How to Write a Script for a Video

Creating a stunning video requires a wide variety of skills and talents. One of the key factors in a video’s success happens long before any lighting decisions are made or the audio recordings need editing. Excellent videos require excellent scripts, but writing a script for a video can be one of the most difficult things for a creator.

Because of that, we’ve created this step-by-step guide to creating a great video script! We’ve even included a free video script template that you can use to make sure all of your videos start with a solid foundation.

Why do you need a video script?

To get more inspiration

How often have you found that getting words flowing from your mind onto paper just opens a floodgate? Ideas and inspiration just seem to multiply once you allow them to flow. Because of this, the process of writing a video script can unlock ideas you may otherwise have missed. 

So often when we put pen to paper we are able to access pieces of our imagination that add important elements to our end product. Writing a video script can be a springboard for what will make your video impactful.

To deliver your message efficiently 

Structure and clarity are two non-negotiables for successful videos. Writing a script for your video is a great way to make sure that your message follows a logical pattern and that the viewer is able to clearly understand the point you are trying to get across. 

Writing a video script also helps to make sure that the message is delivered in a way that is in line with established brand standards – audience confusion is not efficient!

To save editing time

The script for your video will outline the audio and visual components that the final product should display. This could include sound bytes, illustrations, and animations among others. An editor who is able to work from a prepared video script will be able to do their job in a more timely way than the editor who is left to guess where each element belongs. 

A narrator or main character who is guided by a full script will have fewer instances of hesitation or interjections of fillers like “um”, “like”, and “uh”, which can significantly impact editing time.

To make recording easier

Recording is made infinitely easier when the process is guided by a well-developed script. If you are recording solo, having a script to refer to can help calm your nerves and keep you on topic. 

If you are recording an interview, being able to provide the script to the interviewee in advance can help them prepare, often resulting in fewer takes and less editing required to create an excellent end product.

How to write a video script?

We recommend writing scripts in collaborative ways, like by using Google Docs, so stakeholders can comment and react to the script as it’s developing.

Identify your audience 

A key step in video script writing doesn’t involve a pen, paper, or a video camera. Identifying the target audience for the video being developed is an all-important first step. Your choices around language, humor and tone will vary depending on the audience identified for the video. 

Creating a script that is engaging for teenagers is different than writing a script for a video targeting retirees! If you don’t know exactly who you are speaking to it is likely that your message won’t be well received.

Knowing your audience is also important for how the end product is used. A video geared toward teenagers may be only a few minutes long, recorded vertically, and placed on TikTok, while a training video for new employees would be much longer in duration and require less focus on an attention-grabbing hook. 

Set a goal for your video

The key question to ask yourself at this pivotal point is “Why is this video being made?” Is it meant to teach people something? To unify a group of people? To establish a brand’s identity? Knowing and sharing the answer to this question will help steer your video script writing and the work that everyone else involved is doing as well.

Choose the main characters

Good storytelling is key to creating compelling videos, and what is a story without some engaging and relatable characters?

If you are struggling to identify the main character, go back to your target audience and your goal. Think about who that audience would relate to and want to hear from concerning the goal you have established for the video. 

For example, if your video‘s goal is to build trust with a company following a public failure, having the CEO as the main character may suit, whereas if your video is a solution to a recurring workplace accident, the health and safety representative might be a good choice.

Your audience will dictate which character speaks to them. 

Write an outline

Starting with an outline helps to give structure to your video script. An outline is a great starting place to get all of your ideas out of your head and onto paper so that you can see which ones fit well in a structured video script and move you toward your goal and which ones may actually end up as distractions.

It can be tempting to jump right into video script writing but skipping this important step can cause your message to be lost and the video to appear overstuffed and disorganized. Your outline should help to establish what the beginning, middle, and end of the video script will include. You can include any details that might be helpful as you move into the next step – video script writing. 

Generate a script for you

We get it, writing can be tough and it’s not easy to start from scratch. Luckily, you don’t have to! With Audiate’s Generate Script feature, you can request a script about anything and Audiate will write it for you. Then, tweak and edit as needed to add your personality back into it. It’s super simple and can really speed up the process for you!

