The Complete AI Stack and Workflow for 100M+ Video Views

0:00This episode gave me goosebumps. Roberto Nickson. He is probably the greatest short-form creator that exists on the internet. He's gotten millions of followers, hundreds of millions of views. And in today's episode, he gives a behind-the-scenes of his entire process, the nitty-gritty stuff of how he comes up with the most scroll-stopping short-form video on the internet. He holds the keys to getting millions of views on his content, and he shows you how to do it. He shows you exactly which tools he uses. He gives you a behind-the-scenes look at his insane studio that he spent over $100,000 building. And he teaches you how you can do it for less. This is the type of

0:50episode that people would spend thousands of dollars on. It is free on The Startup Ideas Podcast. Not many episodes have given me goosebumps, but this one does. And it's for a reason. Enjoy the episode. The Startup Ideas Podcast. It's sippin' time, baby. [Music] Roberto Nickson, by the end of this episode, what are people going to get

1:18out of this? People going to get out of this First of all, like I think short-form video is the bread and butter of the internet. It is the top of funnel for all attention. I'm such a big proponent of it. Um and what they're going to get out of this is how to how they're going to they're going to see the behind-the-scenes of my workflow, of how I go from idea to script to editing or to recording to editing to deployment, I think, just as fast as anybody in the world, because by this time it's muscle memory. And so, they're going to get the behind-the-scenes of the tools that I

1:49use, how I streamline everything, how my gear is set up. Um and I think it'll be super value-packed and hopefully helpful to a lot of people out there. And you you know, you're a humble guy, so I'll brag for you for a second. You know, you've got you get hundreds of millions of views on on your content. You know, you're you're you're you're you're hanging with the the Zucks of the

2:09world. Um and you're kind of like the creator's creator. Um so, in the sense that like the top creators look up to you, and I don't think you've ever shown your process end-to-end anywhere. Is that right? Never, never. And I've been meaning to, so I appreciate the opportunity and the platform uh that you're giving me to do so, because in perpetuity from now on, I can send people to this video, cuz this is the biggest question that I get. It's like, "Yo, what camera do you use? What lights? What editing? What how do you, you know?" So, I think this will be

2:40super helpful. All right, let's get into it. All right, so first what I what I really want to do here is I got Elijah Mahome, the cameraman. I want to show people that I'm in a garage. Like this is not a professional studio. Uh Elijah, go around maybe maybe go wide angle as wide as you can, and give them the tour that like I didn't clean this. I didn't prepare this. I'm not trying to make this look good. This is my garage in my home, and it is very much a garage, a dusty garage, as you can see. Now, I am upgrading to a 2,500 sq ft studio end of the year,

3:13which I'm really excited about. Greg, we're going to have to do this again when I get that place dialed. It's going to be insane. Uh but for now, this is uh this is it. And so, let me first show my equipment right before we get into the script writing and editing and recording and all that. So, right here, look at look at this setup. This is my main editing station, I would say. Again, we'll go through all this uh we'll go through all this gear and show

3:35you how like dialed I I have everything. But let's go through the recording. So, this is where I record all of my visuals, all of my videos. Narrative talking head, I also have like a cinematic storytelling, you know, uh format that's that's like on the field, and you know, we bring a lot of lights and lenses and equipment. But my bread and butter is this cinematic sort of talking head narrative style about things that happen in the emerging tech space, AI, uh robotics, et cetera. And I break it down sort of an educational way. So, the way that I have it, I don't know how how long that cord can

4:08stretch, but let's uh let's figure this out. If you have any questions, Greg, just interrupt. The way that I have it, I have a laptop here, I have a teleprompter with a Canon R5C over there. Um I have a spotlight here as you sometimes have a gobo on it, and that's just like a stylistic choice, so I have like that little streak going on in the background. Um you'll see how it looks on video. Looks kind of nice. I have a What is this? An Amaran I think it's a 150C, and I have a softbox with a honeycomb, a grid on it, that way I can

4:35control the light. We're recording in the day. Usually I record at night, so all the lights are dialed. If you look above me, there's an F22C Amaran, uh which is a top light, and everything is controlled through these little remotes. So, I have it all dialed. I can turn it off, turn it on, all the lighting behind me, in front of me,

4:51above me, et cetera. Um now, this is where I think I'm going to take my headphones off. Um Greg, if you have a question, hopefully you'll be able to hear you. But I'm just going to go through recording, a process. Um I have written a script for uh Agent Kit, which was just announced by OpenAI, that I'm going to do a video on. Now, the real script is like going to be 2 and 1/2 minutes long. It's actually

5:14going to be a pretty substantial edit. So, I have an abridged script for this example. But here's what I do, right? So, Elijah, if you want to come over here, we should I guess be able to screen share. But my HQ, man, everybody's like, "Do you use like what do you use?" I live by Apple Notes. Like this is my So, all these or let me go up. So, I just wrote a script, Agent Kit script, right? What I do is I I copy the script, and then I open up an app called Prompter Pro, and I paste the script. I've never heard

5:47of Prompter Pro. Yeah, you know what? And there's um there's a lot of different ones. I don't know if Prompter Pro is the you know, like it's just the one that I found first, and it's the one that um that serves me well, so I haven't I've never changed. Um but so, I have my words up on a teleprompter over there. I don't know if y'all can see it. And I do this because of speed. Like otherwise, I might have to read a line at a time, look back at my phone, go back. Or if I'm memorizing something, it just becomes like I want to respect the audience's time. Like my

6:17videos are always dialed, speed, information, and I'm out of there. So, that's why I use a teleprompter. And then what I have here is OBS. And this is where I record audio, too. The reason I don't do it straight to the camera is because I um maybe I should screen record this real quick. I'm going to screen record this real quick to give you this footage, Greg. Um but the reason that I record the audio separately, in case something gets corrupted, I have two two different

