A UGC script should be written as five slots with a stated job each, not as lines of dialogue. You give the creator the claim, the order and the constraints, and they supply the phrasing. The moment you hand someone a word for word script, the delivery flattens and the ad reads as an ad, which removes the only advantage the format has.
Here is the template we use, what each slot is for, and the brief language that gets it delivered like speech rather than copy.
The template, slot by slot
| Slot | Length | Its job | What you write in the brief | How it fails |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. The claim | 0 to 3s | Name the outcome in the speaker's own words | "Open by saying what changed for you. One sentence. Start mid thought, no hello" | Introductions, brand name, "so I've been using" |
| 2. The before | 3 to 8s | Make the problem specific enough to recognise | "Say what you were doing before. Name the annoying detail, not the emotion" | "It was such a struggle" with no detail |
| 3. The mechanism | 8 to 15s | Show the product doing the thing | "Film your hands using it, in the place you actually use it. Narrate what you are doing" | A feature list, or a static hero shot |
| 4. The proof | 15 to 22s | One concrete detail only a user would know | "Give a number, a setting, or something small you noticed in week two" | Superlatives, "highly recommend" |
| 5. The next step | 22 to 30s | Tell them what to do, once | "Say what you'd tell a friend to do. Do not read our tagline" | Two calls to action, or a sung sign off |
Slots one and four carry the ad. Slot one decides whether anyone watches, and slot four decides whether they believe it. If a creator delivers only those two well, you have a usable ad and you can cut around the rest.
Note the timings are a ceiling, not a target. Thirty seconds is the outer limit for a feed UGC ad; most of ours land between 18 and 26 seconds, and the shorter cut usually wins on Reels.
The brief language that produces natural delivery
Creators sound like brands because briefs are written in brand voice. Change the instruction and the delivery changes. These are the specific phrasings that work:
- "Say it how you'd say it to a friend who asked" instead of "maintain an upbeat, friendly tone".
- "Do not say the brand name in the first ten seconds" instead of "please mention the product".
- "Start in the middle of a sentence" instead of "begin with a strong hook".
- "Give us three takes and let the third one be sloppier" instead of "please film until you are happy with it".
- "Do not read anything. Look at the bullet, then look at the camera and say it" instead of attaching a script document.
- "Film where you use it. Kitchen noise is fine, we can work with it" instead of "please film in a quiet, well lit space".
Add one negative constraint list, kept short: no unboxing on a white desk, no music, no jump cut every two seconds, no reading a review aloud. Four prohibitions get followed. Fourteen do not.
Where you do need exact wording, and legal claims are the case, mark it explicitly: "this line must be said exactly, it is a regulated claim". Creators respect a flagged line far better than they respect a whole document of them.
What to leave unscripted
Deliberately unspecified, in every brief we send:
- The opening words. You specify the content of slot one, never the sentence.
- Filler. "Um", a restart, a laugh at their own phrasing. These are the strongest credibility signals in the file, and they are the first thing an editor instinctively removes.
- The b-roll choices. Ask for two minutes of unnarrated hands and product footage and let them decide what to shoot. You will get angles you would not have art directed.
- The ending. Ask them to say the next step in their own words and give three options, not one.
What is never unscripted: the claim you are legally allowed to make, the offer, and the product name pronunciation. Everything else is theirs.
One thing worth requesting explicitly: 20 to 30 seconds of the creator saying nothing while using the product. Silent footage is what lets you build later variations with a different voiceover on top, and almost nobody asks for it.
Two worked examples
Example one: a DTC sleep supplement
- Slot 1: content is "you now fall asleep in under twenty minutes instead of scrolling until 1am". Delivered as: "I used to be awake at one in the morning for no reason at all."
- Slot 2: "Say what your nights looked like. Name the specific thing, the phone, the 4am wake up, whatever it actually was."
- Slot 3: "Film taking it. Show the bottle, show the dose. Say what it tastes like honestly, even if the answer is not much."
- Slot 4: "Tell us the day you noticed. Not 'it changed my life', but 'about the fourth night I stopped waking up at three'."
- Slot 5: "Say what you would tell someone who complains about sleep."
Example two: a B2B scheduling tool
- Slot 1: content is "you stopped losing Monday mornings to rota conflicts". Delivered as: "My Monday used to start with four people telling me they can't work Tuesday."
- Slot 2: "Say what the old process was. Name the tool, name the spreadsheet, name the group chat."
- Slot 3: "Screen record yourself doing the thing that used to take an hour. Talk over it as you go."
- Slot 4: "Give the number. Hours saved, shifts covered, whatever you actually track."
- Slot 5: "Say what you'd tell another manager in your position to do next."
Both briefs are under 200 words in the version that gets sent. The temptation is to add context about positioning and target customer. Resist it. Every paragraph of brand context you add pulls the delivery back towards brand voice.
Turning one script into a set
A single script is not the deliverable, it is the seed. Once footage exists, we treat it as a library: the same creator's slot one can front a different mechanism, and the silent footage can carry a new voiceover entirely.
That is what Genyad's UGC ad maker does with a creator delivery. You upload the footage once, it transcribes and tags every clip, and each variation is a fresh script, shot selection, voiceover and caption set built from that library rather than a trim of the same timeline. If you want the script itself drafted first, our ad script generator writes to this slot structure, in English, German, French, Spanish, Italian or Hindi, written natively in the target language rather than translated. One variation costs one credit, and the free plan covers five without a card.
What we do not do is produce the speaker. There are no AI avatars or synthetic presenters in Genyad, so this template assumes you have a real person willing to film. Nothing here works without that.
Frequently asked questions
How long should a UGC script be?
Write for 18 to 30 seconds of finished ad, which is roughly 55 to 85 spoken words. The brief itself should be shorter than the ad in written length: five slots, one instruction each, under 200 words total. Longer briefs measurably increase how scripted the delivery sounds.
Should I send the creator a word for word script?
Only for legally required claims, which you mark as exact lines. For everything else, send the content of the slot and let them phrase it. A creator reading your sentences produces a worse ad than a creator paraphrasing them badly.
What do I do if the creator's delivery is flat?
Ask for one more take with a specific reframing rather than a general note. "Say it to your sister" beats "more energy" every time. If two reframed takes are still flat, use their silent b-roll under a different voice and keep the person on screen only for the opening claim.
Do I need permission to edit the footage into other ads?
Yes, and it needs to be in the agreement before you start editing. A paid media licence that omits the right to recut and re-caption leaves you unable to build variations, which is usually the actual reason you bought the footage. Name the term, the platforms and the edit rights in writing.