Explainer video script: a template, word counts and three real scripts

The explainer script template

Every explainer has one job: take a viewer from a question to an answer they can repeat. These five beats do that for almost any topic, from a payment flow to a heat pump to a CRM.

Beat	What it does	Share of the script
1. The question	Names the viewer’s puzzle in their own words	One line
2. The answer	Gives the whole idea in one plain sentence, before any detail	One line
3. The steps	Walks through how it works, one step per line, in order	Most of the script
4. The recap	Repeats the idea in a few words the viewer can carry away	One short line
5. The next step	Says what to do now	One line

Write each beat as spoken lines, and beside every line note the picture it needs. That second column is your storyboard.

How many words for 30, 60 and 90 seconds?

Count only the words the voice says. Leave about 3 seconds for the opening and the end card, then budget about 2 words for every remaining second. That pace sounds natural and leaves room for the short pauses that let each picture land.

Length	Spoken words	Question and answer	Steps	Recap and next step
30 seconds	about 54	about 14	about 28	about 12
60 seconds	about 114	about 20	about 76	about 18
90 seconds	about 174	about 24	about 126	about 24

If your steps do not fit, the film needs to be longer or the topic narrower. Cutting words until each line becomes a list of nouns makes a film that sounds like an announcer reading a slide.

Writing for the ear

• Short whole sentences. “It starts in the panel, where cells are built to catch the light” is easy to hear. A sentence with three commas is not.
• Talk to one person. Use “you” and contractions. “Your app is only the front door” lands harder than “The application functions as an interface”.
• Answer before you explain. “It moves heat. It doesn’t make it.” Then the detail.
• Let the picture carry the noun. If the screen shows four cards labelled Ask, Match, Label and Undo, the voice can say “four guardrails sit on every write” and let the cards do the rest.
• One idea per line. If a line needs “and also”, it is two lines with two pictures.
• End on something repeatable. “Sunlight in. Power out.” “Moved, not made.” Viewers remember a rhythm.

Three real explainer scripts

All three were made with Voom from one-line prompts. The time is when each line starts in the finished film.

1. How a solar panel makes electricity (45 seconds)

The prompt: “Explain how a solar panel turns sunlight into electricity, for curious homeowners.”

Time	Line	Beat
0:00	“Omar looks up at his roof and wonders: how does sunlight become electricity?”	Question
0:07	“It starts in the panel, where cells are built to catch the light.”	Steps
0:12	“Light frees electrons inside, and they flow one way. That flow is current.”	Steps
0:20	“The panel makes direct current. An inverter turns it into the kind your home uses.”	Steps
0:27	“So the lights and the fridge run on the sun, and a battery keeps the extra.”	Steps
0:32	“Sunlight in. Power out. That’s the whole trick.”	Recap

78 words for 45 seconds, close to the count of 84, with the last seconds on the end card. Notice that the question belongs to a person, Omar, which makes it the viewer’s question too.

2. How a UPI payment moves (80 seconds)

The prompt asked for people in India who are new to paying by phone, and named the actors: your app, your bank, NPCI, the other bank and the PIN.

Time	Line	Beat
0:00	“You tap Pay on your phone, and your money just… leaves. Where does it go?”	Question
0:07	“Your app is only the front door. It doesn’t move the money itself.”	Answer
0:12	“It writes a request, who and how much, then sends it to your bank.”	Steps
0:17	“Before money moves, you enter the PIN only you know. That’s what authorizes it.”	Steps
0:24	“Your bank reads the request, then passes it up to NPCI. Nothing moves yet.”	Steps
0:30	“NPCI is the switch in the middle. It’s the one that knows which bank to ask.”	Steps
0:35	“So NPCI hands it to the other bank, the one your friend uses.”	Steps
0:40	“Then your bank debits, and their bank credits. Both sides confirm, so one payment is checked from both ends. It all takes about two seconds. That’s UPI.”	Steps
0:52	“Your app shows one clear Done, and a receipt to keep.”	Steps
0:57	“The confirmation comes back the same way, into your app.”	Recap
1:01	“Now you know who’s talking.”	Recap

The “answer” here is a surprise that reframes the question: the app does not move the money. Every step after that introduces one actor, so the viewer meets them one at a time instead of all at once.

3. How Zyflow works (75 seconds)

A SaaS explainer made from a prompt and the product’s website, zyflowcrm.com.

Time	Line	Beat
0:00	“You tell your AI about every client… then you close the tab, and it’s gone.”	Question
0:05	“Zyflow runs no AI of its own. It sits underneath, and keeps the record.”	Answer
0:10	“You connect your AI with one link. About two minutes.”	Steps
0:14	“Every morning, you open one list: follow-ups, and money to chase.”	Steps
0:19	“When a client owes you, your AI records it. Zyflow keeps the reminder.”	Steps
0:24	“Invoices and quotes come from one sentence, Zyflow does the math.”	Steps
0:29	“Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor share one memory. Monday’s note is there on Tuesday.”	Steps
0:36	“Four guardrails sit on every AI write: Ask, Match, Label, Undo.”	Steps
0:43	“Every change carries the name of the app that made it.”	Steps
0:46	“And one click undoes it, even forty contacts at once.”	Steps
0:50	“One price for the whole team. No seat minimum.”	Next step
0:55	“Start free. No card.”	Next step

For a product, the question is a problem from the viewer’s day rather than a curiosity, and the steps follow a working day instead of a list of features.

A blank script you can copy

Fill in the brackets, read it aloud and time it. For a 60-second film, aim for about 114 words.

Question: [The viewer’s puzzle, in their words. One line.]

Answer: [The whole idea in one plain sentence.]

Step 1: [The first thing that happens.] Picture: [one simple shape for it]

Step 2: [The next thing.] Picture: [ ]

Step 3: [The next thing.] Picture: [ ]

Step 4: [What it means for the viewer.] Picture: [ ]

Recap: [The idea in five words or fewer.]

Next step: [What to do now.]

Writing the script with Voom

If you would rather not write it yourself, describe the idea, the viewer and the mood in a prompt, add any figures that must appear, and pick a length. Voom writes the script to the word count for that length, keeps your facts exactly as written, gives every line its own picture and records the voice-over. For the full process from idea to finished film, read how to make an explainer video.