How to run an AI horror story channel
Brief for AI Create: A four-minute horror story for a channel, told by a host: a night-shift lift technician is called to a tower whose lift stops, every night, at a floor that is not on the panel; one building, one lift, three escalations, the last shot is the new button.
The four-minute episode
A repeating shape is what turns stories into a channel. This one fits one Short Drama episode:
| Part | Seconds | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Cold open | 0 to 15 | The strangest image of the story, no explanation |
| Host opening | 15 to 25 | The same line every week, in the host's voice |
| Setup | 25 to 90 | The place, the person, the rule |
| First escalation | 90 to 140 | The rule is tested; a sound before a sight |
| Second escalation | 140 to 190 | The rule is broken; the almost-reveal |
| The shock | 190 to 220 | One real shock, then a cut to black |
| Host sign-off | 220 to 240 | One quiet line that leaves the question open |
What makes a short scary, without gore · Short drama, series or film.
Stories you can use
Use your own stories, or ones whose author has given you permission, and change names and details so no real person can be identified. Stories you find online usually have an author: ask first and keep the reply. Never depict the real people in a story. Turning an online story into a drama · Content rules.
A rule is the easiest engine for a weekly horror story. Twelve seeds, each a place with one rule that gets broken:
| The rule | The story |
|---|---|
| The lift stops at a floor that is not on the panel | A technician is sent to fix it, and the floor starts to answer |
| The tenant in 4B pays his rent in jars of salt | The landlord counts them, and one night there is one jar too many |
| The night bus stops at a stop not on the map | The driver always lets one passenger off there |
| The baby monitor picks up a lullaby | The house next door has been empty for a year |
| The lighthouse log has a new entry every night | It is in handwriting the keeper recognises |
| The school photograph has one child too many | Nobody can say which one |
| The car park counts its levels down | Below level 1, the numbers keep going |
| The hotel skips rooms 13 and 14 | A guest asks for 14, and the desk clerk goes pale |
| A contact called Home is saved in a phone | It is not the phone owner's home |
| A village sets one extra place at the table on harvest night | A visitor asks why |
| A voicemail arrives from the listener | It is dated tomorrow |
| The radio host reads the weather | It describes the studio, from the inside |
Make the host a character
The host is what makes a channel feel like a channel. Add the host as an Off-screen character: a voice and no drawing. Play the library and pick one voice, then keep it for every episode, and use the same opening and closing lines. How character voices work · Voice-only characters.
Two ways to organise the channel: one project per season, with the host and any recurring house made once, or one project per story with the host and house brought across using Pick existing. Reuse a character, scene or voice across projects · Add the next episode.
A month on one page
| Week | Do | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Write four one-page stories; draw the host's voice and the recurring place | Four scripts and the shared cast |
| 2 | Read the storyboards for episodes 1 and 2 (the first is free on your first drama); render them | Two episodes |
| 3 | Render episodes 3 and 4; fix single shots instead of redoing scenes | Four episodes |
| 4 | Make covers; schedule one episode a week | A month of posts |
A four-minute episode is 240 seconds of video at 10 credits a second on the default tier, plus 1 credit a second to join; four a month is 960 seconds. A segment usually takes ten to twenty minutes to come back and you can close the page while it runs. Drafting at the lowest resolution and finishing the keepers at a higher one keeps the bill down. Draft at 480p, finish at 1080p · Spending fewer credits.
Covers, titles and labels
Open the Cover art tab in Step 2, set the genre mood to Horror, type a title of 12 characters or fewer and press Generate 3 options. The title is painted into three posters, and a landscape 16:9 version comes with the one you pick, which is the shape of a video thumbnail. Your account's first project gets its first set of three free. Make a promo cover poster.
Say plainly in the description that the video is AI-made and who it is for, and follow each platform's rules on AI disclosure and children's content. Do AI videos need a label? · Can you monetise AI videos?.
Keep the channel from looking mass-produced
- A series, not a pile of clips. A host, a recurring place and a fixed day. A faceless YouTube channel.
- A new rule every week. The shock changes; the shape does not.
- No gore. It is blocked, and the best endings do not need it.
- No real people. Villains and victims are invented.
- Fix the dark. Name a light source in every dark shot, or the frame comes out muddy. A haunted house drama · AI horror movie generator · Posting to TikTok, YouTube Shorts and Reels.
Make it in SceneMixer, start to finish
- Script: paste your own on Upload Script, or write the brief above in AI Create and let it draft the episodes.
- Step 1: Type Short Drama; Scene Style Corporate Cold, Gothic Dark; Costume Style Professional Uniforms, Soft Everyday; Visual Style Digital HD, Black & White Film; Target Region; dialogue language; 16:9 Landscape. Then read the script.
- Step 2: Give the host a voice and no drawing; draw the technician, the tower lobby, the lift and the corridor of the floor that is not on the panel. The first 15 setup images on an account are free.
- Storyboard: generate episode 1 first (free on your first drama) and read it before you render anything. One place per segment.
- Video: render on the default tier at 10 credits a second, fix single shots instead of whole episodes, then put the episode together and post.
| Episode length | Seconds | Segments of 15 s | Type to choose |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 minutes | 180 | 12 | Short Drama |
| 4 minutes | 240 | 16 | Short Drama (its limit) |
| 5 minutes | 300 | 20 | TV Series (its limit) |
| 8 minutes | 480 | 32 | Film |
FAQ
Can I make horror story videos with AI?
Yes. Write the story, draw the cast and a place once, add an off-screen narrator and render the segments. Gore is blocked, so the fear comes from a rule, a sound and a cut.
How long should a horror story video be?
Three to five minutes is a good channel length. Four minutes is the limit of a Short Drama episode; five minutes is the limit of a TV Series episode.
Can I use creepypasta or stories from the internet?
Use your own, or ones whose author has given you permission. Stories online usually have an author, so ask and keep the reply.
Can the same narrator voice every episode?
Yes. The host is an off-screen character with a voice you pick once and reuse.
Can I use my own voice for the host?
Members can upload a voice recording for a character. Only upload a voice you have the right to use.
How much does one episode cost?
A four-minute episode is 240 seconds of video at 10 credits a second on the default tier plus 1 credit a second to join.
Can I make a cover for the channel?
Yes. The Cover art tab paints a title into three poster options and gives you a landscape 16:9 version of the one you pick.
Does it need an AI label?
Follow the platform's rules on AI disclosure. Videos on a free account carry a small AI label; a paid membership turns it off by default.
Write four stories, make the first
Read the free storyboard before you render the first scare.
Updated November 2, 2026