Short script template: lay out your 60-second piece on one A4 page
This page delivers pre-production Document Two: the short script. In 2.1 story synopsis you fixed the story in three sentences; this page expands it into a one-page A4 AI short drama script: 3–5 beats, each with clearly written visible visual action and audible dialogue and sound. Writing a script still doesn't rely on literary flair—it relies on a table with fixed fields (the teaching example of this course).
What you'll be able to do after this lesson
- Expand the three-sentence synopsis into a one-page A4 short script: header + 3–5 beats, each with visual action and dialogue/sound
- Use "beats" as the script's smallest unit, cutting 60 seconds into shootable segments
- Rewrite unshootable sentences like "he is sad" into actions and objects
- Give each beat a first-draft dialogue, and understand why dialogue is written long first and cut in the next lesson
- When needed, use AI as a script doctor to find abstract words and overloaded dialogue along the checklines (a Prompt designed for this course)
Your current struggles
- "The three-sentence synopsis flows fine, but once I start expanding it I can't rein it in—I've written three pages and still haven't reached the conflict"
- "What I write reads like a novel: all inner thoughts and adjectives, and when it's time to generate visuals I don't know what to feed it"
- "The dialogue keeps growing—reading it aloud takes over a minute, and a 60-second piece simply can't fit it"
When to use this technique
When you need to:
- Expand a finalized three-sentence synopsis into a short script that can be broken down into a shot list directly
- Before generating any shots, turn "what happened" into an executable document that is visible and audible
And you don't want to:
- Write storyboards from a literary-sounding script and have to translate every shot on the spot
- Let the script grow longer and longer, saddling your first practice film with multi-threaded storytelling
🎒 Preparation before you start
- completed 2.1 story synopsis: three sentences for 60 seconds, with the three-sentence synopsis finalized after passing three checklines
- have on hand 1.2 minimal scope for an original story's five-line scope statement—the script must not go beyond its boundaries
- one A4 page or a blank document (really keep it to one page—why will be explained later)
- no tools or GPU needed: this page is entirely on paper; for AI assistance see "Advanced tips (optional)"
Core idea
The script's job is to translate "what happened" into "visible and audible": the synopsis governs whether the story is right, the script governs whether it can be shot, and the storyboard governs how to shoot it.
Runway's official help documentation describes long-video production as: first develop the story concept and storyboards, then prepare character references, then generatemultiple short clips, and finally edit and assemble. Story concept comes before generation—the script is the middle layer that turns the concept into an executable document, and how this layer is cut is this course's instructional design.
The three documents each govern one segment, and the boundaries must be drawn clearly:
| Document | What it answers | Smallest unit | Who uses it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Synopsis (2.1) | What the story tells | Sentence | You, settling on the idea |
| Script (this page) | What is visible and audible in each segment | Beat | Input for your storyboard writing |
| Storyboard (2.4) | How each shot is shot | Shot | Work order for generation and editing |
Why one A4 page? Let's do the math (course design values): 60 seconds ÷ 3–5 beats ≈ 12–20 seconds per beat; one line of visual action and one line of dialogue per beat, plus the header, fits exactly one page. One A4 page is a physical constraint that forces subtraction—if it doesn't fit, the story is overloaded; go back to the synopsis and cut, don't switch to bigger paper.
| When problems are discovered | Cost |
|---|---|
| Fixed at the synopsis stage | A few words changed |
| Fixed at the script stage | Rewrite one page |
| Fixed after storyboarding and generation | Broken-down shots are scrapped, retry budget burns again (see 1.4 cost and trial-and-error log) |
Follow along
The example below continues the teaching example topic from 2.1: under a pedestrian bridge in a rainstorm, delivery rider Old Chen shields a birthday cake for his daughter. You can follow along the whole way with your own topic.
Step 1: cut the three-sentence synopsis into 3–5 beats
Why: a script is not expanded from sentences but from beats—a beat is the smallest unit in which the visual or situation undergoes one clear change.
Lay out the three-sentence synopsis and ask of each sentence: "In this sentence, how many times does the visual change?" Each clear change cuts one beat:
First sentence (setup): under a pedestrian bridge in a rainstorm, delivery rider Old Chen shields a birthday cake for his daughter, hoping to get home before she blows out the candles.