6:44files. Um good you have the headphones. Let me know if Greg says anything. So, this is what we're going to do right now. We're going to go through a live reading of how I record my videos. So, we're going to switch mics over here. Sam Altman, the co-founder of OpenAI, just said that it is the era of the idea guy, and he is not wrong. I think that right now is an incredible time to be building a startup, and if you listen to this podcast, chances are you think so, too. Now, I think that you can look at trends uh to basically figure out uh what are

7:16the startup ideas you should be building. So, that's exactly why I built ideabrowser.com. Every single day, you're going to get a free startup idea in your inbox, and it's all backed by high-quality data trends. How we do it, people always ask. We use AI agents to go and search, "What are people looking for, and what are they screaming for in terms of products that you should be building?" And then we hand it on a, you know, silver platter for you to go check out. Um we do have a few paid plans that, you know, take it to the next level, uh give you more ideas, give you

7:52more AI agents and more almost like a ChatGPT for ideas with it. But you can start for free, ideabrowser.com, and if you're listening to this, I highly recommend it. So again, it's on Agent Kit. I have the script written. We can go through my um scripting real quick. It's just generally like for videos like this where it's informative, um what I try not to do is an information dump, because I think that's going to be heavily commoditized by AI. There's just going to be no point in having a human do it. Um so, what I try to do is like give my own opinion and angle. I try to

8:26explain to the audience why it's important. I try to bring in conflict early on in the script. So, instead of like, "OpenAI just launched Agent Kit, and you can build agentic workflows, and it works like N8N." Like the second line always has to bring in some sort of conflict. So, for this one, it's like, "OpenAI just launched Agent Kit, and I think it's important to understand what

8:45it is." That's not conflict in like the traditional storytelling term, but for this video, it keeps people it's it's conflict enough where keeps people watching, because they need to understand the resolution, why it's so important, why they need to understand what it is. So, anyways, this is the next step of the video. So, let me stop that.

9:07So, I walk over here. If anybody I I I feel like I should have this dialed, too. Like I I should uh Let me bring the ISO down. So, I walk over here. Doesn't have your audio. Huh? Doesn't have your audio. Oh, that's cuz cuz I'm over there. My bad. Sorry. So, I walk over there, and I hit record on the Canon R5C,

9:28and then this is what I do. Let's go. So, I'm going to use this mic, cuz my main mic is being used for the podcast right now. And let's go through just a little live recording, and I'll show people how I kind of go, and like sometimes I make mistakes, and I usually read every line two or three times to pick like the very

9:45best uh take. Hopefully it's not too boring so far, Greg. We're we're going to rip through this. the coolest This is the coolest episode of the podcast. OpenAI just launched Agent Kit, and I think it's important to understand what it is because it lets anybody build agentic workflows without code for free. So, that's like the first line. Again, sometimes I'll do it twice. So, we'll go one more

10:10time. OpenAI I make make sure I'm recording in OBS. Okay, cool. OpenAI just launched AgentKit. And I think it's important to understand what it is because it lets anybody build agentic workflows without writing code for free. Boom. So, we'll go to the next line. It works just like n8n, but it's much easier to use. You start with a template

10:31or create a workflow from scratch. Go to the next line. Where you connect different AI models and tools using a node-based interface. Go to the next line. And it has an MCP node that lets you connect your own apps like Gmail or Dropbox. Once you're done, you can test and preview your workflow. And if you're

10:52happy with it, you can publish it. Boom. So, that was it. I did the recording. So, the audio recording goes to my desktop, which is automatically transferred to my Mac Studio editing workspace over there. I'm going to go grab the the memory card from the R5C.

11:15Boom.

11:22All right. And then, this I think will be really interesting to people how I Here, let me just Sometimes this takes 5 minutes. Let me just AirDrop it so it's quick. So, I'm just going to AirDrop this to my Mac Studio, which is the audio file. So, I have a video file and I have an audio

11:37file. And I'll show you how I sync it. So, that should be in my Mac Studio. Could be my phone. Let's see. What is the Like, what's the total cost of a studio like this? Dude, so here here like I'll I'll tell everybody the total cost, but it's also like I've you don't need anything cuz when I go to hotel rooms and I just do it on my iPhone, it it looks the same. It performs the same. It does not matter. I do this because it's like authentic to me. I love cameras. I love production. I love lenses. So, that's why I do it. So, before I tell you the total cost, um

12:08I've done it many times on literally just an iPhone, no other equipment. It looks very good, especially with Apple log. Um it sounds great, especially, you know, with like you can just use your AirPod 3s now and the microphone quality is incredible. But, the total cost for Wait, don't don't even tell us. By the end of the episode, just tell us

12:27at the end of the episode. Okay, cool. And I'll have to That gives me time to like tabulate it. Yeah. And the total cost of my next studio is going to be absurd, and it's just because it's all overkill, but I like it. So, that's You know what I mean? I'm going to have like literally like uh I'm going to have like jibs and robotic arms, and

12:45it's it's it's going to be really cool. Anyways, so let me share my screen. And then, trying to figure out a way that I can put this microphone and have access to my keyboard. This cable's all over the place. Um so, now let me share my screen. Again, Apple Notes is my HQ. This is where all my scripting happens. Um but, let me let's go through how I I generally do this. But, um

13:09So, usually I'll create a new folder. Let me let me first show you this. This is my This is my everything, right? Every year, I have a a 4 TB like Samsung T9 that I work out of. Some years I I go through two or three. Um this is where I have like all my client work. This is where I have all my reels, carousels. Like, this is basically like my creative HQ. So, I go to 2025 reels. Again, I have it I have it set up. Client work. I have um AI, content culture, short films, tech, whatever it is that I'm working on. So, we're going to go to the AI folder

