YouTube Shorts script template: one hook, one pointer, three lengths

Is there a free YouTube Shorts script generator?

The planner above times your lines; the prompt below asks any chat assistant for a draft in this page's 45-second beat sheet; and the app's Script Generator turns a topic into a ready-to-record script. Go Viral is free to download, and a paid subscription is required to use all of its features.

The template carries the whole sheet: times, a word budget per beat, the opening type and the ending. Fill the four brackets and paste it into any chat assistant.

Prompt template, 45-second Short (fill the brackets)

Write a 45-second YouTube Short script about [topic] for [audience].
It previews my long video "[long video title]". Its one pointer: [the tip].

Use these five beats. Under each, give the spoken line, then one line on what is on screen.
0–3 s, opening: a question, a surprising fact or a visually captivating moment (about 8 words)
3–12 s, key hook: the moment from the long video the Short is built around (about 23 words)
12–24 s, the pointer, stated once (about 30 words)
24–37 s, proof that the tip works (about 33 words)
37–45 s, name the long video and what else it covers (about 20 words)

Total: 105 to 115 spoken words. One pointer only. No greeting, no request to subscribe.

Nothing in the template is specific to one assistant. Then count. Paste each beat of the reply into the planner; a 140-word reply is a 56-second script, so cut it or move it to the 90-second sheet.

What does a 20-second Short script look like?

A 20-second Short has four beats whose budgets, each beat's seconds × 2.5 rounded, add up to 51 words. It ends on a loop because there is no long video behind it to point to.

Worked script, shoelaces. One shoe, filmed from above:

1. 0 to 2 s: “Your laces keep coming undone?”
2. 2 to 8 s: “Look at the bow. It sits crooked, toe to ankle. That is a granny knot.”
3. 8 to 17 s: “One change fixes it. Tie the first knot as usual, then wrap the loop the other way. The bow sits flat.”
4. 17 to 20 s: “Crooked means granny. Flat means it stays tied.”

Count the beats: 5 + 15 + 21 + 8 = 49 words, two under the 51-word budget, and 49 ÷ 2.5 = 19.6 seconds, 0.4 under the length.

The opening is YouTube's question type. The crooked bow is the key hook, the one image that explains the problem, so it holds the screen for six seconds. Two pointers would not fit. The flat bow at 0:20 matches the shoe at 0:00, so a replay runs back into the question.

For the other two opening types, the Shorts hooks page writes out surprising facts and striking moments by niche.

How does a 45-second Short work as a preview of a long video?

A 45-second Short previews one long upload: it opens on that video's key hook, teaches one pointer from it, and spends its last 8 seconds naming the full video.

Worked script, knife angle. A preview of an 18-minute whetstone video:

1. 0 to 3 s: “Marker ink shows why your knife stays dull.”
2. 3 to 12 s: “Color the edge black and take one stroke on the stone. Ink is gone from the shoulder. The edge itself never touched.”
3. 12 to 24 s: “So the angle is too low. Raise the spine until one stroke takes the ink off the whole bevel, edge included. That is your angle. Hold it there.”
4. 24 to 37 s: “Same knife, same stone, ten strokes a side at the new angle. Then the paper test. Before, it tore the page. Now it slices a strip off clean, no snag.”
5. 37 to 45 s: “The full 18-minute video covers the burr, stone grits, and how to hold the angle without a guide.”

The total: 8 + 22 + 28 + 30 + 18 = 106 words, 8 under the 114-word budget, and 106 ÷ 2.5 = 42.4 seconds. The spare 2.6 seconds go to stone strokes and the paper test, which need no words.

The marker trick opens the Short instead of waiting somewhere inside 18 minutes. The burr and the stone grits stay in the long video, and the end card names them, which is what makes the Short a preview. The burr can wait.

Cutting a Short from footage you already have is a different edit; the Shorts checklist with a timestamped cut list walks through one.

What changes when a Short runs past one minute?

Past one minute, an active copyright claim puts a Short at risk. YouTube's help page on three-minute Shorts says a Short over a minute long that carries an active claim of any kind is blocked globally: it cannot be played or recommended, and it earns nothing. YouTube's Create Shorts page, checked on 21 October 2026, says such Shorts will no longer be automatically blocked and may remain playable. Until the two agree, write the 90-second sheet for sound you hold the rights to, or for the Shorts Audio Library, which YouTube says can cover up to 90 seconds of music in a Short up to 3 minutes, depending on the song.

The channel gets no penalty. Remove the claimed material or dispute the claim, and once it is resolved the Short plays and can be monetized again. For Shorts under one minute, the help page says nothing changes.

The 90-second sheet's budgets add up to 226 words. Choose the sound before writing any of them: your own voice, sound recorded on set, or music you hold the rights to. That holds at any length: under a minute the global block does not apply, though ordinary copyright claims and policies still do. The fifth beat carries the clock past 1:00, and its note says so.

The sheet is still one pointer. Its extra time goes to two steps and the skipped-step version, and a second tip gets its own Short. From 15 October 2024, square or vertical uploads of up to three minutes are filed as Shorts, so 90 seconds stays one.

Where does Go Viral’s Script Generator fit?

Go Viral's Script Generator writes a ready-to-record short-form script from a topic you type. The sheets on this page are how you check what comes back.

1. Type the topic as one sentence that holds the pointer: “find your knife angle with a marker” rather than “knife sharpening”.
2. Paste the draft into the planner and trim any beat over its budget.
3. Try other openings with the Hook Generator, which writes several hook variations.
4. Record, import the clip or paste the Short's link, and read the Hook Score (0 to 100, first 3 seconds) and the Engagement Heat Map's drop-offs and replays.

The checks stay yours. The TikTok script page has its own sheets for 15, 30 and 60 seconds, with beats such as a promise and a turn where these have one pointer, so a TikTok draft needs re-cutting before it goes up as a Short.

The app does not connect to your YouTube account, so posted numbers stay in YouTube Studio. From 31 March 2025 a Shorts view counts every start and replay, and YouTube says to compare Shorts on engaged views. The YouTube Shorts algorithm page covers what YouTube says about who sees a Short.