How to Make an AI Short Drama, Step by Step (2026 Beginner Guide)

A first AI short-drama episode takes seven steps: (1) choose a setup — a pipeline tool that parses, keeps the cast and composites, or a video generator plus an editor; (2) write a one-page story with two or three characters, at most three places and a closing hook; (3) parse it and check the cast and scene sheets; (4) fix the storyboard before rendering; (5) render at a draft tier, then the delivery tier; (6) add voice and captions and export at 1080×1920; (7) label the upload as AI-generated where the platform asks and publish. One 90-second take costs $4.50 at the $0.05-per-second list tiers (Wan 3.0 480P, MiniMax H3-Max 480P, Veo 3.1 Lite 720p) and $18 at $0.20 per second; plan for more than one take.

Step 1 — Choose a setup

Free allowances are for testing the workflow, not for a series: Runway gives 125 one-time credits (about 10 seconds of Gen-4.5 at 12 credits per second); Morph Studio gives 75 credits a month with two models and no commercial use; Pika's free plan is 480p without commercial use; Kling offers free credits (amount shown on its site); Luma lists no free plan; SceneMixer: 50 credits on sign-up; first project includes 15 concept sheets + first storyboard free; video is billed per second. Compare tools in the ranking and the pricing table.

Step 2 — Write a one-episode story that parses cleanly

For a first episode, write a one-page story of 500–1,000 words instead of feeding in a novel. Template:

• Cast: two or three characters, each with a concrete face, hair, build, age and one static anchor (a scar, a mole, a ring).
• Places: at most three, each with a named light source (a window, a pendant lamp, a streetlight).
• Spine: one conflict, one turn, and a closing hook that makes the next episode necessary.
• Dialogue budget: about 100–150 words for 90 seconds. Speech runs about 150 words a minute, and silent reactions need room too.
• Leave out: crowds, long fights, precise mechanical actions and graphic injuries. The first three often fail and the last is blocked by content moderation.

Use a story you wrote, one you have licensed, or a public-domain text; see the novel-to-drama workflow for the rights check.

Step 3 — Parse and check the sheets

Paste the story into your pipeline tool, or ask an LLM for a cast sheet, scene sheet, prop sheet and episode outline. Accept the result when:

• every character description is concrete enough to redraw — no "attractive", no expressions, no poses;
• scene descriptions contain no plot debris (no broken glass or blood that would sit in the set forever);
• character sheets are white-background, frontal and full-body, with a directional key light and a neutral expression; scene plates show no people;
• the outline states the conflict, the turn and the hook.

Fix text now: every image and shot downstream inherits it. The detailed checks are in the character-consistency checklist.

Step 4 — Fix the storyboard before rendering

Read each segment and make these five edits where needed:

1. Delete the name of anyone who is not in the frame.
2. Rewrite light as a source with a direction and a colour temperature, not a spot on a face.
3. Give each line a speaker and enough seconds: about 2.5 words per second plus a beat.
4. End each line with the lips closing and a small action.
5. Make the opening state match where the previous segment ended.

Editing text is free; regenerating video is not. The full template and timing table: storyboard template.

Step 5 — Render at a draft tier, then the delivery tier

Render every segment at a low tier first — for example Wan 3.0 at 480P ($0.05 per second on Alibaba Cloud's Singapore price list), MiniMax H3-Max at 480P ($0.05) or Veo 3.1 Lite at 720p ($0.05). You are checking who speaks, blocking and timing. H3-Max and Veo 3.1 Lite take no reference images (MiniMax lists H3-Max for text- and image-to-video, not reference-to-video; Google's API table shows none for Lite), so draft segments that depend on the cast on a tier that accepts references. Regenerate failed segments one at a time after fixing their text, then render the approved segments at the delivery tier (for example Veo 3.1 Fast at 1080p, $0.12 per second, or Wan 3.0 at 1080P, $0.20). A re-render is a new sample, so review it again. Cost of one 90-second episode:

Keep a render log from the first segment. Five columns are enough:

Seconds × price × takes, summed over the log, is your real budget; see the cost breakdown for the full worksheet.

Step 6 — Voice, captions and assembly

• Native audio (Veo 3.1, Wan 3.0, MiniMax H3 and others) speaks the line inside the clip; check that the mouth moving belongs to the speaker.
• Text-to-speech: pick one voice per character and keep it for the whole series. A 90-second episode of 100–150 spoken words is under 1,000 characters, so under $0.10 at MiniMax's HD speech rate ($100 per million characters).
• Captions: at most two lines, about 42 characters per line, no faster than 20 characters per second (Netflix's English adult limits are a usable yardstick), placed clear of the platform's buttons.
• Assembly: in the pipeline tool or in CapCut; export MP4, H.264, 1080×1920, AAC at 48 kHz, about 8 Mbps — YouTube's recommended settings for 1080p.

Voice routes compared: AI voice for drama. Captions and dubbing for other languages: subtitles and localization.

Step 7 — Label and publish

• Rights: the story is yours, licensed or in the public domain; no real people as references; music is licensed or generated with commercial rights. Full list: copyright and labeling checklist.
• YouTube: vertical or square uploads of up to three minutes are Shorts. When AI generates or meaningfully alters photorealistic content, disclose it with the AI use setting in YouTube Studio; YouTube states that disclosure does not limit a video's audience or its eligibility to earn money.
• TikTok: realistic AI-generated images, audio or video must be labeled; use the AI-generated content setting when posting. The Creator Rewards program counts videos of at least one minute and requires a creator aged 18 or over with 10,000 followers and 100,000 views in the last 30 days.
• Packaging: episode number in the title, a cover frame taken from the hook, the same series name on every upload.

Where each platform fits: distribution channels.

First-episode checklist

1. Story: two or three characters, at most three places, a conflict, a turn and a hook.
2. Sheets approved: concrete faces, white-background characters, empty scene plates.
3. Storyboard edited: no absent names, light written as a source, dialogue timed.
4. Draft render reviewed; failed segments fixed in text and re-rendered.
5. Final render at the delivery tier; takes logged per segment.
6. One voice per character; captions inside the safe area.
7. Export 1080×1920 H.264; AI disclosure set; rights checked.

Common first-timer mistakes: rendering before reading the storyboard, switching models halfway through an episode, writing moods instead of causes ("tense lighting" instead of "a single desk lamp, low, from the left"), and paying for 2K or 4K when the phone plays 1080×1920.

Key figures and sources

Sources

• https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/15424877
• https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/14328491
• https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/1722171
• https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us/new-labels-for-disclosing-ai-generated-content
• https://www.tiktok.com/legal/page/global/creator-rewards-program-us/en
• https://runway.com/pricing
• https://www.morphstudio.com/
• https://pika.art/pricing
• https://lumalabs.ai/pricing
• https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/pricing
• https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/en/model-studio/wan3-0-video
• https://platform.minimax.io/docs/guides/pricing-paygo
• https://partnerhelp.netflixstudios.com/hc/en-us/articles/217350977-English-Timed-Text-Style-Guide
• https://tfcs.baruch.cuny.edu/speaking-rate/
• https://scenemixer.com/pricing/