13:42because this is an AI video. So, I make a new folder. And my naming convention is generally today's October 7th, and I'll do uh OpenAI AgentKit. And that way I have like all the And then, I color code it. And that way I have just have all this stuff like super organized because I go back and reuse a lot of assets and templates and

14:03and whatnot from other projects. Um so, what I'll do here is first, let me open my So, this is the audio file right here. So, first I'm going to drag the audio file into this folder. Then, I'm going to grab the main video file. Let's call it the A-roll. And I bring it in from

14:23Canon R5C. By the way, most beautiful I've never seen a file directory so beautiful like all the color coding and stuff. I need like organization, otherwise I go crazy. Um but, generally this is how I will label the files. And then, usually we'll see how deep we get into here. I'll have a media kit or

14:43a media folder. I'll have an SFX folder. I'll have music. For this kind of thing, I probably don't need anything too crazy. But, like if I'm doing And I'll pull one up. But, if I'm doing like a short film. Like, right now I'm doing this thing on like Iron Mic. I'll have everything. I'll have audio clips, AI videos. So, like But, for this one I think it'll be pretty simple. So, we just need a media music SFX folder. Okay. So, now that we got that in there, I can I can eject

15:10that. Where are we at? And by the way, Elijah, if you want to show like real quick what I have here, I just have a two Apple Studio Displays powered by Mac Studio. It's still the M1. I need to upgrade desperately to the M3 because you're going to see like a little bit of lag now. Um and I also just like having the newest Um other than that, I'm going into an Apollo Solo for for audio video. And there's nothing really else to it. Um so, all right. Let's go back to the edit. So, I use uh Premiere. A lot of people have switched to Resolve. It's something that

15:44I definitely want to explore. I know Elijah over here uses Resolve, and all my editing friends use Resolve, but muscle memory is important to me. Uh so, I use Premiere. So, open up a new project. We're going to drop this project into uh the folder that we just created called AgentKit. We're going to call it

16:02AgentKit. And here, we have a new project. I've never like showed this. So, I like I might not be the best teacher, but let's walk through it. So, then I drag my A-roll and my audio into the project. I do new sequence from clip for my A-roll. This is going to be a 1080 by 90 since it's going to be an Instagram

16:21reel {slash} TikTok. Um This Canon for some reason has like three audio tracks. I got to fix that. And then, what I do is I drag my um my audio track in, and then I synchronize it. So, the audio track is synced with the video track, if that makes sense. So, now I'm unlinking everything. I'm going to delete the video from the audio track and the audio from the video track. So, so it all depends, right? So, on these I just have it like dialed, the audio treatment. And usually I just copy and paste from another template, but I want to go through it um manually to

16:55show the audience. Um I add a multi-band compressor, and I go to broadcast. I bring the output gain a little bit lower, and then I add a parametric equalizer. And then, the uh sort of template preset that I really like is vocal enhancer. I bring the highs down a little bit, and then move my lows a little bit to the left. And again, this is like trial and error. But, for me, this sounds really

17:20really good and crispy on the audio. OpenAI just launched Sometimes I add like a noise uh denoiser. Um and again, if I'm doing like a if I'm doing like a film, the audio treatment's going to be differently, right? But, for these, this is how I do the audio treatment. Um because I usually go split screen, I bring this down to about 46% like the

17:39scale. Um and then, again, this goes at the bottom tab there. If you're familiar with my videos, you know this is like the way that I just organize them. I cut the top off a little bit, like 5% off the top, so it fits nicely into frame. And then, that's how I kind of do that. And then, the the visual treatment that I use, and again, there's no right way to do it. I have something called Magic Bullet. You can just use like a regular LUT, whatever you want. Um but, generally I drag in this film preset of Magic Bullet. I bring that down to about

18:09like 40. That's looking good to me there. I bring in this little mojo thing. And sometimes I color manually, but generally this is like my default. And then, I go into the coloring uh module, let's call it, or or workspace of Premiere. And then, I can further edit from here. Sometimes just to keep the color consistent with the brand, uh so to speak, I'll come through this LUT that I created actually that emulated I I created it to emulate a Pulp Fiction look. I did it for this app that I have called Cinefecta, which makes like two grand a year. It's like peanuts. Um And that looks pretty good to me. Elijah,

18:49you're a colorist. What do you think? That looks good. That looks good. Maybe a little bit on the cooler side. I might So, whatever. I can go in there. For these kind of videos, I don't spend any time on this. For like my more creative videos that are like really storytelling and and full of depth, I'm going to spend a ton of time on coloring, sound, et cetera. So, I'll go back to the short form uh window space that I create. And from here, it's going to be a little bit boring, but I'll go through it really quickly. What I'm going to do is choose the best lines,

19:13cut each line up, and then I'm going to stitch it from there. And I'm going to show you how I do it. Um that's kind of signature to me to keep the pace high. So, let me go through and pick the very best takes. All right. OpenAI just launched AgentKit. And I think it's important to understand what it is because it lets anybody build

19:35agentic workflows without code for free. uh purposes of time, we'll just keep that one. OpenAI just launched Agent We got that line down. It works just like n8n, agentic workflows without writing code. Go to the next line. It works just like N8N, but it's much easier to use. You start with a template or create a

19:56workflow from scratch. Go to the next where you can connect different AI models and tools using a node-based interface. And it has an MCP node that lets you connect your own apps like Gmail or Dropbox. Once you're done, you can test and preview with it. You can publish. So, that's how I did it. So, like I just took the best takes. Usually, I do like three or four takes for each line just so I have more to work with. Then I'm coming up here to sequence and I'm closing all of these gaps. So, now this is sort of the

20:30the body of our video. Open AI just launched Agent Kit. And I think it's important to understand Um so, the next step that I generally do just because I love my pacing and to be dialed, I'll come in here. You see there's like a little bit of like a millennial pause there like I don't like that pause. So, what I do is I cut some of the video track. I cut into the next track a little bit even into the audio. I drop the audio down to another line and then I overlay it a little bit. So, now you'll see how much

21:00punchier and quicker it is. for free. It works just like that I like for these kind of videos. Again, I respect the hell out of the audience. I don't want to waste their time. I want to get it through as quick as possible. from scratch. Where you So, that one even quicker and I'll from scratch. Where you That's fine for me. Even I like it quicker. Again, purpose is the time we're going to we're

21:20going to go through this quick.

