Novel to short drama: episodes, scripts and storyboards

Example

Suggested request in Claude Code after setup (replace the path): /short-drama Use /ABS/my-authorized-story.txt for a short-drama adaptation. First identify source facts, proposed changes and open questions. Plan the first three episodes for a 60–90 second target each; explain if the source needs a different split. Keep the protagonist’s motivation and the agreed ending. Do not add a hidden villain as an established source fact. Write only episode 1 after I accept the map. Then develop that episode’s visual facts and storyboard when requested. Stop at text files. Do not generate images, video, voices or music.

ORIGINAL EDITORIAL EXAMPLE: written by hand for this guide to demonstrate the method. Source fragment: When an auction-house courier arrived to collect a repaired clock, Shen Ning recognized her father’s handwriting underneath it. She believed he would never have sold it. The courier needed her handover signature for an auction starting in twenty minutes; the consignment slip carried her mother’s signature.

Adaptation choice: Keep the handwriting, deadline and signature. Show recognition and hesitation through inspection and questioning. Those actions leave her belief that her father would never sell the clock for the audience to infer. The invented sleeve and clock details below are staging choices added by the adaptation.

Scene excerpt: INT. REPAIR SHOP — EVENING Shen turns the clock over and rubs dust from the inscription with her left sleeve. SHEN: He wrote that last character backwards. Every time. COURIER: Twenty minutes. I need your signature. He slides a slip onto the right side of the workbench. Shen reaches for the pen, sees the consignor’s signature and stops. SHEN: My mother sent this?

Who should hear the same private thought? The source says Shen does not believe her father would sell the clock. That is her belief; her father’s actual intention stays unknown. Inspecting the writing and delaying her signature show that she values the clock and leave the precise belief for the audience to infer. If the adaptation needs to state it, compare these original alternatives at the same beat: after “He wrote that last character backwards. Every time” and before the courier asks for the signature. Use one of the two.

Subjective voice-over candidate (in this proposal, heard by the audience only): [VO] SHEN: I don’t believe Dad would sell this clock. The audience learns what she doubts; the courier has not heard this thought. He can still press for the signature and present the slip as in the original excerpt; his replies follow only what he has heard, so a line like “Of course your father would sell it” would break the scene. Her subjective voice reveals only her own view; her father’s actual intention stays unknown.

Spoken-dialogue candidate (addressed to the courier): SHEN (to the courier): I don’t believe Dad would sell this clock. The words are identical, but now the courier has heard the objection too. He may still press for the signature and present the slip; make that response follow her line and stage him as someone who has heard it. All he learns is her position; whether he agrees, and whether he knows what her father intended or how her mother plans to use the money, stays open. If he needs an explanation, propose it as a separate addition.

Choose whether the scene needs private uncertainty or an objection made face to face. You can also keep the original excerpt without VO and leave the precise belief for the audience to infer. In this project’s format, [OS] is offscreen dialogue within the scene and [VO] a non-local subjective/narrative voice; a person outside the frame who speaks within the scene gets [OS].

The four-shot sketch below still follows the original excerpt. These comparisons are unselected options; the screenplay, storyboard and later episode map stay as they are. After choosing, hand the affected response and sound decisions to the appropriate stage.

Four-shot handoff excerpt (a short slice of one episode; complete the storyboard before production): 01 — Clock underside: dusty writing partly visible; sleeve wipes it clean. Reveal the recognizable clue. 02 — Two-shot: Shen holds the clock; courier checks the time. Establish the opposing deadline. 03 — Slip insert: paper arrives on the right of the bench; a finger stops beside the signature. Reveal the new fact. 04 — Shen’s reaction: pen held above paper; her gaze lifts to the courier. End on a question aimed at someone specific, with visible action in place of a generic shocked face.

Continuity notes: oil stain on Shen’s left sleeve; clock missing its upper-right ornament; slip stays to the right of the clock. So far these are text specifications only; no reference images have been generated or bound.

