Welcome to HeyGen, where creating captivating videos has never been faster and easier.

Today, we’re diving into how to write and use video scripts to produce engaging, high-quality content that keeps your audience hooked.

What's covered in this guide

In this tutorial, we’ll cover:

1. Why scripts are essential
2. How to begin a new project
3. How to generate your script with AI
4. How to review and regenerate your script
5. How to edit your script in the HeyGen timeline
6. Adding Pronunciations and Pauses for Natural Flow

Why scripts are essential

Why are scripts so important?

A script is the foundation of any great video. It helps guide your content, keeping it clear, structured, and engaging. Without one, you might lose focus—and so will your audience.

Begin a new project

Let’s get started! Writing a script in HeyGen is simple and intuitive.

Open HeyGen and start a new project. 

You can then choose to either begin a script from scratch by selecting ‘Create video’ or clicking on the ‘Template’ tab, selecting a template, and then adding your script to the timeline.

How to generate a script with AI

For this tutorial, let’s begin by selecting ‘Create video’ and then clicking on ‘Avatar Video.’

Then, select the ‘Generate script with AI’ option.

Tell HeyGen what your script is all about by following a few simple prompts, or you can insert a link, and it will generate the script based on a URL.

The more specific and descriptive your prompting, the better. This should include notes on the script’s overall tone, a careful description of your topic and the main points you’d like to cover, and even how long you’d like for your video to be.

The key is to understand that the context and tone of your prompts will have a major impact on user experience. Also, remember that you can always take the help of an AI prompt generator to create perfect prompts, including a tool like FEEDOUGH.

For example, let’s say we’re creating a script about AI and how it’s impacting the banking world. My prompt could look something like this:

“Help me write a script about how AI is transforming the world of banking, including customer care, forecasting, predicting industry trends, and any other topic you feel is relevant to the banking world.”

Click the ‘Generate Script’ button when you’re ready and that’s it!

Review your script and re-generate it if needed

Once your AI script has been generated by HeyGen, you can always ‘Regenerate-script’ if you don’t like it.

Simply click the button and you’re done. Then, click on ‘Create Video’ and your script will automatically be pulled into your new video’s timeline.

Edit your script in the HeyGen timeline

You can then review and edit your script as needed.

You can adjust pauses between words or sentences by specifying the duration in seconds using the "Add Pause" option.

There are two types of pauses:

1. Between-sections pause: A pause between different sections of your script.
2. In-script pause: A pause within the words of the script

Adding Pauses and Pronunciations for Natural Flow

To add an between-sections pause, place your cursor at the desired location in the script and click "Add Pause."

To add an in-script pause, use your custom voice of choice, add in the script, place your cursor at the desired location in the script and click "Add Pause."

Note: In-script pauses are currently available only for custom voices. If you're using the public voice library, this feature is not supported.

Incorporate Punctuation Marks

1. Hyphens (-): Separate syllables for clear pronunciation.
2. Commas (,): Create shorter breaks.
3. Periods (.): Introduce longer breaks with downward inflection.

Use the Pronunciation Feature

If you preview your script and notice some words aren't pronounced correctly, you can double-click them and select "Pronunciation." Here, you can type the desired pronunciation and even use hyphens (-) to emphasize it. This is especially helpful for acronyms, like "AI" (which should be "a-eye") or "AWS" ("a-double you-s").

Ensure Language Consistency

Avoid mixing languages. For instance, do not include Arabic words in an English script.

Write Numbers Out for Easy Reading

You can write out numbers or use phonetic spelling for clarity. For example:

1. "2012" becomes "twenty twelve."
2. "3/8" becomes "three eighths of an inch."
3. "01:18" becomes "one minute and eighteen seconds."
4. "10-19-2016" becomes "October nineteenth, two thousand sixteen."
5. "150th CT NE, Redmond, WA" becomes "150th Court Northeast, Redmond, Washington."

Before you know it, you’ll be ready to add in your avatar and other assets.

Recap

In this tutorial, you learned:

1. Why scripts are essential
2. How to begin a new project
3. How to generate your script with AI
4. How to review and regenerate your script
5. How to edit your script in the HeyGen timeline
6. Adding Pronunciations and Pauses for Natural Flow

We’re looking forward to seeing what you’ll create with HeyGen!

If you’re posting your videos on social media, make sure to tag any videos you create with @HeyGen_Official so we can celebrate them with you.