FilmBuff Studio — Early Access
The 8-step AI creative pipeline that turns your premise into a scripted, storyboarded, and compiled short film. Fountain-format screenplay included. Video generated by Runway Gen-3, Pika 2.0, Kling 1.6, or Seed Dance 2.0. You stay in control at every step.
What You Get
Every feature below is derived from the live FilmBuff Studio source code — nothing fabricated, nothing vague.
Start with a single premise. The pipeline walks you sequentially through logline, treatment, character breakdown, scene breakdown, act structure, full screenplay, and two shot-list formats. Each step builds on the previous one — no continuity drift, no context loss. You approve each output before the next step runs.
Step 6 generates a complete screenplay in Fountain format — the open plain-text markup language trusted by professional screenwriters. The file opens in Final Draft, Slugline, Highland Pro, and any text editor. No proprietary lock-in. Your story in an industry-standard format you own forever.
FilmBuff Studio integrates Runway Gen-3, Pika 2.0, Kling 1.6, and Seed Dance 2.0 for shot generation. You choose the provider per project — or per individual shot — to match the visual style of each scene. Cinematic Runway, expressive Pika, fluid Kling, or multimodal Seed Dance: your creative vision decides.
Generated shots appear in a three-panel Shot Queue UI. Review the clip in the inspector, then approve it or reject it with a written reason. Rejected shots are immediately re-queued for regeneration with your notes attached. You compile only the shots that meet your creative bar — the AI never overrides your judgment.
Every pipeline document is editable in a full document editor with live preview. Edit your character breakdown on Step 3 and every downstream step is automatically flagged as "dirty" — ready to regenerate with your changes incorporated. Nothing drifts. Your screenplay always reflects your latest creative decisions.
Before running all remaining pipeline steps, FilmBuff shows a pre-authorization dialog listing every step, its credit cost, and your remaining balance. No surprise charges. Step costs are transparent: Logline costs 2 credits, the Screenplay step costs 8. You always know exactly what you're spending before it happens.
When creating a project, choose your narrative architecture: classical three-act structure, Campbell's Hero's Journey, non-linear narrative, or episodic format. The AI adapts every pipeline step — from treatment through act structure to screenplay — to your chosen framework. Your structure is never an afterthought; it shapes the pipeline from the first word.
FilmBuff Studio exposes a Model Context Protocol (MCP) interface with 15 tools. Your AI agent can create projects, run pipeline steps, retrieve documents, generate shots, approve or reject clips, and compile the final film — entirely programmatically. Build automated content pipelines that run FilmBuff end-to-end without human intervention.
Every new FilmBuff Studio account receives 50 credits on signup — enough to complete the full 8-step screenplay pipeline (which costs 32 credits total) and still have credits left for the video production phase. A demo project is also available for exploring the interface without spending a single credit. No payment information required at signup.
The pipeline dashboard polls your project status every four seconds and subscribes to Socket.IO real-time step-status events. Watch each step transition from pending to in-progress to complete as the AI works. No manual refresh needed. The moment your Fountain screenplay is generated, the editor opens automatically with it ready to read.
Stripe-powered billing supports monthly subscriptions and one-time credit top-ups. Every transaction appears in your billing ledger with a downloadable PDF invoice. Cancel or adjust your plan at any time — no long-term commitment required. Early access members receive a founder's pricing tier not available after public launch.
Step 8 outputs your shot list as JSONL — a structured, line-delimited JSON format that feeds directly into the video generation engine. Each entry includes the shot ID, scene ID, description, camera angle, movement, and duration. The format is open and portable: pipe it into any video tool, automation script, or custom AI workflow you already use.
The Pipeline
Each step is a distinct creative milestone. You approve before moving forward. The pipeline remembers every decision.
Logline
2 cr
Treatment
3 cr
Characters
3 cr
Scenes
4 cr
Act Structure
3 cr
Screenplay
8 cr
Shot Prep
4 cr
Shot List
5 cr
Describe your premise in any length — a sentence, a paragraph, an outline. FilmBuff refines it into a professional logline: protagonist, inciting incident, central conflict, and stakes in under 50 words. The logline becomes the north star for every downstream step. Edit it freely; the editor saves your revision and propagates it forward.
The treatment expands your logline into a prose synopsis. Character Breakdown creates detailed profiles — motivation, arc, voice, backstory. Scene Breakdown sequences every scene with setting, conflict, and outcome. Act Structure maps the full narrative against your chosen framework (three-act, Hero's Journey, non-linear, or episodic). Each document is fully editable; revisions cascade downstream automatically.
The AI generates a complete, properly formatted screenplay in Fountain format — industry-standard plain text markup that renders correctly in any professional screenwriting app. Scene headings, action lines, dialogue, parentheticals, and transitions all appear in spec-compliant format. Export to PDF, import into Final Draft, or share the plain .fountain file directly.