21:26I'm liking all this. This is all sounding good. And you can see how I sort of doctor it piece it together. Once you're done, you can test and preview your workflow and if you're happy with it, you can publish. we end it there. So, that's the video. So, this will be like a 28-second video. Then I generally bring the video up a track because all of the media and B-roll and everything will probably

21:49go underneath. In a video like this, what I would generally do next is I probably doctor it a little further where where just to just for pattern interrupt, I'll go full screen on some of the stuff that I say in between lines. So, without code. So, this one I might actually bring it back up. And then what I have and what I recommend to anybody creating videos or if you have editors and editors on your team, they should know this, but make sure that they have everything preset,

22:14template-ized, etc. to waste no time. So, I have and I'll shout it out. I don't know the guy Peter Peter Taka something Tugzinski. He's got these essential motion presets for Premiere, Resolve, all the editing platforms that I really like. And these are the ones that I just use instead of keyframing them individually for speed. Again, on the projects that I really care about that are like the storytelling media videos, I will go through and

22:40keyframe things manually if it requires. But generally, I'll grab one of these like clip zoom in and I'll add a another zoom in. And so, when I go full screen, workflows without code. a little bit of that movement. And again, it's important just to keep people's attention. a workflow from scratch. Where you connect a work flow from scratch. Where you connect

23:01different AI node-based interface. And it has an MCP So, maybe for this little end, I'll do the same thing. I'll remove attributes and then I'll paste the attributes from the previous one that I just copied. And it has an MCP node that lets you connect your own apps like Gmail Okay. So, now in a video like this where I'm not generally creating assets, we will create an asset to show you how I build like AI-generated visuals using like FreePik as an example. Sora 2 just came out publicly, so I'll probably switch from the Nano Banana Cling workflow to

23:31Sora 2, but we can go through that. So, in order to get some videos for this, again, these are videos that are going to be on the internet already. So, let's pull in my browser and we'll go to Open AI's channel. So, they have like an intro to the dev builder. Now, something that I really recommend to anybody who values speed is this app called and you can just literally paste in a video

23:56and it'll download it for you. So, you paste in a video and it'll download this for you automatically. Dude, I need You know what I usually do for that? I I Google like or Perplexity Yeah, exactly and I get viruses all day long. So, this app is huge, bro, because if if I'm getting your videos from YouTube or Twitter, I'm using So, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, anywhere on the internet like you can download videos using this tool and it man, it saves so much time, which is what I'm all about. So, now I go back to my media tab and from my downloads, I am going to

24:30drag this intro to Agent Builder into the media tab. So, now I have that. For this example, just going to use this video. Usually, I go in and get like four or five different ones, so I have more choices to be able to present visuals that are in context to what I'm saying. Now, if I can't find anything, that's when I'll go generate something. I never

24:49use like stock footage anymore. Everything's generated for like perfect to be in perfect context to what I'm saying and just to be a little bit more visually compelling. So, let me minimize the browser and now I'm back to the project. I'm going to drag this into the project. Again, I'm going to unlink their sound cuz I don't need it. I just need their visuals. And then this is where I'm like piecing things

25:11through. Open AI So, I'll go through and look for like you know, for for the purposes of this because it does take some time to like find the right visuals, you know, match them up, make sure that they're aesthetically like they contrast well. I even go through and make sure things contrast well. Another thing that I do guys in the recording process is sometimes the back my monitors in the background and the lights all and like the way that I'm dressed all are color-coded to the brand that sometimes I'm working for. So, I just did a a video for Perplexity and like I made sure that the aesthetics all matched

25:44like their world that they've built, right? Like their whole brand and like signature brand and visuals and sound and and and like sort of like this classy sophisticated ambiance that they're trying to build for their brand. So, that's another thing that I do and why I have like all these lights the way that I do and everything dialed so I can switch the colors, etc. etc. So again, I'll go through and I'll make my own you know, again, I'll I'll This one's not going to be perfect cuz usually I download three to four videos, but for the sake of this video, let's just say I I've built my clips. However,

26:16I'm missing some, okay? So, let's say, well, I need to go through actually and I need to screen record something. So, I'm going to go to the Agent Builder here Open AI. And in order to screen record my process, this is another app that I recommend for everybody and anybody. I love this app. You can use Loom as well

26:34or OBS. I like Screen Studio and I'll show you the reason why. So, now I need to record me building a an agent using Agent Kit Agent Builder from Open AI. You know, say I say something about MCP server, so let's go show how that works. I can record my whole display window or an area. So, I'm just going to drag an

26:55area from my screen to show my process. I'm going to hit start recording. And I say something about you can start with a template or you can create from scratch. So, I'm going to go hit create from scratch. All right, here's my new agent flow. I said that you can add an an MCP node. And from here, I can add different tools. I think I mentioned Gmail and Dropbox. So, I'll you know, I'll I'll hover over them again for that for that

27:22context. Boom. Okay. So, let me hit stop there. So, the reason that I like Screen Studio over some of these other tools is because it has Let me bring it over. So, I can mess around with the padding, the rounded corners, etc. But it has like these nice little animations. So, when I'm dragging in an MCP folder, boom, I like how that looks, right? So, what I'm going to do is I'm going to export MP4 4K Studio max file size

