Launch video script template, 60 seconds
A blank you can fill in, a worked example so the blank makes sense, and the word counts that actually fit. Written for a 60-second film with a voice-over track and on-screen type that has to work muted.
By Sourish Sarmah, maker of supaintro · Last updated
Word counts before you write
Conversational voice-over runs about 150 words per minute, and launch films read slower than that because the pauses do work. Budget 130 to 140 words total for a 60-second film. Every word past that either speeds the read up until it sounds anxious or pushes the film past a minute.
| Beat | Seconds | VO words | On-screen words |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hook | 5 | 8 to 12 | 4 to 8, one line |
| Problem | 10 | 22 to 26 | 6 to 12 across two cards |
| Reveal | 7 | 14 to 18 | Product name plus 5 to 8 |
| Capability | 20 | 45 to 52 | 3 to 6 per capability |
| Proof | 10 | 20 to 24 | One number plus a label |
| End card | 8 | 8 to 12 | Logo, URL, one CTA |
The template
Copy this and replace the brackets. Keep the timings; they are the part that makes it a launch film rather than a list.
| Time | On screen | Voice-over |
|---|---|---|
| 0:00 to 0:05 | [The outcome, in under 8 words] | [Name the outcome your buyer wants. No product name yet.] |
| 0:05 to 0:15 | [The status quo, 2 cards] | [Describe today, specifically enough that they recognise a real Tuesday. Name the cost: hours, errors, people.] |
| 0:15 to 0:22 | [Product name] + [the promise] | [Introducing NAME. One sentence: what it is and the one thing it changes.] |
| 0:22 to 0:29 | [Capability 1, 3 to 6 words] | [What it does and what that means for them. One sentence each.] |
| 0:29 to 0:36 | [Capability 2] | [Same shape. Do not introduce a new idea here.] |
| 0:36 to 0:42 | [Capability 3] | [Optional. Cut this beat before you cut time from the others.] |
| 0:42 to 0:52 | [The number] + [what it measures] | [The most defensible proof you have. A metric, a count, a named customer.] |
| 0:52 to 1:00 | [Logo] [url] [one CTA] | [NAME. Single call to action. Say the URL.] |
A worked example
The same template filled in for an invented accounting product, so you can see the register the copy should sit in. Note that the on-screen line is never the voice-over line.
| Time | On screen | Voice-over |
|---|---|---|
| 0:00 to 0:05 | Close your books in hours, not weeks. | Month-end should take an afternoon. |
| 0:05 to 0:15 | 4 people. 3 spreadsheets. 1 Slack thread. | For most finance teams it takes eleven days, four people, and a Slack thread nobody wants to read twice. |
| 0:15 to 0:22 | Meet Ledgerly | Ledgerly closes your books while your team is still reconciling the first account. |
| 0:22 to 0:29 | Auto-reconciliation | Transactions match themselves against the ledger, continuously, not at month-end. |
| 0:29 to 0:36 | Every ledger, one view | Fourteen integrations write to one set of books, so there is nothing to consolidate. |
| 0:36 to 0:42 | Audit trail, built in | Every change is attributable, so the audit is a query rather than a project. |
| 0:42 to 0:52 | 3x faster close | Teams on Ledgerly close three times faster than they did the quarter before they switched. |
| 0:52 to 1:00 | ledgerly.com · Start free | Ledgerly. Start free at ledgerly dot com. |
Rules that make the difference
- On-screen copy is headline, voice-over is sentence. Duplicating the VO on screen makes the viewer read instead of watch.
- Write the hook last. It is easier once you know what the film proves.
- Read it aloud with a timer. Anything you stumble over will sound worse narrated.
- Cut every adverb in the VO. "Seamlessly integrates" is one word longer and one degree less credible than "integrates".
- No two beats may make the same point. If capability two restates capability one, you have two capabilities, not three.
- Say the URL out loud in the end card. People hear it in feeds where they will not read it.
- Test it muted. If the film stops making sense without the voice-over, the on-screen copy is doing too little.
If you would rather not write it
supaintro writes this structure from your product page and hands it back as an editable beat sheet, with the verbatim on-screen copy for every scene and the voice-over line beside it. You rewrite whatever is wrong before anything renders, and that step is free. The mechanics are on the SaaS launch video page.
How many words is a 60-second video script?
Around 130 to 140 words for a launch film. General voice-over runs at roughly 150 words per minute, but launch films need pauses for the on-screen type to land, so the effective budget is lower.
Should on-screen text match the voice-over?
No. On-screen copy should be the headline version, four to eight words, and the voice-over the sentence version. Matching them exactly forces the viewer to read and listen to the same thing, which reads as slow.
What should the first five seconds say?
The outcome your buyer wants, in under eight words, with no product name. The name has not earned attention yet; the outcome has.
Can I use this template for a feature launch?
Yes, compressed. Drop the problem beat to five seconds and cut to one capability. Feature announcements work at 20 to 30 seconds and the same ordering still holds.
Paste your product URL and get this structure back with your copy in it, free, before any rendering.