Free video length planner

Plan the time before you write

Most videos end up too long because the script is written first and timed later. Planning the other way round is faster: decide how long the video should be, share that time between scenes, and you know exactly how many words each scene can hold before writing a single one.

At a natural narration pace of about 2.45 words per second, a 5-second scene holds about 12 spoken words, a 10-second scene about 25. The planner does that math for every scene.

Templates

Explainer: hook, problem, key idea, example, recap. List: hook, three items, wrap-up, call to action. Tutorial: hook with the end result, three steps, the common mistake, call to action. Story: hook, setup, turning point, outcome, lesson. Each template is scaled to the total length you choose, and you can rename, resize, add or remove scenes.

How long should a scene be? In fast vertical videos a new visual every three to five seconds keeps the pace up; slower, more thoughtful formats can hold a shot longer. The planner flags scenes that are very short to read or very long to watch.

How to use the planner

Pick a template and a total length, or enter a number of scenes and seconds per scene. Edit any scene’s name or duration. The summary shows the total length, the total word budget, the timecode where each scene starts, and whether the video fits YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels (up to 3 minutes) and TikTok.

Copy the plan as text to brief a writer or an editor, or send it to the studio and write the script from it.

Is this the same as words to minutes?

No. [Words to minutes](/tools/words-to-minutes) starts from a text you already have and tells you how long it will run. The length planner starts from the time you want and tells you how much to write, scene by scene.