→ Beat 1: rain hammers down under the bridge; Old Chen hugs the cake box to his chest, his phone screen lit with his daughter's name
Second sentence (conflict): But the moment he steps onto the slippery stairs, he tumbles into a puddle along with the box, and the lid pops open.
→ Beat 2: He gets up and rushes up the stairs, his soles slipping on the wet steps
→ Beat 3: He falls into the puddle along with the box, the lid pops open, and the cream collapses on one side
Third sentence (ending): In the end, he crouches in the rain, gathering the collapsed cake back into the box, while his daughter says on the phone: "It's still pretty even though it collapsed—like a snowy mountain."
→ Beat 4: He crouches in the rain gathering the cake back into the box; the call connects and his daughter's voice comes throughAfter cutting, count them: 3–5 beats, which fits within 60 seconds (about 12–20 seconds per beat, based on the 60-second target, the course design value). If you exceed 5 beats, go back to the synopsis and cut events—shortening the beats won't fix it.
You should see: Under the three sentences, there are now 3–5 lines of "Beat N: specific visual," each line describing only one change.
- Quick check: the beat count is between 3–5, and each beat contains only one visual change
Step 2: Fill in the header and pin the AI short-drama script to one A4 page
Why: The header is the script's "household registration"—later, when you write the storyboard, make character cards, or record voiceovers, you'll come back to check this page.
Create a new A4 page and fill in the header first (the fields are the course's teaching template; copy the content verbatim from the scope statement and synopsis—do not rewrite):
Title: "Still Pretty Even Though It Collapsed" (a practice film, named casually, can be changed)
Duration target: 30–60 seconds
Setting: Under a pedestrian bridge in a rainstorm (the only setting)
On-screen characters: Old Chen (delivery rider); the daughter only appears by voice, never on screen
Synopsis: Under a pedestrian bridge in a rainstorm, delivery rider Old Chen shields the birthday cake for his daughter, trying to get home before she blows out the candles.
But the moment he steps onto the slippery stairs, he tumbles into a puddle along with the box, and the lid pops open.
In the end, he crouches in the rain, gathering the collapsed cake back into the box, while his daughter says on the phone: "It's still pretty even though it collapsed—like a snowy mountain."Note the line "the daughter only appears by voice, never on screen": the agreement in the scope statement that characters ≤2 must be translated in the script intoa concrete statement of how each character appears. How a character gets reference images is the business of the 3.1 character setup card; here we only register it.
You should see: The top of an A4 page now has the five header items, with the three-sentence synopsis pasted in verbatim—the script always lives on the same page as the synopsis, so if you change your mind, both copies are visible.
- Quick check: all five header items are filled in, the setting and characters match the scope statement, and no new characters were added
Step 3: Write the visual action for each beat—only write what can be filmed
Why: AI video generation consumes visuals, not literature. The visual descriptions in the storyboard and the prompts used for generation all grow out of this cell.
Three rules (the course's teaching template):
- One sentence per cell, with a complete subject-verb-object: who, does what, to what
- Only write what the camera can capture: actions, objects, changes in the environment
- Abstract words are strictly forbidden: despair, struggle, inner feelings, atmosphere—none of these can be filmed
| Novel-style writing ❌ | Script-style writing ✅ |
|---|---|
| He is filled with despair inside, looking at the ruined cake | He crouches in the rain, staring at the half-collapsed cake, his fingers hovering above the lid without daring to touch it |
| The rainstorm renders the sorrow of parting | Rainwater runs down the pedestrian bridge's railing and patters on the plastic bag around the cake box |
Following this standard, fill the beats cut in Step 1 into the table one by one (the table format is the course's teaching example):
| Beat | Visual action |
|---|---|
| 1 | Rain hammers down on the steps under the pedestrian bridge; Old Chen holds the cake box against his chest, head down looking at his phone, the screen lit up with his daughter's name |
| 2 | He stuffs the phone into his pocket, gets up and rushes up the stairs, his soles slipping on the wet steps and stumbling |
| 3 | He falls into the puddle along with the box; the cake box lid pops open, the cream collapses on one side, and rain patters on the exposed cream |
| 4 | He crouches in the puddle, using his hands to gather the collapsed cake back into the box; his phone vibrates, and he pulls it out and answers |
You should see: Next to each beat there is now a visual action sentence with a complete subject-verb-object—read it aloud and a little movie plays in your head.
