How do you write a video script?

Write the hook first, then the one promise the video makes, then the body in three or four sections with a first sentence each, then the payoff, then one call to action. Keep every sentence short enough to say in one breath, time it at about 150 words a minute, and read it out loud once before you record.

What is the structure of a YouTube script?

Hook (the first 10 to 15 seconds), the promise (what the viewer gets if they stay), the body in sections, the payoff (the thing you promised, delivered plainly), and a call to action. The hook and the payoff do most of the work; the body is where most scripts get flabby.

Should a video script be word for word or an outline?

Word for word, if you're reading from a teleprompter, and an outline if you're not. A word-for-word script with a teleprompter that follows your voice gives you the precision of a script and the eye contact of a conversation; a word-for-word script you try to memorize gives you neither.

What is a good free video script template?

The three in this post: a talking-head YouTube video, a 60-second Short, and a podcast episode. Each one is marked up in sections, so you can paste it straight into a script editor and fill it in.

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How to Write a Video Script (With Free Templates for YouTube, Shorts and Podcasts)

Q: How long should a video script be?

Count words, not pages, at about 150 words a minute: 150 words for a 60-second Short, 750 for a five-minute video, 1,200 for an eight-minute one. Written scripts always run long out loud, so aim a little under the length you want.

By Tyler BundyOctober 21, 20268 min read

A video script is five parts, in order: the hook, the promise, the body in sections, the payoff, and one call to action. Most people get the body right and lose the viewer in the first fifteen seconds, because the hook was written last, in a hurry, after the "real" work. Write it first.

That's the structure. The rest of this post is the sizes, the sentences, and three templates you can paste and read.

What goes in a video script?

The hook is the first ten to fifteen seconds, and it has one job: give the viewer a reason to stay for the next sentence. Not the whole video. The next sentence. A question they want answered, a claim they want to see proven, a result they want to get.

The promise is one line, right after the hook, that says what they'll have when the video ends. "By the end of this you'll know exactly how much a script should weigh for a five-minute video." If you can't write this line, you don't have a video yet; you have a topic.

The body is three or four sections. Each section gets a first sentence that could stand on its own as a chapter title, so someone who drifts can catch the thread at the next one. Three sections for anything under five minutes. Four or five for eight to ten. Six is a course module, not a video.

The payoff is where you deliver the promise, plainly. Say the thing. Don't tease it again. The videos that feel satisfying are the ones where the last section pays what the first one promised, and the viewer can tell.

The call to action is one ask. One. "Grab the template below." "Watch the next one." Two asks is zero asks.

I spent ten years as a realtor before I made videos, and the thing nobody tells you about talking to a camera is how much the shape matters compared to the words. A market update with a clear hook and one promise beats a beautifully written one that opens with "Hey guys, hope you're doing well." Every time.

How long should a video script be?

Count words, not pages, and count them at about 150 words a minute. That's the pace most people talk at in conversation and on camera.

A 60-second Short is about 150 words, and most run 160 to 170 because people talk faster when the clock is short.
A five-minute video is about 750 words.
An eight-minute video, the typical YouTube talking head, is about 1,200 words.
A ten-minute lesson is about 1,500 words.

Written scripts run long. Always. A script that looks like a minute on the page is usually 75 or 80 seconds out loud, because we write in complete sentences and talk in short ones. So aim a little under: write 140 words for a Short, 700 for five minutes.

The honest way to know is to time it before you record. Paste it into the script timer and it shows the reading time as you type, at a slow, average or fast pace. If it says four minutes and you need two, cut it now, while it's still text, not later, as takes. The timer will also trim or stretch the script to a length for you, in your own words, if you'd rather not do the cutting by hand.

How do you write a hook that works?

A hook is a sentence, maybe two, that creates a gap the viewer wants closed. Five shapes that work, with an example each from the kind of videos I make:

The claim. "Most people price their house wrong, and it's not because they're greedy."
The question they already have. "How long should a five-minute video script actually be?"
The result, shown first. "This is the take I got in one try. Here's the setup."
The mistake. "I read my first fifty videos off a laptop screen and you can see it in every one of them."
The number. "Three hundred words. That's the difference between a video people finish and one they don't."

