How to Shotlist Any Text (Not Just Scripts)
shotlist-any-text
Getting Started Shotlisting
Planning a music video, a TV commercial, vertical content for social, or an AI-generated video? You don't need a screenplay. Paste a treatment, synopsis or any text, and ShotKraft turns it into a shot list.
Overview
ShotKraft isn't limited to screenplays. Paste in a commercial synopsis, a poem, a short story, a news article or a rough idea, and ShotKraft turns it into a shot list. When the text doesn't read like a script, ShotKraft first writes a visual treatment of it behind the scenes, then shotlists that treatment. You get to see how the story could play on screen.
This is useful for planning short content for social media, pitching a commercial or music video, adapting prose, or testing an idea before you commit to writing the scene.
Steps
Click New Project in the top menu.
Choose Copy/Paste Script.
Give your project a title (optional) and click Next.
Optional: In the scene card on the left, fill in the scene details: the scene number, INT/EXT, Time and Location. They don't need to be exact. For a news story, something like 1 · EXT MIDTOWN, MANHATTAN · DAY is plenty.
Paste your text into Enter Scene Text.
Click Generate. Your shots appear on the right within seconds.
Edit, reorder or add shots the same way you would for any script.
Try it with these texts
A 30-second commercial synopsis
A grandmother teaches her grandson to fold dumplings. Flour everywhere. He gets it wrong, again and again. Years later, alone in his own tiny kitchen, he folds one perfectly and texts her a photo. She replies with a single heart.
A short poem
The lighthouse keeper counts the shipsthat never come.He polishes the lamp anyway,the way you set a tablefor someone who is late.
A news story
LONDON. The West End got an early curtain call this weekend. A star of one of streaming's biggest sci-fi series joined his castmates from the upcoming London revival of RENT for a surprise performance, days before the show opens for previews. Fans who had no idea it was coming stopped, pulled out their phones, and sang along. By the final chorus, the crowd had doubled.
Here's the shot list ShotKraft generated from that news story:
Shot | Type | What we see |
1.1 | Establishing | London's West End as the early curtain call draws attention and pedestrians gather |
1.2 | Wide | The cast performs a surprise number for passersby |
1.3 | Medium | The series star performs alongside his castmates |
1.4 | Insert | Fans pull out their phones to record the moment |
1.5 | Two Shot | Two fans sing along as they watch |
1.6 | Wide | By the final chorus, the crowd has doubled |
Tips
Break longer texts into scenes. Use + Add Scene to give each paragraph, stanza or story beat its own scene. You'll get tighter, more specific coverage than pasting everything into one box.
Concrete details make better shots. Who is there, where they are and what physically happens give ShotKraft more to work with than abstract ideas.
Fill in Location and Time of Day. They keep the shots grounded, and you can filter by them later in Table View.
Visual treatments work too. If you've already written a treatment for a music video or spot, paste it in directly.
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