How to use a teleprompter, and what speed to set

Put the text right next to the lens, set the speed near how you normally talk, and record a ten-second test. If the text runs ahead of you or you wait for it, change the speed and test again. Two or three tests are often enough to find a pace you can hold. The rest of this guide explains how the machine works, how to set it up, and how to choose between a set speed and moving the text yourself.

A teleprompter puts your script where the lens is

A teleprompter is a screen that shows your script near the camera lens. The point is to let you read while looking almost into the lens.

A studio teleprompter uses a pane of beam-splitter glass. This glass is see-through from one side and reflective from the other. A monitor sits under the glass and shows the script, reversed. The glass is angled about 45 degrees in front of the lens. The script reflects up to the speaker, and the camera behind the glass sees straight through (Adorama). Your eyes land very near the lens.

A phone teleprompter needs no glass. The script scrolls on the phone screen, right beside the front or back camera. The gap between text and lens is a little bigger than in a studio, so text position matters more. The eye contact guide covers how to shrink it.

Set it up in five steps

1. Load the script and shorten the lines. One idea per line, four to six words wide.
2. Put the camera at eye height. The phone on a stand, not in your hand.
3. Set the text size. Large enough to read at your sitting distance without leaning.
4. Keep the active line near the lens. On a phone, the line you are reading should sit at the top of the screen.
5. Run a test. Record ten seconds, watch it with the sound off, and check your eyes and your pace.

Distance matters in a studio too. Adorama warns that a speaker positioned too close to the teleprompter makes it obvious they are reading (Adorama). If your eyes visibly sweep, step back and narrow the text.

Start near your natural pace, then adjust

Reading speed is words per minute. The right number is the one you can say clearly without rushing or waiting.

Start from how you really talk. For a reference, professional audiobook narrators average about 9,300 words an hour, about 155 words a minute (ACX). Ordinary speech, with pauses and emphasis, may run faster or slower. Treat 155 as a place to begin.

Then tune it with a ten-second test:

• You keep waiting for the next line: raise the speed.
• You run into the end of the visible text: raise the speed.
• You rush, slur or clip words: lower it.
• You cannot take a breath: lower it, and add blank lines at the pauses.

Example: a 300-word script at 150 words a minute is 2 minutes. At 180 it is about 1 minute 40 seconds. The script timer does that math for any script, and words per minute when speaking explains the pace itself.

Choose a set speed or move the text yourself

You have two ways to drive the text. Each fits a different reader.

	Set speed (auto-scroll)	You move the text
How it works	The text moves at a speed you pick	The text waits until you move it
Good for	A steady reader, a rehearsed script	Someone who pauses, stumbles or ad-libs
Risk	Text runs ahead if you stop	You forget to move it and stall
Ask yourself	Does it feel like talking?	Does moving it break your flow?

Many people use a set speed for the main run and take the text into their own hands for tricky parts. Rolling offers both: you set a reading speed from 40 to 300 words a minute with Auto-scroll, or you drag the script and it holds your place until you press Resume. It is an iPhone app for iOS 26 or later, in English.

Fix the common problems by changing one setting

Most first-time trouble comes from a few settings:

• Your eyes sweep across the line. Narrow the column to four to six words, and move the text closer to the lens.
• You lean in. Raise the text size, or move the phone a little closer.
• You sound flat. You are reading words one at a time. Rehearse once aloud, then read phrases instead of single words.
• You lose your place after looking up. Put a bold or colored marker on the line you are reading, or use a mode that holds your place when you stop.

Change one setting between tests. If you change three, you will not know which one worked.

Choose how much of the script you read word for word

A prompter does not have to carry the whole script. For a short opening and close, you can look at the lens and talk, and let the text carry the middle. Put the lines you must get exactly right on the prompter, and keep a loose note for the rest. This is the same idea as the hybrid in the memorizing guide.

Mark your pauses before you record

Add blank lines where you want to breathe or look at the lens. A set-speed prompter keeps moving through blank space, so the gap becomes a pause. A pause at the end of a sentence is also where you look up. That is the habit that keeps eye contact, covered in the eye contact guide.

If you are still deciding whether to read at all, see how to memorize a script. The full overview is how to read a script on camera.