How to Write YouTube Pre-Roll Scripts (6s and 15s)
Pre-roll prompts inflate. They write a 45-second story, invent a view count, and add a celebrity cameo. You needed a 6-second bumper that is legal to skip-less, and a 15-second in-stream that names one offer. The extra seconds are not a gift. They are a policy and a media-buy problem.
The matching generator is the YouTube Pre-Roll Ad Script (6s and 15s) prompt. Browse related cards in the PromptDig library (Browse more prompts). When a filled run survives, share the version you actually use (Share a prompt).
Two clocks, one honesty ledger
Facts you can claim: product, what it does in one clause, price or offer only if it is live, CTA URL or on-screen text you will actually show, brand voice, legal lines that must appear (paid, refund, not available in a region). Proof: product footage you have, a still, a logo you may use. If you do not have footage of the product, the shot list cannot storyboard a studio hero.
Banned: fake metrics (views, subscribers, "millions trust"), invented discounts, medical claims, competitor dunks, celebrity. Quote them if they leak.
The 6-second script is a bumper: one visual, one line of voice or super, logo. No plot. If you cannot say it in one breath, it is not a bumper.
The 15-second script is problem or product in the first 3 seconds, proof you actually have, CTA. Super length should be readable. Do not stack four end cards.
Shot lists from assets you own
Each script needs a shot list that only uses Assets. Phone footage stays phone footage. If Assets lack a working unit, say so. Do not board a lifestyle montage in a city you will not shoot.
On-screen text is copy you will set in the editor. Print approximate character counts if Inputs asked. Do not invent a lower-third with a star rating.
Voiceover: if Voice is dry, do not add a radio announcer. If you have no VO talent named, label it as a temp read, not a hired name.
Variants: two bumpers, two 15s, one of each marked recommended. A joke bumper that needs 8 seconds is not a bumper. Cut it or move the joke to the 15s if it still fits the ledger.
Compliance, gaps, and what 15 seconds cannot do
Paid-partnership and refund language only if Review asked for it. If the offer has a real end date, you may say it. Fake countdowns are forbidden.
Gaps: missing URL, missing offer end, missing footage, missing legal line, missing language for a region. UNVERIFIED: any performance claim.
This is not a 30-second brand film and not a TikTok Shop live script. Pre-roll is rented attention. The CTA has to match the landing page you actually have. If the landing page is unnamed, that is a gap, not a reason to send people to a homepage the model guessed.
Fill the card, then run
Put the two durations in Limits. If you only need a bumper, say so and do not ask the model to "also give you a 60."
Product / offer: [What it is, live offer]
Audience: [Who sees the pre-roll]
Facts I can claim: [One-clause job of the product]
Proof on hand: [Footage, stills, logo rights]
Limits: [6s bumper, 15s in-stream, super length]
Banned words: [metrics, celebrity, invented discount]
Voice: [dry / plain / upbeat-without-hype]
When a run stays inside 6 and 15, refuses a view count, and lists missing footage under Gaps, share that filled card. The next flight will try to smuggle the same fake millions.
Time the recommended reads out loud. If the bumper overruns 6, cut words, not the logo. If the 15s still explains three offers, pick the one that is live and park the rest in Gaps. A second flight can use a second 15s. Do not stack them in one pre-roll.