- Quick check: for each beat, ask yourself "can this sentence be filmed"—there is not a single spot that requires "feels" or "mood" to be understood
Step 4: Add dialogue and sound to each beat
Why: In a 60-second film, sound carries half the information. At this step, dialogue is only a first draft—get the meaning right first; the cutting is left for the next lesson.
Three rules (the course's teaching template):
- At most 1–2 lines of dialogue per beat; if a gesture can replace it, don't write a line
- Dialogue is labeled with who says it and whether it's off-screen (characters who never appear on screen can only be off-screen)
- Ambient sounds are written separately: rain, footsteps, phone vibration—they're all information
| Beat | Dialogue | Sound |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | None | Rain hammering the ground, phone notification tone |
| 2 | None | The rain sounds closer, a muffled thud of soles slipping |
| 3 | Old Chen (in a low voice): "Don't collapse, don't collapse..." | The splash of falling, the sound of the lid knocking against the steps |
| 4 | Daughter (off-screen): "It's still pretty even though it collapsed—like a snowy mountain." | The rain gradually quiets, the call-connected tone |
Note that beats 1 and 2 have no lines at all—silence itself is drama; someone sprinting while shielding a cake has no breath to spare for talking. Only two lines of dialogue in the whole film is a normal result for this lesson, not laziness.
Should the dialogue be written long or short? A little looseness is allowed here, because dialogue length directly determines voiceover duration and subtitle line count: 2.3 Dialogue trimming is dedicated to cutting, and 5.1 Voiceover and licensing turns it into sound. But don't take "a little looseness" as "fill it up"—if any beat exceeds 2 lines, next lesson's cutting will hurt when it deletes them.
You should see: The table now has "Dialogue" and "Sound" columns, and the whole film's dialogue can be read aloud within 10 seconds.
- Quick check: dialogue per beat ≤2 lines; characters who never appear on screen only have off-screen voices; ambient sounds are listed separately
Step 5: Run this short script through the four check lines
Why: The script is the input to the storyboard—dirty input means dirty output. Before finalizing, go through the four check lines one by one (the course's teaching template):
One-page A4 script check lines
□ One-page line: Header + beat table—does it all fit on one A4 page? If not = story overload; go back to Step 1 to cut beats
□ Visual line: Is each beat's visual action subject-verb-object and filmable? Are abstract words down to zero?
□ Dialogue line: Dialogue per beat ≤2 lines? Can the whole film's dialogue be read aloud within 10 seconds?
□ Boundary line: Still 1 setting and on-screen characters ≤2? Do the header, scope statement, and synopsis match?Whichever line fails, go back to the corresponding step and fix it; once all four lines pass, the script is finalized—this is File Two.
**You should see **: all four check lines ticked. From the next lesson onward, this AI short drama script becomes a read-only file: dialogue trimming will be marked on it, shot lists will be split from it, and the main storyline will no longer change.
- Quick check: all four check lines pass, and you feel no urge to add another beat
Checkpoint ✅
- One A4 page of script is filled in: five header items + 3–5 beats, with all three columns complete—visual action, dialogue, and sound
- Every beat's visual action is a shootable subject-verb-object sentence, with zero abstract words
- Whole-film dialogue is ≤2 sentences per beat, speakable within 10 seconds in one read-through, and characters who never appear on screen only have voice-overs
- The script contains no shot sizes, camera moves, or shot numbers—that's the job of the 2.4 storyboard
- The main storyline matches the three-sentence synopsis finalized in 2.1, and scenes and characters stay within the scope statement
Pitfall warnings
❌ The script turned into a novel
Symptom: the visual action column contains things like "He thought to himself, it's all over now" or "Despair surged over him like a tide."
Cause: literary inertia. Novels rely on a narrator getting inside the character's head, but the camera can only stay outside—no image generation model can shoot the words "thought to himself."
Correct approach: translate psychology into actions and objects. "He thought, it's over" → "He stares at the half-collapsed cream, fingers hovering above the box lid, motionless for three seconds." You already practiced this when writing the synopsis (the visual line of 2.1); in the script the requirement is stricter: go through it beat by beat and leave not a single abstract word.
❌ Shot sizes and camera moves written into the script early
Symptom: "Close-up: cake box," "Camera pushes in on Old Chen's face," "Cut to the phone."
