Most advisory firms already make the content clients need. The quarterly market commentary. The outlook deck from the investment team. The research PDF with charts someone spent a week getting right. Then it goes out as an attachment, and the chart that took the most work sits on page six.

A short video can carry that same work to the people who will never open the PDF. But turning a 13-page report into two minutes on camera is a different job from summarizing it. You are cutting, not condensing. This guide walks through how to do it, whatever tool you record with.

Why a report doesn't work as a script

Reports are written to be scanned. Readers skip to the section they care about, study a table, come back to a footnote. A video runs in one direction at one speed, and the viewer can't flip back to page four. Three things follow from that:

  • One question, not ten. A report covers everything that happened. A video answers one thing a client wants to know.
  • Fewer visuals, each with one job. A slide that works on paper can be unreadable on a phone screen for three seconds.
  • Spoken sentences. Written sentences hold a clause, a number and a caveat at once. Said out loud, that sentence loses the listener.

Six steps from report to video

1. Pick the one question the video answers

Before you open the report, finish this sentence: "After watching, a client will know..." For a quarterly recap, good answers are narrow. What changed most last quarter. Why bonds had a hard stretch. What the team is watching next. If you have two answers, you have two videos.

2. Choose two to four visuals

Go through the report and mark only the charts and slides that answer your question. For a two-minute video, two to four is plenty. Then check each one the way a viewer will see it:

  • Readable small. Picture it on a phone. If the labels disappear, choose a simpler chart or a single figure instead.
  • One idea each. A chart that makes three points needs three sentences of explanation. Pick the point you will actually talk about.
  • Source and date showing. Keep the source line and the period the chart covers visible, the way the report shows them.
  • Cleared for use. Index and market data often come from providers whose terms say how the data may be shown. Ask whether your firm's rights cover video as well as the PDF.

3. Write for the ear

Write the script from the report, not from scratch, but rewrite every sentence to be spoken. Keep sentences short. Put one figure in a sentence, and say the period it covers. Use each number exactly as the report states it, so the video and the report never disagree. Read it out loud and time it. If it runs long, cut from the middle. The opening and the close do the most work.

4. Tie each visual to the sentence that explains it

A chart should appear when you start talking about it and stay on screen while you do. Mark the line in the script where each visual comes in. If no sentence explains a visual, take it out. If a sentence needs a visual to make sense, add the visual or rewrite the sentence.

5. Keep the disclosures the report carried

A video built from a report is still a communication, and your firm's compliance team reviews it like any other. If the report shows performance figures, expect the video to need the same disclosures the report carried, along with your firm's standard disclosure at the end. Ask your compliance team early what they will want to see, including whether they want the script before you record.

6. Check the recording against the approved script

Even with a teleprompter, people drift. You say "challenges" when the script says "changes," or a figure comes out slightly different. Before anything goes out, compare what was said with what was approved, line by line, and fix or flag every difference. It takes a few minutes and saves a second round of review.

Have a report or deck you'd like to try this with? Book a demo and bring it. We'll show you how Cue takes an advisor from script to finished video.

How long should it be?

We recommend about two minutes for a quarterly recap. That is long enough for a short opening, two or three points with their visuals, and a close, and short enough to keep it focused. This is our recommendation from making these videos, not a figure from a study. If you need more than two minutes, it is usually a sign the video is answering more than one question.

Coming soon to Cue Studio: draft from slides or a report

We're building these steps into Cue. In a new start option, Draft from slides or a report, you upload a PDF or PowerPoint of up to 100 pages and tell Cue what the video should cover, who it's for and how long it should run. Cue drafts the script and selects the visuals from your own material. You review both before adding your video, and you can swap any visual for a different slide or figure.

Then you record in your browser with the teleprompter, upload a video you already have, or use your AI Twin. Cue matches the timing of the visuals to your recorded words, so each chart appears while you are talking about it. Before approval, script comparison checks your confirmed script against the recording and edited captions and lists any differences for you to review. It doesn't approve the video. Your firm's review still does that.

This is a preview of a feature we're still building, so details may change before it ships. You can read more on the AI script writer page, or book a demo to see it early.

This guide is general information, not legal or compliance advice. Ask your firm's compliance team what applies to your videos.