TASK GUIDE / UPDATED AUGUST 2026
Video to screenplay: from finished cut to editable draft
A screenplay written from video is not recovered from a vault. It is reconstructed: the picture is read shot by shot, dialogue is timed and attributed, and both are formatted into script elements a writer can edit. Here is what that process produces, and what it can never honestly claim.
A video becomes a screenplay draft by detecting every shot, transcribing or inferring dialogue, then formatting scene headings, action, characters, and dialogue into script order. Because the result is reconstructed from the picture, it is an editable working draft, not the production's original screenplay. StoryTeardown builds this draft and exports it in five formats.
Reconstructed, not recovered
The original screenplay of a finished film belongs to its writers and owners, and tools that claim to restore it from the pixels are overpromising. What a video to screenplay workflow can do is build a new, clearly labeled working draft from what the picture and sound actually show. That draft answers real questions: how the scene is ordered, who speaks, where the turns land, and what each shot contributes.
Rights and capability boundary
StoryTeardown drafts are editable reconstructions of authorized video, not recovered originals, and they carry no authority over the source work. Use them for study, adaptation planning, and internal review, with rights confirmed first.
What the script document contains
One analysis produces a story document and a shot map. These are the parts of the script side, and who fills them.
| Part | Filled by | What it holds |
|---|---|---|
| Title, logline, genre, language | AI draft, editable | The headline layer of the story document. |
| Story structure, opening hook, climax, cliffhanger, pacing notes | AI draft, editable | How the narrative is built and where it turns. |
| Characters, scenes, props lists | AI draft, editable | The reference sheets a team keeps while revising. |
| Per-shot script blocks | Detector plus AI draft | Shot heading with timecodes, craft line, action, character, dialogue, and notes for every shot. |
| Proof block | System | Provider, model, route, timestamp, and whether any field has been human-edited. |
A sample of the draft format
Two shots from our illustrative example, shown the way the workspace and exports lay out a script block: heading with timecodes, craft line, note, action, and dialogue.
EXAMPLE: VERTICAL DRAMA COLD OPEN (60S) Source: hand-written illustrative demo data, not model output. LOGLINE A barista recognizes the customer who ghosted her five years ago: and he is ordering a coffee for his wedding proposal rehearsal. GENRE Romance / revenge, vertical short drama SHOT 01 · 00:00.000 to 00:03.000 (Close-up · Static) NOTE: Hook: routine interrupted. Steam rises from a fresh pour; her hand steadies the cup as the doorbell rings once. SHOT 03 · 00:12.000 to 00:20.000 (Extreme close-up · Static) NOTE: Catalyst: the ghost walks in. Her eyes lift first; recognition lands before the customer is fully in frame. (NO DIALOGUE: HELD BREATH.) PROOF Local cut detection only. No cloud model fields.
The example is hand-written demo data, rights-safe and labeled as an example everywhere it appears.
Five formats from one source of truth
The script document exports as JSON, HTML, Markdown, TXT, and Word, all generated from the same reviewed analysis rather than from a separate pass. Edits happen before export, so the files are working documents, not locked AI output. The shot list half of the analysis exports as CSV for spreadsheet-driven teams.
Where drafts go wrong, honestly
Real limitations, stated plainly: quiet or mixed audio weakens dialogue and speaker labels; off-screen speakers have to be inferred; detector false cuts can split one shot into two; and action prose is a draft for a writer, not finished description. Every AI-drafted field keeps a per-field source record so you can see what was machine-drafted and what you changed, and the proof line names the model route honestly when cloud analysis was used at all.
FAQ
Is the draft the production's original screenplay?
No. A finished video cannot prove the contents of an unseen original script. A video to screenplay draft is a new document reconstructed from the picture and sound, written so a human can review and edit it.
Which videos can I use?
Video you own or are licensed to analyze. The workflow starts with a rights confirmation, does not fetch videos from platforms, and is not a public library or downloader.
What does the script export to?
The script document exports as JSON, HTML, Markdown, TXT, and Word files. The shot list side of the same analysis exports as CSV, described on the video to shot list page.