The 90-second explainer video script template (with storyboard beats)
This is the explainer video script template I hand to clients before any animation starts: six beats, a time and word budget for each, and a column for what the animator needs to see. Below you get the structure, a blank version, a filled example for a made-up product, and the storyboard notes that turn it into motion graphics without three rounds of revisions.
Why 90 seconds
Ninety seconds is long enough to show a problem, a product and how it works, and short enough that nobody has to justify watching it. It also forces you to decide what to leave out.
At a common narration pace of about 150 words per minute, 90 seconds is roughly 225 words. Real voiceover runs between about 130 and 170 words per minute depending on the voice and the tone, so your budget is somewhere between 195 and 255 words. Motion-heavy explainers usually want the lower end, because the visuals need room to land. If you want to check a draft, paste the word count into the script length calculator.
How to structure an explainer video script
Every explainer that works follows roughly the same arc. These are the beats, with word budgets at 150 wpm:
| Beat | Time | Words | Job |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hook / problem | 0–10s | ~25 | Show the viewer a moment they recognise |
| Stakes | 10–25s | ~38 | Why the problem matters, why current fixes fail |
| Solution intro | 25–40s | ~38 | Name the product and what it does in one sentence |
| How it works | 40–75s | ~88 | Three steps, ~29 words each |
| Proof / benefit | 75–85s | ~25 | A result, a number you can back up, or a customer line |
| CTA | 85–90s | ~12 | One action |
The how-it-works beat gets the biggest share because it’s the part people came for. Three steps is not a style choice. Two feels thin, four starts to sound like a manual.
The explainer video script template
Copy this into a doc or a spreadsheet. The rule: every row has both columns filled before anyone opens an animation file.
| Beat | Time | Words | Voiceover | Visual / animation note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hook | 0–10s | 25 | ||
| Stakes | 10–25s | 38 | ||
| Solution | 25–40s | 38 | ||
| Step 1 | 40–52s | 29 | ||
| Step 2 | 52–64s | 29 | ||
| Step 3 | 64–75s | 29 | ||
| Proof | 75–85s | 25 | ||
| CTA | 85–90s | 12 |
If you’d rather start from a template that already has the beats and timings set up, grab the free script template.
Explainer video script example: Sprig
Sprig is a fictional plant-watering app. The voiceover below comes to about 220 words.
| Beat | Time | Voiceover | Visual / animation note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hook | 0–10s | You bought the plant. You named it. Three weeks later it’s brown at the edges, and you don’t know if it needed more water or less. | Single plant on a windowsill. Leaves brown in two steps, synced to “three weeks later”. Question mark pops between a full and an empty watering can. |
| Stakes | 10–25s | Most dead houseplants weren’t neglected. They were guessed at. Every plant drinks on a different schedule, and that schedule changes with the light, the season and the pot. A sticky note on the fridge can’t keep up. | Pull out to a shelf of five plants, each with its own small clock ticking at a different speed. Sun arc and seasons swap behind them. End on a sticky note curling off a fridge. |
| Solution | 25–40s | Sprig is a watering app that learns each of your plants. Tell it what you’ve got and where it sits, and it tells you when to water, how much, and when to leave it alone. | Logo resolves from a leaf shape. Phone slides in. Three short labels appear one at a time: “When”, “How much”, “Not today”. |
| Step 1 | 40–52s | First, snap a photo. Sprig identifies the plant and asks two questions: which window, and how big is the pot. That’s the whole setup, and it takes about a minute. | Camera UI over a monstera, shutter flash, name tag drops in. Two question cards flip, each answered with one tap. |
| Step 2 | 52–64s | Then Sprig builds a schedule for every plant you own and sends one reminder a day, grouped by room, so you water the kitchen once instead of six times. | Calendar grid fills with leaf icons. Icons slide into room groups. One notification: “Kitchen: 3 plants”. |
| Step 3 | 64–75s | After each watering, tap how the soil felt. Dry, damp or soggy. Sprig adjusts the next date, so the schedule gets more accurate the longer you use it. | Three big buttons, finger taps “Damp”. Next date on the calendar nudges two days later. |
| Proof | 75–85s | No more guessing, no more drowned roots. Just plants that look the way they did in the shop, and a phone that tells you what they need. | Return to the opening windowsill: same plant, now healthy. Match cut is the payoff. |
| CTA | 85–90s | Download Sprig free and add your first plant tonight. | Logo, app store badge, URL. Hold for the full 5 seconds. |
Two notes on the example. The proof beat uses a benefit because Sprig doesn’t exist. For a real product, put a number you can source or a short customer quote here. And the closing visual mirrors the opening one on purpose; viewers feel the before and after without being told.
Storyboard beats: what the animator needs
The script is where an explainer is won. The storyboard is where it gets lost, usually because the visual column says “show the app” and nothing else. Here is what each beat needs from you before it goes to motion.
One idea per frame
If the voiceover makes one point, the screen shows one thing. When the stakes beat lists light, season and pot, that’s three visual changes, not three icons on screen at once. Count the ideas in each line and make sure the frame count matches.
Hold time for text
On-screen text needs time to be read. A rough working rule is about a second for every three or four words, plus a beat of breathing room. A five-word label that flashes for half a second didn’t happen. If a beat has more text than its time allows, cut the text, not the hold.
Give the animator a style note
One line at the top of the storyboard saves a revision round. Something like: “Flat shapes, two greens and a warm off-white, soft ease-in-out, no bounce, transitions as match cuts where possible.” Name the motion feel as well as the colours. “Snappy” and “calm” produce very different animations from the same frames.
For the frame-by-frame layout, the storyboard template covers how to sketch and number shots, and the handoff guide covers what to send with it.
Common explainer script mistakes
Feature lists. “Sprig has photo ID, smart schedules, room grouping, soil feedback and dark mode.” That’s a spec sheet. Pick three steps that show the product working and drop the rest.
Jargon. “Adaptive hydration intervals” means nothing to someone who just killed a fern. Write the way the viewer would describe their problem to a friend.
A CTA that asks for three things. “Download the app, follow us on Instagram and sign up for the newsletter” gets you none of them. One action, said once, shown long enough to act on.
Voiceover that describes the screen. “Here you can see the calendar filling up” wastes words on what the viewer can already see. The voiceover says why; the visual shows what. If the voiceover only repeats what’s on screen, one of the two tracks is doing nothing.
If you’re newer to scripting in general, start with how to write a video script and come back here for the explainer-specific structure.
How I do this in Syntale
In Syntale each beat is a scene, so the table above is just how the script looks. Every scene has its words and a visual plan side by side, and hovering the scene marker shows its duration, so I can see straight away when the stakes beat has crept to 0:19. When a client wants a different hook, I keep both versions of that paragraph and switch between them instead of duplicating the doc. They comment and approve inside the shared project, and I export a PDF for the animator. Start for free.
FAQ
How long should an explainer video script be?
For a 90-second explainer, aim for about 225 words, within a range of roughly 195 to 255 depending on how fast the voiceover reads. Motion-heavy pieces should sit at the lower end so visuals have time to land.
How many words is a 60-second, 90-second or 2-minute explainer?
At around 150 words per minute: 60 seconds is about 150 words, 90 seconds about 225, and 2 minutes about 300. Treat these as midpoints of a range, since real narration runs roughly 130 to 170 words per minute.
What makes a good explainer script?
A recognisable problem in the first ten seconds, three clear steps instead of a feature list, and a single call to action. Every line should have a visual note next to it before animation starts.