AI Short Film Maker

Quick answer: A short film is the right first project for AI video: long enough to tell a story, short enough to budget. In SceneMixer, write or upload a script, choose Film and 16:9, and render it in segments with the cast drawn once. At 10 credits a second on the default tier, a five-minute short is 300 seconds of that rate before retakes, plus 1 credit a second to join it.

Still from “De Vuurtoren van de Fjord”, an AI short drama generated end-to-end by SceneMixer (5 characters, 1 episode) — Sample: “De Vuurtoren van de Fjord” — Shot on Film, 1 episode, produced end-to-end by SceneMixer from the script · watch the episodes

Brief for AI Create: A five-minute short: a lighthouse keeper on the last night before the light is automated hears a ship's bell where no ship should be; two characters, one tower, a quiet ending.

SceneMixer at a glance	What you get
Video price	From $0.06 a second (10 credits) on the default tier, up to $0.47 a second on the top tier; every price is shown before you press the button
Clip length	Up to 30 seconds per generated segment; an episode is composited from its segments at 1 credit a second
One episode, worked out	A 60-second episode on the default tier is about 660 credits (video plus compositing), about $4.11 at the lowest credit price; a 10-episode series of 90-second episodes from a 30,000-character novel is about 10,026 credits, about $62
Dialogue	Spoken in the video itself, one voice per character, in any of 15 languages
Formats	9:16 vertical or 16:9 landscape; 480P to 1080P, plus a 2K tier
Free to start	50 credits on signup, 15 free setup images, a free storyboard for the first episode and a free 5-second video preview
Who uses it	2,900+ creators have generated with SceneMixer (accounts with at least one generation, counted November 2026)
Input	A script, a novel or a one-line idea; .txt, .docx and .md uploads

Pick the length first

Most of the money is in seconds of finished video, so the runtime is the budget. Video only, on the default tier, before retakes:

Runtime	Seconds of video	Segments of 15 s	Typical shape
1 minute	60	4	One scene, one turn
3 minutes	180	12	Setup, complication, ending
5 minutes	300	20	Two or three scenes
10 minutes	600	40	A full short with a second act
15 minutes	900	60	Close to the upper end for many festivals

Multiply the seconds by the tier's rate: 10 credits a second on the default tier, more on sharper ones. Every retake is charged again. Plan for at least one retake in five. Spend fewer credits.

Write small

One location, two or three characters. Fewer sheets, fewer things to keep consistent, more budget for the shots that matter.
Faces and dialogue over action. Conversations, looks and reveals render well; crowd battles and long fights do not.
A turn you can see. A letter, a light, a sound. A prop that changes is a state, drawn once. States.
An original world. No real people, no famous characters.

Make it, step by step

Script: paste it, or write one in AI Create at the Brief or Short length.
Step 1: Type Film, 16:9, a considered look such as Shot on Film, Black & White Film, the dialogue language.
Step 2: draw the cast and the location; fix faces here, where it is cheap.
Storyboard: read every shot; set the segment length to Long take if you want longer continuous shots.
Video: render the first scene, watch it, then the rest. Fix single shots instead of regenerating scenes.
Join the segments, turn music on or off, download.

Delivery and festivals

Festivals set their own rules for AI work, runtime, disclosure and format; read them before you write. Members can download without the AI badge, raise clips with Enhance up to 2K, and export an SRT. A poster comes from the project's cover art. Festival guide.

Languages

Native dialogue in 15 languages

Every series below was produced by the same pipeline with the cast speaking that language natively: the interface, the working documents and the spoken lines are all in one language, and nothing is dubbed. Open one to hear it.

See all 15 languages

In SceneMixer vs. stitching tools together

Most AI drama workflows are five or six tools in a row. This is where each step happens here, and what it replaces.

Step	In SceneMixer	Doing it by hand with separate tools
Script and episode plan	Paste a script or a novel, or type one line: it is read into a cast, locations, props and an episode outline you can edit	A chat model writes the script; you split it into episodes and carry the text from tool to tool
Character faces and places	Every character, location and prop is drawn once as a reference sheet and attached to every shot it appears in	An image model, one sheet at a time; you upload the right reference to every clip yourself
Shots	A storyboard per episode with numbered shots and seconds; video is generated segment by segment in 9:16 or 16:9 against the same sheets	A video model, one clip per prompt, describing the same people again each time
Voices and dialogue	Lines are performed in the video itself, one voice per character, in any of 15 languages	A text-to-speech tool for each line, then a lip-sync pass on every clip
Fixing one shot	Edit that shot's text and regenerate the segment alone; the rest of the episode is untouched	Regenerate the clip, then re-cut the timeline
Finishing	Segments are composited into one episode file with its score; members download without the AI badge	A video editor to join the clips, add music and captions, then export
Publishing	You upload the finished episode to TikTok, YouTube, Instagram or anywhere else; nothing is posted for you	Upload by hand, the same as here

Can you make money with AI dramas on TikTok and YouTube?

Yes, within each platform's rules, and the rules are about the account and the video, not about how the video was made. TikTok's Creator Rewards Program (checked November 2, 2026) is open to personal accounts aged 18+ in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, South Korea, France, Mexico and Brazil with at least 10,000 followers and 100,000 video views in the last 30 days; a rewarded video must be original, longer than one minute and reach 1,000 views on the For You feed. YouTube's Partner Program needs 1,000 subscribers plus either 4,000 watch hours in the last 12 months or 10 million Shorts views in the last 90 days.

Both platforms require realistic AI-generated content to be labelled, and YouTube states that disclosing AI use alone does not limit a video's audience or its eligibility to earn. SceneMixer episodes are longer than a minute by design, carry an AI badge by default (members can switch it off and add the platform's own label instead), and are yours to publish. The full answer, with sources.

FAQ

How much does an AI short film cost?

Mostly seconds of video: a five-minute short is 300 seconds at 10 credits a second on the default tier, plus retakes and a small join fee.

How long should an AI short film be?

Three to ten minutes is a good range: enough for a story, small enough to fix shot by shot.

Can I make it without writing a script?

Yes. AI Create writes one from a single line; read and edit it before you continue.

Which look suits a short film?

Shot on Film or Black & White Film for live action, or one drawn style used throughout.

Can I enter it into a festival?

Many festivals have AI categories; check each one's rules on AI, length and disclosure.

Can I fix one bad shot?

Yes. Trim, redub, retouch or regenerate a single segment without touching the rest.

Is SceneMixer like ReelShort or DramaBox?

No. ReelShort and DramaBox are apps for watching short dramas. SceneMixer is for making them: it turns your script or novel into episodes with a consistent cast and spoken dialogue, and you publish the episodes wherever you like, including those platforms' creator programmes where they exist.

Make a short this weekend

Start from one line; read the script before you spend on video.

Start a short film

Updated November 2, 2026