How to Get Comfortable with Writing a Video Script

As online video has surged in popularity, many web and print copywriters are looking to make the move into video scriptwriting. Marketing managers and entrepreneurs are also seeking to sharpen their scriptwriting skills for business videos.

Writing for the audio-visual medium can be daunting at first. You need to master writing for the eye and for the ear. You also need to know the technical jargon used in video production.

I recommend you buy Video Scriptwriting by Barry Hampe. Although he wrote it nearly 20 years ago, his book is still the best ever written on the topic. I believe Video Scriptwriting is now out of print; however, you can still buy used copies from resellers on Amazon.com.

Video Scriptwriting delivers an excellent overview on the nuts and bolts of writing a script, explaining video production techniques, and getting script assignments.

To get a feel of writing for this medium, find script samples by other writers and then write the script out longhand or type it on a computer. Experts suggest that writing longhand makes a bigger impact on your brain than typing. But I’ve found both methods equally helpful.

You can find some dual-column scripts on my portfolio page. Hampe has an entire script for a corporate video in the appendix of his book.

Not familiar with video script formatting? There are two different styles …

The dual column A/V format…

And the single-column screenplay format…

Hampe recommends you try both formats to see how it affects your writing. You can download a free copy of the scriptwriting software Celtx, which contains both A/V and screenplay templates.


Is one format better than the other? I think it’s a matter of personal preference. I’ve written my scripts in the dual-column style, but it can be a pain getting the formatting right. Unless your client insists the script be delivered in a specific format, you should choose the format that you find the easiest to use.

Hampe says video scripts written in the dual column format often influences the client to read the narration in the right column but completely ignore the video portion in the left, which weakens the impression of the script. In my experience, I haven’t found this to be the case. But it’s a point you may want to consider before settling on a format.

Video Scriptwriting: Show or Tell?

Is it always better to show than tell in a video script? Ideally, yes. Although video is a combination of sight and sound, your viewer's dominant sense is usually vision. And you want to emphasize it to make the strongest impact.

Unfortunately, reality often erases ideals. Time, budget and resources play an important role in video production. And what you wrote in your video script may not always be achievable for the final product.

Here are three possible situations when telling might steal the spotlight from showing.

1. Abstract information - You need to cover information that is difficult to show visually.

2. Visual content is unavailable – For a variety of reasons, you might not have video content to support the narration.

3. Lack of time – You have more visual content than time available in the video. Instead, you could combine script sections you were planning to show visually and explain it with narration.

For example, I wrote a script on a lawn mower attachment, but we didn't have the budget to create graphics for the technical specifications section, so the information was included in the narration for the raised motor block in video scene 13 ...

Here's some tips on creating effective narration:

1) Make it easy for your narrator. Write out numbers in your video script, so
1, 250 would become: one thousand two hundred and fifty. Choose Anglo over French/Latin based English words. Vary sentence length so narration doesn't sound choppy or monotonous. (Reading aloud your script before submitting a draft is always a good idea.)

2) Avoid explaining the obvious - You don't need to narrate verbatim what's happening on the screen. Use narration to expand on important information that is related to the visual content. You want the audio content of the script to complement the video rather than duplicating it aurally.

3) Hire a professional announcer - Nothing kills rapport with your viewers faster than narration read by a non-professional broadcaster. Amateurs almost always sound monotonous and their pacing is terrible. It's more time consuming using non-pros, and this could impact your bottom line.