Mindvalley Stories
Case Study · AI Mastery

A story written in 2009 is finally becoming a short film, made with AI tools

A short story from 2009, once too costly to film, is now being produced as a short film with an AI toolkit.

For years, this writer carried a short story they wanted to see on screen, but locations, actors, cameras and crew put it out of reach. In AI Mastery, they began building the film piece by piece with AI tools. Their story is for anyone who has a creative project waiting on a budget they never had.

Jennifer Hillman
A writer who has spent years turning their own short story into a short film.

Kiss of Innocence

Before

In 2009 they wrote a short story called Kiss of Innocence, and they have wanted to make it into a short film ever since. The cost of location, actors, a screenwriter and cameras made that impossible. The idea stayed alive, but production stayed out of reach.

“Before AI, the production cost, with location, actor, screenwriter, cameras, etc., was out of possibility.”

In their own words

The turning point

They joined AI Mastery partly to take on this project and its steep learning curve. They began using ChatGPT for prompting, scripting and tool suggestions, Suno for theme music, and ElevenLabs for narration. Working with Sora taught them the importance of specific details and knowing the limits of each scene.

“Sora.ai—I learned the importance of specific details and knowing the limits of each scene.”

In their own words

After

Today the film is in production. They organise every scene in Airtable, with seed numbers, durations, file names, descriptions, music and narration files. They are now working on images and video with Midjourney, Runway and Adobe Premiere Pro, finding the right style and genre.

What it lets people do

The project shows how one person can produce a film without a crew, cast or location budget. Scripting, music, narration and visuals can each be handled with AI tools and tied together in one organised plan.

What they learned

They learned that AI opens the door but does not do the work alone; it takes real skill, detail and patience. They come away with a deeper respect for the craft and a willingness to keep learning.

“I am still learning and have a deeper appreciation for the skills needed.”

In their own words

Kiss of Innocence was built during AI Mastery.

Read the full submission
I originally wrote a short story named Kiss of Innocence in 2009. I have been working on producing it into a short film since. Before AI, the production cost, with location, actor, screenwriter, cameras, etc., was out of possibility. Now, I am in the process of completing using the following: Airtable to organize the project. Including each scene with the seed number (still in progress), Scene duration, file name, Scene description, music file, and narration file. Still in progress. (https://airtable.com/invite/l?inviteId=invIrmnAoVvNa7ejR&inviteToken=c132c2a5e4039908c93898f0d0e46233e1ffd5d0d100111f051ad0933f0032ba&utm_medium=email&utm_source=product_team&utm_content=transactional-alerts) ChatGPT: Used for prompting, scripting, and AI app suggestions https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lI32VtzN5_DVBg_GJuLq-UN-F8zQ5n_w Suno: theme music- cinematics melody prompting again needs development. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lI32VtzN5_DVBg_GJuLq-UN-F8zQ5n_w Eleven labs for Narrations- one portion is below. I am still working on the images and video sections. Sora.ai—I learned the importance of specific details and knowing the limits of each scene. I attempted to use the storybook option, but it wouldn’t let me download the scene. Midjourney and Runway ml– Find the style and genre. I am still figuring this out. Adobe Premium Pro (beta): I have used this program and want to see what it adds to it. This has been a considerable learning curve, yet one reason I took AI Mastery. I am still learning and have a deeper appreciation for the skills needed. I appreciate Vishen, Vykintas, Rui, Domenic, Iman, and Andre.

Written 21 January 2025 Submitted by the storyteller

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