Explainer Video Script Template (Free, With Example)

An explainer video script has five parts: the problem, your solution, how it works, proof, and a call to action. Copy the explainer video script template below and budget about 150 spoken words per minute of video. Then record it while reading from a teleprompter window that stays out of the recording.

Below you'll find the template, a complete example for a software explainer, timings for 60-, 90- and 120-second versions, and how to record it in one sitting on a Mac.

How an explainer video script is structured

An explainer answers one question for someone who doesn't know your product yet: "Why should I care, and how does it work?" Each section has one job.

1. Problem. Describe the viewer's situation in their own words, then name what it costs them (time, money, errors). If they don't recognize themselves here, they have no reason to keep watching.
2. Solution. Say what your product does and the outcome it creates, in one sentence. Leave out the feature list.
3. How it works. Show three steps, each with an action and a visible result. Three steps fit in under a minute and are easy to remember. If you need five, you're probably writing a tutorial.
4. Proof. Give the viewer a reason to believe you. In a screen-recorded explainer, the strongest proof is the product doing the job on screen in one continuous take. If you add a quote or a number, it has to be one you can back up.
5. Call to action. Ask for one action, say where to take it, and say what they get. Several competing asks ("start a trial, book a demo, follow us") weaken each other.

An explainer is not a product demo, which goes deeper into features for someone already evaluating you. It's also not a tutorial, which teaches a task step by step. If one of those fits better, use our product demo video script template or the tutorial video script template.

Explainer video script template

Copy this into a plain text file and fill in the curly-brace parts. The square-bracket words are cue markers. Screen Bolt's teleprompter recognizes [PAUSE], [CUT], [B-ROLL], [SLOW] and [EMPHASIS] and shows them as colored chips. In any other text window they're plain text, which still works as a reminder.

EXPLAINER SCRIPT: {product or idea}
Length target: {60 / 90 / 120} seconds = about {150 / 225 / 300} words
Viewer: {who is watching, in one line}
One thing they should remember: {one sentence}

1. PROBLEM (about 15% of the time)
[PAUSE]
{The viewer's situation, in words they would use.}
{What it costs them: time, money, mistakes, stress.} [PAUSE]

2. SOLUTION (about 10%)
{Product} {does what} so you can {outcome}. [EMPHASIS]

3. HOW IT WORKS (about 50%)
[B-ROLL] {Short transition line, e.g. "Here's how it works."}
First, {action}. {What the viewer sees happen.} [PAUSE]
Second, {action}. {Result.} [SLOW]
Third, {action}. {Result.} [PAUSE]

4. PROOF (about 15%)
{Show the real result on screen, start to finish, in one take.}
{Optional: one verifiable fact, such as a quote you have permission
to use or a number from your own data.}

5. CALL TO ACTION (about 10%)
{One action.} {Where to take it.} {What they get.}

Before you load it into a teleprompter, delete the header block and the numbered section labels. Keep only the lines you'll say out loud and the cues.

Explainer video script example for a software product

This example is for a made-up invoicing app called Ledgerbird. It's formatted exactly as you'd paste it into a teleprompter.

[PAUSE]
It's the first of the month. You have 12 clients to bill, hours spread
across three tools, and a spreadsheet you don't fully trust. [PAUSE]
Most of your morning goes to copying numbers instead of doing the work
clients pay you for.

Ledgerbird turns your tracked hours into invoices. [EMPHASIS]
One screen, every client, ready to send.

[B-ROLL] Here's how it works.
First, connect your time tracker. Ledgerbird pulls in this month's
hours and groups them by client. [PAUSE]
Second, review. Anything that looks off is flagged in yellow. [SLOW]
Click a line to fix the rate, or move the hours to another project.
Third, send. Pick your clients, click Send, and each one gets a PDF
invoice with a payment link. [PAUSE]

Here's a full month of billing on a demo account, from import to
sent, in one take. [CUT]

That's the whole job. Connect, review, send.

Ledgerbird is free for your first three clients.
Start at the link below and send this month's invoices before lunch.

It's about 160 spoken words, a little over a minute at 150 words per minute. The pauses where you wait for the screen add time on top of that, so expect it to land between the 60- and 90-second columns in the timing table.

Write a shot list next to the script before you record. If a line has no screen action, the viewer is looking at a still window while you talk.

How long each section should run

Screen Bolt's teleprompter estimates reading time at 150 words per minute at 1× scroll speed, which is a good planning number. Read your script aloud once with a timer to find your own pace. You'll likely read slower when you're also clicking through an app.

Three rules keep the timing honest:

• Give "How it works" half the time. That's where the screen recording carries the message. If the problem section runs longer than the steps, cut it.
• Budget silence. Every [PAUSE] is a beat where the screen does the talking: a page loading, a list filling in. Those seconds aren't in your word count, so a 220-word script with six pauses will run past 90 seconds.
• Pick the length for where the video lives. A homepage hero or ad slot suits 60 seconds. An onboarding email or help article can carry 120. For placement ideas, see why your SaaS needs a demo video on every landing page.

Turn the script into screen actions

A script for a screen-recorded explainer is half words and half clicks. Before you record:

1. Prepare the demo state. Load realistic sample data, close unrelated tabs, and silence notifications. Our checklist for preparing your Mac for a clean screen recording covers the details.
2. Decide what to capture. For an app explainer, a single window keeps the frame tight. Record an area if the flow crosses two windows. See how to record a single window on Mac and how to record part of the screen.
3. Match one click to one sentence. In Screen Bolt, auto zoom is built from your mouse clicks. Clicks within about 1 second and 200 pixels of each other merge into one zoom, and each zoom holds for at least 1.8 seconds. Typing doesn't create zooms. Click the thing you're talking about, then keep the mouse still while you finish the sentence, because the zoomed view follows your cursor. If a stray click creates a zoom you don't want, right-click it on the zoom track and choose Delete This Region. More in how to zoom in on a screen recording.
4. Plan your cutaways. A [B-ROLL] cue marks a moment to show something other than the main flow, such as your landing page or a second app. Record it as its own short video. If you edit in Screen Bolt, drop that file onto the main clip track: video placed on an overlay track shows in the preview but isn't included in the export. Our guide to B-roll in screen recordings has examples.
5. Mark edit points in the script. Put [CUT] where you expect to trim later, so you know where to look when you edit.

