Animators lose explainer-video work because the buyer can't picture the finished video from a reel. A reel shows style. It doesn't show how you would explain this company's product in 60 seconds. So send that instead: a script and a rough storyboard, before any contract.

It costs you two to three hours per prospect. It also does something a reel can't: it proves you can write, which is the part of an explainer video that decides whether it works. Here is the full method, with a sample script and a price structure.

Who buys an explainer video

The buyer is almost always the head of marketing or a product marketing manager. At a startup it might be the founder. The people who ask them for the video are in sales: "Can we get a short video for the demo page?" Three events make the request urgent:

  • A product launch with a date.
  • A website redesign where the homepage needs something to replace a wall of text.
  • A sales team that is explaining the same complicated thing on every call.

Software companies and service businesses with an abstract product are the natural fit: scheduling software, a payments tool, a compliance service, a logistics platform. If the product can be photographed, a live-action video may serve; if it can't, animation shines. For live-action projects, see the videographer guide and video production companies.

Finding companies with a launch coming

Look for companies announcing something. Their blog, a "coming soon" page, a funding announcement, a new-feature post on social media, a job listing for a product marketing role. A software company with 20 to 150 employees has the budget and the need. Add to your list the company name, the marketing lead's name, the product, and the one-sentence description from their homepage.

Thirty companies is enough to start. The guide on getting customers for vertical SaaS will show you what these buyers look like from the other side, and finding decision-makers explains how to confirm the name.

The script-first offer

Write a 60-second script for the product. A comfortable speaking pace is about 140 to 150 words per minute, so aim for 130 to 150 words. Spend an hour on it. Then draw six to eight rough frames on paper or a tablet: stick figures are fine, with a caption under each. Photograph or export them.

Here is a sample for a fictional scheduling tool for tutoring centers.

0:00 "It's 4 p.m. and your front desk is on the phone, again." (Frame 1: a phone ringing, a cartoon desk with a stack of sticky notes.)
0:08 "A parent wants to move Tuesday's session. A tutor is out sick. Two students want the same slot." (Frame 2: a calendar with overlapping blocks in red.)
0:22 "Brightpath puts every tutor, room and student on one calendar." (Frame 3: the blocks slide into neat columns.)
0:34 "Parents pick a time that works. Nothing double-books." (Frame 4: a phone with a green check.)
0:46 "Your front desk gets the afternoon back." (Frame 5: the desk, now with a coffee cup.)
0:54 "Try Brightpath free for 14 days." (Frame 6: the logo and a button.)

That is around 75 words, shown as a skeleton with timestamps; the full script would add the voiceover lines between these beats. The point is the structure: a problem the viewer recognizes in the first eight seconds, a reason it happens, the product in one move, a benefit, a single call to action.

A first email to a marketing head

Subject: A 60-second script for Brightpath's launch page

Hi Carmen, I saw Brightpath's scheduling update is coming in November and the product page is mostly text. I wrote a 60-second explainer script and sketched six frames (attached). It's yours to use or pass along. If you like the direction, I animate it for $3,200 with two revision rounds, delivered in three weeks, or I can quote a different length. Hana Menon, [mailing address]. Reply "no" and I'll stop.

A caution on "yours to use": the script is yours, and a buyer who takes it to another animator costs you hours. Most don't. Those who do were not going to be your clients. The ones who do stay get a scripted piece the buyer has already imagined, which shortens the sale from weeks to days.

Following up with the storyboard

On day four, send a tighter version of frame 3 as a single image, polished enough to show your style. On day nine, ask one question: "Is the November date still the one to hit?" The date is the pressure. If it has moved, the project has moved with it, and you can plan a later check-in. Don't send the reel unless they ask for it.

Where script-first pitches go wrong

Three failures come up again and again. The first is a script that describes features. "It has a dashboard, reports and an app" is a spec sheet read aloud. Viewers remember a problem and a relief, not a feature list, so cut every sentence that does not serve one of those two.

The second is a storyboard that is too finished. Hours of polish on frames the buyer will rewrite is a loss you take for free. Keep the sketches rough enough that changing one costs you five minutes, and the buyer feels free to say "move this up."

The third is skipping the approver. A marketing head says yes, then the founder rewrites the script in week two. Ask early: "Who else has to sign off on the script?" and put that person's name in the quote. If it is the founder, offer a 15-minute read-through with them before you start animating. A change at script stage costs minutes; the same change after animation costs days.

Pricing by length and revisions

Price by finished length, number of scenes, and revision rounds. A simple model: a base for the first 30 seconds, an add-on per extra 15 seconds, and a fee for each revision round beyond two. For example, $1,800 for 30 seconds, $700 for each additional 15, and $350 for each extra revision. So a 60-second video is $1,800 plus $1,400, or $3,200, with two revisions included. Voiceover and music licensing are separate line items or passed through at cost. Tell the buyer which. State what a "revision" means (changes to timing or copy, not a new concept) so the third round doesn't turn into a new project.

For a worker doing the list and follow-ups while you draw, see the AI workers. Rocketship finds marketing heads at software and service companies by name, emails them from your own Gmail, follows up, and books the call on its own. Plans that get you customers start at $24.99 a month (Launch), and both Launch and Frontier start with a 7-day free trial, card required.