From the four-shot excerpt to a candidate three-episode map “EP001 wipes the inscription → EP002 the courier hurries her → EP003 she sees the signature” describes three successive actions within one scene. Three episodes need three distinct choices and consequences. Let the short source become one scene first; repeating the demand for a signature, inventing a villain or cutting a sentence in half only pads the count.

For a different structure, this guide adds the following original adaptation premises, labeled as additions to the source excerpt. In a real adaptation, have the author accept the added direction first: A. Her mother personally signed the consignment form and intends to put any auction proceeds toward rent for a community repair class. The sale and payment have yet to happen, and her father's own wishes stay unstated. B. Shen Ning wants to keep an object associated with her father but cannot currently offer replacement rent money. Her problem is how to preserve a memory; premise A already rules out a convenient signature mistake, so the conflict rests on her own choice. C. The courier can wait one extra minute while she photographs the inscription; his authority ends there, and the auction keeps its schedule. Her mother can answer a call. Time advances continuously across the episodes, and the twenty-minute countdown runs through all three.

EP001 | Recognition raises a question Entry: the clock is in the repair shop, and Shen Ning has not signed the handover form. She recognizes the inscription while the courier hurries her. Goal and action: establish where the clock came from before handing it over. She asks to inspect the consignment form. Turn and local payoff: the form names her mother. There is now a specific person to ask; the motive has to come from her mother, who has yet to confirm the signature herself. Exit → EP002: Shen Ning takes out her phone and calls her mother. The clock and unsigned handover form remain in the shop. Neither Shen Ning nor the audience knows why it was consigned. The next episode starts with her mother answering; the discovery of the name is already done.

EP002 | Keeping it also has a cost Entry: the clock has not been handed over, the handover form is unsigned, and the call is awaiting an answer. Goal and action: Shen Ning wants her mother to withdraw the consignment. Her mother confirms signing it herself and explains her plan for the class rent. Shen Ning proposes keeping the clock but cannot say where replacement funds would come from. Turn and local payoff: the mother's account rules out a mistaken delivery or signature. The conflict becomes a choice between keeping the object and supporting the class. The audience now knows her mother's plan; what her father would have wanted remains unknown. Exit → EP003: Shen Ning stops disputing the paperwork. She ends the call and asks for one minute to photograph the inscription; the courier agrees. The clock is still in the shop, and her final choice remains open. Episode three picks up from here: she knows about the rent plan, and the sale price is still unknown.

EP003 | What leaves, what stays Entry: the clock is still in the shop, the handover is unsigned, and the agreed minute has begun. Shen Ning knows her mother's plan. Choice and action: she photographs the inscription, sends the photograph to her mother, signs the handover form and gives the courier the clock. After the handover, she tells her mother the clock has gone with the courier and asks that they discuss such old belongings together in future; her mother replies in agreement. Local payoff: the object leaves, the inscription has a record, and mother and daughter make a specific new agreement. This settles how Shen Ning acts on this occasion; her sadness can remain. Final state: the courier has the clock; Shen Ning has the photograph; her mother knows she has released it. The auction result, actual proceeds and whether the class goes ahead are still open. If the story continues, the next cliffhanger can come from those open questions.

One-episode alternative: remove the breaks, keep the decision Removing all of EP002 would make Shen Ning jump from questioning a signature to releasing the clock without learning what changes her judgment. Removing EP003 would leave a plan without its consequence. Keep those functions; the episode breaks between them can go.

The earlier scene excerpt ends with “My mother sent this?” For a one-episode version, continue straight into the passage below. It uses the same proposed premises A–C and replaces the whole three-episode map, so the handover happens exactly once. The new staging keeps her mother on speakerphone in one continuous call until the courier leaves. The dialogue and staging are original proposals awaiting the author’s acceptance.

