The most expensive mistake in an AI ad is a weak script. Every later step, the voice, the lip-sync, the b-roll, is paid for by the second, and none of it can rescue lines nobody wants to hear. The cheap part is the part that decides everything: about 60 words.
When we studied the top creator gadget ads frame by frame, nearly all of them were one person talking to their phone about a real situation, with the product shown working rather than described. So when we built a producer for our AI influencers, the team member that writes their talking ads, we gave it a short, strict structure. This is that structure, written for anyone making AI UGC by hand or with a tool.
The script is the cheapest part, and it decides everything.
First, the length: 45 to 70 words
People speak at roughly 150 words a minute in normal conversation, though estimates range from about 125 to 170 depending on the speaker and the situation. That's about 2.5 words a second. Leave room for pauses, a reaction and a shot with no talking, and you get a simple rule:
20 to 30 seconds of ad holds about 45 to 70 spoken words.
Fewer than 45 usually means there's no story, just a product and a sentence.
Most disappointing UGC videos start with a weak brief: a product link and 'make something fun'. Here's a one-page brief template for product videos, field by field, with what to include, what to leave to the creator, and the rules to put in writing.
More than 70 means someone is reading a feature list too fast.
We cap our influencers' ads at 30 seconds, and the producer has to fit inside it. The first time our producer worked under the cap, its plan ran to about 35 seconds; the plan was refused automatically and rewritten to fit before a single frame was drawn.
The five beats
1. The hook: the problem, in the first line, to camera
The first second decides whether anyone sees the second one. Start with the situation, said directly to the camera, not with a greeting and not with the product name.
Weak: "Hi guys, today I want to show you something really cool."
Better: "I've shrunk two black jumpers in this exact laundromat. Two."
A good hook is specific (a number, a place, a time), a little personal, and short enough to say in under three seconds.
2. The situation: why it's hard right now
One or two lines that make the problem real and physical. The best ones give the viewer a reason the obvious solution won't work: hands full, phone across the room, in a hurry, in the rain.
"Both hands busy. Phone's on the other side of the room."
This is the beat most AI scripts skip, and it's why their product shots feel like catalogue photos. Without a situation, the product has nothing to solve.
3. The product in use: shown, not described
Now the product does the one thing it's best at, in this situation, on screen. Say less than you think. If it answers, let it answer. If it cleans, show it clean. One feature, the one this story needs.
"Wool. Which program, and what temperature?" *(the product answers: "Wool cycle, thirty degrees, low spin.")*
Resist the urge to list features. "It also has a timer, and it tracks your sleep, and..." turns a creator into an advert in three words.
4. The doubt: answer the question the viewer is thinking
Every viewer has one doubt at this point: is it actually good, does it really work, isn't it just a phone? Give it one line and, if you can, one shot. A short reaction after the product works often does the job better than a claim.
"Fine. That's good, actually."
A grudging "fine" is more believable than "this is amazing". Creators who sell well tend to sound slightly surprised, not thrilled.
5. The honest close: what it is, what it needs, where to get it
Name the product, say plainly what it needs (an app, a subscription, a phone), and say where to find it. Then stop.
"Yes, this is an ad. It's the [product]. Needs your phone and their app. Link's in my bio."
Saying "this is an ad" out loud costs two words and buys trust. It also doesn't replace the platform's own disclosure: on TikTok a paid post should have the commercial content setting switched on, which adds a "Paid partnership" label. Our guide to disclosure rules for AI influencers covers the rest.
A full example
Here's a complete script for an imaginary product, a clip-on reading light, at 55 words. Brackets are what's on screen.
[Her, in bed, phone propped on the duvet] "My partner falls asleep at ten. I read until midnight. You see the problem." [Close-up: the bedside lamp clicks off, the room goes dark] "Lamp's out. Book's open. Phone torch? Way too bright." [Her hand clips the light onto the page; a small warm circle appears] "Clip. That's all the light there is." [Wide: the partner, asleep, doesn't move] "And he didn't even wake up." [Her, to camera, whispering] "Okay, it's an ad. It's a clip-on reading light. Rechargeable, about a week a charge. Link's in my bio."
Every line is short enough to say in one breath. Something new is on screen every three to six seconds. The product appears at the moment the problem peaks, does one thing, and is proven by a reaction (the partner who doesn't wake up) rather than an adjective. The claim in the close ("about a week a charge") is the kind you should only use if the brand has given it to you.
Write lines for the voice, not the page
With AI voices, punctuation is direction:
Full stops make beats. "Two." on its own is a pause and a punch.
Spell out numbers and units the way they're said: "thirty degrees", not "30°".
Keep each talking shot to one or two sentences, about 20 words at most. Say more by cutting to a close-up and back; the jump cut is normal in creator videos.
Read it out loud yourself. If you trip over a line, the voice model will too.
Opening with a greeting or the brand name. The first line is for the problem.
Describing instead of showing. "It's super easy to use" is weaker than a two-second shot of it being easy.
Three features instead of one. Pick the feature this story needs; the rest belongs on the product page.
Jokes in the spoken lines. Humour usually lands better in what the viewer sees (the partner not waking up) than in a punchline the voice has to deliver.
Claims you can't back up. Battery life, health effects, "the best": use only what the brand has approved, and research the product properly first; our six-step product research checklist covers what to check, and our UGC brief template puts the claims and the never-list in writing.
No reason for each shot. If you can't say why a shot is there (it shows the problem, it proves the claim, it answers the doubt), cut it.
From script to shots
Once the script works, the shot list almost writes itself: each beat is one or two shots, the talking lines become talking shots, and everything else becomes a close-up or b-roll under the next line. The AI video prompt builder helps turn each shot into a prompt, and the AI video cost calculator tells you what the finished ad will cost before you render it. Talking shots are the expensive part, so this is also where a tight script saves money.
How Influgen does it
In Influgen, an ad starts with the influencer's ad manager researching the product. Then her producer writes the whole thing in one go to exactly this structure: the beats, every spoken line, every shot and place, the sound and the music. The plan is checked automatically for length and shape before anything is generated, the stills come to you for approval first, and the video only after that. It works for any product an influencer can hold, wear or use; see AI influencers for tech for the kind of ads that fit, or how we compare with Arcads and Creatify if you're weighing AI UGC tools.
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