How to Write a Script for a Short Video: Hook, Structure and a Full Example

Start with one point

Before you write a word, finish this sentence: “After watching, the viewer will know that…” If you need two sentences, you have two videos. Short videos fail most often because they try to cover a topic instead of making a point. “Pricing” is a topic. “Charge more than you think, because cheap customers churn fastest” is a point.

Write that one sentence at the top of your document. Every line you add later has to support it, or it gets cut.

Write the hook first

The first line decides whether anyone hears the second. On X, Reels, TikTok and Shorts, people scroll past in a moment, so the hook has to be a complete, interesting thought on its own. No greeting, no “so today I want to talk about.” Start in the middle.

Hooks that work for talking videos usually take one of these shapes:

• A claim that sounds wrong: “Your landing page is too long. Not too short. Too long.”
• A specific result: “I rewrote one sentence on our pricing page and trials went up.” Only use this if it really happened.
• A mistake the viewer is making: “If you open your videos with ‘hey guys,’ you’ve already lost half of them.”
• A question they already have: “Why does everyone else look natural on camera except you?”
• A short story in progress: “Last week a customer emailed me one line that changed our roadmap.”

The 60 to 90 second structure

Most talking videos in this range fit a four-part shape. The timings are a guide, not a rule, but if your setup runs past 20 seconds, the hook is probably buried.

How many words is 60 seconds?

VirtualSpeech, citing the National Center for Voice and Speech, puts average American English conversation at about 150 words per minute. That makes 60 seconds roughly 150 words and 90 seconds roughly 225. Most people speak a little slower on camera and add pauses, so treat those as ceilings. The honest test is to read your draft out loud with a timer.

Write for the ear, not the eye

A script is not an article. Nobody can re-read a sentence in a video, and you have to say every word without tripping. These rules make a script easy to say and easy to follow:

1. Keep sentences short. One idea per sentence. If you need a breath in the middle, split it.
2. Use contractions. “You’re” and “don’t,” not “you are” and “do not,” unless you want the stress.
3. Use plain words. “Use,” not “utilize.” “Help,” not “facilitate.”
4. Say “you.” Talk to one viewer, not an audience.
5. Repeat the point. On a page, repetition is padding. In a video, it is how people remember.
6. Cut stage directions from the spoken text. Put cues like [pause] or [smile] in brackets so you see them but never say them.
7. Read every line aloud as you write it. If you stumble, rewrite it. Do not plan to “just say it better” on camera.

Add pause and delivery markers

Markers turn a block of text into a performance. Keep them simple and consistent so you can read them at a glance on a teleprompter:

• Line break after every idea. Each line should be one breath.
• [pause] before a line you want to land. A beat of silence makes it sound important.
• Bold one word per sentence you want to stress. More than one and nothing stands out.
• [slow down] on the key sentence of the video.
• [smile] or [lean in] where your energy should lift, usually at the close.

Pauses feel long when you record and short when you watch. Leave them in while you read. Any long gaps can be cut afterward, as explained in how to remove pauses from a video.

A full example script

Here is a script for a 60 to 70 second video aimed at founders who avoid posting on camera. It is about 160 words, written in one-breath lines, with markers in brackets.

• Hook: Most founders don’t avoid video because they’re shy.
• [pause] They avoid it because they’re trying to remember what to say.
• Setup: You hit record. Your mind goes blank.
• You start over. Five takes later, you give up and post a text thread instead.
• And the thread gets a tenth of the reach your face would have.
• Payoff: Here’s the fix. [slow down] Stop remembering. Read.
• One. Write it the way you talk. Short lines. One breath each.
• Two. Put the words right under your camera, so your eyes stay on the lens.
• Three. When you trip, don’t restart. Pause, and say the sentence again.
• [pause] You cut the mistakes later. Nobody sees them.
• Close: Your viewers don’t need you to be a presenter.
• They need the thing you already explain on sales calls. [smile]
• So record one this week. Read it. Post it. Then tell me how it went.

Notice what the script does not have: no greeting, no “in this video,” no list of five tips when three will do. The hook states the problem in the viewer’s words, the payoff gives three concrete steps, and the close asks for one action.

Edit it down, then read it on camera

1. Read the draft aloud with a timer. If it runs long, cut whole lines, not single words.
2. Delete any line that does not support the one-sentence point you wrote at the start.
3. Check the first line alone. Would it make sense, and make you curious, with nothing after it?
4. Load it into a teleprompter under your camera and do two rehearsals out loud.
5. Record in one take, keep going through mistakes, then trim the pauses.

For the reading part, see how to read a teleprompter naturally. You can paste your script into our free online teleprompter and record your webcam in the browser, no signup needed.

Letting AI write the first draft

If a blank page is what stops you, start from a draft. In Scriptmade you type one sentence about the video, or paste a YouTube, TikTok or X video you liked, and Claude writes a script for speaking, with pauses, emphasis and delivery cues already marked. Prefer to riff? Ask for topic cards instead of a full script. You then read it right under the camera, and the pauses are cut when you stop recording. Edit the draft with the rules above, so it sounds like you. See plans.