What an AI episode costs: pay as you go, priced per minute of film

When I tell people I make a kaiju series on my own, the second question is always the money. So here is the plain answer. Agent Social is pay as you go. You load credits, and you spend them on what you make. Finished video runs about $5 for every minute of film. There is no subscription, no seat to pay for and no plan to pick.

That one number is the whole idea, so it is worth being clear about what it measures and what it does not.

What you pay for: minutes of finished film

The price is per minute of video that comes out the other end. A film in Agent Social is planned in chapters and clips. Each clip runs from a few seconds to half a minute, depending on the video model, and the studio stitches the clips into one finished film. If your film runs 5 minutes, you are paying for 5 minutes of video at about $5 each.

The studio also does work before any video exists: it writes the story, plans the chapters and paints the reference pictures of your characters and places. That work uses some credits too, and your credit history shows it turn by turn, next to the video. But the length of the finished film is the number to plan around.

Worked examples at the base rate

Here is what the base rate comes to for three common lengths. These are the numbers the pricing page's slider gives you too, because both read the same rate.

• A 1-minute short, the kind you post on Instagram or as a teaser: about $5.
• A 5-minute episode, close to the length of an OVERCLOCK episode: about $25.
• A 20-minute film or a long episode of a series: about $100.

Each OVERCLOCK episode runs between four and a half and six minutes with its credits. That sits right in the middle of those examples, and it is the length I would suggest for a first episode of your own: long enough to tell a real story, short enough to finish in a few sittings.

What can make a film cost more

The rate is for finished video at the standard settings. A few choices add to it, and it is better to know them before you start than to find them on your credit history.

• Retakes. If you render a clip, do not like it and render it again, you have made that clip twice. The second render is billed like the first.
• Higher resolutions. Rendering at a higher resolution costs more per minute than the standard one.
• Voice and music. A voiceover track or a music score added in the studio is made on top of the video, so it adds to the total.
• More pictures. Every reference picture or story moment the studio paints for you is extra work, so a film with many places and characters uses more credits before the first clip renders.

That last point is the one I learned the hard way. On OVERCLOCK Episode 1, one clip came back with far too many cuts and had to be rebuilt as a single helicopter shot. Another came back with faces and voices swapped, because the frame it was meant to continue from was not attached. Both problems were visible in the take before the render, if I had looked. Now I read every take, check that the right pictures are attached to it, and only then press Generate. Clips render one after another in story order, so I watch each one before the next goes out.

What is included

The per-minute price covers making the film in the studio, and the studio does a lot more than turn one prompt into one clip:

• Series that carry their cast, places and look from one episode to the next.
• Shorts, ads, music videos, episodes and full-length films.
• The same cast and locations in every shot, from the reference pictures you keep for each character and place.
• Voiceover, music, transitions and subtitles, added in the same studio.
• Credits that never expire. If you load credits for a series and take a month off, they are still there.

How paying works

You load credits after you sign in. The smallest top-up is $100, and you can top up again whenever you need more. Credits are spent only on what you make. Your credit history lists every charge and every refund, so you can see where each credit went, clip by clip.

If you run out of credits in the middle of a film, the studio turns the next render down before it starts and says which clip it was. You top up, press Try again, and carry on from that clip.

How to plan a budget for a series

For a series, think in episodes rather than clips. Decide the length of an episode, multiply it by the rate, and add a little room for retakes on the clips that are hardest to get right. In my experience those are the big action moments, like a creature striking a boat or a chase across the water, where a lot happens in a few seconds.

• Pick an episode length and keep to it. A series that grows from five minutes to fifteen triples its cost per episode.
• Write and read the whole episode before rendering any of it.
• Render the clips in order and watch each one before the next.
• Keep music and voiceover for the end, once the cut is final, so you score the film only once.

That is all there is to it. One rate, set per minute of finished film, about $5 today. The pricing page has a slider that turns any length into a price, and the same number is used inside the app when you buy credits.