How to write a video script. One idea, in your own words.

If you want to know how to write a video script that works on TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube, the method is simpler than it looks. A good script has one idea. You plan the payoff first and write the hook last. You time the script to the person speaking, and you end with a single call to action. The same method works for a 30 second Short and a 10 minute explainer. Only the structure around the idea changes.

There's now a further reason to get this right. On 1 October 2026 YouTube announced that Shorts recommendations will cut reach for channels that mainly re-upload or aggregate other creators' clips without significant changes. We'd build every script around one idea and your own commentary on it.

What shape should a short video script follow?

Videos under three minutes follow five beats:

1. A hook of about 10 to 14 words, with the keyword spoken.
2. One line on who you are.
3. A moment of intrigue.
4. The one idea.
5. A single soft ask.

The shape is adapted from Chris Goor's H.I.D.E. method (Hook, Intrigue, Deliver, Exit), taught at The Studio.

The intrigue beat needs the most care. It should be a true story or a common misconception. It is never an invented anecdote: if it didn't happen, it doesn't go in.

The order you write the beats in matters as much as the order you film them. Plan the payoff first, because every other beat points towards it. Write the hook last, once you know exactly what the viewer gets for staying. If you write the hook first, you're guessing what it needs to promise.

Here is an illustrative outline, made up for this guide, for a local plumber explaining when to bleed radiators:

• Hook (13 words): "When should you bleed your radiators? Here's how to tell in one minute."
• Who you are: one line saying they're a plumber working in the area.
• Intrigue: a misconception the plumber really hears from customers, stated plainly. It has to be one they actually hear.
• The one idea: how to tell whether a radiator needs bleeding, shown on a single radiator.
• Soft ask: "If this helped, save it for the colder months."

The payoff here is the demonstration on the radiator. Once that was planned, the hook could promise it in plain words.

How is a long video script different?

A short video carries one idea from start to finish. A long video works in chapters. Each chapter sets up a point, teaches it and pays it off before the next one begins.

Long videos also need planned moments that keep people watching. The script gives viewers a reason to stay about a third of the way through, and again about two thirds of the way through. Mark them in the script as deliberately as you mark the hook. A reason to stay might be a question you'll answer in the next chapter, or the most useful part of the video, signposted ahead.

Each chapter still keeps to the single-idea discipline of a short video. The long video is a sequence of small payoffs leading to the main one.

How long should the script be?

Time the script to the person who will say it. About 190 spoken words a minute is brisk for short videos. About 160 is right for long ones.

Those rates turn length targets into word counts:

• A 30 to 45 second Short at 190 words a minute is roughly 95 to 140 words.
• A video at the three-minute limit for short form is up to about 570 words at the same pace.
• A 10 minute long-form video at 160 words a minute is about 1,600 words.
• A YouTube long-form video of 5 to 15 minutes runs from about 800 to 2,400 words.

The hook takes up very little of that. At 190 words a minute, 10 to 14 words last around four seconds. If your opening runs past that, cut it.

Read the finished script aloud with a timer before you film. People speak at different speeds, so treat the rates as a starting point and adjust them to your speaker.

What goes in the script besides the words?

A script is also a shooting plan. Give each beat three things:

• A shot: wide, mid or close.
• Any on-screen text.
• The B-roll that runs over it.

This saves time on the day and makes it easier to keep something changing on screen.

Facts and opinions are handled differently. Write facts out in full, word for word, so the figure or claim is said exactly as you checked it. Opinions can be prompts. The speaker then puts them in their own words, which usually sounds more natural than a read line.

End with one call to action, not three. Choose the one that matters most for this video and leave the others out.

What does each platform want?

The settings below are current good practice as of October 2026. Platforms change their rules often, so check them again before a big piece of work.

TikTok is short form, in 9:16, at 20 to 170 seconds. Use 3 to 5 niche hashtags in the caption and no more than 5. Say the keyword in your first spoken line, show it on screen and put it first in the caption. Aim for most viewers to stay to the end. Get to the point fast and change something on screen every few seconds. Your shot list will help here.

Instagram Reels uses the same 9:16 frame and 20 to 170 second range, with at most 5 hashtags. Reels rank on watch time, replays and shares by DM. Say the keyword aloud. Put the caption's hook within the first 125 characters, and use keywords in preference to hashtags. Your soft ask on Reels is often best as an invitation to share the video with someone it would help.

YouTube Shorts is also 9:16. Put 3 to 5 hashtags in the description. The sweet spot is 30 to 45 seconds, and the cap is 3 minutes for square or vertical video. Put the keyword first in the title. A loop earns replays, so consider writing the last line so it leads back into the first.

YouTube long form is 16:9, at 300 to 900 seconds, with up to 3 hashtags. The title leads with the viewer's question and stays under 100 characters (65 to 80 is ideal). The description opens with a front-loaded summary, then lists chapters with timestamps, contact details and any disclaimer. The chapters in your script give you those timestamps. Pin a comment with a question, and use a custom thumbnail.

What does YouTube's Shorts change mean for your script?

YouTube's 1 October 2026 announcement cuts Shorts reach for channels that mainly re-upload or aggregate other creators' clips without significant changes. YouTube gave no start date. There's also no way to check whether a channel's reach has been cut. Treat it as in effect now.

The question is what counts as adding something. Some changes don't count:

• A voice-over that just describes what's on screen.
• Minor technical edits.
• Template-based bulk changes.

Your own commentary, analysis or storytelling does count. This is where the script method helps. If every Short is built around one idea and your view of it, the original part is written in from the start.

If you want to share someone else's video as it is, use the Posts tab instead. Viewers then watch the original upload.

A channel that moves from re-uploading to original work will have its reach re-evaluated. YouTube gave no timescale for that.

The change affects recommendations only. Monetisation stays under YouTube's existing reused-content policy.

The announcement doesn't address Shorts cut from your own long-form videos. We don't know how those are treated, so we won't guess.

For most small businesses and member organisations, the practical step is the same either way. Write each script yourself, around one idea, from facts you've checked, and say it in your own voice.

If you would rather not write every script from scratch, see how the Desk drafts video scripts from your facts in your voice, with every piece held for your approval.