27:48least compression. Where are we? I'm going to go again to to the corresponding folder, add it to media and I'm just going to type SS for screen record and I'll let that export. So, if you're somebody who's presenting like different workflows and tools, people use Loom, people use OBS. This is another tool that I suggest Screen Studio that I love. I don't know the developers. I got you know, I don't I don't get anything for saying that, but

28:13so this is just a tool that I use. So, now I go back to my edit. I'll let that export. And generally, what I'm doing is now I'm adding the media underneath kind of like that. Again, in context to what I'm saying. Open AI just launched Agent Kit. So, just to just to mention it again like for the for the purposes of speed, we're just going to go through. None of these visuals are really in context to what I'm saying. So, I generally I take my time to you know, find something that's a lot

28:42more appealing. And then let's bring in the screen recording. Take sound file out. And let's say when I say the MCP part, I want I want that part when I add an MCP node. All right. So, there I am grabbing the MCP node. I think somewhere in here I say it. But it's much easier to use. You can connect different AI models and tools using a node-based interface. And it has an MCP node that lets you connect your

29:10own apps like Gmail or Dropbox. an MCP node that lets you connect your own apps like And then I'll cut it there and then the part where I'm looking at Gmail and Dropbox. Again, you see that nice little motion that that Screen Studio does for you. That's another reason I like it so I don't have to sit

29:24there and keyframe. node that lets you So, I'll put that underneath. Sometimes like say say this doesn't fit that well cuz I want the sidebar. So, no problem. What I will do is just make sure it does fit well and then I'll bring it in my video from down below and then modify it so it fits the screen nice and tidy. that lets you connect your own apps like Gmail

29:46maybe I want this one full screen. You know, just to break it up. Again, pattern interrupt super important for what I do. Just keep the audience guessing. Gmail or Dropbox. Once you're done, you can key note that lets you connect your own apps like Gmail or Dropbox. Once you're done, Um let's just Again, bring some arbitrary visuals underneath just for the purposes of completing

30:10this video. Uh generally captions. Actually, let's show something else that real quick for people, even though I know your audience is super dialed in and they already know how to use it. Um but let's say and these are like all my previous visuals for Let me Let me show this too, actually, while we're here. I run like a bunch of pages and again, I still run them just cuz I'm so freaking

30:28quick with it. Um let me see Okay, so let me open Figma. So I have like all these pages, RPN Tech, Aluna Metaverse, and this is kind of like the HQ for that. Um and it's it's it's um you know, like the my last post was about Sora 2 breaking the brains out of everybody, but I think the previous post was about Elon Musk hitting like a 400 or 500 billion dollar net worth, whatever it was. I didn't want to use like just like an another stock image Getty image of Elon Musk, so I went in here to Free Pick and I

30:59um I created an image. Anyway, so this is like my whole HQ like newsletter, RPN, carousels, everything. It's all here templatized in Figma, which will also allows me to go quick. Um so but for example, if I if say I wanted to make I don't know, like Sam Altman building an agent on a MacBook Pro.

31:19I'm going to use Nano Banana still. I don't think anything beats that. So we're going to go uh Google Nano Banana. Say I wanted um a 1:1 square aspect ratio. Let's see. I don't I don't think they have any um any restrictions, so they should let me generate Sam Altman. No reference image? Oh yeah, so I can I can also show that because I use that all the time. And I also use like this is why I have Midjourney up here. I'm

31:44making like this Mike Tyson video. Um like this micro doc and I needed some visuals that I couldn't find on the internet, so I'm doing the same thing. But I'm always going here and using reference image. And I um Omni reference from OpenAI. Uh or sorry, Omni reference from Midjourney. But now more and more I'm actually using Nano Banana. So I will need I will need a reference image because it's not recognizing Sam Altman. Maybe they're you know, it's Google, maybe

32:09they're salty. Um So let me try to find one of of just his face. All right. There he goes, Mr. Sam. So I'll save that image. I'll come back to Free Pick. Hit him with a reference image and now I can and now I can uh reference the actual image itself. So image one, building an agent on a

32:30MacBook Pro. Let's see how that goes. I'm surprised they don't recognize Sam Altman. That's a weird one. I guess it's like a legal thing. Um It's a sensitive subject. Yeah, exactly. And so this is why I love Nano Banana man, it's so quick. Like I used to use chat for for image generation. It's just so absurdly slow. So this looks great, right? So if I needed an image that I couldn't find on the internet of Sam Altman on his laptop, I can go here and I don't like static images. I'll use them if I have to, but generally I will turn this

33:05into a video. Now that Sora 2 is out, I'm probably going to use Sora 2. I don't think Sora 2 from the API, which this is running on, I don't think it'll allow me to use people. So my guess is let's just generate that, but my guess is that's not going to work. So the next best thing to me, I use I mean 12.5

33:26Hailuo Chinese models are great. Generally I'm using Kling, another Chinese model. And um you know, we'll just instead of a close-up shot, let's say um uh I don't know. The camera uh orbits around the focus individual on a laptop da da da da da. So I would just generate that video for like a couple seconds of B-roll.

