Teleprompter Script Examples and Format, With Cue Markers

A teleprompter script is plain text broken into short spoken lines. Put one thought on each line, leave a blank line between sections, and add bracketed cues such as [PAUSE] or [EMPHASIS] wherever your delivery should change. Plan on about 150 words per minute of talking. Screen Bolt's teleprompter uses that same rate for its reading-time estimate.

Below are three teleprompter script examples you can paste straight in: a short product demo, a tutorial, and an async team update. After them you'll find what each cue marker means, how to time a script, and how to load one into a teleprompter on your Mac.

How to format a teleprompter script

A script that reads well on paper can read badly on a scrolling screen. These rules keep your eyes and your voice in step:

• One sentence or phrase per line. Break lines where you would naturally breathe. Your eyes then land on whole thoughts instead of hunting mid-sentence.
• A blank line between beats. Give each section (hook, step, call to action) its own block. If you lose your place, the gaps help you find it again.
• Write the way you talk. Use contractions ("you'll", "it's"), short sentences and everyday words. If a line makes you stumble on the first read, rewrite it.
• Write numbers the way you'll say them. Write "five minutes" and "a week later". Digits and abbreviations make you stop and translate.
• Put directions in brackets on their own line, or at the start of a line. Cues placed mid-sentence break your rhythm.
• No bold or italics. Teleprompters work best with plain text, and a .txt file has no formatting anyway. Put [EMPHASIS] in front of a line instead.
• Start with [PAUSE]. It reminds you to take a breath before the first word. This matters in teleprompters that start scrolling the moment you hit record.
• Read the script aloud once before recording. Change anything you trip over.

Teleprompter script example: 60-second product demo

This demo has 97 spoken words (cue markers not counted). At 150 words per minute, that's about 40 seconds of talking. The other 20 seconds go to clicks, page loads and letting the viewer see what changed. A demo needs more silent time than you expect, so don't fill the whole minute with words.

Replace {Product} and {your-site} with your own names.

[PAUSE]
If you send invoices,
you know the worst part is chasing the late ones.
{Product} does the chasing for you.

[PAUSE]
This is the dashboard.
Every unpaid invoice, sorted by how late it is.

Let me open this one.
[SLOW]
{Product} has already written a reminder,
with the client's name and the exact amount they owe.

[EMPHASIS] One click, and it's sent.
If they still don't pay,
the next reminder goes out by itself a week later.

[B-ROLL]
When the money arrives, the invoice marks itself as paid.
No spreadsheet. No copy and paste.

[PAUSE]
That's {Product}.
Try it free at {your-site}.

Why this one works:

• The first line names the viewer's problem, not the product.
• Every spoken line describes something visible on screen at that moment.
• [SLOW] comes right before the key moment, so you don't rush the part that sells it.
• The ending asks for one action, not three.

For a longer structure with a hook, problem, walkthrough and close, see the product demo video script template.

Example: tutorial intro and steps

This tutorial script has 110 spoken words, about 45 seconds of talking. Once you add typing and waiting on screen, the raw recording will run several minutes. The [CUT] markers sit where you'll be waiting or switching tabs, so you know where to trim later.

[PAUSE]
In this video, you'll connect your own domain to {App}.
It takes about five minutes,
and you'll need access to your domain's DNS settings.

[PAUSE]
Step one.
Open Settings, then click Domains.
[SLOW]
Type your domain, without the "www", and click Add.

[CUT]

Step two.
{App} now shows two records.
[EMPHASIS] Copy them exactly. A single typo will stop this from working.
Paste them into your DNS provider and save.

[CUT]

Step three.
Back in {App}, click Verify.
If it says "Pending", that's normal.
DNS changes can take a while to show up.

[PAUSE]
Once it turns green, you're done.
Your site now loads on your own domain.
Next video: setting up email on that domain.

What makes it easy to follow:

• The intro says what you'll do, how long it takes and what you need first. Viewers without DNS access can stop here instead of halfway through.
• "Step one", "Step two" and "Step three" are spoken aloud, so viewers who skip around can find their place.
• The [EMPHASIS] line warns about the most likely mistake at the point where people make it.
• The script expects a confusing state ("Pending") and says it's normal.

For a full outline with prerequisites, recap and chapter planning, use the tutorial video script template.

Example: async team update

This update has 103 spoken words, about 40 seconds. Keeping it this short means people can watch it between other things. Replace {project} and {name}.

[PAUSE]
Hi team, quick update on {project} for the week.

Three things: what shipped, what's blocked, and what I need from you.

[PAUSE]
First, what shipped.
The new checkout page went live on Tuesday.
[B-ROLL]
Here it is in production.
[EMPHASIS] Error rates on checkout are down since the release.

[PAUSE]
Second, what's blocked.
The billing migration is waiting on access to the payments account.
I've asked for it, but it hasn't come through yet.

[PAUSE]
Third, what I need.
[SLOW]
{name}, can you approve the access request by Thursday?
And everyone, please test the new checkout on your phone
and drop anything odd in the channel.

[PAUSE]
That's it. Thanks.

Why the structure helps:

• The second line tells people the structure, so they know what's coming and how long it will take.
• The request names a person and a day. "Can someone look at this" is easy to ignore; "{name}, by Thursday" is much harder to.
• [SLOW] before the ask keeps it from blurring into the rest.

