How long should an executive video be?

About a minute, and under ninety seconds unless you have a reason. A script is read at about 150 words a minute, so a one-minute script is about that many words. On the Free plan a talking-head video runs to 60 seconds. On a paid plan a single video runs to thirty minutes, so length is not what limits these. Attention is.

Can I change the words in the brackets, or will that break the script?

Change them. The brackets are the only parts that are yours by definition. What holds a script together is the order of the five lines, not the wording, so you can rewrite every sentence and it still works as long as the position stays first and the receipt stays specific.

What if the executive rewrites a line while reading it?

Keep their line. That is the point of reading it out loud. The version that comes out of their mouth under mild pressure is almost always better than the one that came out of a document, and it is the one their own people will recognise. Write it down as they say it and move on.

Does the disclosure line go in the script or the caption?

The caption. Reading a disclosure out loud at the top of a one-minute video spends your best five seconds on housekeeping, and the duty sits with the person posting anyway. Put the line where you publish it. How we handle consent, disclosure and content credentials is written up on our Responsible AI page, linked above.

What does one of these cost to make?

A finished talking-head video is 152 credits a second on a paid plan, and every video with a person on screen bills a minimum of 120 credits, so a very short one is not proportionally cheap. The Free plan starts you with 8,400 credits, once, which is enough for a full first video.

Which script should I record first?

Script 3, the question you keep getting. It is the lowest risk on the page, you have already said it out loud fifty times, and it is the one your audience is most likely to have searched for.

Resources · For executives and founders

CEO video scripts you would say out loud

Six executive video scripts you can read as they are, the five lines under all of them, the cut that brings a long draft under a minute, and the claims that get a chief executive in trouble.

Six scripts, written out. The five lines under them. What not to say.

These are scripts, and they are not legal advice. If your company is public or raising, your counsel and your investor relations lead read yours before it goes out.

Part of Resources.

Checked September 2026. Read end to end before it was published. Free to read, no sign-up.

A woman in a green blazer opens her hands to camera while making an announcement.

What should a CEO actually say on camera?

Say the version you would say in the hallway. One position, one real thing that earned you the right to say it, what changed in your head, one line somebody repeats on Tuesday, and what you want back. Five lines. Six scripts below are written that way and you can take them as they are.

Who it is for
Founders and chief executives, and the one communications or marketing lead who drafts for them.
What you need
A point of view you have already said out loud to somebody. For the video part, one clear photo, ten seconds of clear audio for the voice, and one consent recording from the executive.
What it costs
Reading this costs nothing. A finished talking-head video is 152 credits a second on a paid plan. The Free plan starts you with 8,400 credits, once, which is enough for a full first video. See the plans.
What it does not do
It does not post, schedule, measure or approve anything, and none of it is legal advice or a compliance check.

The good version already happened. It happened on a call

You said the real thing four times last week. Once to a customer who pushed back, once on a hiring call, once to your co-founder in a corridor. Every one of those was clearer than anything that has gone out under your name.

Then somebody writes it down. The first draft is close. The second draft is safer. By the third draft it is a paragraph nobody would say out loud, and the moment has passed anyway.

That is not a confidence problem and it is not a production problem. It is that nobody wrote down what an executive script is made of, so every draft starts from nothing and gets argued about tone instead of facts.

Here is what it is made of.

The framework

The Hallway Version: five lines, always in this order

The position
The sentence you would say first if somebody stopped you in a hallway and asked. No greeting. No I wanted to share a few thoughts. The position goes first because nobody watches a warm-up.
The receipt
The specific thing that earned you the right to say it. One week, one decision, one call you took, one number you are cleared to say. One, not three. This is the line that makes it yours instead of an essay anybody could have written.
The turn
What changed in your head, or what you are doing differently because of it. A position with no turn is a slogan.
The handle
The one sentence somebody repeats in their own meeting on Tuesday. Short enough to say without reading. Write this last, then move it here.
The open door
What you want back. A reply, an application, a disagreement. Not follow me for more.

Five lines. If a draft is not working, one of them is missing, and it is almost always the receipt.

Six scripts, written out, in the order most people should use them

Every one of these runs about a minute. The words in brackets are the ones only you can fill in. Nothing in brackets is a number we made up, and no number should go into one unless you are cleared to say it out loud.

