Script a CEO Video That Moves People
Five preparation steps before anyone starts a video recording.
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A CEO read a script written entirely by AI. A few details had been changed, nothing more. The script was competent. It said the right things in the right order. The video was published, looked professional, and… It moved nobody. Because the CEO was not moved by it.
AI wrote the words. That part worked fine. But the CEO never wrestled with the message. He had not decided what mattered to him, what to leave out, where to put weight. He was reading, not communicating. He was like a robot.
The thinking challenge
The script is the last step of preparing a video shoot. It’s not the first.
I’ve produced over a hundred executive recordings. The pattern is the same every time. When the preparation was done, the video worked. When someone skipped a step and hoped the writing would compensate, it never did.
Here are five preparation steps before the CEO records a single word. Whether it’s an internal townhall, an external statement, or a change announcement, the preparation is the same.
The five steps
Step 1: Define the container before writing starts
The single most common script failure is a script that’s too long. I’ve seen a CEO walk into the studio with an 8-minute script for a 3-minute message. There was no clean way to stop it at that moment. The edit saved the video, but it could not save the message.
One constraint, one rule, given early enough, would have prevented the entire situation: 120 words per minute is the natural speaking pace on camera. A 3-minute message is 360 words. A 5-minute message is 600 words.
Send this rule before anyone starts writing. “This is a 3-minute message. That’s roughly 360 words.” The word count needs to be fixed first, it will make or break the video. When the container is defined, everyone self-edits from the beginning. When it isn’t, the team inherits an impossible edit. Easiest step.
If your CEO speaks fast, even better: the video gets shorter. Shorter is better on camera. And if they speak too fast for the audience to follow, that’s worth addressing separately, because rushing through a message is its own problem.
Step 2: Capture the executive’s voice
The script must sound like the leader, not like the writer.
If you have access to the CEO, conduct a short interview about the topic. Five minutes is enough. Record it, transcribe it with AI, and use specifically the wording they used. The goal is to capture how they talk about the topic, the words they are using, not to get the message right in the interview.
If access is limited, use existing recordings: past videos, podcast appearances, internal presentations where the CEO spoke about related topics. Spoken material matters. Written emails or memos won’t work, because people write in a different register than they speak. You need how they sound, not how they type.
A communications leader who has worked with an executive for a while already has a library of how this person talks, even if they’ve never thought of it that way.
Step 3: Write for the ear, not for the page
Written language prefers longer sentences, subordinate constructions, passive voice, complex noun phrases - like this sentence. All the habits of “good writing” produce bad scripts. A script should sound like someone talking. Short clauses. Active voice. Conversational markers that signal where the speaker is heading. If a sentence has three commas and a semicolon, it will sound wrong on camera no matter how well it reads on paper.
The test: read any sentence aloud. If you stumble, if you sound like reading, if you run out of breath, if you need to re-parse the structure, rewrite it. Scripts go by at the speed of sound. The audience can’t go back and re-read. Every sentence needs to land on first listen.
Step 4: Strip to the essential
Strip every unnecessary word. I aim for the “legal edge of simplification”: as simple as you can get while still being accurate. If you have a complex message and a complex script, nothing arrives. Keep human-sounding phrases (”I’m pleased to announce” stays in because it makes the CEO sound like a person), but cut everything that doesn’t earn its place.
The CEO will sometimes push back and want more context in the script. More background, more detail, more caveats. The practical resolution: pair the video with detailed written communications for the same announcement. The video carries the message. The written text carries the nuance. When the CEO knows the detail lives somewhere, they’re more willing to let the video be simple.
Step 5: Rehearse out loud
When I work with leaders, every executive reads the full script out loud before recording. No exceptions.
I have seen CEOs rewriting scripts on their phones with a crew standing around waiting. This is inefficient. Give them a computer, your computer. Hand the CEO a laptop with the script in a Word file. They edit directly, change words, rephrase sentences, fix things that don’t fit their mouth.
Pronunciation problems surface, especially with non-native speakers where two words next to each other might become impossible to say properly. Rewrite around the problem. Unclear sentences reveal themselves, phrasing that felt fine on paper falls apart when spoken. By the time the script goes on the teleprompter, the CEO has wrestled with the words enough to own them.
The standard: no mistakes before the camera rolls. A small stumble in a five-minute script is fine. The standard exists so they take it seriously.
Separate the words from the melody
One technique from acting training that helps with rehearsal: have the CEO speak the script at double speed. When they say something really fast, they only have time to say the words. No rhythm, no melody, just the sequence.
This matters because when someone rehearses at normal speed, they memorize the words and the rhythm together. In front of the camera, the energy shifts, the rhythm breaks, and the words go with it. Double speed strips the melody out. When the CEO delivers for real, they find the natural rhythm in the moment. With a teleprompter, this prevents the collision between a memorized rhythm and the scrolling pace.
The preparation that matters
Define the word count. Capture the executive’s voice from spoken material. Write for the ear. Strip to the essential. Rehearse until the script is theirs. Five steps, all before anyone presses record.
Build the structure so well that when the executive sits down, the only thing left is for them to sound like themselves. The script is the output. The thinking is the work.