How to make an AI drama with the same cast in every episode

RefVid published a tutorial describing how to keep a consistent AI-generated cast across episodes by saving three to five reference photos per character — straight on, three-quarter from each side, and one waist-up in costume — and reusing them in every scene. The method, demonstrated with invented actors Mia and Leo on Kling 3.0 Omni and with RefVid's four-episode cartoon series GuaPi on Kling 4, structures episodes as four to eight scenes of 10 to 15 seconds with dialogue in quotes. RefVid advises ending each episode on an open action, checking faces against episode one, labeling AI content where platforms require it, and getting consent from every real person depicted.

How to make an AI drama with the same cast in every episode Disclosure: an AI assistant Claude drafted this story for the RefVid team. Every image below is a still from our own AI-generated clips or a drawn character sheet, not a photograph of a real person. Most AI video tools start each clip from one picture or from words alone, so a face drifts a little every time. That is fine for one clip and fatal for a drama, where viewers have to recognise the lead in episode ten. This is the method we use to keep one cast across episodes, with the real clips and prompts behind it. Give every character a small set of reference photos instead of a single portrait. One clear portrait is enough to start, and three to five hold a face better: straight on, three-quarter from each side, and one waist-up in the costume they wear all season. Invented characters work the same way, as a portrait from an image tool or a drawn character sheet. Mia and Leo, two invented actors: one of the eight reference photos saved once and reused in every scene. Every scene you generate then starts from those saved photos, so the model sees the same faces from several angles in each new clip. Several characters can share one shot, each tied to their own photos, so a couple, a rival and a boss keep their faces apart. The cast stays in your account, and the next episode starts from the same saved characters instead of new uploads. Write the episode as four to eight scenes of 10 to 15 seconds, with the spoken lines in quotes. Here is a scene prompt that works, the one behind the café clip below: Rainy evening in a quiet café: Mia and Leo sit across a small table, untouched coffee between them. Wide shot, moody window light. Close-up of Mia, eyes steady, saying quietly: ‘You knew all along, didn’t you?’ Close-up of Leo, looking down, then up, and answering: ‘I was going to tell you tonight.’ The result is a 10-second vertical clip with spoken dialogue and room sound, made on Kling 3.0 Omni from the same saved photos. A still from the café scene: Mia and Leo, 10 seconds, vertical, with dialogue. The same method scales past one scene. Our own cartoon series, GuaPi, has four episodes, and each of its four characters was drawn once and saved once. Every episode draws on those same character sheets, so Henry, Alice, GuaPi the goose and Xiaobai look the same in episode four as in episode one. Henry, from the GuaPi character sheets. GuaPi the goose, saved once and used in all four episodes. A still from GuaPi Episode 3: 36 seconds on Kling 4, drawn from the same character sheets. For a beat with no dialogue, a plain action line is enough. From Episode 1: The little fan sparks and bursts with a pop: a thick cloud of black smoke explodes out of it, the blades jam and stop, the umbrella jolts; Henry’s grin turns into wide-eyed panic. Keep the drawn style. End every episode on an open action, such as a phone lighting up or a door opening, and start the next one from it. Compare the costumes with last time, spell the names the same way in every caption, and check the faces side by side with episode one. Switch on the AI label wherever the platform asks for it. Get consent from every real person in the cast, and never use the face of someone who has not agreed. Keep the scene prompts and the saved cast together, so a scene that needs a redo can be made again with the same characters. The whole method, with both prompts, the step-by-step table and the answers to the usual questions, is on one page: the RefVid AI drama generator page. Louis Chi Key Takeaways - •That is fine for one clip and fatal for a drama, where viewers have to recognise the lead in episode ten. - •This story was reported by Dev.to , covering developments in the dev space. - •AI advancements continue to reshape industries — read the full article on Dev.to for complete coverage. 📖 Continue reading the full article: Read Full Article on Dev.to → https://dev.to/ref vid/how-to-make-an-ai-drama-with-the-same-cast-in-every-episode-1i2h