1. The decision you just made

For the week you changed something and the reasons are about to travel without you.

We stopped [the thing you stopped] last week. I want to say why in my own words, before it reaches you second hand.
It came out of one meeting. We had the same conversation three times in a month, with three different [customers or teams], and the answer never moved. We were spending our best hours on something that only looked important.
So here is what changes. From [the date], [the team] works on [the one thing] and nothing else. [The other thing] moves to [where it moves]. Nobody loses their job over this.
If you are sitting in the same spot, here is the rule I would give you. When the same conversation happens three times and the answer does not move, you have already decided. You just have not written it down.
If you think we got this wrong, reply and tell me. I would rather hear it now than in six months.

Swap these: the thing you stopped, the date, and the one thing the team now owns.

2. The thing you got wrong

The highest-trust script on the page, and the one to record fifth rather than first.

I was wrong about [the thing], and enough people heard me say the other version that I should say this one out loud too.
Here is what I said: [the old position]. Here is what happened: [what actually happened]. I was not close.
What I missed was [the thing you missed]. Not the market, and not the timing. Those parts I would say again. The part I got wrong was [the specific bit], and the reason is that I was reading [what you were reading] instead of asking [who you should have asked].
So we changed it. [What you changed.] It cost us [what it cost].
I am not saying this because admitting a mistake is charming. I am saying it because some of you are about to make the same call, and you deserve the version with the ending in it.

Swap these: the old position, what actually happened, and what you changed. Only name a cost you are cleared to say.

3. The question you keep getting

The lowest risk on the page, because you have already answered it out loud fifty times.

Every week somebody asks me [the question]. It comes up on calls, it comes up at [where], and I answer it the same way every time. So here it is once, properly.
The short answer is [the short answer].
The longer answer is that most people asking are really asking [the question underneath], and that one has a different answer. [The real answer.]
Here is the part people leave out. [The uncomfortable true thing.] It is not the fun answer. It is the one that holds up.
If you are weighing this right now, the test I would use is [the test]. Pass that and the rest is detail.
If your answer is different, say so. I have changed my mind on this before.

Swap these: the question, the question underneath, and the test. This is the one to record first.

4. The hire

For an open role, said as why the job exists rather than as a list of requirements.

We are hiring [the role], and I want to say why the job exists rather than list what it needs.
For [how long], [the thing] has been somebody's second job. It got done, and it got done late, and the person doing it never had a clear run at it. That is on me, not on them.
So the job is this. You own [the thing]. You report to [who], you have [what you have], and in your first [period] the only thing I want back is [the first thing].
What I cannot promise you is [the honest limit]. We are [the honest state of things]. If that sounds like a problem, it probably is, and you are better off knowing now than in month three.
The link is below. If you know the right person and it is not you, send it to them.

Swap these: the role, the first thing you want back, and the honest limit. Say the limit. It is the line that makes the rest believable.

5. The disagreement

For a received idea you have stopped believing, once the account has a voice people recognise.

Most people in [your field] will tell you [the received wisdom]. I do not think that holds any more, and I want to say why.
It was true when [when it was true], because [why it was true then]. That is real and it worked.
What changed is [what changed]. Once that happened, [the received wisdom] started costing more than it returned, and I watched that happen in our own work before I believed it.
So we do it the other way. [What you do instead.] It is slower at the start and it is better by [when].
I could be wrong about this. If you are running the standard version and it is working, I want to hear that more than I want to be right.

Swap these: the received wisdom, what changed, and what you do instead. Disagree with an idea, never with a named company.

6. The quarter, said inside the company

Half an executive's camera work is internal. This one is sent to your own people and not posted.

Good morning. Before the slides, three things in plain words.
One. [What went well.] It went well because of [the specific team or decision], not because the market moved.
Two. [What did not go well.] I am not going to soften it. [The honest sentence.] Here is what we are doing about it: [the change].
Three. The question I keep getting in one-to-ones is [the question]. The answer is [the answer], and if that changes you will hear it from me on a Monday, not as a rumour on a Thursday.
That is the whole update. The deck has the numbers. I will be in [where] until [when] if you want to argue with any of it.

Swap these: what went well, what did not, and the question you keep getting. Send this one internally and do not post it.

