# A hook has three jobs

Story / Hook / The rule. Checked 2026-11-13.

The right viewer feels seen and stays; the wrong one leaves early.

- Use when: Writing and judging any hook.
- Phrase: one short visual, one spoken sentence and one line on screen in the first three seconds, all saying the same thing to one kind of viewer
- Page: https://directorchair.ai/hook/hook-three-jobs
- JSON: https://directorchair.ai/api/hook/hook-three-jobs.json

## Watch out

- The three jobs: stop the scroll, filter the audience, earn the next five seconds. Without the filter it is clickbait; without the third it does not convert. (practitioner; Director Chair field notes on hooks and ideas (Motion's hook guide and 2026 creative benchmark, vendor data))
- When picture and text disagree, the picture wins the memory. (practitioner; Director Chair field notes on hooks and ideas (Motion's hook guide and 2026 creative benchmark, vendor data))

## Prompts

### Any chat model

```
Write five opening lines for a short video about [your product], for [your audience]. Use the a hook has three jobs pattern: the right viewer feels seen and stays; the wrong one leaves early. The three jobs: stop the scroll, filter the audience, earn the next five seconds. When picture and text disagree, the picture wins the memory. Example: one short visual, one spoken sentence and one line on screen in the first three seconds, all saying the same thing to one kind of viewer. Plain spoken language, no hashtags, no emoji. Tell me which one you would post first and why, in one line.
```

## Goes well with

- Three-layer hook: https://directorchair.ai/hook/three-layer-hook
- The setting does the targeting: https://directorchair.ai/hook/setting-as-targeting
- Direct address: https://directorchair.ai/hook/direct-address

## Source

Own words from Director Chair field notes on hooks and ideas

Text CC BY 4.0, Director Chair (directorchair.ai). Reference clips and their card texts belong to their makers.