How to write a YouTube script
A YouTube script is the text of a video you say to camera. A long video needs a middle that holds together, so this guide plans the sections first and writes the sentences second. Moving a heading is quicker than rewriting a paragraph.
Start from the question the video answers
Write down the question the way a viewer would type it into the search box: “how to set up a desk for filming”, not “desk setup”. The title answers that question, and so does the first thing you say. If the opening takes a minute to reach the question, the viewer who searched for it waits a minute.
Plan the sections before you write sentences
Give each section a one-line heading and nothing else yet. A heading should name what the section covers, like “The camera and the light”, so you can check the order at a glance and move a section before any sentence depends on it.
Those headings can become the video’s chapters. YouTube builds chapters from a list of timestamps and titles in the description. According to YouTube Help, the first timestamp has to be 00:00, the video needs at least three timestamps in ascending order, and each chapter has to be at least 10 seconds long. YouTube Help gave these rules on 1 November 2026. A video you want chapters for therefore needs at least three sections.
Size the script in words
A working figure is about 150 words a minute, and the post on teleprompter speed explains where it comes from. At that rate the length of the video sets the length of the script:
| Length of the video | Words, about |
|---|---|
| 3 minutes | 450 |
| 5 minutes | 750 |
| 10 minutes | 1,500 |
| 15 minutes | 2,250 |
YouTube Help counts square or vertical videos of up to three minutes as Shorts, so at this pace the script for a Short runs to about 450 words at most.
Divide the total between your sections before you write them. If one section needs half the words, look at whether it is really two. Then read the finished script aloud with a timer, because your own pace decides the real length.
Write each section to be heard
- Open each section with a sentence that says what it covers, such as “Next, the camera and the light.” A viewer who jumped there from a chapter knows where they are.
- One idea per sentence, in plain verbs.
- Write numbers the way you will say them, and round any that do not have to be exact: “nearly three years” rather than “two years and ten months”.
- End a section so the next one follows, or say in one sentence why it comes next.
The guide to writing a teleprompter script goes further on numbers, names, capitals and cues.
Keep shot notes out of the lines you read
If the video cuts away to a screen recording or a close-up, write that in the outline next to the section it belongs to. Keep it out of the text you read on camera, so you never read a direction aloud. A cue you need while reading is a different thing: the guide to writing a teleprompter script keeps those in the script, each on its own line in square brackets.
An example outline: a six-minute video
The video answers the question from the start of this guide, how to set up a desk for filming, by going through one desk part by part. At 150 words a minute, 900 words make six minutes, and the word count of each section gives its start time. The last column holds the shot notes.
| Chapter | Starts at | Words | Shot notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| What this video covers | 00:00 | 60 | The whole desk, from the front |
| The desk and the chair | 00:24 | 200 | Close-up of the chair’s height lever |
| The camera and the light | 01:44 | 250 | Screen recording of the camera settings |
| The microphone | 03:24 | 200 | Close-up of the microphone arm |
| What I would change | 04:44 | 150 | None |
| The full list | 05:44 | 40 | The list on screen |
Every chapter is longer than 10 seconds, and there are more than three, so the list works as chapters. The times are estimates. After you record, replace them with the real ones before you paste the list into the description.
Recording a long script
A long script is easier to record in parts, one section at a time, so a slip costs you one section rather than the whole video.
Wispim, the teleprompter this site is about, runs on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Windows. On iPhone, Voice mode follows the words you say and waits when you pause, so you can stop to think without the script running on. Voice commands there go back a sentence or start over without a touch on the screen.
The YouTube page covers the beam-splitter rig, the start delay and which mode to use on a shoot.
Questions
How many words is a 10-minute YouTube video?
About 1,500 at 150 words a minute. Your own pace decides the real number, so time yourself reading one section and scale from that.
Does a YouTube video need chapters?
No. According to YouTube Help, creators can add their own chapters or rely on automatic ones, though not every video is eligible for automatic chapters. If you write your own, the first timestamp is 00:00 and there are at least three, in ascending order.