The same opening, said long and said short

Most executive drafts are not wrong. They are long. Length is where the position gets buried and where the handle gets cut by accident, so cut on purpose instead.

A script is read at about 150 words a minute, which is what the length line under the script box counts while you type. Here is the same opening at both lengths.

Delete the meeting
Every sentence that describes how the decision was reached instead of what was decided comes out. None of it was the decision.
Delete the run-up
I wanted to, I think it is worth, as you may know, over the past several months. Four phrases, and they open most of the drafts that never get recorded.
Full stops instead of commas
If a sentence needs a comma to survive, it needs a full stop instead. Everything cut above was throat clearing, hedging, or a description of the process.

The long version, the first three lines

I wanted to take a moment to share some thoughts on a decision we made recently as a leadership team, which I know has generated a number of questions internally and externally, and which I think deserves a proper explanation rather than a short note. Over the past several months we have been carefully evaluating a range of options across the business, and after a lot of discussion we concluded that the right thing to do was to change our approach.

The short version, the same three lines

We stopped [the thing] last week. I want to say why in my own words, before it reaches you second hand.

What happens when somebody actually says it out loud

This is the pass that catches what editing cannot. Stand up, read the whole script at speaking pace, and watch for these.

The stumble
If the same place trips them twice, the sentence is wrong. Their mouth is not. Rewrite that sentence before anything else on the page.
One pause mark, not five
Mark a single breath, after the position. More than one and it starts to sound like a speech, and a speech is the thing nobody watches.
Say every number out loud
If they have to look at a document to say it, take it out. A figure that needs checking mid-sentence is a figure that does not belong in a script.
Say every name out loud
If it sounds like a shout-out when spoken, it is one, and it will read as one. Names go in because they are load bearing, or they come out.
Take three should be better than take one
If it is worse, the script is too long, not the executive. Cut forty words and try again.
A minute is about a page of speech
At about 150 words a minute, a one-minute script is about that many words. On the Free plan a talking-head video runs to 60 seconds, so a free first try is about one script.

That read, twenty minutes for six scripts, is also the approval. Nothing else needs a round.

Ten sentences to take out, and what to put back

This is a line edit rather than a topic check. Whether a subject is safe to talk about at all is a different job. What follows is the sentence itself: the shape that creates a problem, and the shape that says the same thing safely.

A number nobody cleared. Revenue, growth, runway, headcount, churn, a customer's spend.: A figure that is already published, or no figure at all. The script survives without it.
The future written as a fact. We will be profitable next year.: We are trying to be profitable next year, and here is what has to be true for that. Same ambition, different sentence, and if your company is public or raising the difference matters a great deal.
Your own view said as the company's. We believe, when the board has not agreed it.: I think, said out loud, in the script.
A product sentence that is true next quarter.: Say what it does today and put a date on the rest, or leave the rest out.
A named person in a sentence they have not read. A departure, a promotion, a performance comment, including a kind one.: Send them the exact sentence, get the yes in writing, then record.
A promise a candidate could hold you to.: Only what is already in the offer letter, and say the honest limit in the same breath.
A recommendation to buy anything, including your own company's stock.: Describe what you are doing. Never tell anyone what to do with their money.
Any sentence about a live deal, a raise or a legal matter, including the shape of it.: Nothing at all. We cannot talk about it yet is still a sentence about it.
A line that characterises another company's business, their finances, their safety record or their legal position.: Say what you do differently and why. Name nobody.
An apology that assigns a cause you have not checked. We got this wrong because of a team or a supplier.: Say what you said, what happened, and what changed. A cause you cannot show is a new problem rather than an apology, and this is the entry that catches the correction script.

Write all six in one sitting, then read them out loud

They are easier together, because the second one borrows the rhythm of the first. Two sessions and then an order is the whole plan.

Thursday 1 October 2026, about ninety minutes
Six drafts, one sitting, one person. Do not circulate them yet.
Monday 5 October 2026, about twenty minutes
Read them out loud with the executive, using the list above. Cut whatever they stumble on. That read is the approval.

Those two dates are the week this was written for. The order below matters more than the dates, and it works whenever you start.

