A simple script that will read the contents of a VTT file (transcript from zoom) and turn it into a simple script between the people talking.

vtt_to_flat.py

import re
import sys

def parse_vtt_to_flat(filename):
    try:
        with open(filename, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as file:
            content = file.read()

        # Remove WEBVTT header and empty lines
        content = re.sub(r'WEBVTT.*?\n\n', '', content, flags=re.DOTALL)
        content = re.sub(r'\n\n+', '\n\n', content)

        # Find all dialogues
        dialogues = re.findall(r'\d+\n(\d{2}:\d{2}:\d{2}.\d{3} --> \d{2}:\d{2}:\d{2}.\d{3})\n(.*?)\n', content, re.DOTALL)

        # Process dialogues
        last_speaker = None
        dialogue_lines = []
        for _, dialogue in dialogues:
            speaker_match = re.match(r'([^:]+): (.*)', dialogue.replace('\n', ' '))
            if speaker_match:
                speaker, text = speaker_match.groups()
                if speaker == last_speaker:
                    # Append text if the same speaker as the previous line
                    dialogue_lines[-1] += ' ' + text
                else:
                    # New speaker line
                    dialogue_lines.append(f'{speaker}: {text}')
                    last_speaker = speaker
            else:
                # No speaker identified, treated as continuation of previous speaker or standalone text
                if dialogue_lines:
                    dialogue_lines[-1] += ' ' + dialogue.replace('\n', ' ')
                else:
                    dialogue_lines.append(dialogue.replace('\n', ' '))

        # Write the result to a flat file
        flat_filename = filename.rsplit('.', 1)[0] + '_flat.txt'
        with open(flat_filename, 'w', encoding='utf-8') as outfile:
            outfile.write('\n'.join(dialogue_lines))
        
        print(f"Flat file created: {flat_filename}")

    except Exception as e:
        print(f"Error: {str(e)}")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    if len(sys.argv) < 2:
        print("Usage: python script.py <filename.vtt>")
    else:
        parse_vtt_to_flat(sys.argv[1])