tts-director — скилл

---
name: tts-director
description: Direct a script for text-to-speech so it sounds like a real, engaged human, not a narrator reading. Persian (Farsi) first, English supported. It rewrites the text for the ear, maps the beats of a short-form video (reel, TikTok, Short), and adds ElevenLabs v3/v4 audio tags only where they earn their place ([excited], [whispers], [laughs], [chuckles], [gasps], [sighs], [sarcastic]...). It checks for over-tagging with a free linter and A/B-tests risky lines on the real voice before a full run. It also covers model rules (eleven_v4 ignores speed and style; multilingual_v2, flash and turbo read tags aloud) and converts the result for other TTS engines (OpenAI, Azure, Google). Use for ANY script headed to ElevenLabs or another TTS, and whenever someone wants a voice that is more exciting, emotional, expressive, human or viral, or asks about tone, emotion, laughter, pauses or pacing in TTS: «لحن»، «احساس»، «هیجان»، «خنده»، «تگ»، «انسانی‌تر»، «گوینده»، «صداگذاری».
---

# TTS director: write for the ear, tag the beats, test by ear

A great voiceover is about 80% text and 20% tags. The text sets the rhythm, the register and where the energy goes. Tags only push a delivery the text has already set up. A script with a tag on every line sounds like an over-acted ad and loses the viewer. A script with none often sounds read.

This skill does not replace your TTS pipeline. It prepares the text that goes into it. Scripts are stdlib Python 3.9+; ffmpeg/ffprobe are optional and give durations.

## Workflow

Do the steps in order. The tools check them, so none can be skipped silently:
- `tag_lint.py` gives an ERROR when a line has no beat label;
- `tag_lint.py --check-approved` fails until the person has approved the exact text. Gate your TTS call on it.

Before step 1, read the delivery reference for the script's language (`references/persian-delivery.md` or `references/english-delivery.md`) and `references/audio-tags.md`. The linter checks only part of them.

1. **Beat map, inside the script.** End every spoken line with « # ROLE ENERGY» (energy 1–5):
   ```
   [excited] Wait, this ends Friday... and it's not coming back!   # HOOK 5
   [whispers] Here's the trick...                                  # TIP 2
   ```
   The roles are:
   - HOOK
   - SETUP
   - REVEAL
   - ITEM (a list point)
   - TIP (insider advice)
   - JOKE or IRONY
   - WARNING
   - CTA

   Plan the arc before touching words. See [Viral arc](#viral-arc). Strip the labels before the text goes to the TTS: `tag_lint.strip_beats(text)` does it, or remove everything from « #» to the end of each line. For a script that is not a short-form video, pass `--no-beats`.
2. **Rewrite for the ear.** Keep the meaning and every fact. Rewriting means:
   - shorter sentences;
   - the punch word moved to the end;
   - the interjections a native speaker would actually use;
   - punctuation that marks breaths.