YouTube video script template, with a complete example

There are two ways to record a YouTube video without a script. One is to have a lot of practice in front of the camera. The other is to record forty minutes to keep nine. Almost everyone starts with the second.

A script doesn't have to be text you memorise. For a YouTube video it's enough to know what is seen and what is said at each moment, in the right order, with a rough idea of how long it runs. This template is exactly that: a two-column script you can copy into a document, and an example written out in full so you can see how it ends up.

The two-column script

It's the classic television format, and it still works because it separates the two things you need to plan: what is seen on the left and what is heard on the right. Copy it as is:

Time	Picture (what is seen)	Sound (what is said and heard)
0:00-0:20	Hook. The result, or the most striking moment of the video.	One sentence saying what's going to happen and why it's worth watching.
0:20-0:45	Promise. You on camera, or the starting point.	What the viewer will take away by watching to the end.
0:45-3:00	Section 1. Shots of the first step.	The explanation, with a concrete example.
3:00	Re-hook. A preview of what's coming.	"The hardest part is still to come."
3:00-6:00	Section 2.
6:00-8:30	Section 3.
8:30-9:30	Payoff. The promise from the start, delivered.	A one-sentence summary and what you learned.
9:30-10:00	Close. End screen with the next video.	One request only: watch the next video, subscribe or comment.

The time rows are a guide for a ten-minute video. What doesn't change is the order: hook, promise, sections, payoff and close.

How many words fit

Speaking naturally, people say about 140 to 160 words a minute. A ten-minute video is therefore around 1,400 to 1,500 words of script, a bit less if there are stretches without voice, like music, demonstrations or B-roll.

If the script runs well over that, it's not that you talk slowly: there's a section too many.

The parts, one by one

The hook (first 20 seconds). Show the end before the beginning. If the video restores a bike, open with the finished bike rolling. The question it has to answer is: "why shouldn't I go to another video?".

The promise. One sentence about what the viewer gets for staying. The more concrete, the better: "you'll know which parts to replace and which to keep" beats "I'll tell you everything about bikes".

The sections. One idea each, with its example. A section without an example is usually a section you can cut.

The re-hooks. Every two or three minutes, a line that hints at what's next. It's what stops people leaving halfway.

The close. YouTube lets you add an end screen in the last 5 to 20 seconds of a video. Plan that stretch in the script, with a clean picture so the end-screen elements don't cover anything important.

A written example: "I restore an 80s bike for 40 euros"

Time	Picture	Sound
0:00-0:12	The finished bike riding down a hill. Cut to the bike as it was: rust, flat tyre.	"This bike spent twenty years in a storage room. Today it rode down this hill. And it cost me forty euros."
0:12-0:35	To camera, in the workshop, bike beside me.	"I'll show you what I replaced, what didn't need replacing and which parts aren't worth saving money on."
0:35-3:10	Stripping it down: chain, brakes, tyres. Close-ups of the parts.	Section 1: "First, see what can be saved…". Chain with sandpaper and oil: €0. New tyres: €18.
3:10	Shot of the rear brake, broken.	"And then came the brake. This is where I nearly gave up."
3:10-6:20	Fitting the new brake, step by step.	Section 2: why the brake is the part you don't skimp on.
6:20-8:40	Sanding and painting the frame, sped up.	Section 3: "The paint is what shows most and matters least."
8:40-9:30	The finished bike, out on the street. Receipt for the parts on screen.	"Forty euros and two afternoons. The one thing I wouldn't do again: …"
9:30-10:00	Still shot of the bike. End screen.	"If you want to see how I tuned the gears, it's in this other video."

Notice the script doesn't spell out every word of the sections. For a YouTube video it's usually enough to write out the hook, the promise, the re-hooks and the close in full, and keep the sections as bullet points. That way it sounds like you and not like someone reading.

Script in hand, shoot and edit

Shoot following the script, but not in its order: group by location and light. Then, in the edit, the picture column is your shot list.

In the Polimake desktop app's free video editor your footage is transcribed on your own computer, so you can find a take by what you said —"this is where I nearly gave up"— instead of listening back to everything. Export without a watermark and with no length limit.

If the video also has a short version for Reels or Shorts, the Reels and TikTok script template and the vertical storyboard help you adapt it.

If you write the script for a client

Add a fourth column to the table: review. Mark there which lines the client has to approve —prices, figures, product mentions, claims legal will want to see— so the review goes straight to what matters and the whole script doesn't get reopened. And before the script, a tight content creator brief prevents half the changes.

Frequently asked questions

How do you write a script for a YouTube video?

Split the video into hook, promise, content sections, payoff and close, and for each part write what is seen and what is said, with an approximate time. The two-column format, picture on the left and sound on the right, is the most practical way to plan the shoot.

How many words is a 10-minute script?

Around 1,400 to 1,500 words, because people speaking naturally say between 140 and 160 words a minute. If the video includes demonstrations, music or shots without voice, the script needs fewer words.

Do you have to write the script word for word?

Not necessarily. Many people write out only the key lines, like the hook, the re-hooks and the close, and keep the rest as bullet points. That way the video sounds natural rather than read, without losing the structure.

What is a two-column script?

It's an audiovisual script format that splits the page in two: on the left, the picture, what is seen on screen; on the right, the sound, what is said and heard. It's used in television, advertising and corporate video because it lets you plan the shoot and the edit at the same time.

How long should a YouTube video be?

As long as the content needs, without padding. A tutorial can work in five minutes and an in-depth analysis in twenty. What does help is a hook that makes clear in the first few seconds what the viewer is going to get.