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How to Expand an Idea into a Script

Goal: Turn a rough story idea — anything from a sentence to a few paragraphs — into a structured screenplay with acts, beats, scenes, and dialogue, ready to send to shot generation.

You don't need a finished script to use ACT3 AI. The story expansion system builds the full structure for you, one level at a time, with your approval at each step.

Steps​

  1. Start a new project. From the Projects dashboard, click + New Project. When asked how you want to start, choose Expand from Idea.

  2. Open the AI Wizard. The wizard launches. It guides you through the setup — project type (Movie, TV Episode, Short, Explainer), target duration, and visual style.

  3. Enter your idea. In the text box, describe your story. This can be:

    • A one-line logline: "A retired detective is pulled back in when her sister goes missing."
    • A paragraph of rough plot
    • Pasted text from a document, article, or even ChatGPT output
    • A Wikipedia page or book summary for an adaptation

  4. Review and approve the logline and theme. The AI proposes a refined logline, a central theme, and a core conflict. Accept them, edit them, or rewrite them entirely before moving on.

  5. Review and approve the act structure. The AI breaks the story into acts and major beats. Reorder beats by dragging, delete ones that don't fit, or add new ones. Click Accept Acts when ready.

  6. Review and develop characters. The AI proposes your main cast with summaries and relationships. Add, remove, or edit characters. These will become your digital actors later.

  7. Approve scene generation. With the act and beat structure locked, click Generate Scenes. The AI builds the full scene list. Review and adjust.

  8. Generate the full script. Click Generate Script. The AI writes action lines and dialogue for every scene. Your script is now in the editor and your shot list is ready to develop.

Next steps​