Record the script with a teleprompter on Mac

When you read a script, your eyes need to stay near the camera and the script must stay out of the video. There are three ways to do that on a Mac. For delivery tips, see how to read a script while recording a video.

Built in: read from a window outside the recording

macOS has no teleprompter, but you can read a script for free:

1. Open your script in TextEdit or Notes.
2. Drag the window to the top of the screen, close to your webcam.
3. Press ⇧⌘5 (Shift-Command-5) to open the Screenshot toolbar.
4. Choose Record Selected Portion.
5. Drag the selection so it leaves out the script window.
6. Click Options and choose your microphone under Microphone.
7. Click Record, and scroll the script by hand while you talk.

This is enough for short, voice-only explainers. Nothing scrolls for you, and your hand on the trackpad has to switch between the script and the app you're demonstrating. Editing is limited to a basic trim. For the full built-in workflow, see how to screen record on Mac.

A separate teleprompter app

Dedicated teleprompter apps scroll for you. As of November 2026, PromptSmart runs on iPhone and iPad and scrolls at your speaking pace using voice tracking. Teleprompter Pro (formerly Teleprompter Premium) runs on iPhone, iPad and Mac. Neither is a screen recorder, so you pair them with one. Our roundup of teleprompter apps for Mac compares them.

Screen Bolt's built-in teleprompter

We built a teleprompter into Screen Bolt because scripted screen videos are exactly what it's for. The teleprompter window floats above your apps but is left out of the recording, so it can sit over the area you're capturing. It starts scrolling when the recording starts and pauses when you pause.

1. Click Script in the recording bar, press ⇧⌘T (Shift-Command-T), or choose Record ▸ Teleprompter.
2. Paste your script, click Import .txt, or drag a .txt file onto the window. The header shows the word count and estimated reading time.
3. To add a cue, click Cues and pick a marker. Cues show as colored chips: pause orange, cut red, B-roll blue, slow purple, emphasis green.
4. Choose Auto Scroll and set the speed slider (0.25× to 4×), or choose Manual to move page by page.
5. Pick one of the three font sizes with the A buttons.
6. Set the opacity slider (30% to 100%).
7. Resize the window narrow and tall, and place it just under your camera so your eyes stay close to the lens.
8. In the recording bar, choose Display, Window or Area.
9. Turn on Mic, and Camera if you'll be on screen.
10. Click the red record button. Scrolling begins immediately.
11. To adjust while recording, click the teleprompter window to focus it. In Auto Scroll, ↑ speeds up, ↓ slows down and Space pauses. In Manual, → (or ↓ or Space) goes to the next page and ← (or ↑) goes back. There's no countdown before scrolling starts. Either begin the script with a [PAUSE] and take a breath before you speak (trim the silence later), or use Manual so nothing moves until you turn the page.

Between sections, click the Pause button in the recording bar instead of stopping. The teleprompter keeps its place and the pause gaps are removed, so you end up with one continuous take. If a take goes wrong, Discard and restart throws it away and returns you to setup. The script is saved automatically.

When you stop, the editor opens with zooms already created from your clicks. Use the [CUT] lines in your script as a guide: press S to split at the playhead, or set In and Out points with I and O and cut the range between them. Our teleprompter script examples and the recording help page go further.

The teleprompter is part of Screen Bolt's free version. Free exports are limited to 3 minutes at 720p with a watermark; as of November 2026, the $79 one-time license removes those limits (see pricing).

If the script or recording doesn't work

• It runs long. Compare the reading time in the teleprompter header with your target (the estimate scales with scroll speed, so check it at 1×). Cut from the problem section first, then trim words inside each step. Don't drop a step.
• It sounds read, not spoken. Use contractions and short sentences, and say each line out loud before you record. If you stumble twice on the same sentence, rewrite it.
• The scroll is out of step with you. Start slower than you think you need, then nudge it with ↑ and ↓. If your pace changes a lot as you click through the app, switch to Manual and turn pages yourself.
• Your eyes drift away from the lens. Narrow the teleprompter window, raise the font size, and move the window directly under the camera so each line holds fewer words.
• Your words and clicks don't line up. Rehearse the clicks once without talking. Then use [PAUSE] cues to wait for the screen, or record the screen first and add a voiceover to the screen recording afterwards.
• The free version won't export a trimmed 2-minute video. The export sheet checks the 3-minute cap against the full recording length, not the trimmed result. Pause between sections instead of letting the recording run, and use Discard and restart on bad takes rather than keeping them.

FAQ

How long should an explainer video be? Long enough to show three steps and no longer. For most software, that's 60 to 120 seconds. Pick a word budget from the timing table, then cut to fit it.

Do I need to appear on camera? No. A voiceover on a screen recording works for software explainers. If you do appear, the webcam overlay guide covers placement, and the teleprompter matters more, since viewers can see where your eyes are.

What goes in the proof section if I have no customers yet? Show the product doing the job from start to finish in one take. A real result on screen backs up your claim without a quote. Add a quote or number only when you can stand behind it.

Can I reuse this script for a vertical social clip? Yes. Use the 60-second column, cut How it works down to one or two steps, and set the canvas aspect ratio to 9:16 before you export. See how to make a vertical screen recording.