How to write a YouTube script with AI, step by step

By Quang Hieu · 2026-10-03

"Write me a YouTube script about X" gives you a wall of text that sounds like every other AI video. A script that holds viewers needs a plan: who is watching, what they get in the first 30 seconds, and where they might click away. You can put that plan into Claude with a few free skills.

This is the workflow, one step at a time. It does not promise views or income — that depends on your topic, your channel and you. It does give you a draft you can actually record.

Step 1: Decide what the video is for

Before any writing, the youtube-script-3 skill asks six questions. Answer them first, even if you write by hand:

Topic — what is this video about?
Target viewer — beginner, business owner, enthusiast?
Length — short (5–8 min), standard (10–15 min) or long-form (20+ min)?
Call to action — subscribe, click a link, watch the next video, buy?
Channel context — is it part of a series?
Style — talking head, screencast, voiceover with visuals?

If you are starting a channel from zero, step back further. video-content-strategist has a strategy mode that covers niche, content pillars, YouTube keyword research and a 90-day launch plan, plus a script mode and a repurposing mode for Shorts and Reels.

Step 2: Research from what is already out there

Find two or three videos on the same topic and read what they actually say. youtube-transcript downloads a video's transcript in Claude Code: creator subtitles first, auto-generated ones second, and local Whisper transcription only as a last resort, after asking you. Ask Claude what those videos cover, what they skip, and what viewers ask in the comments. The gap is your angle.

Use transcripts for research, not for copying. Your script should say something those videos do not.

Step 3: Write the hook for the first 30 seconds

youtube-script-3 splits the opening into three beats: a pattern interrupt (0–5 seconds), the promise of what the viewer will get (5–15 seconds), and why they should trust you (15–30 seconds).

If you want more options for the opening line, copywriting-hooks has a catalogue of 18 hook types — curiosity gap, contrarian, scene opener, question and more. It was written for article titles, but the patterns carry over to a spoken opening. Ask for five hooks, pick one, and rewrite it in your own words.

Step 4: Draft the body with retention in mind

Ask youtube-script-3 for the full script. Its structure uses open loops (raise a question and answer it later), pattern breaks (change pace or format), and visual cues written into the script so you know what to show on screen.

For narrative videos — video essays, documentaries, sketches — script-writing is built for scripted scenes rather than talking-head explainers.

Step 5: Edit until it sounds like you

Read the draft out loud. Anything you would not say to a friend, cut. Then run it through content-humanizer: it flags filler words, hedging chains like "it's worth noting that", and flat sentence rhythm, and rewrites them. A script is spoken, so short sentences win.

Last checks before recording:

Does the first 30 seconds say what the viewer gets?
Is there one call to action, said once near the end (and maybe once mid-video)?
Did you add one thing — an example, a mistake you made, a result you can show — that only you could add?

What to install

All six skills are free, open source, and credited to their authors. Start with youtube-script-3 and content-humanizer; add youtube-transcript if you use Claude Code. The install steps are in How to install a skill, and more tools for the full workflow are on the Claude skills page.