catchphrase gets quoted back in the comments.
Make it in ViewPress
Make a frame of the cast first, and save each animal as a character: “3D animated film style: a family of three seagulls on the railing outside a seaside chip shop called The Codfather at sunset. A chubby dad with one chip in his beak, a sleek mum with dark eye markings, a fluffy grey baby with huge eyes.” Then write the episode: “15 seconds, 3 scenes. Gary eats a chip. Kevin lands too close: ‘Alright, Gaz. Lovely chips.’ Tina turns: ‘Lovely chips?’ Kevin: ‘Mind your beak, love.’ Tina slaps Kevin off the railing, splash. She pulls Gary close: ‘They’re my chips.’” Ask for a slap sound on the payoff and captions for the lines. Give each character a voice once and keep it.
Write ten at a time
Keep the cast and the place and change the small fight. Bedtime: “Did you brush your teeth?” “Birds don’t have teeth.” “Brush your beak, then.” Date night with one soggy chip. The dog that barks at the family until the baby screams back. Read the comments for the next episode: viewers suggest guests and fights for free.
Pitfalls
Long lines with stiff lip-sync: keep each line to a few words and cut away. A sponsor message at the end of the joke. Jokes that need a fandom: a parody of real celebrities only works for their fans, and their faces are not yours to use. And the action must not be what the animal does anyway: a seagull stealing chips is nature, a seagull in couples therapy is a joke.
Frequently asked
Animals or people?
Animals make the family joke clear and need no real faces. A cast of grandmothers or office workers can work too, if each one has one clear item and the joke is not a stock one.
How often should I post?
The three biggest series accounts we measured post 7 to 8 times a week. Fifteen-second episodes with a fixed cast and one place make that possible.