AI drama casting as the first step, not the last

Cast-first changes how you write

When the cast exists before the scene, the scene prompt gets shorter and better. You are not describing people; you are describing what they do. "Sigrid refuses to leave the lighthouse" is a complete scene prompt when Sigrid already has a face, a sheet and a voice style. That brevity is what makes a series of thirty scenes practical.

It also changes what you think about. Writers who cast first start noticing which pairings have not shared a frame yet and which relationship notes have never fired. The cast list becomes a map of unwritten scenes.

Preset troupe or your own

Sixteen characters are ready to cast on day one. Wren, Caspian, Ottilie, Idris, Marisol, Lucan, Noor, Bastien, Keiko, Rafael, Sigrid, Tobias, Anouk, Ezekiel, Delphine and Hollis each come with a portrait and a complete sheet, and several already reference one another. You can shoot a scene with them in your first five minutes using the free credits you receive on sign-in.

Generating your own costs 3 credits per character and gives you full control over look and sheet. The usual path is a hybrid: keep two or three presets whose sheets suit the story and generate the leads. Add relationship notes between presets and newcomers so the troupe reads as one company.

There is no quality difference between the two. Presets are simply characters someone has already finished writing.

Voice styles are descriptors

When you cast a character into a scene you choose a voice style for them. Styles are written as descriptors: warm and unhurried, clipped and formal, low and amused. The descriptor guides how the spoken dialogue is delivered. It does not reproduce anyone's actual voice and cannot be built from a recording.

Pick a style that fits the sheet. A character whose speaking-style note says she never raises her voice should not be cast with a bright, quick delivery unless the contrast is the point. Keep the choice constant across episodes; a changed delivery reads as a different person even when the face is the same.

Recasting a role

Roles change. The confidant becomes the antagonist; the walk-on becomes the lead. When the face no longer fits, regenerate the portrait on the same sheet for 3 credits. Everything written about the character stays; only the reference image changes, and only future renders are affected.

You can also recast by moving a sheet to a different character entirely: duplicate the sheet text onto a new generation with a different description. Earlier episodes keep their original actor, which is how real recasts between seasons work too.

Retire characters by leaving them in the cast list unused. Deleting is permanent, and a face that has already appeared in a published scene is worth keeping in case the story circles back.

Keeping the cast across episodes

The cast lives in your account, not in any one scene. Every episode you compose draws from the same list, with the same portraits as references and the same sheets in the prompt. Combined with the world bible, that is what lets a series run for months with one Keiko, one Rafael, one hotel rooftop pool.

Audit the cast between episodes. Update relationship notes as alliances shift, retire a wardrobe look that has done its job, and read the sheets of anyone who has not appeared in a while before bringing them back. A cast that is maintained stays castable.