A simple explainer video script template

Good explainers follow a shape. Once you know it, writing gets much faster, and AI drafts get much better because you can tell the AI exactly what you want.

The five parts

1. The hook (0 to 10 seconds). A question or a surprising fact.
2. The stakes (10 to 30 seconds). Why should the viewer care?
3. The explanation (most of the video). Three steps or ideas, in order. Each gets its own scene.
4. The turn. The thing most people get wrong, or the exception to the rule.
5. The close. One sentence that sums it up, and what to watch next.

Worked example: “How does a credit score actually work?”

• Hook: “A three-digit number decides your rent, your loan and sometimes your job. Who sets it?”
• Stakes: “Knowing how it is calculated tells you exactly what to fix.”
• Explanation: what gets reported; how the score is weighted; how long each item stays.
• Turn: “Checking your own score doesn’t lower it.”
• Close: “Your score is a summary of habits, not a verdict. Next: the fastest legal ways to raise it.”

Prompting AI with the template

Give the AI the five parts, your angle, the audience and the length. For example: “Write a 4-minute explainer for viewers aged 18 to 30, in plain English, using the five-part structure, about how credit scores work. Each explanation step is one scene.” Then edit hard: check every fact and add one thing only you would know.

Flat and collage styles suit explainers well. See them on the styles page.