AI Features
AI features overview
SceneItAll uses AI to speed up the slow parts of breaking down a script: tagging elements, summarizing scenes, checking continuity, and translating the screenplay. This overview explains how AI work runs, how you review and apply it, what it costs in credits, and where each feature lives. It links to the step-by-step how-tos for each task.
What you can do here
- Detect production elements with AI
- Check a script for continuity issues
- Generate scene synopses with AI
- Translate a script into another language
Key concepts
AI runs as a background job
Every AI feature runs as a background job, so you can keep working while it processes. When a job is running, a thin AI job status bar appears below the top bar with one row per running job. Each row shows the current phase message, a progress percentage, and an X to cancel. Cancelling asks you to confirm, because progress is lost.
Two AI jobs can run at once — for example, a translation alongside an element detection. The status bar shows up to two rows. A job that stalls for 15 minutes is treated as stale and stops blocking the screen.
[SCREENSHOT: The AI job status bar below the top bar, showing an element-detection row at 45% with a cancel X]
You review AI results before anything is applied
AI never writes straight to your data. Most AI runs produce a proposal that you review and apply yourself. When a proposal is waiting, an accent-colored banner reads “AI results are ready for your review” with a Review button, and the scene rows in the breakdown show a small accent pill with the pending change count. Selecting either opens the Review AI Changes dialog.
In the review dialog you select or deselect individual items (with Select all / Deselect all), then apply your selections. Nothing changes until you do. The dialog title depends on what you are reviewing — Review AI Changes for elements, Review AI Synopses for synopses, and Review Continuity Warnings for continuity. See Review AI proposals below.
AI features use credits
AI features draw on your account’s credit balance at a rate of 1 credit = 1 scene processed. SceneItAll charges only on success: a run that fails or that you cancel costs nothing. If your balance is too low to cover a run, SceneItAll shows an Insufficient credits dialog with your current balance and a Buy more button instead of starting the job. Check your balance before running AI over a long script.
AI-generated text follows your project’s language
Element detection, synopsis generation, and continuity checking write their generated text — element descriptions, scene summaries, and continuity notes — in your project’s Language setting (chosen at project creation, editable in Project Settings → General; see Create or join a project). This does not translate your script: quoted script text and character names are always left exactly as written. It’s separate from the script translation feature, which translates scene content into a different language on demand.
AI feeds the breakdown, which flows downstream
Data in SceneItAll flows downstream only: Script → Breakdown → Crew → Schedule → Reports. AI element detection and synopses write into the breakdown, which is upstream of the schedule and reports. A report never re-runs AI; it takes a snapshot of upstream state when you refresh it. Re-snapshot a report to pull in breakdown changes that came from an AI run.
Where each feature is triggered
| Feature | Where you start it | What it produces |
|---|---|---|
| Element detection | The AI tools menu (Element Breakdown) in the breakdown overview or scene detail, on the selected scenes | A proposal of elements to add or remove |
| Synopsis generation | The AI tools menu (Generate Synopses) in the breakdown overview or scene detail | AI synopses on the selected scenes |
| Continuity checking | The continuity popover in the script viewer (Run Continuity Check) | Warnings and a timeline analysis |
| Translation | The Translate row in the script viewer’s Preview Options | A translated copy of the script in a new language |
The AI tools menu also holds Auto-Estimate Timings, which fills in screen time and shooting duration from each scene’s page length. It is a quick calculation, not an AI job — it does not run in the background, produce a proposal, or use credits.
[SCREENSHOT: The AI tools menu open in the breakdown overview, showing Element Breakdown, Generate Synopses, and Auto-Estimate Timings]
Review AI proposals
The proposal review dialog works the same way for every AI feature that produces a proposal:
- Open it from the Review banner, from the per-scene pending-changes pill, or from a notification.
- Review the listed items. Use Select all or Deselect all to toggle them in bulk, or check and uncheck them individually.
- Apply your selection with the button at the bottom right. Its label reflects what you chose — for example Apply: Add 12, Remove 3 for elements, or Apply: 8 synopses for synopses.
- To discard the whole proposal, select Reject All. If the AI found nothing to change, the dialog shows a single Mark as Reviewed button instead.
A proposal is created per AI run and moves through a fixed set of states as you review it: pending_review, accepted, partially_accepted, rejected, or expired.
Connect an external AI assistant (MCP)
External AI assistants such as Claude can connect to SceneItAll through the Model Context Protocol (MCP) server. Once connected, they can browse your projects, read scripts, look up elements and crew, check continuity warnings, and — with your explicit confirmation — make changes such as tagging elements and editing the schedule. Your role-based permissions still apply. See MCP server for setup.