Video script: [Working title]

Replace the blue placeholders with your own words and delete the grey notes as you go.

Company

[client or team]

Video type

[brand story, launch, testimonial, recruitment or internal update]

Length

[1:15 master, 0:30 cutdown]

Plays on

[homepage, careers page, event, intranet]

Versions

[16:9, 9:16, 1:1, captions]

Approvers

[one name each for script, rough cut, final cut]

Deadline

[date]

Brief

  • Audience: [who is watching]

  • The one message: [one sentence; two sentences means two videos]

  • What they should do next: [visit, apply, book, try]

  • Tone: [three words]

  • Mandatories: [logo, legal line, web address, dates]

Story outline

  1. Opening image: [the first thing we see and hear]

  2. Tension: [the problem, the stakes or the question]

  3. Turn: [what changes]

  4. Proof: [a number, a customer or something filmed]

  5. Close: [the last line and the call to action]

Script

One row per scene. Durations add up to the target length; narration runs about two words per second.

Scene

Visuals

Audio / VO

On-screen text

Duration

1

[what we see]

[narration, dialogue or sound]

[text or lower third]

[5 s]

2

[what we see]

[audio]

[text]

[10 s]

3

[what we see]

[audio]

[text]

[10 s]

4

[what we see]

[audio]

[text]

[10 s]

5

[what we see]

[audio]

[text]

[10 s]

End card

[logo]

[music out]

[web address]

[5 s]

See a filled-in scene

Scene 3 · Visuals: The owner walks the shop floor at 6 a.m. and greets a welder by name.
Audio: OWNER (V.O.): I still open it. Most of the people who walk in after me have been here longer than I've been in charge.
On screen: Dana Carrow, third-generation owner.
Duration: 10 s

From a brand story for an invented steel fabricator.

Let the picture do the work. Wherever the Visuals column already shows it, cut the words that say it.

Interview questions

For testimonials and culture videos. Ask people to repeat the question in their answer, so each soundbite stands on its own. Delete this section if nobody is interviewed.

  1. Tell me about your work and what a normal day looks like.

  2. What did a hard day look like before the change?

  3. Was there a moment you decided something had to change?

  4. What is different now? Is there a number that moved?

  5. What would you tell someone who isn't sure?

  6. Is there anything we didn't ask that you want to say?

Shot list

Shot

Location

People

Notes

[shot]

[where]

[who]

[time of day, lens, B-roll]

[shot]

[where]

[who]

[notes]

[shot]

[where]

[who]

[notes]

Music, graphics and releases

  • Music: [licensed track, or a brief for the composer]

  • Graphics: [lower thirds, charts, end card]

  • Releases: [who collects signed releases for people and locations]

  • Captions: [burned in, or a caption file]

Before the shoot

  • The script has been read aloud and timed

  • The one message survives a viewer with the sound off

  • Every claim and number is approved by the people it is about

  • Every Visuals cell is in the shot list

  • Releases are ready for everyone on camera

  • One approver is named for the script, the rough cut and the final cut