# How do you make an AI short drama?

**Short answer:** Write a simple serialized story, break it into one-minute episodes that each open on a hook and end on a cliffhanger, build one reference image per character and set, then generate each episode shot by shot from approved storyboards. Our vertical series run 6 shots of about 12 seconds per episode, rendered on a budget video model and finished with captions and music.

URL: https://arc.katechon.technology/answers/how-to-make-an-ai-short-drama
Updated: 2026-10-18

## What you are making

A short drama (also called a micro drama or vertical drama) is a serialized story cut into episodes of about a minute, watched on a phone, one swipe at a time. Every episode has to earn the next swipe. That shapes everything below: the story must be simple enough to follow in one-minute pieces, the cast must look identical across dozens of episodes, and the cost must stay low enough to make 30 or more episodes. We have released several of these, including [Blood Sun: The Fall of Kratos](https://arc.katechon.technology/films/blood-sun) (45 episodes) and [High Note](https://arc.katechon.technology/films/high-note) (40 episodes), and across our first five series made 195 episodes. This is the method we settled on.

## 1. Write a story a child could retell

Our best-received series were the simplest. [High Note](https://arc.katechon.technology/films/high-note) was written to a maximum-simplicity brief: a plot a child could retell, about 5 core characters, 6–8 sets, simple shots and a signature colour per character. Complex mythologies and large casts cost more, drift more and lose viewers who join at episode 12. Pick one clear want, one obstacle and one reversal per arc.

## 2. Plan the episodes before you write scenes

- Thirty episodes is a practical minimum: it is what TikTok's Drama Center required before it would accept a series submission when we submitted ours in October 2026.
- Aim for 60–70 seconds per episode. Our 30-episode series ran 61.6–69.7 seconds each.
- Every episode opens on a hook in the first seconds and ends on a turn or cliffhanger.
- Mark the paywall point, if you will sell episodes, about a quarter of the way in, after the story's first big reversal.

## 3. Turn each episode into shots

[Blood Sun: The Fall of Kratos](https://arc.katechon.technology/films/blood-sun) averaged 6.0 shots per episode and 11.6 seconds per shot. Write each shot as one action with one concrete light source, the characters and the location it uses, and the exact line of dialogue if there is one. Short, literal shot descriptions render far more reliably than paragraphs of mood.

## 4. Build references once

Make one reference sheet per character, location and recurring prop before generating any video, and reuse them in every episode. In Arc a Seedream 5.0 Lite reference costs 13 credits, so a cast of five and eight sets is about 169 credits for the whole series. If a character changes costume or form, make that version its own reference rather than describing the change in prompts. See [keeping the same character](https://arc.katechon.technology/answers/how-to-keep-the-same-character-in-ai-video).

## 5. Storyboard, then render

Review a storyboard frame per shot before spending on video. Then render with one model for the whole series, pilot included, so the look never shifts. We rendered most series on Seedance 2.0 Mini at 720p, where a 12-second clip is 113 credits in Arc. A 30-episode series in this shape comes to about 23,391 credits with retakes, which the Ultra plan covers in one month, or $302 at list price.

## 6. Regenerate shots, not episodes

Across our first five series, 15% of video spend went to re-renders. Fix single shots that drift, invent extra dialogue or get blocked; never regenerate a whole episode to fix one moment.

## 7. Finish each episode

- Captions: burned in for phone viewing. Align them to real speech timings, not to the script; planned timings can sit a whole line early.
- Music and loudness: our finished episodes are mixed to -14 LUFS, a common target for mobile platforms.
- Check proper nouns in captions. Speech-to-text misspells invented names.
- Export each episode separately at 9:16, plus a few 30–45 second trailers.

## 8. Release

Short dramas reach viewers through short-drama apps, TikTok, YouTube and Instagram. Each platform has its own rules for AI content and its own format for series; see [publishing an AI short drama on TikTok](https://arc.katechon.technology/answers/how-to-publish-an-ai-short-drama-on-tiktok) and [monetizing AI videos on YouTube](https://arc.katechon.technology/answers/can-you-monetize-ai-videos-on-youtube).

## A realistic schedule

How a 30-episode series broke down for us:

| Stage | What it produces | Typical effort |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Bible and episode guide | Premise, cast, sets, 30 one-paragraph episodes | A day |
| Shot lists | About 6 shots per episode | One to two days |
| References | One sheet per character, set and prop | Half a day |
| Rendering | About 207 clips with retakes | A day or two, depending on provider capacity |
| Finishing | Captions, music, covers, trailers | One to two days |

## Where Katechon Arc fits

Arc is built around this workflow: an episode plan you confirm, shared character and location references, storyboards per shot, and video, voice and episode assembly in one project, with a credit estimate before every generation.

Arc does not publish to TikTok, YouTube or short-drama apps, does not write music, and renders only with Seedance 2.0 models; finishing and release happen outside it.

## People also ask

### How long does it take to make an AI short drama?

With a finished script, about a week for a 30-episode series: a few days of writing and shot lists, a day or two of rendering and a day or two of captions, music and trailers.

### Can I make an AI drama series by myself?

Yes. All of our series were made by a very small team with AI handling the rendering. The work that remains is writing, reviewing shots and finishing.

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