An AI shot list generator that reads your script

What a shot list does

A shot list is the plan for coverage: every shot you'll need to cut a scene together, with how wide each one is, where the camera is, what it does, and what part of the scene it covers. On a live-action set it tells the crew what to shoot. In AI production it tells you what to generate, and in what order.

A good shot list makes the edit possible before anything is shot. It establishes the room, gives each speaker their close-up, includes the reactions and inserts that let you cut, and avoids two near-identical shots back to back.

For AI production the shot list also decides cost. Every line on it is something you'll pay to generate, possibly more than once. Too many shots and you spend credits on coverage you'll never use. Too few and you have nothing to cut away to when a performance is weak. The goal is the smallest set of shots that tells the scene clearly, with enough variety in size and angle that the edit has choices. Short-form vertical drama leans on close sizes and fast cuts, which changes the balance again.

How to build coverage that cuts

Start wide to establish where everyone is, then move in. Give each line to a shot that shows the speaker, or the listener if the reaction matters more. Add cutaways and inserts for the objects and glances the story needs. Vary the size between consecutive shots so cuts read as cuts rather than jumps.

Then check the timing. A line of dialogue needs enough screen time to be spoken. A three-second close-up can't hold a fifteen-word sentence, and that is easy to miss until you reach the edit.

• Establish the room before moving in.
• Every line covered by a shot that suits it.
• Change size between consecutive shots.
• Check that each line fits its shot's length.

How ShowMaker generates the list

The Storyboard and Shot Sheet break each scene into shots with a shot size and a camera move. Each shot stays attached to the dialogue line or action beat it covers, so the list reads in the same order as the script.

Checks run on every shot. A line too long for the shot's length is flagged, and so is a frame that shows something the text never mentioned. A still is drawn for each shot from the @referenced cast and locations, so the list is also a storyboard you can watch as a narrated animatic.

Because the list lives in Scene Flow beside the scene text, editing one updates your view of the other. Rewrite a line and you can see which shot covers it. Add a beat of action and you can add the shot that shows it. You never have to re-export the list or match it to a newer draft, which is how paper shot lists go out of date. If you work from Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or another MCP client, the MCP connector on paid plans lets you run the same studio from there.

From shot list to rendered shots

Once the list is right, each shot can be rendered on the model that suits it: a cheaper model for a wide or a cutaway, a premium one for a dialogue close-up. Multishot panels can cover several shots of a scene in one take, cut on dialogue, and the take can be broken back into shots afterward.

Since the frames were approved first, rendering just adds motion to pictures you already like. Most of the savings on AI video come from that order.