What all five have in common: they're specific, they're short, and they don't start with a greeting. Say the thing, then say hello if you must.

How do you write a script that sounds like talking?

Write it with your mouth, not your eyes. The full version of this is in why your script sounds unnatural when you read it out loud; the short version is five rules:

One idea per sentence. If an "and" or a "which" is holding two thoughts together, split it.
Use contractions. "It isn't," not "it is not." Nobody says the second one out loud.
Front-load the point. Out loud, a listener who doesn't know where you're going stops following.
Cut the words you'd never say to a friend. "Utilize." "Furthermore." "In order to."
Write the breath. Put a paragraph break where you'd inhale, so the pause lands on purpose.

Then read it out loud once, standing up, at your real pace. Every place you stumble is a bug in the text, not in you. Fix the line.

Template: a YouTube talking-head video (8 minutes, about 1,200 words)

Paste this into your script editor and fill in the brackets. The ## lines are section tags: in ScriptFox they become the chapters of the script, so the prompter and the retention chart both know where each part is.

## Hook {Hook}
[One sentence that opens a gap: a claim, a question, a result, a mistake or a number. 20 to 40 words.]

## Intro {Intro}
[The promise: what they'll have by the end. One or two sentences. Then, if you need it, one sentence of why you're the one to say it. 40 to 60 words.]

## Section 1 {MainPoint}
[First sentence states the point. Then the reason, one example, and what to do with it. 250 to 300 words.]

## Section 2 {MainPoint}
[Same shape. Put the strongest material here, not last: viewers who reach the middle mostly stay. 250 to 300 words.]

## Section 3 {MainPoint}
[Same shape. 250 to 300 words.]

## Payoff {MainPoint}
[Deliver the promise from the intro, plainly, in one paragraph. 100 to 150 words.]

## Call to action {CTA}
[One call to action. 30 to 50 words.]

Template: a 60-second Short, Reel or TikTok (about 150 words)

## Hook {Hook}
[The gap, in the first two seconds. 10 to 15 words. No greeting.]

## Body {MainPoint}
[One idea. The reason it's true, then one example or one step. 90 to 110 words.]

## Outro {Outro}
[The payoff in one line, then one ask or the loop back to the first line. 15 to 25 words.]

Short-form has its own rules about pace and hooks; I wrote them up in TikTok and Shorts scripts: the structure that works in 60 seconds.

Template: a podcast episode (20 to 40 minutes)

A podcast script is a map, not a transcript. Write the parts you'll say word for word (the open, the transitions, the close) and bullet the rest.

## Cold open {Hook}
[The best 30 seconds of the episode, said up front. Word for word. 60 to 80 words.]

## Intro {Intro}
[Who you are, what the episode is, why today. Word for word. 80 to 120 words.]

## Segment 1 {MainPoint}
[Topic in one line. Then 3 to 5 bullets of what you'll cover, each with the number, the name or the story that goes with it.]

## Segment 2 {MainPoint}
[Same.]

## Segment 3 {MainPoint}
[Same.]

## Transitions
[One sentence per transition, word for word, so you never say "so, uh, moving on".]

## Close {Outro}
[The one thing to remember, the one ask, and the next episode. Word for word. 80 to 120 words.]

How do you go from the script to the recording?

Three steps, and the second one is the one everyone skips.

Time it. Paste the script into the timer. If it's over, cut whole sections before you trim sentences; dropping the weakest of four sections takes two minutes off cleanly, while trimming every sentence by a fifth makes all of them worse.
Say it once, out loud, standing up. Mark every stumble. Rewrite those lines. This takes fifteen minutes and saves ten takes.
Read it from something that follows your voice. A fixed-speed prompter makes you chase the text or wait for it. ScriptFox listens as you read and keeps the next line where your eyes are, so you can pause, ad-lib and look at the lens. It's free to try and the YouTube version links your retention chart to the sections you just wrote.

The takeaway

Write the hook first, the promise second, and keep the body to three or four sections with a first sentence each. Count words at 150 a minute and aim a little under. Read it out loud once before the camera is on. Then read it from a prompter that follows you, and spend the takes on delivery instead of on finding your place.

Grab one of the templates above, fill it in, and time it. That's a video.