± 8 minute read

How to write a video script
for a brand film.

A practical guide, written by a filmmaker who works with scripts every week. No marketing clichés — just the steps that separate a video that lands from one that sinks.

First: why is the script the most important document?

A brand film without a solid script is a production without a spine. The script determines not just what's said — it shapes structure, pacing, the emotional rhythm, and whether the viewer stays until the call-to-action. A great crew can't rescue a weak script, but a strong script survives even a modest budget.

At pmeijer we write every script with one question in mind: what should the viewer feel at the end of this video, and how do we get them there? Anything in the script has to serve that question. Anything that doesn't, gets cut.

Step 1 — The brief comes before the script

Don't start writing. Start with a one-page brief. That brief answers six questions:

1. What is this video trying to achieve? Not "more brand awareness" — that's a wish, not a goal. Rather: "prospective clients book an intro call within a week of watching." Concrete, measurable, one sentence.
2. Who is the viewer? One person, with a name and a role. Not "our target audience." Rather: "Procurement lead at a mid-sized manufacturer, under time pressure, skeptical of marketing."
3. Where do they watch it? LinkedIn feed, website hero, sales presentation, YouTube pre-roll. Every context demands a different opening, length, and tone.
4. What must the viewer now know that they didn't before? One insight. Not three. One.
5. What should the viewer feel? Trust? Urgency? Recognition? Wonder? Pick one, and build everything around it.
6. What should the viewer do? The call-to-action. Specific. "Book a call" beats "get in touch."

Only once those six questions are answered do you start writing. Skip them and sooner or later you'll write yourself into a corner, circling without a clear direction.

Step 2 — Start with the hook, write it last

The first three seconds decide whether anyone keeps watching. Write those three seconds last. Seriously. Write the heart of your story first — the insight, the explanation, the resolution — then return to the opening and design a hook that forces the viewer to keep watching.

Three opening types that almost always work for B2B content:

• The contrarian statement: "Most brand films fail in their first three seconds." You promise to tell them something that goes against what they think they know.
• The concrete question: "How many of your leads last quarter came from video?" Put the viewer in their own context.
• The specific image: Start mid-scene — someone at work, a detail of a product. Let the image do the work before a word is spoken.

What you never do: open with your own name or logo. Neither belongs in second 1. The logo shows up at the earliest at the very end — after the viewer has reasons to remember it.

Step 3 — The head-body-tail structure

Every video under three minutes fits this structure:

Step 4 — Write in spoken language

A script is spoken, not read. That means: read every line out loud before approving it. Does your tongue stumble? Rewrite. Does it sound like marketing boilerplate? Rewrite. Does it run longer than one breath? Rewrite.

Concrete rules we use at pmeijer:

• One subject and one verb per sentence. Subclauses become new sentences.
• No jargon your client wouldn't use themselves. "Synergies," "impactful solutions," "leveraged value" — gone.
• Active voice, present tense. "We build" beats "It is being built by us."
• About 140 words per minute of voice-over. Do the math as you write — a 90-second video has roughly 210 spoken words. That's less than you think.

Step 5 — Show, don't tell

This is where most corporate videos collapse. If a voice-over says "we're an innovative company," the image must show something that proves it. A prototype in a hand. A sketch on a whiteboard. An engineer adjusting a part. Nothing is vaguer than a line about innovation paired with stock footage of people smiling in a meeting room.

So don't write your script in a single column of text. Use two:

This forces you, as a writer, to imagine the image next to every line. If it can't be shown, it probably has no place in the video.

Step 6 — Read it out loud, with a stopwatch

Before sending the script to production, do two last things:

1. Read the whole thing out loud, start to finish. At natural speaking pace. Timer running. Does the length hit your target? If not, cut.
2. Read it to someone with no stake in your business. Partner, friend, neighbour. Let them hear it once. What do they remember afterwards? If it isn't the message you meant, your script isn't finished.

Common mistakes (and how to avoid them)

• Trying to say too much. One core message per video. Not two, not three. The second message waits for the next production.
• Opening with the logo. The first seconds belong to the viewer, not to your brand. Your brand earns attention only after you've given the viewer a reason to pay it.
• No explicit call-to-action. "Visit our website" isn't a CTA — it's a hope. "Book a 20-minute call through the link below" is a CTA.
• Jargon that loses the viewer. If an engineer reads your script and hits terms they don't recognise, rewrite.
• Writing in written language. Read everything out loud. What doesn't sound natural on the page, sounds worse on camera.

When to outsource, when to do it yourself

You can outsource almost everything around a video production — shooting, editing, lighting, colour. But the script itself is best written together with a filmmaker, not handed over entirely. You know what makes your business distinct. The filmmaker knows what works on camera. Together you produce a script that's both true to who you are and effective on the viewer.

That's why every pmeijer production begins with an intake call and a scripting round. No marketing jargon, no templates — just a conversation where we discover together what actually needs to be said, and how to fit it into 90 seconds.