INT. REPAIR SHOP — CONTINUOUS The courier places a separate handover form beside the consignment slip. Shen sets the clock upright and puts her phone beside the papers. She calls her mother on speakerphone. SHEN: Did you sign this yourself? MOTHER (PHONE): Yes. I want to put whatever it brings toward the repair class’s rent. SHEN: Could you withdraw it? I could cover— MOTHER (PHONE): Can you? Shen lowers the pen beside the still-unsigned handover form. SHEN: Not now. She turns to the courier. SHEN: One minute. Let me photograph the writing. COURIER: One minute. With the call still connected, she tilts the clock, photographs the inscription and sends the photograph to her mother. She sets the clock upright, signs the handover form, gives the form to the courier and passes him the clock. He leaves carrying the clock. SHEN: It’s gone with him. Next time, can we talk before putting one of these things up for sale? MOTHER (PHONE): We will. Shen enlarges the last character in the photograph.

What was cut, and what still has to land? • Cut: episode breaks and repeated re-entry into the same question; the phone conversation stays continuous. The twenty-minute deadline keeps running, and the courier grants only the already-proposed minute; the auction keeps its schedule. • Keep: the signature leads her to the person who can explain it; her mother confirms the consignment and intended use of possible proceeds; Shen cannot offer replacement funds. Her next move is to preserve the inscription before choosing to release the object. She signs the handover form; her mother had already signed the consignment form. • Show the consequence: the courier actually leaves with the clock; Shen retains the photograph; her mother hears about the handover and agrees to discuss future decisions. Let these changes happen on screen in place of a line like “she understood and let go.” The sale, the rent payment and her father’s wishes all remain open, and her sadness at parting with the object can stay. • Tradeoff: one episode keeps the discovery, negotiation and choice together. Three episodes give more room to dwell on recognition, the failed alternative and the parting, provided the dramatic material and intended form can fill that space. This short continuation illustrates the causal compression; both versions are demonstration text, and timing to 60–90 seconds and filming come later.

Revise the conversation, keep the decision Suppose the author asks, “Can her mother show concern for Shen, while still making the rent problem felt?” This is a new dialogue direction; the original short question still works. The following original replacement uses the same proposed premises A–C. It replaces only the exchange after the mother has confirmed signing and explained her intended use of possible proceeds; it stays within the same call and the same scene.

SHEN: Could you withdraw it? I could cover— MOTHER (PHONE): Don't take on the rent just to keep it. Could you actually cover it now? Shen lowers the pen beside the still-unsigned handover form. SHEN: Not now. She turns to the courier. SHEN: One minute. Let me photograph the writing.

What changes in the conversation? Shen first tries to obtain withdrawal by offering an alternative. The mother's proposed response discourages an unaffordable promise before asking whether that alternative is possible. The rent still matters; the money and the deadline stay the same. The original “Can you?” is terser; this version makes room for concern as well as resistance. Choose the relationship and pace you want. The lowered pen and explicit answer interrupt Shen's proposed bargain; whether she will release the clock is still open. Her next request seeks a way to keep the writing; the later photograph, signature and courier's departure must still occur. Retain the existing last exchange about consulting together in future. The sale, paid rent and what her father would have wanted all remain open after the revision. Use subtext where it helps. “Did you sign this yourself?” and “Not now” state the information needed for the choice plainly. The photograph and final enlargement of the last character already give the audience a concrete trace of what she wants to keep; adding “I have completely let go of my grief” would claim more than those actions show. An explicit admission or deliberate voice-over is still an authorial option.

After choosing the revision, adapt this request to your actual scene: Use $short-drama-write on the current 剧集/<EP>/剧本.md in /ABS/my-drama. Revise only the named rent exchange in [real scene ID] to discourage an unaffordable promise before asking whether Shen can cover the rent. Keep the earlier confirmation and intended use of possible proceeds, her inability to replace the funds, and the later photograph, handover and agreement to consult. Preserve unrelated wording and the deadline; do not invent a balance, sale price or father's final wish. Write the selected revision into the screenplay only. No assets, storyboard, image/video prompts or media production. This request limits the revision to one exchange.

Add this scope to the earlier request: Before writing the script, propose one-episode and three-episode cuts with their tradeoffs. For each episode, list entry facts, choice and local result, what the audience newly learns, and what the next episode must inherit. Separate source facts from proposed additions; do not decide missing motives for me. Once I accept the structure and added premises, write only EP001 and stop at text.