Shot List Prep translates your screenplay into a human-readable shot-by-shot breakdown with camera angles, movement notes, and estimated durations. Step 8 converts that breakdown into structured JSONL — the exact format FilmBuff's video engine consumes. Each shot entry includes shotId, sceneId, description, cameraAngle, movement, and duration. The machine-readable format also works with any third-party video workflow tool you already use.
Each shot from the JSONL list is dispatched to your chosen AI video provider — Runway Gen-3, Pika 2.0, Kling 1.6, or Seed Dance 2.0. Review each clip in the three-panel Shot Queue UI. Approve shots that hit the mark. Reject shots that don't — with a written note — and they regenerate automatically with your direction incorporated. When your approved queue is complete, compile the film in one click. The final short downloads as a single video file, ready to share.
Demo — not a real render pipeline.
Keyboard: A approve · R reject · Esc cancel reject form
Early Access
Claim your spot for early access — 50 free welcome credits included. No credit card required.
FAQ
Early access is completely free. Every new account receives 50 welcome credits at signup — enough to run the entire 8-step screenplay pipeline, which costs 32 credits total. You also get access to a read-only demo project immediately. No credit card required to join the waitlist. Once you're inside, you can explore the interface with the demo project before spending a single credit on your own film.
FilmBuff Studio integrates four professional AI video generation providers: Runway Gen-3, Pika 2.0, Kling 1.6, and Seed Dance 2.0. You select your default provider when starting the video production phase — and you can override it per individual shot. If Runway produces the wrong look for a specific scene but Kling or Seed Dance delivers cinematic quality, you choose that provider for that shot without switching the entire project. Provider selection is per-shot, giving you precise creative control.
FilmBuff Studio supports four narrative architecture options: classical three-act structure, Campbell's Hero's Journey, non-linear narrative, and episodic format. You choose your structure when creating a new project. The AI then tailors every pipeline step — from treatment through act structure to the final Fountain screenplay — to your chosen framework. This means non-linear films get a differently organized act structure than three-act dramas, not just a renamed template.
Yes — and this is one of FilmBuff's most important design decisions. Every step's output opens in a full document editor with live preview. You can revise, expand, restructure, or rewrite any section. When you save your edits, every downstream step is automatically flagged as "dirty" — meaning it will regenerate using your revised document when you run it next. You control how much AI does and how much you do. The pipeline is a collaborative workspace, not a vending machine.
FilmBuff Studio exposes a Model Context Protocol (MCP) interface — a standardized JSON-RPC 2.0 API — that lets AI agents drive the entire pipeline programmatically. The interface includes 15 tools covering project creation, pipeline execution, document retrieval, shot generation, shot approval and rejection, and final compilation. It's designed for developers building automated content pipelines, AI agents that create films autonomously, or custom workflow integrations. A secure agent JWT authentication system governs access and enforces monthly credit caps per agent credential.
Credits are consumed per pipeline step execution. Exact costs from the source code: Step 1 Logline (2 credits), Step 2 Treatment (3), Step 3 Character Breakdown (3), Step 4 Scene Breakdown (4), Step 5 Act Structure (3), Step 6 Screenplay in Fountain (8), Step 7 Shot List Prep (4), Step 8 Shot List JSONL (5). Total for one full screenplay pipeline: 32 credits. Video shot generation costs additional credits depending on the provider. You see the full cost before confirming any "Run All" action — no surprise deductions.
The screenplay (Step 6) is generated in Fountain format — a plain-text, open standard that imports directly into Final Draft, Slugline, Highland Pro, Fade In, WriterDuet, and any text editor. The shot list (Step 8) exports as JSONL, which integrates with custom video workflows. All documents are stored in your project and editable in the browser document editor at any time. You own your content outright; FilmBuff does not claim any rights to your creative work.
All data is encrypted in transit (TLS) and at rest. Projects, pipeline documents, and shot lists are stored in a private, row-level-secured PostgreSQL database — your data is never shared with other users. Payments are processed exclusively via Stripe; FilmBuff Studio never stores card numbers. Video clips generated in your project are stored in private S3 storage. Error monitoring is handled by Sentry, which does not store script or creative content.
About FilmBuff Studio
FilmBuff Studio is built for creators who take their work seriously. Every feature on this page is derived from live source code — a TypeScript monorepo with Prisma, Next.js 15, Socket.IO, S3, and enterprise billing via Stripe — not a slide deck.
The platform sits where narrative craft meets AI video generation: a structured, human-approved path from a single-sentence premise to a compiled short film, with your Fountain-format screenplay and shot list as first-class deliverables at every step.
8
Sequential Pipeline Steps
4
AI Video Providers
50
Welcome Credits Free
Claim your early-access spot and receive 50 welcome credits — enough to run the full 8-step screenplay pipeline for free. You keep the Fountain screenplay, the shot list, and every generated video clip. No long-term commitment, and no spam.