Movie Kick User Guide v5.1

Movie Kick is a tool for completing feature-film and drama screenplays step by step with AI. The AI does not make creative decisions for you; it proposes options at each stage and helps you develop the work in detail.

The entire process has 7 stages — 1. Idea → 2. Synopsis → 3. Characters → 4. Plot → 5. Location → 6. Scene List → 7. Final Draft. If this is your first project, follow them in order; whenever necessary, use the sidebar to return to an earlier stage and edit it directly.

How is my work saved?

Every project is auto-saved to the browser you work in (IndexedDB). The save status (saving / saved) is shown in real time at the top of the sidebar while you work, so there's no need to press a separate save button. Your login account is used only for authentication.

Deleting projects and the Trash

Deleting a project doesn't make it vanish immediately — it moves to the Trash (soft delete). From the Trash located below the Library button in the left sidebar, you can restore deleted projects or permanently delete them all at once with "Empty." When the Trash contains items, a count badge appears on the button.

Renaming a project

You can rename a project at any time. Even after taking an AI title suggestion at the Final Draft stage, just edit the name in the project list on the home screen.

Why we nudge you to back up

Once your work has piled up while it lives only in this browser, a backup notice appears once. From there you can turn on automatic backup with "Choose folder", or leave a single copy with "Save to file". In browsers that don't support automatic backup, only the file option is offered.

The sidebar shows your current backup state (Auto-backup folder / Choose a backup folder).

Working in dark mode

The account menu at the bottom of the sidebar offers "System light" and "System dark". The work screens, graphs and Boundary analysis all follow along.

If you open the same project in two places

Even with the same project open in two tabs or two windows, whatever was saved first is never silently overwritten. If a conflict is detected, you're told.

When a new version ships

When the app is redeployed, an "Update available" notice appears. It sits where it won't cover your work, and while you're idle the app refreshes itself to the latest version. You can see what changed under "What's New" in the account menu.

How to sign in

• Sign up with email/password, then log in
• Quick sign-in with your Google account

If you forget your password you can reset it yourself from the sign-in screen — no waiting for an administrator. There is a short cooldown so reset mails aren't sent repeatedly.

One account, one device

Plans — Free and Pro

Movie Kick uses a BYOK (Bring Your Own Key) approach. To use the AI generation features, you need an OpenRouter API key.

The connection prompt appears once. You can skip it with "Look around first" and connect later from the sidebar whenever you like.

Available models

Choose from the model selector at the top of each stage. Switch between them to match the nature of your task.

Prices are per 1 million (1M) tokens for input / output (USD). The table is ordered by the app’s blended-cost measure, highest first. Source: OpenRouter official pricing (as of 2026-08).

Claude Sonnet 5 is on OpenRouter introductory pricing ($2/$10) until 2026-08-31, after which it returns to list price ($3/$15). Model prices can change, so also check the current OpenRouter listing before paying.

Only one free model, Nemotron 3 Ultra, is shown in the picker (to reduce choice fatigue). If it expires or goes down, the app automatically falls back to another free model so your work isn't interrupted. It lets you try the full workflow without adding credit; paid top-tier models are more consistent in prose quality and structural completeness.

Fit-based recommendations (★ marker)

While you work, Movie Kick automatically learns which model and expressive-variety setting leads you to edit the results the least. Once enough data accumulates, a ★ recommended marker appears in the model selector, and you can apply it instantly with the “Switch to these” button.

A recommendation is calculated only after at least 10 tracked samples have accumulated in version history. It appears in the Scene Editor as a ★ marker in the model selector and a “Switch to these” button. Until then, use the global default, Gemini 3.5 Flash. Bulk Scene List generation does not support that model and automatically falls back to Gemini 2.5 Pro.

This is the stage where you set your story's starting point. Choose one of three paths to match the way you work.

The design interview — including who stands opposite your protagonist

The Synopsis stage is where you refine and finalize the story itself. Edit the text directly or regenerate it with AI.

Regenerating the synopsis does not automatically overwrite your Characters. Design and refine them in the next stage.

What to do

1. Generate a synopsis from the idea you created in Stage 1.
2. Check that the causal chain of events and the ending read as one complete story, then refine the text yourself.
3. Once the content is settled, use the sidebar to move to the next Characters stage.

Regenerate on the spot and compare

Create a set of Characters from the finalized synopsis, then design their inner lives and relationships.

