What should a video script settle before filming starts?

A video script should establish the audience, the central message and the voice the film needs to project. It should also connect the words to the product, brand or experience being shown, so delivery, visual direction and narrative work together before filming begins.

Set the message, audience and role of the film

Video scriptwriting starts by deciding what the film needs to make clear and who needs to understand it. For Genius Sports, the campaign needed to show a diverse audience how its technology could help content reach and engage future sports fans. The resulting concept, Built on Genius, gave the campaign a flexible central idea for showing how data affects each audience touchpoint.

The script then turned that idea into an emotional experience. Its language focused on the blood, sweat and tears of being a sports fan, while the film's dark set, dramatic lighting and slow motion recreated the feeling of watching sport. Settling this relationship between message, audience and experience before production helps ensure the script gives the film a clear purpose.

Sources: Genius Sports: Delivering with data, powered by passion

Make the script demonstrate the brand voice

A strong video script does more than describe a product's qualities. It can make those qualities audible through the words, delivery and narrator. For WellSaid, language across website content, advertising and video needed to convey authenticity, trust and quality, reflecting its use of real actors, its closed model and its no-deepfake policy.

The scripts for WellSaid's launch, explainer, demo and teaser videos were delivered by the platform's own AI voices. That choice meant the product could demonstrate its credibility rather than merely claim it. When the subject of a film is itself a communication tool, the script should account for how the delivery reinforces the message, while ensuring the written words remain effective on their own.

Sources: WellSaid: Shaping the voice of an ethical AI leader, Copywriting and brand voice

FAQs

How do I give an ethical AI company a clear voice in a video script?

Give an ethical AI company a clear voice by writing language that reflects the specific qualities behind its proposition, such as authenticity, trust and quality. For WellSaid, scripts were written for the platform's own AI voices, allowing the delivery to demonstrate the product's credibility. The written words also needed to work independently across launch, explainer, demo and teaser videos.

What makes a sports video script feel credible?

A sports video script feels credible when it connects the underlying technology or proposition to the emotional reality of following sport. The Genius Sports brand film used a script centred on the blood, sweat and tears of being a sports fan, supported by dramatic lighting and slow motion. This helped translate data-driven capability into the feeling of watching live sport.

How do I brief a video scriptwriter?

Provide a clear brief that connects the intended audience, the message and the way the film should bring the brand to life.

  1. Define the audience and purpose

    State who the film needs to reach and what they need to understand. Identify the role the video plays, whether it needs to introduce a proposition, explain a product or build brand awareness.

  2. Specify the central message

    Give the writer a clear idea that can organise the script. Explain which product capabilities, brand qualities or audience experience the film needs to bring into focus.

  3. Describe the intended delivery

    Explain how the words should work with the voice, visuals and mood of the film. Include the qualities the language should convey, so the script supports both the story and the wider brand.

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