Project Management · Module 1 · Week 1 Video Scripts
Module 1 · Project Pursuit · Week 1 · Production
Three production-ready scripts cover Week 1's approximately 26 minutes of video content, with timecode, on-screen direction, and word-for-word narration. Each script is tied to a companion interactive screen. Videos 1 through 3 are the first three of Module 1's four videos. Video 4 follows in Week 3.
For the video production team · not learner-facing · 3 scripts, ~26:00 total · downloadable as PDFVideo 1 of 3
| Time | On-screen | Narration (VO) |
|---|---|---|
| 0:00–0:15 | SILENT COLD OPEN. Black screen. Five simple milestone icons fade in, scattered and out of order, showing Kickoff, Award, Proposal, Go/No-Go, and Lead. No narration, ambient bed only. On-screen text, bottom third, reads “When did this project begin?” | (No narration. Hold the question on screen.) |
| 0:15–0:40 | The five icons remain scattered. A soft highlight pulses on each icon in turn. | “Look at these five milestones in a project’s life. They are shown out of order intentionally. Before I explain them, decide which one you believe comes first.” |
| 0:40–1:05 | On-screen prompt, full frame, reads “Mark the earliest point, then return to the video.” A pointer indicates the companion tool icon, which remains visible throughout. | “Open the companion and mark your answer. Select one option before you continue.” [PAUSE POINT. The learner marks the timeline in the companion, then resumes.] |
| 1:05–1:20 | Icons remain scattered. Screen dims slightly. | “Most people select kickoff. Some select the proposal. Very few select the correct answer, which I will show you now.” |
| 1:20–2:10 | The five icons animate into true chronological order, left to right, Lead → Go/No-Go → Proposal → Award → Kickoff. Each icon receives a one-line label as it settles into place. | “The lead comes first, when an employee hears about an opportunity before it is official. At go/no-go, the firm decides whether to pursue the opportunity. At the proposal, the firm commits a price in writing. At award, the client selects the firm. Kickoff comes only after all of these. By the time you sit in that first meeting, four separate decisions have already been made without you.” |
| 2:10–2:35 | Timeline remains on screen. Text overlay, bold, reads “The earlier you are involved, the more you can shape the project.” | “Retain this idea. The earlier you are involved, the more you can shape the project before the firm commits to it. A project manager who is involved at the lead helps shape those commitments.” |
| 2:35–3:05 | Split screen compares “Shape the decisions”, showing a project manager in a planning conversation, with “Review and verify the decisions”, showing a project manager reviewing a completed proposal. | “Neither assignment makes you a lesser project manager. Both are real responsibilities, and Weston & Sampson needs people who perform each one well. The two assignments require different work. Shaping a pursuit means asking questions before anyone has committed to an answer. Verifying a pursuit means reading another person’s judgment and deciding whether the evidence supports it. This video teaches the system well enough for you to perform either assignment deliberately.” |
| 3:05–3:35 | Transition graphic reads “How does the firm earn revenue?” The Weston & Sampson wordmark appears with the ampersand in green. | “Consider a broader question. How does Weston & Sampson earn revenue? Every one of those pursuit decisions depends on the economic model that I will show you next.” |
| 3:35–4:15 | Motion graphic shows three nodes, “Sell the work,” “Perform the work,” and “Receive payment,” followed by a fourth node, “100% employee owned.” | “The firm sells expertise delivered as hours of labor, performs the work, and receives payment. Weston & Sampson is 100% employee owned. No outside shareholder receives the profit. That fact changes what a good pursuit means at this firm.” |
| 4:15–5:05 | NEW graphic shows two paths from the same starting bar. “Priced correctly” climbs into a rising line labeled “Employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) share value.” “Priced only to stay busy” flattens into a level line. | “Consider what that means in dollars. When a pursuit is priced to cover its full cost and earn a fair margin, that margin flows into the firm’s stock value and, once a year, into your employee stock ownership plan account. When work is priced at a discount only to keep staff busy, no margin remains to flow anywhere. The hours worked are the same. The outcome differs for every owner in this company, including you.” |
| 5:05–5:45 | On-screen text reads “You are an owner.” Documentary-style staff footage. | “If you work at Weston & Sampson, you are an owner through the employee stock ownership plan. When a project performs well, the margin returns to the people who performed the work. That is a financial mechanism, not a slogan, and it depends on decisions made at the pursuit stage, long before construction begins.” |
| 5:45–6:30 | NEW split-screen graphic compares “Win at the right price,” showing a sound margin bar and rising employee stock ownership plan value, with “Win at any price,” showing a thin, nearly flat margin bar. | “When someone proposes winning the work first and resolving the margin later, examine that proposal carefully. A win at the wrong price commits the firm’s hours without growing any owner’s account. As a future project manager, give the price the same care that you give to winning the selection.” |