33:52That's cute. I'll let that do its thing. For now, let's go back to uh Premiere. So now I can create my captions. I'll just This is what I do. I create my caption uh from scratch. I generally bring maximum length in characters and maximum duration in seconds down and I go single line because I like my captions like appearing on screen almost like one word at a time. I just think it's like it's like a slot machine. It just sort of psyche hacks the brain. I kind of like how it works. Um my fonts are generally Ionic uh semi-bold. I think I paid like 600 bucks for this font and it's

34:25probably not worth it, but that's uh that's what it is. I usually bring it to around a 60 size. OpenAI just launched you have to go through and modify the captions if if accuracy is important to you. Some people don't care. OpenAI I'm not going to go through the whole thing, but this is what I would do is just modify the captions so they're

34:47accurate. Agent kit. And I think it's Um now at the beginning there's probably a better way to do this, but I'm just so fast at doing it this way that this is the way that I do it. I usually I usually give it like a little bit better treatment with the with the captions at the beginning. So

35:05let me like let me open up Photoshop. Again, you can do this all in Premiere. You can open up After Effects, uh which works nicely with Premiere and do this. But I generally like building out my own. So I'll be like I don't know. Let's go through and design like a quick typography thing. OpenAI and usually I'll see like all right, where did where does this fit nicely? Let's actually So the other font that I use generally I usually kind of try to stick to two fonts and then I have some other ones just to try to keep that brand consistency. But I'll use another font called Romee, again an

35:37expensive font. I I paid for it, but you know, I got to I got to support the the fellow designers and and creatives. So OpenAI just launched. Man, I you know, again, I usually take my time on this to make it all beautiful and symmetrical and but uh let's just go. Agent kit. All right, so let's just say Actually, this doesn't look good. What

35:59can we do here? You you know, I just try to like add some emphasis to typography. Like this doesn't look all that good, but we're just going to go again, save it time. We're going to go like that. All right, OpenAI it doesn't look all that good, but Okay, I'm all right, fine, fine. I I I

36:13appreciate that. This is a Picasso right here, you know. All right, dope. I appreciate that. So then we're going to export that. Um again, we're going to bring it to We're just I was working on Salesforce video, how exciting. Um we're going to bring it back to that same folder. I have everything like dialed, um which makes

36:32it easy. Now look, I know editors are going to laugh at me, but I just I don't think there's a faster way to do this. So this is what I do. OpenAI just launched Agent kit. Um So I'm going to cut at every word just launched. Launched and then what I'm going to do is just actually have these uh words appear on screen, right? And so it's as

37:00easy as just masking out. Again, there's there's better ways to do this, I'm sure, but I don't think anybody can match my speed doing it this way. OpenAI just And then I go through and I'll usually I zoom in to make it perfect, but let's just go through and I'm masking everything out. Like

37:17this, so the words appear one at a time. And then I'll show you why I do it this way. And again, so for pattern pattern interrupt, I'm probably going to go through here and do the full screen again. So boom, I'm I'm like happy with this video, right? Now generally what I'm going to do is I have a ton of um sound effects. I have like different folders that I love. My buddy Jeff Ning hooked me up with his that are killer. Um so I might do some sort of riser. I'm not I'm not even going to audition them. I'm just going to throw them in. OpenAI just

37:50launched Agent of a long uh riser. It might not work. So I wanted to cut before. Whatever, right? I'm going to add a um uh What's that called? The light show the What's this called? A fade. I'm going to I'm going to add a fade. I'm going to go to audio controls and I'm going to bring this all the way

38:12down. OpenAI just launched Agent I I would normally take a little bit more time with these sounds, of course. And then I might download like some clicks, some mouse clicks, some whatever for when each word hits. Again, this stuff people underrate it, but it it keeps the audience like hooked. I don't know, maybe I'll go use I'm I'm doing this Tyson video, so I got this guy's sound

38:36hit with all these like punches. And explain to people why why it matters that why it matters to keep people hooked. Like explain to them Man, in short Yeah, in short it's So so for short form, it's really just it it in its essence is really basic. It is capture attention, maintain attention, reward

38:56attention. The the first part is probably most important, obviously, the hook, the visual Now it's like it used to just be like a uh uh a verbal hook, but now it's like a verbal hook, visual hook. It's like a whole game now. It's not just sometimes good enough to have just like that strong verbal hook. Um so obviously capturing that attention is the most important cuz if people don't you know, if you don't capture their attention in the first 2 seconds, they're not going to stick around. I always say like Christopher Nolan could upload The Dark Knight, but if it didn't have a good hook, nobody's sticking around. It's

39:23like a little bit of a tragedy. But that's the game we play in short form, whereas long form, the game that you play, Greg, is more about the packaging, uh the combination title, thumbnail, etc. So most important, capture that attention. Then you have to obviously reward that attention. The way that we do that is generally and I always quote Callaway, our buddy. I love his quote here. Um it's generally a dance between the conflict and the context. And so, these are just like basic storytelling um um you know, like devices where it's like, okay, how do we do that? You add in conflict, resolve that conflict, go

39:53to the next conflict, resolve that conflict, etc. That's how you maintain attention, but I would argue that rewarding attention is is like increasingly becoming more and more important because that's what's going to give you all of the signals from the audience that makes an algorithm happy. So, if somebody sticks around for 60 seconds watching my Agent Kid video, if if they're not educated or inspired, they're not going to hit me with a like, a comment, a share, a a a save, a a screenshot, a follow, etc. Um but if they do feel like, damn, I got a lot from this guy. I really appreciated that. Then they're

40:26going to hit me with all the signals that make the algorithm happy. And so, like my whole thing when I do these these, you know, captioning and animations and sounds, it just helps that much more to keep people hooked, engaged. That's why I do the pattern interrupts. It has to feel like it's there's just like a whole art to it. Um now, for some videos, it's like for me it's I just sit down and I talk and it's more mellow. It really depends on the context, but for these kind of videos, the reason that they work really really well for me and brands desire them so

40:53much is because of the way that I kind of piece them together. So, this is like kind of a behind-the-scenes of that. And I might even like, I don't know, I might this one I might reverse and and make it a little bit slower just to give like a a different sonic feel. And I would go through and I have all my go-to sounds, but I wanted to do this

41:09manually to show you how it goes. OpenAI just launched Agent And then maybe here I'd have like a ding. Agent Kit. And I think it's important to understand what it is then for music, now this is the thing. When I'm when I'm just doing an organic video, you can use whatever you want, which is great, you know? Or sometimes I

41:27keep it barren like this. OpenAI just launched while I'm uploading to Instagram or TikTok, etc., I will add a soundtrack. But generally I like a version with a soundtrack already there so I can upload it to Threads, X, and LinkedIn, sometimes Reddit, Snapchat, etc., which don't have like the audio the built-in audio tools of like a TikTok, Instagram.