The A.A.A.A Formula

• Attention (Grab their attention in the first line)
• Agitation (Agitate the pain that you can solve)
• Activity (Show them how to solve it)
• Action (Call them to action and tell them how to get the solution)

Use this script template as a guide for your videos. Take a screenshot now and save it for whenever you need to refer back to the structure.

Breaking your outline down and writing a video script section by section is an excellent way to make sure your thoughts stay organized and the storyline for your video follows a logical progression.

Beginning: attention & agitation

Start writing with a hook, or a compelling introduction that delivers an accurate preview of your video. No clickbait here! Try phrases like “Have you ever…” and “The top three…”, as your starting point.

Ensure the viewer can recognize your brand and associate this video’s message with it. You can do this by incorporating brand colors into the scheme for the video, displaying a logo, and writing your video script using brand-aligned language and tone. This helps establish your video as something familiar and trustworthy.

Middle: activity

Deliver your message. You’ve drawn them in with the hook and established who you are, so now is the time to tell them exactly what you came here to tell them. Be sure to write this portion of your video script to be as concise as possible so that the message is clear.

End: action

Include a Call to Action (CTA). This is the opportunity in your video script to tell the audience exactly what you want them to do. Whether that’s “book now”, “watch the next video”, “buy now”, or anything else, do not miss this opportunity to provide that extra bit of clarity around what you want the viewer to do with the information you have just provided.

Tips to write an amazing video script

Stay true to yourself

We’ve all had the experience of watching someone speak, whether live or on video, and being painfully aware that they are reading from a script. 

So how do you prevent that from happening with your video scriptwriting? Well, a focus on writing conversationally is a big help with this.  If you’re writing a script that you will be speaking from, write it the way that you talk normally.

Make sure to write your video script using language that feels comfortable, is aligned with the brand you’re representing, and feels familiar. If you are comfortable and remaining true to your natural communication patterns (or those of the speaker you are writing for) your audience will be more fully engaged than if it feels obvious that you are “putting on a show”.

Get to the point

The average human attention span is a maximum of 8 seconds, and people are used to being entertained. Taking the time and energy to consume your content may not seem like a big ask, but in this day and age, it actually might be. 

For these reasons, it is important to get right to the point and be as concise as you can be when writing a video script. Surrounding your message with too much back story or context can be distracting and confusing for viewers. Save any of the information that you think is important to share but doesn’t fit well within a concise video script for use in future videos or other types of content.

Stick to the video script (mostly)

You are writing this video script for a reason right? And part of that reason is to make sure the message gets delivered and the video fulfills its goal. A little riffing or adlibbing here and there is ok but do try to stick to the script as much as possible. A few additions to add personality can go a long way, but too much will likely have a negative impact. 

If you or the person who will be presenting the script are likely to go off script, try to include some of the content that may inspire the adlibbing in the video script itself. This can reduce the temptation to go rogue. And if, in the end, the video script just isn’t working, a rewrite is often more effective than an improvised, unscripted video. 

Do a verbal run-through off-camera

A verbal run-through, or table read, is a great opportunity to take your video script out for a test drive and identify any challenges you may have missed in the writing phase. It is not at all uncommon for a word or phrase to look great on paper but sound ridiculous when spoken out loud. 

An off-camera run-through can also help to shorten sentences, cut unnecessary words, and make sure the real-life impact of the words chosen is the same as what you were hoping for during the video script’s writing.

Support any B-roll with the proper callouts in your main narrative

B-roll is a term used to describe secondary shots that are shown while the storyline continues audibly. Using B-roll footage can allow you to feature products, employees, happy customers, charts and graphs, testimonials, and other content that enhances the message presented by your video. 

Be sure to include cues and instructions for your narrator or main character to help integrate B-roll footage without causing confusion or distraction for the viewer. Phrasing like “…in the chart you see here…” can help the viewer contextualize what they see on the screen and guide the speaker to gesture or position themselves appropriately.

We’ve all seen the videos where the subject points in one direction and the B-roll footage shows up somewhere else, but that’s much less likely to happen to you with a properly scripted video. 

Don’t forget – there is no need to start from scratch every time you need to write a script for a video. If you have a video script that has worked well in the past, you can easily templatize it and keep using it!

If you need some help to get started, click here to download the free video script template we created for you. You simply document some background information, like your target audience and goals, and then fill in the blanks – what could be simpler?