Prompts for podcast and interviews

What it is good at

• Good at generating follow-up questions that avoid the obvious first answer a guest will give.
• Turns long transcripts into show notes, timestamps and pull quotes quickly.
• Useful for finding the actual narrative thread buried in a rambling conversation.
• Can draft guest outreach and briefing emails from the same research.

Where it falls short

• It cannot research a guest beyond what you supply or what's publicly indexed, verify facts yourself.
• Generated questions can be generic without a real transcript or article to draw from.
• It will overuse 'fascinating' and 'dive into' style phrasing unless you ban it explicitly.

How to use it for creative work

1. 01

   Feed it real material on the guest

   Paste their bio, a recent interview or article rather than asking the model to guess who they are, this is the single biggest quality difference.

2. 02

   Ask for questions in tiers

   Request warm-up, core and one uncomfortable-but-fair question separately, so the shape of the interview is visible before you record.

3. 03

   Ban the obvious opening question

   Explicitly ask what question every other interviewer would ask, then ask for something better.

4. 04

   Turn the transcript around fast

   Paste the raw transcript straight after recording and ask for the three best quotes, a title, and show notes in one pass.

5. 05

   Keep a swipe file of good follow-ups

   When a generated follow-up genuinely worked in a real interview, save it, reusable follow-up patterns are more valuable than one-off questions.

Ready-to-use prompts

Here is background on my guest: [paste bio/article/past interview]. Summarise: their core expertise, one contrarian opinion they hold, one thing most interviewers probably ask them, and one thing almost nobody asks them.

Write interview questions for a conversation with [guest, one line on who they are] about [topic]. Give me: 2 warm-up questions, 5 core questions building in depth, 1 fair but uncomfortable question, 1 closing question that invites a memorable last line.

The obvious first question for [guest/topic] is [obvious question]. Give me five alternative opening questions that get to something more interesting faster.

Here's a guest's likely answer to my first question: [paste anticipated or past answer]. Write five follow-up questions that push past the surface-level version of that answer.

Here is the raw transcript: [paste transcript]. Produce: a one-sentence episode summary, 5 timestamped chapter markers with titles, 3 pull quotes under 25 words each, and 3 suggested episode titles.

Read this transcript and identify the 3 moments most likely to work as standalone short-form clips, moments with a complete thought, a surprising claim, or an emotional beat. Quote the exact lines and timestamps. Transcript: [paste].

Write a short outreach email inviting [name] to be a guest on [podcast name, one-line description]. Reference their [specific work/opinion] and propose one concrete topic angle, not a generic invite.

This transcript covers several topics: [paste transcript or summary]. Identify the single narrative thread that ties it together and suggest how to reorder or trim the edit around that thread.

Write 3 questions to send [guest name] ahead of recording so they can think about specifics, not so scripted it kills spontaneity, but enough to avoid vague answers on record.

Rewrite these interview questions to remove any phrase an AI would obviously produce ('dive into', 'unpack', 'journey', 'fascinating'). Keep the intent of each question. Questions: [paste list].

Questions people ask

Can AI research my guest for me?

It can organise and summarise material you give it or that's already public and well-indexed, but it cannot reliably find niche facts on its own, always verify anything specific before airing it.

What's the biggest mistake people make with this?

Asking for questions from just a guest's name with no real material behind it, the questions come back generic. Paste an actual bio, article or past interview first.

Is this useful for solo shows too?

Yes, use the transcript prompts to turn a solo monologue recording into show notes, chapters and clips just as effectively.