| 6:30–7:00 | Timeline reappears at a small size with “Lead” highlighted. Text reads “Next, what does an hour cost?” | “A project begins with a pursuit decision. The next video reduces the entire economic model to one number, the billing rate.” |
| 7:00–7:35 | NEW rate graphic shows a single highlighted number labeled “?/hr.” | “That one number contains the wage, the overhead, the margin, and the employee stock ownership plan contribution, combined into every hour that anyone on your team bills. Once you can read a billing rate, a rate sheet shows you the entire model.” |
| 7:35–8:05 | Companion icon pulses with the label “Try it yourself. The Revenue Model.” | “Before you continue, open the companion and work through the revenue model, the sequence of subtractions from gross revenue to profit, with real numbers. The exercise takes a few minutes and will make the next video easier to follow.” |
| 8:05–8:35 | NEW brief hold on the Weston & Sampson wordmark with the ampersand pulsing green. | “The next video presents the whole business model within one number and one hour.” |
| 8:35–9:00 | Weston & Sampson logo lockup with AEC LEAD / Zweig Group co-brand. Outro music. | “I will see you in the next video.” [END VIDEO 1] |
Video 2 of 3
| Time | On-screen | Narration (VO) |
|---|---|---|
| 0:00–0:20 | A single large number shows a sample project’s gross revenue (illustrative). A portion flows into a grey pool labeled “Subconsultants + Reimbursables.” | “Consider a project that bills a client one million dollars. That figure is not the number that matters. Watch what happens to it.” |
| 0:20–0:55 | The grey pool drains away, leaving a smaller blue number labeled “Net Service Revenue (NSR).” | “The first portion passes through to others. The amount that remains is net service revenue, the number the firm plans and staffs against.” |
| 0:55–1:40 | NEW graphic with real numbers shows “$1,000,000 gross → −$150,000 subs & reimbursables → $850,000 NSR.” | “Assume the million-dollar project pays $150,000 to subconsultants and reimbursable expenses. Those are pass-through costs that do not affect the firm’s margin. The remainder is $850,000 of net service revenue. That is the number that matters to Weston & Sampson, not the million.” |
| 1:40–2:15 | NEW graphic shows “$850,000 NSR → $340,000 Direct Labor → $442,000 Overhead → $68,000 Profit.” | “The subtractions continue. Assume $340,000 of net service revenue pays direct labor, the wages of the people performing the work. Overhead, the cost of operating the firm, totals $442,000 on this project. The amount that remains after both is profit, $68,000. On an $850,000 project, that is about an 8% margin. That margin is typical.” |
| 2:15–2:35 | The revenue model graphic freezes and rotates 90° into a vertical bar labeled “ONE HOUR.” | “Apply that entire revenue model to a single billable hour and the result is a billing rate.” |
| 2:35–3:35 | NEW graphic with a worked example. The vertical bar builds from “Wage $43/hr” to “+ Overhead (1.60×)” to “BREAK-EVEN ≈ $111.80/hr.” | “Assume an employee’s wage is $43 an hour and the firm’s overhead factor is 1.60. That factor means $1.60 of indirect cost for every dollar of direct wage. Multiply $43 by 2.60, which is 1 plus 1.60, and the result is about $111.80. That is the break-even rate. An hour billed at exactly that rate covers its cost and earns the firm nothing.” |
| 3:35–4:10 | NEW. The bar continues building from “+ Profit” to “TARGET ≈ $150/hr.” | “Add a profit margin to the break-even rate and the result is the target rate, $150 an hour in this example. Revenue above break-even funds growth, bonuses, and the employee stock ownership plan contribution described in the previous video.” |
| 4:10–4:35 | The ratio “Target ÷ Wage = Multiplier” appears (illustrative, “≈3.49”). | “Divide the target rate by the wage and the result is the multiplier, about 3.49 in this example. The values are illustrative until Weston & Sampson’s actual numbers are loaded, but the calculation is the one you will use on the job.” |
| 4:35–5:15 | NEW footage shows a project manager reviewing a change-order form and hesitating over a signature line. | “This matters to you, not only to the accounting department. Each time you discount a fee, waive a scope change, or add unbilled hours, you lower the effective rate. Repeated often enough, those decisions bring a profitable project down to the break-even rate or below it.” |
| 5:15–5:45 | NEW graphic connects the multiplier to three small icons labeled “Hiring,” “Bonuses,” and “Next pursuit.” | “The multiplier a project achieves is one of the principal measures the firm uses to decide which work to pursue next, whom to hire, and where to grow. It is not an abstract ratio. It is a record of performance.” |
| 5:45–6:05 | Text overlay reads “A billing rate is the whole economic model applied to one hour.” | “When you see a billing rate, do not read it as an arbitrary number. Read it as the entire revenue model applied to sixty minutes of labor.” |
| 6:05–6:35 | NEW recap graphic shows the full sequence in small icons from left to right, Gross → NSR → Rate → Multiplier. | “The full sequence runs from gross revenue to net service revenue to direct labor, overhead, break-even, target, and multiplier. Every pursuit decision you will make in this module passes through this model.” |
| 6:35–7:10 | Companion icon pulses with the label “Build one yourself. Build-a-Rate.” | “Build a rate yourself in the companion. Enter a wage and an overhead factor and observe how the break-even and target rates change. Then return for the final part of Week 1, which explains how pursuit decisions become the firm’s staffing plan.” |
