How to Use a Teleprompter to Read a Script on Camera
Updated 2026-06-21
A teleprompter scrolls your script up the screen at a steady pace so you can read it while looking straight into the camera. To use one, paste your script, set a scroll speed that matches how you talk, position the text near the lens, and press play — then read naturally as the lines roll past.
Set it up in four steps
- Paste your script. Drop in the full text — a speech, a video intro, a podcast read, a sales pitch. Break it into short paragraphs so your eyes can catch each line.
- Set the scroll speed. Start slow and nudge it up until the current line sits comfortably at your reading pace. Most people land somewhere around 120–160 words per minute for natural delivery, but match it to your cadence, not a number.
- Make the text big. Larger font means you can stand farther back and still read it, which keeps your eyes closer to the lens and your gaze looking "into camera."
- Go fullscreen and press play. Fullscreen hides the browser chrome so nothing distracts you mid-take. Pause whenever you need a reset.
When to turn on mirror mode
Mirror mode flips the text horizontally. You only need it for a beam-splitter teleprompter — the rig where a 45-degree piece of glass sits in front of the lens and reflects a screen mounted below or beside it. The reflection reverses the text, so the mirrored display reads correctly in the glass.
If you are reading straight off your laptop, phone or monitor with no glass in front of the lens, leave mirror mode off — otherwise everything reads backward.
Tips for a natural read
- Put the text as close to the lens as you can. The farther your script is from the camera, the more obvious the side-to-side eye drift becomes. A phone or tablet propped just under the lens works well for a DIY setup.
- Write for the ear. Short sentences, contractions and one idea per line scroll better and sound more like speech than a dense paragraph.
- Rehearse the speed once. Do a quick dry run so the scroll and your mouth are in sync before you hit record. Adjust the speed between takes rather than fighting it live.
- Use pause as punctuation. Stopping the scroll to take a breath, land a point or restart a flubbed line is completely normal — that is what the pause control is for.
Private by default
Your script often contains things you would not want on someone else's server — unreleased announcements, client names, personal remarks. The Teleprompter runs entirely in your browser tab. Nothing you paste is uploaded, there is no account, and your text never leaves your device.
Paste your script, set your speed, and start reading on camera with confidence — open the Teleprompter and run your first take.