Write for speech, then edit out loud
Most stiff prompter reads were stiff on the page first. Founders write like they email: long sentences, hedged claims, three clauses deep. Spoken language is shorter and blunter. Before any script reaches the glass, run it through these rules:
- One idea per sentence. If a sentence needs a comma to breathe, split it.
- Contractions everywhere. Write the words you would say across a table, in your own register.
- Read it aloud twice before the shoot. Every place you stumble is a rewrite, and your mouth finds them faster than your eyes.
- Open with the point. On camera, the first ten seconds carry the video. Put the claim first and the context after.
The prompter reads exactly what you wrote. Fix the writing and the delivery mostly fixes itself.
The settings that matter on the glass
On the Course & Teleprompter Studio set we start every founder from the same baseline and adjust from there:
- Scroll speed: matched to you, live. Conversational delivery sits around 140 to 160 words per minute; your engineer rides the speed to your voice, so you set the pace rather than chase it.
- Line length: 4 to 6 words per line. Short lines keep your eyes near the lens axis, and eye travel is what reads as "reading" on camera.
- Marker breaks: a blank line between beats. The visual gap cues a real pause, which is where natural rhythm lives.
- Script length: plan about 750 words for a 5 minute video. Founders routinely bring 1,500 and wonder why it feels rushed.
The first-take problem
First takes almost always sound like an announcement. That is normal: your brain is still reading, and reading has its own cadence. The fix is volume of reps, compressed. We roll on take one knowing it goes in the bin, use take two to find the pace, and takes three and four are usually the keepers. Budget for this: a 5 minute piece takes 20 to 25 minutes of studio time, which is how twelve lessons fit an afternoon on a batch recording day.