| 7:10–7:35 | NEW graphic transforms the multiplier into a small stack of pursuit cards, introducing the next video’s backlog graphic. | “A rate carries meaning only when it is attached to real, weighted work. The next video covers that subject.” |
| 7:35–8:00 | Weston & Sampson logo lockup, co-brand. | “I will see you in the next video.” [END VIDEO 2] |
Video 3 of 3
| Time | On-screen | Narration (VO) |
|---|---|---|
| 0:00–0:30 | Small pursuit cards (illustrative), each showing a fee and a win probability, slide into a growing stacked bar labeled “BACKLOG.” | “Take several pursuits with different fees and different probabilities of winning, and add them together. The sum is backlog, the amount the firm staffs and hires against before any of the work is won.” |
| 0:30–1:05 | One card zooms in. “Expected fee: $200,000 × Win probability: 40%” resolves to “$80,000, weighted revenue.” | “Two hundred thousand dollars at a forty percent probability equals eighty thousand dollars of backlog value. The arithmetic is simple.” |
| 1:05–2:05 | NEW. A second card joins the first. “Expected fee: $450,000 × Win probability: 65%” resolves to “$292,500.” Both weighted values stack into a running total of “$372,500,” then more cards stream in behind them, stacking the bar higher. | “Add a second pursuit. $450,000 at a sixty-five percent probability becomes $292,500 of weighted value. Combined, the two pursuits give the firm roughly $372,500 of backlog before either one is won. Every pursuit across the firm contributes to backlog in the same way. That is how many accurate percentages combine into one staffing plan.” |
| 2:05–2:35 | “40%” pulses, then a question mark appears. Text reads “Where did that number come from?” | “An employee entered that number. Was it an untested impression, or a judgment based on the client relationship and the competition? That question is not an arithmetic problem. It is a leadership problem.” |
| 2:35–3:10 | Full-frame prompt reads “If you entered this pursuit today, what assumption would concern you most?” Companion icon pulses. | “Consider this question and answer it in the companion. Is your greatest concern the win probability, the fee, or the competing firms? Select the one number in this pursuit that you would find hardest to defend to your regional manager.” [PAUSE POINT] |
| 3:10–3:35 | Backlog bar reappears, full. Text reads “The firm staffs and hires against this figure.” | “This stacked bar informs Weston & Sampson whether to hire, hold staffing constant, or pursue the next opportunity. Accurate data here is not routine paperwork. The firm hires against it.” |
| 3:35–4:30 | NEW. A Vantagepoint opportunity record fills in field by field (fee, win probability, close date), then the word “OUTDATED” stamps across a record that no one has updated in months. | “This is why the data you enter into Vantagepoint matters. A win probability that no one updates after the client stops responding is no longer reliable data. It is a guess, not evidence. Use the data only if someone is maintaining it.” |
| 4:30–5:00 | NEW. A dial graphic slides between “Impression” and “Evidence.” | “Setting that number accurately, rather than optimistically, is a distinct skill. You will develop it in Week 3. For now, note how many decisions depend on one accurate percentage.” |
| 5:00–5:30 | The screen quiets. The Week 1 timeline reappears faintly. Text overlay, large, Weston & Sampson blue, shows the signature line. | “Retain this sentence from this week. The scope, fee, schedule, and staffing of a project are largely determined before the project manager begins managing it.” |
| 5:30–5:55 | Text holds. Narrator continues, quieter. | “This is not because the project manager does not matter. By the time most project managers are assigned, the pursuit has already determined the price, the schedule, and the team. The earlier you are involved, the more of those decisions you shape yourself.” |
| 5:55–6:15 | Map graphic shows “Lead → Go/No-Go → Opportunity → Proposal → Project” with the first stage highlighted. | “You will see this map every week from this point forward. This week covers the lead stage.” |
| 6:15–7:00 | Water-tower silhouette graphic, then a folder graphic labeled “Town of Millbrook Wastewater Master Plan.” | “Next week introduces the opportunity that continues through this entire module. The Town of Millbrook requires a wastewater master plan. The decision is designed to be close. The town is a new client, the deadline is three weeks, the work requires a subconsultant for process modeling, and a competitor has already performed work for the town.” |
| 7:00–7:35 | Text reads “Some participants were involved before the decision. Others were not.” | “Some of you will learn that your role was involved before the go/no-go decision and helped shape it. Others will receive a role that was assigned after the decision. Identify which situation applies to you, because it determines your Week 2 work.” |
| 7:35–8:00 | NEW. A quick-check icon and a reference-card icon appear side by side. | “Before you finish, complete the two items below. Do not skip them. They carry forward into Week 2.” |
| 8:00–8:30 | Companion icon pulses with the label “Finish the week. Quick Check and Reference.” | “Complete the quick check and review the reference card. The card presents the formulas and vocabulary from all three videos on one screen.” |
| 8:30–9:00 | Weston & Sampson logo lockup, co-brand. Outro music, slightly warmer and longer to mark the close of the week. | “I will see you at the Millbrook case.” [END VIDEO 3 / END WEEK 1 VIDEO CONTENT] |