Script Length Caps, and Why 3,333 English Characters Count as 1,000

Quick answer: Every length on the site — the parse cap, the parse fee, the storyboard fee, the AI Create target — is counted in Chinese-equivalent characters. Chinese, Japanese and Korean text counts one character as one; alphabetic text (English, German, Spanish, Russian, Arabic and the rest) counts 3,333 characters as 1,000, because a thousand Chinese characters carry about as much story as that many letters. Scripts under 10,000 equivalent characters are read in one pass, longer ones in two passes up to 100,000; the counter on the home page already does the conversion for you.

Still from “Crimson Vow”, an AI short drama generated end-to-end by SceneMixer (4 characters, 1 episode) — Sample: “Crimson Vow” — Realistic HD, 1 episode, produced end-to-end by SceneMixer from the script · watch the episodes

Paste an English script on the home page: the counter shows both the raw character count and the cap, already converted.

Where the cap shows

Under the script box on the home page a counter shows characters against the cap. It reads the language of what you pasted: mostly alphabetic text gets the lighter count, mostly Chinese text the full count. Mixed text is judged by which script dominates. The same number decides the parse price shown on the button.

The SceneMixer episode editor: asset library on the left, the storyboard in the middle, the video preview on the right, and every segment along the bottom timeline — The home page counter shows characters used against the cap for the language you pasted.

The factor, and why it exists

An English sentence needs roughly three times as many characters as the same sentence in Chinese. Charging and capping by raw characters would make an English script three times as expensive as its Chinese twin for the same amount of story, so alphabetic text is scaled: 3,333 characters count as 1,000. The factor applies to every alphabetic script — Latin, Cyrillic, Greek, Arabic, Hebrew, Armenian, Georgian — and not to Chinese characters, kana or hangul, which stay one-to-one. Cap, price tag and the actual charge all use the same conversion, so the number you see is the number you pay.

The three caps

Scripts under 10,000 equivalent characters are read in one pass. Longer scripts are read in two passes up to 100,000 equivalent characters (for alphabetic text that is 300,000 raw characters). Anything beyond is refused before you pay. How the two-pass read works: Long Scripts Are Read in Two Passes.

What the count prices

Parsing costs 4 credits per 1,000 equivalent characters of the whole script. Each episode’s storyboard costs 1 credit per 100 equivalent characters of that episode’s share of the script. AI Create prices its target length the same way, in the language you write in. Where your credits go in one episode.

AI Create and the cap

AI Create writes to a target length you choose; targets that would not fit the parse cap are hidden from the menu. If a script still comes out over the cap, the run fails, the credits are refunded and no project is created — pick a shorter target and run again. Choosing the Script Length and What It Costs.

Text	How it counts	Example
Chinese, Japanese, Korean	1 character = 1	10,000 characters = 10,000
English, German, Spanish, Russian, Arabic…	3,333 characters = 1,000	33,330 characters = 10,000
Mixed	By the dominant script	A Chinese script with English names counts as Chinese

FAQ

Is the cap in words or characters?

Characters, converted to Chinese-equivalent. For English, divide the character count by about 3.3.

Why is my Japanese script priced like Chinese?

Kana and kanji carry as much per character as Chinese, so they count one-to-one.

Does the factor change the price after parsing?

No. Cap, displayed price and charge use the same conversion.

My novel is 400,000 characters. Can I parse it?

Not as one project. Split it into parts under the two-pass cap and parse each part.

Where is the count for AI Create?

In the length menu on the AI Create tab; targets over the cap are not offered.

Paste it and read the counter

The counter already knows your language and the cap; if it is green, you are fine.

Start a project

Updated September 27, 2026