Writing Scripts That Are Short, Speakable, and Effective

The worst script I ever wrote was 147 words long. It covered three separate policy provisions, referenced two committee votes, and included the phrase “appropriations subcommittee on labor, health and human services, education, and related agencies.” I know it was the worst because our participation that day dropped by half.

The best script I ever wrote was 38 words. One issue. One ask. One reason. Participation doubled.

Scripts are the last thing your volunteer reads and the only thing they say out loud. Everything else in your campaign — audience research, target selection, the introduction — exists to get someone to the point where they’re ready to speak. And the rules for writing something people say out loud are completely different from the rules for writing something people read.

The Thirty-Second Rule

A volunteer calling a congressional office will talk to a staffer or leave a voicemail. Either way, they have about thirty seconds before the interaction is over. Staffers are polite but busy. Voicemail boxes cut off.

Your script needs to fit in that window. Not because brevity is a virtue, but because anything longer won’t get delivered. A volunteer reading a four-sentence script will get through it. A volunteer reading twelve sentences will trail off, skip sections, or panic and hang up.

Count the seconds, not the words. Read your script out loud at a natural speaking pace. If it takes more than thirty seconds, cut it.

The Structure

Every effective script has four parts, and they should come in this order:

Who you are. “Hi, my name is [name] and I’m a constituent from [city].” That’s it. Staffers need to know you’re a real constituent. One sentence.

What you want. “I’m calling to ask Senator Murray to vote no on SB 1234.” Lead with the ask. Don’t build up to it. The staffer is already writing it down.

Why it matters to you. One sentence connecting the issue to your life. “This bill would cut funding for my daughter’s school lunch program.” Personal beats political. A staffer who hears “this affects my family” logs it differently than one who hears a policy argument.

A closing. “Thank you for your time.” That’s the whole closing. Don’t ask follow-up questions. Don’t request a callback. Don’t explain your voting history. Say thank you and hang up.

Write for the Mouth, Not the Page

This is where most script writers go wrong. They write sentences that read well and sound terrible.

“I urge the Senator to consider the ramifications of this legislation on working families in our district” is a perfectly fine written sentence. Nobody talks like that. Your volunteers won’t say it, and if they try, they’ll stumble over “ramifications” and feel stupid.

“This bill hurts working families like mine. Please vote no” is what people actually say. Short words. Short sentences. No subordinate clauses.

Read every script out loud before you send it. Better yet, read it to someone who hasn’t seen it before and watch their face. If they wince, rewrite it.

One Ask, One Script

The temptation to pack multiple asks into one script is strong. “While you’re on the phone, also mention the education bill and ask about their position on the infrastructure vote.” Don’t do this.

Multiple asks confuse staffers. They can only log one issue per call in most systems. Your volunteer will rush through the second ask, or forget it, or spend so long on both that the staffer stops listening.

If you have two issues, send two actions on different days. Each one gets full attention, full confidence-building, full participation. Two weak asks in one call are worth less than one strong ask.

Give Permission to Improvise

Here’s something counterintuitive: the best scripts are the ones people don’t follow exactly. A script is a safety net, not a cage. Your volunteer should feel free to put the idea in their own words.

I started adding a line to our Seattle Indivisible actions: “Use this script as a starting point. If you want to say it in your own words, even better.” Participation went up. People told me they felt less like robots and more like citizens.

The script gives them the structure. Their own words give them ownership.

Common Mistakes

Too formal. Congressional staffers are often young and fielding dozens of calls a day. They don’t expect formal language. They expect a human being on the phone.

Too many numbers. “HB 1234, Section 5, Subsection C” means nothing to a volunteer and nothing to a staffer who handles hundreds of calls. Use the bill’s common name or a plain description.

No specific ask. “I’m concerned about healthcare” gives the staffer nothing to log. “Vote no on SB 1234” gives them exactly what they need.

Scripting both sides. “If they say X, say Y.” This makes volunteers more anxious, not less. If a staffer asks a question the volunteer can’t answer, the right response is “I don’t know, but I feel strongly about this issue.” That’s a fine answer.

Putting the Pillars Together

Your script is the last thirty seconds of a much longer process. If you’ve done the earlier work — understood your audience, picked the right target, written an introduction that closes the confidence gap — the script almost writes itself. Your volunteer already knows why they’re calling and why it matters. The script gives them the words to start talking.

And once they start talking, they stop being afraid.