What each cue marker means

Cue markers are notes to yourself. They tell you how to deliver a line, or flag something to handle in editing. In Screen Bolt's teleprompter, the five markers below show up as colored chips, so you can spot them while reading. They are visual only: you still make the cut or insert the clip in the editor afterwards.

A few habits make cues more useful:

• Use them sparingly. If every line has a cue, none of them stand out. One or two per section is plenty.
• Put the cue just before the line it affects. You need a moment to see it before you speak.
• Don't restart for a stumble. Pause a beat, say the line again, and remove the bad take later, the same way you remove a [CUT].

In Screen Bolt, removing a [CUT] section takes three keys: press I at the start, O at the end, then click Cut I-O on the timeline (or press Delete). For [B-ROLL], drop a video file onto the clip track; it goes in as a new clip before or after the clip under the pointer, so press S to split at the playhead first if you want it in the middle. Details are in the editing docs.

Timing: how many words per minute

At 150 words per minute, these are the word budgets for common lengths:

Treat these as the maximum for nonstop talking. When the screen has to do something (a click, a page load, typing), cut words, not visuals. That's why the 60-second demo above has about 100 words, not 150.

To find your own rate, read a script aloud with a timer, then divide the word count by the minutes it took. If you're clearly faster or slower than 150, plan your word budget with your number.

Screen Bolt's teleprompter shows a word count and an estimated reading time in its header. The estimate is 150 words per minute multiplied by the scroll speed: at 1× it assumes 150 words a minute, at 0.75× about 113, at 2× 300. Raise the speed and the estimated time drops to match.

If you use the free version of Screen Bolt, exports are capped at 3 minutes (at 720p, with a watermark). That's about 450 spoken words, fewer once you leave room for on-screen action. The cap is checked against the full recording, not the trimmed result, so keep the take itself under 3 minutes rather than planning to trim it down.

Load a script into Screen Bolt's teleprompter

Screen Bolt has a teleprompter built into its recording bar. Its window floats over your screen but is left out of the recording, so viewers never see your script.

1. Click Script in the recording bar, or press ⇧⌘T (Shift-Command-T) while Screen Bolt is the active app.
2. Paste your script into the editor. You can also click Import .txt or drag a .txt file onto it.
3. To add a cue, use the Cues menu, or type the marker in brackets yourself.
4. Choose Auto Scroll and set the speed slider (0.25× to 4×, in 0.25 steps), or choose Manual to move page by page.
5. Pick a text size with the A buttons (14, 18 or 24 pt) and set the opacity (30% to 100%).
6. Move the teleprompter close to your camera (or to where you're working), and resize it if you need more lines visible.
7. Start recording. The script starts scrolling when the recording starts. The script saves automatically, so you can close the window and come back to it.

Auto Scroll or Manual

Pick Auto Scroll if you read continuously: talking-head intros, explainers, updates. While recording, click the teleprompter window, then use ↑ to scroll faster, ↓ to slow down and Space to pause.

Pick Manual for demos and tutorials, where you stop to click and wait. The script only moves when you tell it to: →, ↓ or Space for the next page, ← or ↑ for the previous one. The window shows "Page N of M". Because your demo clicks move focus to the app you're showing, click the teleprompter window again before pressing a key.

If you pause the recording with the Pause button in the recording bar, the teleprompter pauses too and keeps its place when you resume. The paused time isn't in the recording, so this often beats a [CUT]: pause while a page loads, then carry on.

More on recording with the teleprompter is in the recording docs.

If it doesn't work

The script doesn't scroll. In Screen Bolt, scrolling starts only when the recording starts. Check that you're in Auto Scroll, not Manual, and that the teleprompter isn't paused (the Pause/Resume button).

The arrow keys or Space do nothing. The keys work only while a recording is running and the teleprompter window is focused. Click the teleprompter window once, then use the keys.

You run out of script, or it runs away from you. The speed doesn't match your pace. Lower or raise it in 0.25× steps, or switch to Manual for scripts with lots of on-screen action.

The first lines scroll off before you start talking. There is no countdown: scrolling begins the moment you start recording. Keep [PAUSE] at the top as your cue to breathe, use a slower speed or Manual mode, and trim the silent start in the editor afterwards.

The text is hard to read from where you sit. Use the largest size (24 pt), make the window bigger (it resizes up to 600×900), and raise the opacity so the background doesn't show through.

Your script disappeared. Settings ▸ General ▸ Reset preferences also clears the teleprompter script. Keep the master copy of each script in a .txt file and bring it back with Import .txt.

FAQ

How many words is a one-minute teleprompter script? About 150 words if you talk the whole time. For a screen demo, aim for around 100, because clicks and loading need silent time.

Does [CUT] cut the video automatically? No. Cue markers are reminders for you while you read. You make the cut yourself in the editor afterwards.

Will the teleprompter show up in my recording? Not in Screen Bolt. Its teleprompter window is left out of the capture, just like the recording bar and the camera preview.

Can I use these scripts in another teleprompter app? Yes. They're plain text. Apps without cue-marker support show the brackets as ordinary text, which still works as a reminder.

Where to go next

• Delivery, eye line and pacing: how to read a script while recording
• Script structures for other formats: explainer video script template
• Comparing teleprompter options: best teleprompter apps for Mac

The teleprompter is included in the free version of Screen Bolt; see what Free and Pro include.