An AI short film maker that starts with the script

Why clip generators struggle with short films

A video model makes one shot from one prompt. A short film has dozens of shots that must agree: the lead's face in scene one and scene nine, the kitchen seen from two angles, a coat that doesn't change color between cuts. Generate each shot from text alone and those details drift.

ShowMaker treats the film as a production. Characters, locations, wardrobe and props are stored once as @references and sent to the model on every shot that cites them.

Story structure is the other gap. A clip generator has no idea that scene four pays off something planted in scene one. ShowMaker keeps the script as the source of the film. Every shot sits under a scene, and every scene sits under the script. You can always see which part of the story a shot belongs to.

Starting from a script you already have

If you've written the film, Import Script reads it, PDF included, and pulls out the cast, locations, props and wardrobe. If the world needs more description than the script gives, such as what a people or place looks like, attach a World bible and it is used when the cast is described.

If you're starting from an idea, Writers' Room develops and approves the story with you before you spend anything on images. The Script Assistant can then edit the screenplay as you go.

Short films have to be lean, so tighten the script before anything is drawn. Cut scenes that repeat information, merge locations where the story allows, and keep dialogue lean. Every scene you remove on paper is a set of shots you won't need to generate, voice or render.

Shooting it

Scene Flow puts the script and the storyboard on one surface, so you see each scene's text beside its shots, frames and previews. Break scenes into shots with a shot size and camera move, cover the action, and generate a still per shot. Shoot with AI fixes a frame from a plain note and shows the cost first.

Choose the video model per shot. Seedance, Wan, Veo, Kling and MiniMax each have their uses. Dialogue close-ups can go to a premium model and establishing shots to a cheaper one. If you need a 16:9 festival cut and a 9:16 social cut, a Hybrid project frames each one for its own shape.

When the shots are ready, the Editor assembles the timeline. Trim each shot to the beat it needs, add B-roll where a scene needs air, lay in a music score and sound, and add captions in the style that suits the film. Then download the final cut or publish it to social.

• Cast and locations as @references on every shot
• Free narrated animatic before any video
• Per-shot model choice to control cost
• Editor with captions, B-roll, score and sound

What a short film costs

Cost depends on how many shots you render and how many attempts each takes. The free plan gives 200 credits with no card for narrated films from AI stills. Paid plans run from Starter at $19 a month for 900 credits up to Studio Max at $399 for 18,000, with about 20% off annually.

The real lever is attempts. A short film rendered once per shot costs far less than one where every shot is regenerated three times. So do the cheap approvals first: script, stills, voices, then the free animatic. For more on what drives the bill, see the blog article on AI video cost per minute.

Plan credits expire after 30 days with no rollover, so match the plan to the month's work. If a short film runs over, subscribers can top up at 45 credits per dollar rather than moving to a bigger plan.