Write the cut as a script, not a timeline: the JSON storyboard prompt
An agent prompt that writes the edit of real footage as a small JSON file: which sentences, which cover shots, what the cold open is. A complaint becomes a one-line edit, and the render repeats.
You are the editor. Below is the day's speech as numbered sentences (clip id, sentence number, start, end, text). Write the cut as a script, not a timeline: a JSON object that a render script will read. Do not output timecodes for the whole film; output decisions.
Shape:
{
"title": "",
"cold_open": [ {"clip": "", "in": "mm:ss.s", "out": "mm:ss.s", "why": ""} ],
"hook": {"clip": "", "sentence": 0, "line": ""},
"scenes": [
{
"name": "",
"clip": "",
"sentences": [0],
"cover": [ {"from_clip": "", "in": "", "out": "", "over_sentence": 0, "shows": ""} ],
"live_sound": false
}
],
"silent_walks": [ {"clip": "", "in": "", "out": "", "keep_own_sound": true} ],
"cut_clips": [ {"clip": "", "reason": ""} ]
}
Rules:
- cold_open: 8-10 seconds total, from the best frames, no speech.
- hook: one sentence with a twist, said right after the cold open.
- scenes: whole conversations (lead-in, the talk, the reaction), never a best phrase alone.
- cover: only over sentences where the speaker's lips are not on camera; the cover shot comes from the same place within minutes of the line and shows what the line says.
- Every clip appears somewhere, or in cut_clips with a reason.
- Do not stretch to a target length.
Sentences:
{paste numbered sentences} In Claude Code, paste the prompt as a message, or run /video-edit which does this end to end.
Steps
- Produce the numbered sentences first: transcribe every clip with word timings, then number them in shooting order (see 'The day as one text file').
- Save the agent's JSON as cut.json beside the clips. Render from it with your script or editor; never hand-edit the timeline.
- When someone says 'the bread is mentioned and never shown', add one cover entry and re-render. That is the whole point.
Tips
- The JSON forces the agent to decide; a timeline lets it hide the decisions inside timecodes.
- In Claude Code `/video-edit` works this way end to end: sidecar analysis, the day as text, the cut as JSON, render, masters per platform.
| works with | Claude Code: Runs as a skill or a prompt in the terminal; can read your files and write the result. · Claude: Paste into claude.ai or the Claude app. |
| skill | npx skills add fortunto2/solo-factory/video-edit · source |
| cost | Free. No API, no key. |
| status | Unverified: written from the technique, not yet run end to end by us. |
| license | CC BY 4.0 for the text here; skills are MIT. |
| updated | 2026-11-01 |
| for agents | script-to-storyboard-json-cut.md |
Related
The day as one text file: an agent reads the speech and proposes the story
The step before any timeline: the day's speech in shooting order, numbered by clip and sentence, read by an agent like a scriptwriter. It proposes story, scenes, hook and cutaways; you argue in text.
The cutaway rule: what is said, same place and time, never over moving lips
Three constraints for every cutaway in a talking film, and the agent prompt that applies them to a transcript. Kills what viewers read as broken: a picture from elsewhere, a face out of sync.
Cold open, then hook: 8-10 s of best frames, hand-picked from a contact sheet
The opening that holds a viewer on real footage: 8-10 s of the strongest frames with no speech, then one line with a twist. What to look for on the sheet, and why the automatic pick is wrong.
Ask an agent to turn a script into a numbered generation shot list
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Shot list generator: a table with shot, duration, visual, audio and overlay
An agent prompt that turns any script into a numbered shot table a camera operator or a video model can follow: one visual, one audio line and one text overlay per row, durations that add up.
Take something from every clip, and list the ones you cut with a reason
A rule for cutting someone else's footage, or your own from a year ago: each clip was filmed because it mattered, so each gets a chance, and the rejects get a written reason the person can argue with.