Cause: skipping a step. Shot sizes, camera moves, and shot numbers are storyboard fields—locking in how to shoot at the script stage means binding camera positions before the story is nailed down, silently raising the cost of changing the story later.
Correct approach: the script only answers "what is visible in this beat"; how to shoot it is all left to the 2.4 storyboard: splitting the script into a shot list. Check method: search the whole page for "close-up," "push in," and "cut to"—delete every occurrence you find.
❌ Dialogue keeps growing and won't fit on one page
Symptom: every beat has lines, characters exchange pleasantries, reading the dialogue aloud takes 40 seconds, and there's no time left for visuals.
Cause: forgetting this is a 60-second film. Dialogue eats into voiceover duration and subtitle line count—60 seconds minus action and silence leaves only a dozen or so seconds for lines in the first place.
Correct approach: first ask "can this beat go without words"—for beats 1 and 2, silence is actually more dramatic. For lines you can't bring yourself to cut, keep them for now and mark them with a question mark; the next lesson, 2.3 Dialogue trimming: cut before voiceover, deals with them specifically.
Advanced tips (optional)
After finishing your first draft, have the AI act as a script doctor—this is the correct way to use "AI script writing" and "AI script generation" in this course: ask for diagnostic suggestions, not a ghost-written final draft. Course exercises require an original script; the AI only finds problems against the check lines. Whether and how to revise is your call.
Expected result: a revision checklist with problems annotated beat by beat—abstract words, overloaded dialogue, out-of-bounds camera terminology, all visible at a glance.
Use the prompt below (a Prompt designed for this course, as a teaching example; any conversational AI assistant will do—no particular tool required):
## Role
You are a short film script doctor, skilled at finding sentences in a 60-second single-scene short script that "can't be shot."
## Task
Check my short script beat by beat, flag abstract words, overloaded dialogue, and out-of-bounds camera terminology, and give one rewrite suggestion for each.
## Input information
### Required fields
- Three-sentence synopsis: 【paste the three sentences finalized in 2.1】
- Script table: 【beat number | visual action | dialogue | sound】
### Optional fields
- Desired emotional landing point: 【warm / funny / suspenseful…】
## Output specification
Output item by item per beat: original sentence → problem type (abstract word / dialogue overload / camera terminology out of bounds / outside scene scope) → one rewrite suggestion.
## Constraints
- ✅ Only offer suggestions; do not rewrite the entire script; whether to revise is my decision
- ✅ Suggestions must stay within the range of 1 scene and ≤2 on-screen characters
- ❌ Do not add new characters, plot twists, or expanded worldbuilding💡 The boundaries of AI assistance
Treat the AI as a script doctor: ask for diagnosis and rewrite directions, and revise every sentence of the final draft yourself. Copying whole passages trains neither your hands nor counts as your original exercise; AI rewrite suggestions often come with new adjectives, so run them through the four check lines again both before and after adopting them.
Lesson summary
✅ At this point, you have:
- Expanded the three-sentence synopsis into a one-page A4 AI short drama script—deliverable two complete
- Used beats as the minimal unit to divide 60 seconds: 3–5 beats, each containing only one visual change
- Written each beat's visual action as a shootable subject-verb-object sentence, with zero abstract words
- Given each beat a first-draft line of dialogue and ambient sound, and you know the trimming is left for the next lesson
One-page A4 script quick reference:
| Field | What to fill in | Corresponding check line |
|---|---|---|
| Header (title / duration / scene / characters / synopsis) | Copy verbatim from the scope statement and synopsis; do not recreate | Boundary line |
| Beat number | 3–5 beats, one visual change per beat | One-page line |
| Visual action | Complete subject-verb-object, shootable by the camera | Visual line |
| Dialogue | ≤2 sentences per beat, noting who speaks and whether it's off-screen | Dialogue line |
| Sound | Ambient sound in its own column | Dialogue line |
Next lesson preview
The script is finalized, but the dialogue in it is still a first draft. The next lesson trims it down: Dialogue trimming: cut before voiceover.
You will learn:
- How to convert dialogue length into voiceover duration and subtitle line count
- Which lines can be replaced with actions and visuals
- How to cut the dialogue down to "every line is necessary," so 60 seconds truly fit