Text to Video: Start From the Video You Want
Pick the goal first
| You want | Door and setting | Text you bring | What you get | Price shape |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A one-minute vertical story for a feed | AI Create or Upload Script; Type Short Drama; 9:16 Portrait | A sentence up to two pages | One or a few episodes, each up to 240 seconds | A reading fee by length, a storyboard (the first is free on your first drama), then video by the second. A 60-second episode on the default tier is about 660 credits with the join, around $4.11 |
| A series with a hook in every episode | Upload Script or AI Create at Medium or Long; Type Short Drama or TV Series | A season’s worth of story | Episodes up to 240 seconds (Short Drama) or 300 seconds (TV Series) | The reading once, then each episode has its own storyboard and its own video |
| A short film | Upload Script; Type Film; 16:9 Landscape | Prose or a screenplay | One piece divided into acts, with no cap on episode length | The same fees, with fewer, longer segments |
| A promo for a product, a shop or an app | Ad Video | One line, plus one to four photos | A 15, 30 or 60 second ad with an end card | One all-in price that is a cap, or expert mode priced step by step |
The type decides how your text is cut. Short Drama is fast, dense with dialogue and built around a hook per episode; TV Series is paced for several threads; Film is slow and atmospheric and is treated as one piece in acts. It is chosen in step 1 and fixed once the text has been read, because the episodes were cut for it. To get the other type, start a new project with the same text. Short Drama, TV Series or Film has the full comparison.
Why an ad is not a text-to-video job here
If your text is a product description, the ad route still needs at least one picture. The composer will not start without it (“Add at least one image first”), because an ad is built around something the camera can see: the first photo is the subject, the end card shows it and the other photos become the places the shots are set in. Your words still matter, but as one line under the photos about what it is and who it is for, which wins over the picture when they disagree.
So the practical advice for a text-only product idea is to get one photo or screenshot, however plain, and put your sentence under it. If you have no photo and want a story about the product instead, that is a script project and the text is the whole input. Four ways to start a project · How to make an ad from one photo.
What kind of text you have
The amount of text decides the path, and create AI videos from text covers the three sizes. The kind of text decides how much of your own wording survives, and the site has a guide for most kinds.
| Your text is | How it is handled | Start with |
|---|---|---|
| Your own screenplay, with scene headings and character cues | Layout is read directly, so dialogue and action keep your wording | Use a screenplay |
| A web novel chapter | Read as prose into a cast, places and episodes | Turn a web novel into a drama series |
| A Reddit post or other short true-story text | Prose, usually with one voice; dialogue has to be added or lifted from quotes | Turn a Reddit story into a drama |
| A podcast or interview transcript | Spoken text becomes dialogue; scene and place have to be invented or implied | Turn a podcast episode into a drama |
| A stage play | Acts and speeches map naturally to scenes and lines | Turn a stage play into a short film |
| Only an idea | Written into a script from a brief, then read | Write the one-line brief |
Whatever the kind, write what must be said as lines (Name (delivery): words) and leave the rest as prose. A line folded into narration is summarised instead of spoken. Write dialogue so it is picked up.
From words to seconds
Text length does not set video length; the story does. Spoken English runs at about three words a second, so a scene whose lines add up to 180 words has about a minute of speech before any pause or movement is added. Each episode has a ceiling by type, and each segment is shot as one 15 or 30 second take, joined into the episode afterwards. Video is bought by the second, so the total follows the finished length rather than the page count: the default tier is 10 credits a second, and joining the segments is 1 credit a second. Shot seconds and timing · Where the credits go in one episode.
The text is read once for its whole length, and the fee follows it: 4 credits per 1,000 counted characters, with English counted lightly. A single pass covers up to 10,000 counted characters, and longer texts are read in two passes up to 300,000 English characters. How characters are counted.
What text cannot become
| If you hoped for | What happens instead |
|---|---|
| Your words appearing on screen as animated type, captions or a lyric video | Not offered. Video models do not draw legible text, so on-screen words are unreliable. The one place readable words are guaranteed is the end card of an ad. Subtitles of speech are a separate switch for accounts that have bought credits or a plan |
| A link to an article turned into a video | Links are not fetched. Paste the text itself |
| A PDF as the source | Refused. Export it to plain text or Word first; .txt, .docx and .md files work |
| A table, a list or a set of bullet points | Not a story, and it can fail repeatedly. Turn it into sentences first |
| Narration laid over stock footage | Every picture is a generated shot of your cast and places. A narrator can speak as a voice-only character, but there is no footage library |
| A famous character or a real person | Refused by the IP check when a picture or clip is made. Invent your own |
The pattern behind the table: text goes in as story, and what comes out is acted by a generated cast in generated places. Anything that depends on exact typography, exact people or exact footage is outside it. What you can feed in.
Two minutes to choose the door
- Do you have photos of the thing you are selling? Use Ad Video with your sentence as the line under them.
- Is the story already written? Paste or upload it on Upload Script and pick the type. The reading is the first charge.
- Do you only have an idea? Write one line on AI Create, or press Inspire Me if you have not even that, and pick a length from Mini to Long.
- Do you have a clip rather than text? That is Remake a video, a different door with a reading priced by the clip’s minutes.
All four end in the same kind of project: a cast, places, props, episodes, a storyboard of numbered shots and then video, and every step after the first is priced the same way. For the text routes in more depth see text to video AI for the brief and AI text to video generator for the controls.
FAQ
How do I turn text into a video here?
Paste or upload the text, or have AI write it from one line. It is read into a cast and episodes, each episode gets a storyboard, and each segment becomes a video clip that is joined into the episode.
Can text become an ad?
Not on its own. An ad needs at least one photo or screenshot, with your text as one line about what it is and who it is for.
How much text do I need?
About a paragraph at the least, roughly 330 English characters, and up to 300,000 English characters, which is read in two passes.
How long will the video be?
The story decides, not the page count. A Short Drama episode runs up to 240 seconds, a TV Series episode up to 300 and a Film has no cap.
Can I turn a link or a PDF into a video?
Not directly. Links are not fetched and PDFs are refused. Paste the text, or export the document to text or Word.
Can I make a video of animated text or captions?
No. Video models do not write legible words, so on-screen type is unreliable. Subtitles of the speech are available separately to accounts that have bought credits or a plan.
Does the type setting change what I get?
Yes. It changes where episodes break, how long each can be and how scenes are written for the camera, and it cannot be changed after the text is read.
Is any of it free?
Reading is a small charge, 15 setup images and the first storyboard are free, and one preview shot of up to 5 seconds is free. Video is charged from the first second.
Start from the video, then choose the door
One sentence, a script or a photo: each has its own first step.
Updated November 2, 2026