# Start from an outlier

Story / Test and publish / Before posting. Checked 2026-11-13.

The idea begins from something that already earned attention.

- Use when: Choosing what to make next.
- Phrase: start from a post at ten times or more its account's median; recreate its structure with your own material and change one thing
- Page: https://directorchair.ai/publish/start-from-an-outlier
- JSON: https://directorchair.ai/api/publish/start-from-an-outlier.json

## Watch out

- Look in this order: your own posts, the client's, then the category's. (practitioner; Director Chair field notes on short-form video (one TikTok account, 233 posts and 27 measured clips, read 30 Oct 2026))
- Keep what made it work: the personal stakes, a character the situation makes believable, and an ending that pays off. (practitioner; Director Chair field notes on short-form video (one TikTok account, 233 posts and 27 measured clips, read 30 Oct 2026))
- Recreate the structure, never the clip, the wording or the creator's story. (practitioner; Director Chair notes on AI UGC army (Jake Castillo))

## Prompts

### Any chat model

```
Give me a step-by-step plan I can follow this week, for a short video about [your product], for [your audience]. The technique is start from an outlier: the idea begins from something that already earned attention. How it works: start from a post at ten times or more its account's median; recreate its structure with your own material and change one thing. It is right for: choosing what to make next. Look in this order: your own posts, the client's, then the category's. Keep what made it work: the personal stakes, a character the situation makes believable, and an ending that pays off. Be concrete: numbers, seconds and settings, no theory. Ask me one question first if something you need is missing.
```

## Goes well with

- Outlier ratio: https://directorchair.ai/publish/outlier-ratio
- Borrow the tension, never the lie: https://directorchair.ai/hook/honest-tension
- Edit a take in the style of a reel you like: https://directorchair.ai/preset/preset-edit-from-reference

## Source

Own words from Director Chair field notes on short-form video (one TikTok account, 233 posts and 27 measured clips, read 30 Oct 2026) and Director Chair notes on AI UGC army (Jake Castillo)

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