41:45So, usually I'll try to go find a sound. Again, because this is not a commercial project, I don't have like when I do work with a brand, I'm going to go to like Epidemic Sounds usually, sometimes Artlist. I know, what do you use? Epidemic uses Epidemic as well. And then I'll go search for, you know, for music, sound effects, etc. here. By the way, our Sam Altman video is done. Look at

42:05that. That's a nice video. Thank you Banana Cling. Boom. And then And Sora did mark it as inappropriate. So, right now using the Sora API, which is amazing, it's like 10 cents a generation. It's I mean, like man, you know, Greg, like there's going to be millionaires, many, many millionaires minted, multi-millionaires uh over the next few weeks with messing around with Sora, too. Um but the API doesn't allow it's very, very

42:29restricted. That's the only problem. Um so, I don't use it because of it. So, um there we go. We got Sam Altman orbiting, so I can bring that into my uh media folder and I don't know. Let's say it code for free. that's where I want it. And I want it I want it full screen and bang. Now I have something in context of what I'm saying instead of some boring

42:54stock footage. Okay. Um so, for music, I have like a folder of like my go-to music that I use for reels. And again, this stuff is not um you know, it's not it's like commercial-free because I'm not making money out of it, but if this was like a brand yeah, I wouldn't be able to use them. Um so, I like this like little Steve Jobs from the Steve Jobs OST. I like this little sound for for tech

43:16videos. And then this is kind of the final product. OpenAI just launched Agent Kit. And I think it's important to understand what it is because it lets anybody build agentic workflows without code for free. Boom. And I think that's pretty interesting. I think I think I'll probably again redo redo this with a big and and better script and and more compelling, but I think this would keep

43:38people's attention. OpenAI just launched Like there's a big launch that just happened. And I think it's important to understand what it is really need to understand what this is because things are about to change and I want you to be educated because this represents the future. That's boom. Okay, that's a video. People are going to stick around now and then I'm going to resolve it because I'm going to show them exactly what it can be used for, some use cases, some examples, how they could use it in their businesses and entrepreneurs and creators, da da da da da. They're going to really like that because they learned something, they

44:09feel like now they're, you know, they're they're like in the game and they're updated and they're going to like it, they're going to share with a friend, they're going to save it and it's going to do 500,000 views. Everybody's happy. And that's basically the process and how I think about like putting these videos together and how I can I can really they usually take 45 minutes maximum and trying to think if there's anything else, but that's that's basically the

44:31gist. So, hope hopefully that was helpful. Dude, I I I actually have goosebumps watching you do this. Um it's muscle memory at this point, man. Well, I have so much respect. Like I I just see the final product, right? And I never I never really noticed the fades. I really I never really noticed the text on screen. I never really noticed how nuanced what was on you know, what was on screen. Um but when you put it all together, it just feels like a stairway to heaven, you know? It feels like the acoustic guitar with the drums and then the the you know, the solo. Just putting

45:09it all together, like seeing you do this just is uh it's it's watching someone who's world-class do what they do. And to you, you're like, this is so simple. Dude, to you you're like Yeah. You know what? That's interesting and you've probably uh first of all, I really appreciate that, but you've probably felt this phenomenon. Sometimes in anything that I do, right? And like we're going to be building that

45:34community like I was telling you about. And like I'm like, but this stuff is it's just logical. It's like, but then I realize it's like, no, no, no, this is like 10 years of muscle memory just being in the game and picking up like little tricks and all these little nuances. Um but you're probably the same way. Like you just have like all these talents from all of your experiences building startups, building different companies, doing 20 million different things with incredible people. It's for you it probably feels natural, but for somebody else it's like, oh my god, Greg, you just blew my mind. Um and so

46:01so sometimes like when you've been doing something for so long and it feels like second nature, you forget how useful it can be for other people um to see. So, It's the classic Picasso. I don't know if you heard the story where, you know, someone goes up to Picasso and says, "Hey, I'd like a um

46:21a painting." And And he goes, "Sure." So, he does the painting. It takes him like 5 seconds and he's like, "Okay, it's going to be $500." And then the customer goes, "$500? That took you 5 seconds. You know, that doesn't make any sense." And he was like, "Yeah, but it took me my entire life to get to the point

46:37Yeah, exactly. It took him 50 years. Yeah, man. I mean, the thing what I you know, it's funny that you mentioned like these things you didn't notice. And that's actually what it is in content. It's it's such a subconscious experiment experience sometimes. The thing that I relate it most to is a slot machine. And I know it's kind of like messed up cuz slot machines are just psyche hacking, they're hacking your brain. It's like, you know, praying on that dopamine release. It's kind of the same in in content where like sometimes you sit on the slot machine for like an hour and

47:05you don't realize what just happened. It's cuz you're like addicted to the visuals and the sounds and it's all just very there's a real psychology behind it to the point where like a lot of these casinos or like a lot of these micro games like the Clash Royale games of the world, people don't realize they actually have more um like data engineers and like psychologists on staff sometimes and like engineers and and designers because that

47:26is the whole game that they're playing. It's not really like there's no you know, the design and engineering is okay, but it's like the psychology back component to it that is like the true magic of these games. I kind of think it's similar with content where it's like there's a real art to it, there's a real science to it. It change it's like ever-changing because it's always evolving and um it it changes also from context to context where like depending on the video that I'm making, depending on the product the like what it whatever it is that I'm saying, I'm going to approach it differently. And

