Welcome to the SJM Scripts Library
We like to think of this part of our project as advocating, as well as facilitating, “public service storytelling” – by the people, for the people (see Blue Paper 103, Rethinking Political Advertising). Here, you will find ready-to-record content for our growing collection of citizen-powered messaging, as well as a few production frameworks that may inspire you creatives – students to grandparents, anybody with a voice and a phone.
We hope to provide more and more as we move forward – believing there are so many ways to communicate left ahead. Of course, if you have an idea of your own – for a script, for a series, for a production or any moving part – please make contact. Pitch it, we’ll swing!
ConnectTheDots… is a series of short scripts, ready-to-record as video stories for your socials – video stories that tell of US history and the civics lessons we used to learn in school.
Weaving facts into emotionally resonant, easy-to-follow narratives, ConnectTheDots… turns civic education and history into short, citizen-driven messaging. It’s built on a simple idea: people no longer need permission, platforms, or pundits to shape the public conversation. These short videos, styled like old-school PSAs, would reclaim space long dominated by slogans, dog whistles, and disinformation. They aim for the heart as much as the head, using shared history as common ground. Released into everyday feeds, they challenge lazy headlines and gently disrupt what people think they know about who we are and how we got here.
Each script runs 2–3 minutes. Record yourself. Use an avatar. Play with Snapchat-style AR lenses and effects or Instagram tools like face-morphing and background swaps. Make it playful. Make it memorable. If it helps the truth travel, we’re into it.
Pick a script that speaks to you. Hit record. Put our logo in the shot if you want to help spread the words. Make it your own. Post it. Help us ConnectTheDots… between history, policy, and everyday life so more Americans can encounter the facts where they already are. Let’s stop waiting for someone else to fix the misinformation crisis.
And send us ideas for more stories to be told!
(see below for downloadable CTD logos)
Production Ideas for the more skilled video-maker (and aspiring pocket editor) who can stitch together these American truths…
The Quiet Part: Imagine a mash-up style video of clips taken from news hits, town halls, pressers, podcasts – of wherever the quiet part has been said out loud, those jaw-dropping moments when a public figure accidentally reveals the truth. Sometimes it’s a sound bite from a politician who doesn’t know the mic is hot, or that they are being recorded (Mitt Romney’s “takers” comment). Sometimes it’s a slip of the tongue – “Trump definitely did not think he won the 2020 election…” (Rep. Glenn Grothmann). Often it’s a racist dog whistle like, “the US should return to 1960s America” (ok, also Glenn Grothmann), or Trump commenting about “shithole countries” or his admitting his feelings of white supremacy. A little research of the R’s long-held distain for peoples’ entitlements and their desire to cut Social Security and Medicare, will bring home the motherload of clips, but there are plenty out there to be mined.
We think all that honesty honestly deserves the spotlight!
Then vs Now: The Hypocrisy Files: A video “flipbook” could show side-by-side clips of the greatest reversals and most shocking flip-flops in American politics. There are lots of examples of leaders reversing course when power or profit demands it, and this mash-up would hammer home the hypocrisy.
“Then” clips might include:
Mitch McConnell declaring that Trump was “practically and morally responsible” for the violence on January 6, 2021
Lindsey Graham, Mark Meadows and Kevin McCarthy condemning the actions of the President on January 7, 2021
Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson saying in 2015 that Trump “lacked the necessary character to be president”, and that “he would break more things than he fixes.”
Senator Mike Lee and Senator John Thune calling on Trump to step aside from the Presidential race after the Access Hollywood video came to light.
“Now” clips are super easy to find, just check todays news!
Post these mash-ups on your socials and help others see what’s behind the open curtain!
Two-minute movies and mini-documentaries dramatizing the human impact of our country’s economic anxiety, inequalities, racial tensions, government corruption. Aspiring filmmakers and actors can develop their craft and help their country at the same time!
“Conversations With” This is a series we would love to see already out there – conversations with America’s most respected and compelling thinkers…
Harvard Law professor Lawrence Tribe on the rule of law. Eddie Glaude, Jr. on the state of race in America. Former federal Judge J. Michael Luttig on the importance of upholding American institutions and norms are just a few.
With Our Own Eyes: Clips of the violence of January 6th on our socials.
A citizen-powered video could be as simple as Mitch McConnell or Lindsay Graham or Kevin McCarthy after the insurrection of January 6th – no mash-up necessary, just a clip of their condemnation… left hanging in the air.
LET'S FLOOD THE ZONE!!!
When using our scripts, please consider printing out one of these CTD placards to set in the background (or foreground –
we’re not that picky) of your vid. There are 3 PDF sizes – each with a mirrored version if your camera set-up requires it.