Then record them in this order

The question you keep getting
Lowest risk on the page, already said fifty times, and the one your audience is most likely to have searched for.
The decision
You have the material, and the audience already has the question.
The hire
It has a deadline attached, so it gets finished.
The disagreement
By now the account has a voice people recognise, which is what makes a disagreement land rather than sting.
The correction
Fifth on purpose. It is the strongest one and it needs the four before it.
The quarter, internal
Not posted. Sent to your own people.

When each one goes out is a cadence question rather than a scripts question, and it belongs in whatever your team already plans with. Kyndrify does not schedule and does not post. The rota itself, who drafts and who approves, is written up on AI video for executives and founders.

Script 3 is the one to start with

Take script 3, fill in the three brackets, and render it in the executive's own face and voice. Build a Digital Twin from one clear photo and ten seconds of clear audio, then record a short consent clip, which takes about a minute on their phone and is checked against their face before anything renders. They do that once. Every script after it is a writing job rather than a filming job.

A free Workspace uses a Starter Twin. A Digital Twin of a named executive starts on the Plus plan, and 1080p on the Basic plan and above. The executive's own voice can be cloned on any plan, Free included. A second person in the same Workspace needs a seat, which starts on Pro. The comms lead and the executive are two people.

If you have six scripts and want them planned as a set rather than one at a time, Kae, our AI creative director, plans the whole set before anything runs.

Turn script 3 into a video in your own face

Script 3 is the question you keep getting, written out above. One clear photo, a short voice sample, and one consent recording.

The part that is not ours to decide

We make the videos. What you say in them stays yours, and we would rather say so plainly than let you find out later.

If your company is public or raising, what you say on camera is a public statement. The rules about telling some people before everyone, and about talking as though the future is settled, apply to a video exactly as they apply to a written release. Your counsel and your investor relations lead own that call, and this page does not. This is not legal advice, and nothing we make is a compliance check.
Say a connection out loud. If you are talking about a product you sell, or a company you have money in, the video is where that gets said.
Get a person's sign-off in writing before you name them. Send them the exact sentence, not the gist of it.
Label the video as AI made wherever you post it. Built-in labelling is still rolling out across output types, so a publisher writes the line rather than assuming the file carries it, and the publisher here is you.
A Digital Twin needs a consent record before it can render. The executive records a short clip agreeing to it, the face in that recording is compared with the face in the photo, and consent can be withdrawn later, after which the character stops rendering. That is a control we ship, and it is not a certification of anything. How we handle consent, disclosure and content credentials is written up on Responsible AI.

Checked September 2026. This is a summary, not legal advice.

FAQ

Questions people ask about executive video scripts

How long should an executive video be?: About a minute, and under ninety seconds unless you have a reason. A script is read at about 150 words a minute, so a one-minute script is about that many words. On the Free plan a talking-head video runs to 60 seconds. On a paid plan a single video runs to thirty minutes, so length is not what limits these. Attention is.
Can I change the words in the brackets, or will that break the script?: Change them. The brackets are the only parts that are yours by definition. What holds a script together is the order of the five lines, not the wording, so you can rewrite every sentence and it still works as long as the position stays first and the receipt stays specific.
What if the executive rewrites a line while reading it?: Keep their line. That is the point of reading it out loud. The version that comes out of their mouth under mild pressure is almost always better than the one that came out of a document, and it is the one their own people will recognise. Write it down as they say it and move on.
Does the disclosure line go in the script or the caption?: The caption. Reading a disclosure out loud at the top of a one-minute video spends your best five seconds on housekeeping, and the duty sits with the person posting anyway. Put the line where you publish it. How we handle consent, disclosure and content credentials is written up on our Responsible AI page, linked above.
What does one of these cost to make?: A finished talking-head video is 152 credits a second on a paid plan, and every video with a person on screen bills a minimum of 120 credits, so a very short one is not proportionally cheap. The Free plan starts you with 8,400 credits, once, which is enough for a full first video.
Which script should I record first?: Script 3, the question you keep getting. It is the lowest risk on the page, you have already said it out loud fifty times, and it is the one your audience is most likely to have searched for.

Keep going

Take script 3 and see what it looks like in your own face

One photo, ten seconds of clear audio and a short consent recording. The Free plan starts you with 8,400 credits, which is enough for a full first video.

Read the guides Get started for free