Scripts commercials, Reels, YouTube
A video script is the document a crew shoots and edits from: the idea, the order of scenes, timing to the second and the voice-over text. We write scripts for commercials and brand films, Reels and Shorts, YouTube videos, explainers and video introductions. We don't shoot or edit. We hand over a script that any production team can follow. A writer drafts, an editor checks the timing and the fit with your brief. From $350 per script.
01 Basics
A video script is a written plan of a video that spells out what the viewer sees and hears in every second. It exists so that the director, camera operator, narrator and editor understand the video in the same way, and so that you can approve it before the shoot, when changes still cost nothing.
Our script has four parts:
We don't draw a shot list with camera directions or a storyboard: that is the director's work. But we give enough for them to build one, and if you need someone to produce it, we'll tell you which document format to ask for. At the end you have one Google Doc you can send to production.
The video is only one link in the chain. If it has to lead to a site or a landing page, the same writers can do the page the viewer lands on: Roholeva brings together copy, web development and promotion.
02 Types
The type of video sets the length of the script, its language and its pace. Below are the six formats we are asked for most often.
These words get mixed up, and that causes misunderstandings about price and scope. The table shows what is part of our work.
| Document | What's in it | Who makes it |
|---|---|---|
| Idea, concept | The main thought and form of the video, a paragraph or two | we do, part of the script |
| Script | Scenes, text, sound, time to the second | we do |
| Shooting script | Shots, angles, camera movement, lighting | the director |
| Storyboard | Drawings of the key frames | an artist or the director |
03 Sample
Here is how a script looks in two columns: picture, and sound with timing. The bakery, Early Loaf, is invented and the example is for illustration. The narration runs to about sixty words, which is roughly what fits into 30 seconds at an unhurried pace.
| Time | Picture | Sound, narration |
|---|---|---|
| 0:00–0:04 | A dark window, one light on. The baker tips flour onto the bench | City noise far away. Narrator: At four in the morning, nobody's up yet. |
| 0:04–0:10 | Hands knead dough, close-up. The oven door opens | Narrator: But Early Loaf is already baking the bread you'll buy at seven. Sourdough, no rush. |
| 0:10–0:18 | Bread on a wooden shelf, steam rising. A customer picks up a loaf | Narrator: It goes on the shelf warm. Not from a warehouse, not from yesterday's bags. Straight from the oven. |
| 0:18–0:25 | A street in the morning, a line of three people, all smiling | Music swells. Narrator: Come by before eight, while it's freshest. |
| 0:25–0:30 | The sign, the address, the logo on a plain background | Narrator: Early Loaf, 12 Maple Street. Open daily from six. |
04 How we build it
We start not with scenes but with a question: what should the viewer think or do after the video? There is one answer. Everything else you'd like to say goes into a separate list, and we decide whether it fits. A video with five ideas is remembered for none of them.
Timing is how the time is split between scenes. As a guide for narration, allow about two to two and a half words per second, or 120 to 150 words a minute at a calm pace. Thirty seconds of narration is roughly 60 to 75 words, and fifteen seconds is 30 to 38. You get a more exact figure by reading the text aloud: a stopwatch shows the real length. So the editor reads scripts out loud and cuts until the video fits its length without rushing.
We write for the ear: short sentences, plain words, no long chains of clauses. Words that are hard to say get replaced, and we mark the stress in rare terms. A pause is part of the text too, and it is marked in the document.
We suggest two or three directions: for example, a customer story, a demonstration of the process or a before and after comparison. You choose, and we write it out. This conversation is part of the work and takes less time than looking for an idea alone.
05 Reels and Shorts
In short vertical video a viewer decides within a second or two whether to keep watching. So a Reels script follows a different pattern from a TV commercial. We don't promise reach: the platform's algorithm sets it, not the script alone.
A line or a shot that stops the scroll: a question, the result up front, a denial of the obvious.
What the person will learn or see, and why they need it.
Three to five short shots or steps. On-screen text repeats the main point for people who watch without sound.
One call: follow, save, message, click. Not all of them.
Captions for the post and text for stories belong to a separate service, social media copy. If you want someone to run the whole account, there is social media management. The short-video format changes fast, so the pattern above is a starting point, and we adapt the actual script to your niche and platform.
06 Limits
A video production company or your in-house videographer will do all of this. The script we deliver is clear to everyone in the process, so you can compare quotes from production companies against one text.
07 Script or AI
Ask a language model to “write a script for a video” and it does it in a second. The result is a tidy template: an intro, three points, a call to action. It's hard to tell apart from the script of any other video about any other product. The model doesn't know that your baker really gets up at four, or that your customer buys bread not for herself but for a neighbor. Details like that make a video yours.
A sensible approach looks like this: AI helps sketch a rough draft for an internal discussion, and a writer with an editor works on the script. We write our scripts by hand and don't hand over generated text as written by a person. If you've already generated a script, bring it in for an edit: we'll rework the structure, check the timing and add the specifics that could not have come from nowhere.
08 Brief and mistakes
A script depends on four answers and on six mistakes we see most often. You provide the first, and we help you avoid the second.
The last mistake on the list is the most common. A person who has watched a video remembers one action, not three. So in every script we keep a single call to action and talk it through with you before we begin to write.
09 Prices and timing
A script is from $350, including the idea, the timing and the narration text. It's ready 3 to 4 days after the brief. We name the final amount after a conversation about the length, the format and the number of scenes.
| Service | What's included | Turnaround | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Video scripts | Concept, timed script, voice-over text | 3–4 days | from $350 / script |
| Audio ads and podcast scripts | 2–3 timed script options | 3 days | from $300 / spot |
| Ad copy | Several headline and body variants sized for each platform | 2–3 days | from $0.28 / word |
| Social media copy | Post copy, hook, call to action, hashtags if needed | from 3 posts a day | from $60 / post |
| Website and landing page copy | Brief, competitor review, wireframe, copy for every block | 5–7 days | from $1,200 / landing page |
The price of a script is not made up of the number of words in it, but of the work before the words: a conversation about the product and the viewer, choosing the idea, checking the timing out loud and the editor's pass. A script with a good idea means the crew doesn't have to improvise on set, where every hour costs money. A production company that receives a clear document usually keeps the shoot to the planned hours and doesn't pay for rework.
10 Questions
From $350 per script. The price includes the idea, a script timed by the second and the narration text. We name the final amount after the brief.
A script describes the idea, scenes, text and time. A shooting script adds directions for filming: angles, shots, camera movement. A storyboard is drawings of the frames. We write the script with timing, enough for a team to work from, and the director prepares the shooting script.
All three, plus a description of the sound and the on-screen text. We deliver in Google Docs with marks for pauses and scenes.
As a guide, an unhurried narrator speaks about 60 to 75 words in 30 seconds. We settle the exact length by reading the text aloud with a stopwatch.
Yes. For vertical video we build the script as hook, promise, body, action, and we spell out the on-screen text for people who watch without sound.
Yes, for videos of three minutes and up. The structure covers the intro, chapters, points where the shot changes and a call to action. For long videos we price by volume.
Usually two or three directions to choose from, after which we write out the one you pick. We agree the number at the brief.
We don't film or edit: we only write the script. Your videographer or any production company you work with can do the shoot.
Yes. The text is written for the ear, with pause and stress marks, and its length has been checked by reading aloud. For the text of a standalone audio ad, see audio ads and podcast scripts.
No. Scripts are written by a writer and edited by an editor. We don't hand over AI drafts as written by a person. If you already have a draft, we can edit it.
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