AutoShort

Horror and story shorts: write the script, review it, render

Short fictional stories narrated over dark, moody pictures. You and the assistant write an original script, check every scene, and only then spend credits on the render.

Who it is for

  • Writers of original micro-fiction who want to hear and see the story, not only post the text.
  • Channel owners in the scary-stories niche who want a human-reviewed script for each video rather than an unattended pipeline.
  • People who prefer to keep every story fictional and clearly labelled as such.

What AutoShort does for this

  • The assistant writes the story with you. autoshort_draft_video stores the narration word for word with one picture description per scene, for free.
  • You choose the art style from the live list in autoshort_list_niches (for example COMIC_BOOK for ink-style pictures, CYBERPUNK, or AUTOSHORTS for cinematic photographic pictures).
  • autoshort_estimate_cost prices the render first. After your yes, autoshort_render_draft charges once and renders a narrated 9:16 short with captions.
  • SCARY_STORIES is one of the niches for series and for videos AutoShort writes from a brief; a ready scary-story template exists on the templates page.
  • Every render passes the product's content checks (sexual content, harm to minors, impersonating a real person and copyright are refused).

Not connected yet? Follow the steps for Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or Gemini CLI on the MCP page.

Worked example

Worked example

Not run: costs credits

A 1998 night-shift petrol station where one detail per scene is wrong

Paste this into Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or Gemini CLI once AutoShort is connected. It is the library prompt Place-first horror, 30 seconds with the bracketed parts filled in.

Use the AutoShort tools to make one short horror story, at most 40 seconds, about a night-shift petrol station, 1998.
Write it yourself in 6 to 8 scenes. Rules:
- Scene 1 narration: place and year plus one ordinary thing that goes wrong, at most 9 words.
- Each scene adds exactly one detail that does not belong. The twist lands in the last scene.
- Original characters only, no real people, no known franchise, nothing gory. Visuals show one subject at a time, no readable text.
Call autoshort_draft_video with scenes[] (free), artStyle COMIC_BOOK. Show me the draft and its warnings.
Call autoshort_estimate_cost for the draft. Show me the price first and wait for my yes before any paid step.
After my yes: autoshort_render_draft once, poll autoshort_get_video until COMPLETED or FAILED, give me the link.
Tools it triggers
  • autoshort_list_options
  • autoshort_draft_video
  • autoshort_estimate_cost
  • autoshort_render_draft
  • autoshort_get_video
Estimated cost
40 credits (about $0.63 on the Starter plan, $0.80 at the $0.02-per-credit list rate). Ask for the price first: autoshort_estimate_cost quotes it for free.
What you get
  • A narrated AI-image story of at most 40 seconds. The scares come from the writing and the pacing.
  • No gore and no real people are asked for in the prompt, and the content checks refuse what is outside the rules.
Test status
Draft + price quote run on 2026-10-29 (QA account, free tools only): 7-scene draft, 29.4 s estimated, no warnings, estimate_cost 40 credits, balance stayed 0. artStyle CINEMATIC is refused by the live tool (prompt reworded). Render not run: costs credits.

What the output looks like

  • The Last Subscriber, episode 2 (a fictional founder-drama story, not horror)

    YouTube Shorts, channel @autoshort-org, 2026-10-26. AI-generated.

    How it was made: Our own fictional story series, labelled AI-generated in the description. It shows a narrated story short, not horror.

    Result: At the 2026-10-28 read it had 6 views on YouTube, with 75 % of viewers swiping away. Our own views are not excluded.

No public horror short of ours yet. We rendered original micro-horror shorts in StoryShort on 2026-10-28 and they passed our own review, but none had been posted and measured when this page was written, so we do not link one. The story example above is the closest narrated format we have posted.

What it costs

40 credits (about $0.63 on the Starter plan, $0.80 at the $0.02-per-credit list rate). Ask for the price first: autoshort_estimate_cost quotes it for free.

One short is 40 credits. A scheduled series is 40 credits for each video made.

See what things cost, pricing and the refund policy. Want to see a script first? The free script preview needs no account.

Limits, stated plainly

  • Horror is the content type where platforms look hardest. Keep it fictional, label it AI-generated, and read each platform's sensitive-content rules before you post.
  • Generated pictures drift: the same house or character can look different from scene to scene. Describe recurring things identically in every scene, and prefer silhouettes, objects and rooms to faces.
  • The narration is read verbatim by a synthetic voice. Unusual names can be mispronounced, so spell them as they should sound.
  • Image models draw text badly: ask for pictures with no writing.
  • A standard short is 8 to 90 seconds in 9:16.

Frequently asked questions

Will AutoShort refuse a scary script?

Not because it is scary. It refuses content outside its rules: sexual content, anything that puts a child in an abusive or dangerous situation, impersonating a real person, copying protected characters or brands, and illegal content. Fictional fear is allowed.

Should I say the story is fictional and AI-generated?

Yes. We do on our own posts. YouTube's altered or synthetic content disclosure is always set by autoshort_publish_video, and autoshort_list_social_accounts reports how each connected platform handles the AI label.

How much does one story short cost?

A standard short of up to 90 seconds is 40 credits with the default voice. Drafting the script is free, and autoshort_estimate_cost quotes the exact price before anything is charged. The credits are taken when you approve the render, and refunded automatically if the render fails for good.

Can the assistant write the story for me?

Yes, and you should read it before you approve. In the worked example the assistant writes the script in the chat, you edit it, and only the agreed text goes into the draft.

Do the same characters look the same in every scene?

Not reliably in a standard short. Each scene's picture is generated from its own description, so describe a recurring character the same way every time, or use silhouettes and objects. Our own notes of 2026-10-23 still list a trained-identity model as a remaining gap for series.

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