47:57so, I love that about it, man. That's why like I'm hiring editors now, um but it's been historically difficult because I'll hire an editor, they're like, okay, I'll have this done in the next 48 hours. I'm like, man, I could just do this in the next 30 minutes and it's going to be better. It's hard for me to like reconcile that, but need to scale next year and uh I'm just so busy now that finally I feel like I'm going to be giving up the reins. And so, I'm glad that I have this video cuz now all the prospective editors out there, I actually think, Greg, like this video,

48:25I don't know how it'll do in in the at the beginning, but I think over time it'll be like a sleeper that's just super evergreen cuz I've also every time I talk to an editor, they're like, oh man, like all my clients give you as a reference of what they want their stuff to look like. So, now like all the editors in the world can go and uh and and see how I do it. So, So, go

48:44work for Roberto. Join join the empire. If you're a world-class editor, I will hire you tomorrow. I am in desperate need. I've been auditioning like 20 different editors. I can't find somebody who is dialed, who has the quality that I'm looking for, and most importantly, the speed because a lot of my stuff is time-sensitive. And if I were to upload an OpenAI Agent Kit video in 3 days,

49:06nobody cares. It's got to go out ASAP. Um So, thank you for that PSA, Greg. In this episode, I'm am going to include basically as many products that you've mentioned here in the show notes so people can actually go and try it. Um but you still owe me an answer to a question, which is how much money did it does it, you know, approximately, how much money to create a Roberto

49:31Nickson-like studio? Okay. Um my What would you say, Elijah? In this studio, this pro I don't know, maybe like a hundred grand worth of gear? North? Maybe a little north. In my next studio, there's probably going to be 300 grand worth of I mean, like um, but if you wanted to build this setup without all the gear, you know, you could go with a used M1 Mac Studio, I don't know, for like a thousand bucks. You can use whatever monitor you want. Um, all of these lights are very cheap versions of because I think you can build a a studio just like this for the same visuals as

50:05me for under 5K, probably. I mean, you know, um, but again, you can just do it with your iPhone. But, I like overkill. That's my game. Well, you're a nerd like me, too, right? Like you nerd out. this stuff, dude. I have every camera, every lens. I just Something comes out, I buy it. I don't you know, um, but believe it or not, I actually use, I would say, everything I have at least like once a year for a project. So,

50:33Right. it comes in handy. Also, quick PSA, uh, if anyone's in the South Florida Miami area, I need help with my studio. So, I'm looking to hire someone just to come for like a few days to set up my studio. Well, here's the thing about what I would say for your content, Greg. The fact that your studio is like in between low-fi and super high-end actually kind of works because I feel like if it was too low-fi, people might not take you seriously. But, if it was like too highly stylized, you lose some of that because like the Greg Eisenberg brand is like that nitty-gritty startup

51:08hustle culture, you know? It's like it's scrappiness. So, I could get like I I already have ten things that I can say to make your studio look look like ten times higher production value just with the equipment that you have. But, I wonder if that fits the brand. Like the startup hustle culture of Greg Eisenberg brand. not good. The camera's not good. I need Don't I need multiple like, you know,

51:31multiple cameras and better lighting? What camera do you have? Right now, I'm literally using an Apple Studio Display camera. Oh, love it. Love it. Love it. Look, if if I I would just say like get a camera like a full-frame or whatever that that where you could put like a nice little 35 mm 50 mm shallow depth of field lens. That already will look twice as good. Then, if you angle your light, so in like

51:57right now, you're very evenly lit. Yeah. If you if you like you want the light coming more harshly from one side to to give you that shadow side, to give you that depth. And then, what I would do is I would put a honeycomb on all the lights so they don't bleed into your background. It just lit onto you cuz you have the nice recessed lighting in the background, which looks good. I would actually probably open your windows and put an ND filter on so we can see what's out what's in the background, and then, you know, bring your key lights really bright so we can see you as well. That

52:27alone, like with whatever you got going on, that alone would make it look like spectacular. But, um, I'll come down to Miami and I'll and I'll help you with anything you need, man, cuz I I get I love this stuff. You're the best. Uh, Roberto, before we before we I guess part ways, which makes me sad cuz I just love talking to you. Anything anything you want to leave the audience with? Um, yeah, you know, if there's any way that

52:51I can help, just just hit me up, RPN. Like these days, honestly, like it's it's a good problem to have, but I've just been uh, so blessed with so much abundance. I'm I'm I actually don't have time for anything, but I will try my best to to get to your message if there's anything that I can help you with. Um, and I'd also say this is the greatest time in the world. Like Greg parrots this all the time. This is the greatest time in the world to be a builder. I truly believe that if you're listening today, you can productize yourself. Just literally take your expertise, your

53:22knowledge, your interests, your passions, what you know, what you're good at, what you love, and you can package that up into a really really lucrative, you know, seven-figure internet business, and I don't think it takes longer than like 24 months now if you're really passionate about this stuff. just like the most amazing time to be a builder, to make content, to to

53:39create startups. Um, and AI gets a lot of hate. I love it because I truly truly think it it just democratizes building and creativity and like, man, I I just get goosebumps. Like we live in the greatest time in history. There will never be another wealth creation event like AI, I think. Maybe personal humanoid robotics. But, what an amazing amazing time to be alive. I I I can't be more excited for like the next 24 months. Subscribe to this podcast because if you're just here for this episode, trust me, like the value that Greg has, just just go to his videos and binge. You spend 24 hours doing that,

54:12you're going to be three times smarter, more fulfilled, and more motivated overnight. So, I appreciate you, Greg, and thank you for the time. Um, and it was just an honor to, you know, that you gave me this platform to be able to do this. I appreciate you, Roberto. I'll include Roberto's X, Instagram, and beehive where you can go and subscribe

54:30and follow along. It's a no-brainer. And, uh, I'll see you next time. All right, man. Appreciate it, Greg. Later.