Free template
How to Write a Music Video Script (AV Template)
To write a music video script, line up the images you want against the song’s timecodes in two columns: what we see on the left, what we hear on the right. The same audio and video format works for YouTube videos, documentaries and commercials. Pick a preset below, edit the rows, then print or copy it.
Written and reviewed by ScriptLix Editorial
- Row 1
- Row 2
- Row 3
- Row 4
- Row 5
Planning the shoot? Break the video column into setups with the shot list template, sketch frames in the storyboard template, or script an audio only show with the podcast script template.
How to use it
- 1
Choose a preset or start blank, and give the script a title.
- 2
Write one row per shot or moment: the image in VIDEO, the sound in AUDIO.
- 3
Add timecodes where timing matters, such as song sections or a 30 second spot.
- 4
Read the audio column aloud with a stopwatch and trim anything that runs long.
- 5
Print in landscape, Letter or A4, or copy it as text for your team.
What is an AV script?
An AV (audio visual) script is a two column script. The left column describes the video, meaning shots, footage, graphics and text on screen. The right column holds the audio: dialogue, voice over, interview lines, sound effects and music, lined up with the picture it plays over.
It is the standard shape for work where the sound and picture are planned side by side, such as ads, corporate and explainer videos, documentaries and music videos. Feature films and TV drama use screenplay format instead.
How is an AV script different from a screenplay?
A screenplay runs top to bottom, with action and dialogue in one column and set rules for margins and fonts. An AV script splits picture and sound so producers can see exactly what plays over each image and how long it lasts. That makes it easier to time, budget and edit, but harder to read as a story.
How do you write a music video script?
A music video script is a treatment broken into shots against the song’s timeline. Put the timecode and the section of the song in the audio column (intro, verse, chorus, bridge) and the images in the video column, so the director can see what lands on every beat.
Decide the concept first: performance, narrative, or a mix that cuts between the band and a story. Then map the big visual changes to the big musical changes. The chorus usually earns the biggest image, and the bridge is a good place for the twist.
Keep it shootable. List the locations, props and any lip sync shots, because the artist will need to perform to playback. Many music video scripts fit on one or two pages.
| Video | Audio |
|---|---|
| Black. A paper moon on a string drops into frame, lit by a desk lamp. | 0:00 to 0:14. INTRO. Single guitar, tape hiss. |
| A girl, 10, cuts paper moons at a kitchen table at night. Her older sister, the singer, lip syncs from the doorway. | 0:14 to 0:45. VERSE 1. Vocals enter: "I cut the sky out of yesterday’s news". |
| Performance: the band plays in the same kitchen, now filled to the ceiling with hanging paper moons. Slow push in. | 0:45 to 1:10. CHORUS. Full band. "Paper moons, paper moons". |
| The sisters hang the moons in a dark garden. Each one glows when it is hung. | 1:10 to 1:40. VERSE 2. |
| The garden is a stage. The band plays under a sky of glowing paper. The younger sister lets one moon go and it floats up. | 1:40 to 2:20. BRIDGE into FINAL CHORUS. Drums drop out, then return. |
How do you write a YouTube video script?
Write a YouTube video script for the ear first. Open with the payoff in one or two lines so viewers know why they should stay, then deliver the steps in the order you promised. The two column format helps you plan the screen at the same time: talking head, screen recording, B roll or text on screen.
Write the way you speak. Short sentences, one idea at a time, and a reason to keep watching at the end of each section. Read it aloud before you film; anything you stumble over will sound worse on camera.
End with one clear next step for the viewer, not five. A good YouTube script is tight enough that you could cut the video directly from it.
| Video | Audio |
|---|---|
| Talking head, close. Desk, laptop, a notebook full of index cards. | HOST: I used to spend a month outlining. Now it takes an hour. Here is the exact method. |
| Title card: Step 1. The one sentence story. | HOST: First, write the whole movie in one sentence. Who wants what, and what stops them. |
| Screen recording: typing the sentence. Highlight the hero, goal and obstacle. | HOST: If you cannot write this sentence, the outline will not save you. |
| B roll: index cards laid out in four rows on the floor. | HOST: Step 2. Four rows of cards: setup, complications, the low point, the ending. |
| Talking head, wide. Host holds up the finished cards. | HOST: That is the hour. Try it on your next idea and tell me in the comments where it broke. |
How do you write a documentary script?
A documentary script is usually written in stages. Before the shoot it is an outline of the story you expect and the scenes you hope to capture. After the shoot, once you know what you have, it becomes a two column script that pairs real footage with interviews, narration and sound.
Put the pictures on the left: footage, archive, graphics. Put everything you hear on the right: interview sound bites, voice over, natural sound and music. Mark interview lines with the speaker’s name so the editor can find them.
Narration should add what the pictures cannot. If the footage already shows the ferry leaving, the voice over should tell us something we cannot see.
| Video | Audio |
|---|---|
| EXT. HARBOUR, NIGHT. Wide: the ferry’s lights crossing black water. | NAT SOUND: engine hum, rope on metal. NARRATOR (V.O.): Every night at 11:40, the last ferry leaves with whoever missed the last bus. |
| INT. WHEELHOUSE. The captain, 60s, steers with one hand and drinks tea with the other. | CAPTAIN (interview): I have done this crossing more times than I have slept in my own bed. |
| Car deck: a nurse asleep in her car, still in scrubs. A delivery driver eats from a paper bag. | NARRATOR (V.O.): The passengers change. The crew does not. |
| Archive photo: the same ferry, new paint, the captain in his twenties on deck. | CAPTAIN (interview): When I started, they told me it was a job for a year. |
How do you write a commercial script?
A commercial script has to land one message in a fixed time, so start with the single thing the viewer should remember and the action you want them to take. Then build a tiny story around it: a problem, a turn, the product, and the call to action.
Time every row. Put the timecode in the video column so the whole spot adds up to the exact length, usually 15, 30 or 60 seconds. Read the audio column aloud with a stopwatch; voice over almost always runs long.
Show the product in use, say the brand name early and again at the end, and finish on a clear end card with the name and where to find it.
| Video | Audio |
|---|---|
| 0:00 to 0:05. Close on an alarm clock: 5:02 a.m. A hand switches it off. | SFX: alarm, cut short. Quiet street outside. |
| 0:05 to 0:15. A baker flours a counter in a tiny corner shop. Steam rises from the first tray of bread. | MUSIC: soft piano in. V.O.: At Corner Crumb, the day starts before yours does. |
| 0:15 to 0:25. Customers on their way to work grab warm loaves. A kid gets a free roll. | V.O.: Baked every morning, two streets from your door. |
| 0:25 to 0:30. End card: Corner Crumb logo, address and opening time. | V.O.: Corner Crumb. Open at six. |
Questions writers ask
How do you write a music video script?
Map the song’s sections and timecodes in the audio column, then write the images for each section in the video column, saving the biggest image for the chorus.
How do you write a YouTube video script?
Open with the payoff, deliver the steps you promised in order, write the way you speak, and plan the screen beside each line: talking head, B roll or screen recording.
How do you write a documentary script?
Outline the story before the shoot, then after it pair real footage with interview lines, narration and natural sound in two columns, so the narration adds what the pictures cannot.
How do you write a commercial script?
Pick one message and one call to action, build a short story around the product, time every row to the spot length, and end on the brand name.
What is a two column script?
Another name for an AV script: video on the left, audio on the right, each row lined up so you can see what plays over each image.