What to do

1. Select “Create characters”. The AI generates Characters and immediately applies all unique new results as a set.
2. Build on goal, flaw, and arc with contradiction, wound, and true need so each Character’s choices become clear.
3. Select a Character in the relationship graph to reveal counterpart options below the graph.
4. A counterpart with no relationship yet appears as a dashed-border option. Select it to begin a new relationship design.
5. Graph edges can show relationship information you have designed and saved. When no relationship data exists, the graph may also draw solid faction-based supporting connections as a reference. To find an undefined counterpart, use the dashed-border options below the graph, not the line style.
6. Edit the AI draft’s bilateral viewpoints, voices, tension, and defining actions, then save it.

To check the synopsis again

The Characters screen does not display a second, read-only copy of the synopsis. Select “Go read the synopsis” to return to the original Synopsis stage.

Enriching and managing Characters

Edit each card’s name, age, gender, occupation, and description directly. You can also choose a separate model on this screen for generating and enriching Characters. Deleted Characters can be restored from the Trash together with their relationships.

Once the Characters and relationships are ready, move to the next Plot stage.

This is the stage where you design the whole story as a beat structure. Rather than just two options, you choose from 5 proven structures to fit the nature of your work.

The five plot structures

Each structure has a defined per-beat weight (%), and these weights are used directly to allocate the number of scenes. For example, the "Finale" of STC15 is 20%, so in a 60-scene work about 12 scenes are allotted to the finale.

Editing beats

The beats of your chosen structure automatically expand into beat cards. You can edit the content directly on each card, or make natural-language requests through the Kick Assist chat on the right, like "Make beat 3 more suspenseful." Beat weights are preserved, ensuring consistency in scene-count allocation.

Hover a beat and a tooltip shows the job that beat is doing along with its content — on both the Plot and Treatment screens. Beat bodies no longer repeat their own title.

Expansion modes — three rhythms for turning a beat into scenes

You choose this from the "Expansion" dropdown on each beat card. It sets how many scenes, and in what manner, this single beat unfolds into. If you change nothing, it runs as Sequence.

Treatment — reading beats as one stretch

Once the plot exists, the Treatment tab opens. There, a few beats are grouped into one sequence — roughly two beats per sequence. You don't build sequences yourself; they are derived from the plot, and a grouping boundary only ever falls on a beat boundary. The plot is always the original.

Each sequence carries three things.

• Question — the one question that pulls the whole sequence along. It has to be answerable yes or no, and the answer arrives as the sequence ends.
• At Stake — how what's on the line changes between entering and leaving ("calm → past the point of no return"). Leaving must weigh more than entering. In a temporal-variation (TV6) structure, Accumulated takes its place.
• Prose — narrative writing that fills the gaps between beats. When the scene list is built, this prose stands in for the beat text.

Treatment and Boundary are connected

Boundary analysis doesn't read beats alone — it also reads the question, what's at stake and the weight you settled in the Treatment tab. "At Stake" is the same story the Boundary measures, told in different words, so without it the two screens can tell you different things.

• Curves are still drawn per beat. No steps appear at sequence boundaries.
• Editing a sequence marks the Boundary analysis outdated, so you know it is time to run it again.
• Polishing only the prose does not — prose is not used by Boundary analysis, so you never have to repeat an analysis that would come out the same.

So the natural order is Plot → Treatment → Boundary. You can skip the Treatment and go straight to Boundary, but then it judges without anything to go on for "At Stake".

17-Boundary analysis

Once the plot is generated, the AI analyzes the conflict structure of your story using a 17-boundary framework (four domains: Self, Bond, Order, Fate). It identifies tensions between opposing poles — like "Truth vs Lie" or "Greatness vs Ordinariness" — and visualizes them as a graph across beats.

From the analysis, 1 primary boundary + 3 secondary boundaries are automatically selected.

• Primary boundary — the core axis of conflict running through the entire story. A boundary question the audience will ask themselves is presented along with it.
• Secondary boundaries — 3 additional axes of conflict that complement the primary one

The Boundary graph — reading by polarity

The intensity (0–100) of the 4 boundaries is plotted as a line graph across beats. What up and down mean depends on each boundary's polarity — for value-type boundaries, up (100) = resolution · growth; for threshold-type boundaries, the center is healthy tension while both extremes are catastrophe; for complementary-type boundaries, up/down simply indicate which pole dominates (not good vs bad). The points where a line crosses the baseline (Y=50) are clues to twists and climaxes.

This graph lets you check at a glance whether your tension structure is too monotonous and whether multiple conflicts erupt simultaneously at the climax.

Tab layout

This stage is run across four tabs. Left to right is the working order.

• Plot Design — structure selection and design options
• Plot — edit the text of each beat
• Treatment — group beats into sequences and read them as prose (opens once the plot exists)
• Boundary — the 17-boundary analysis graph

Trope (narrative element) work has moved to the Combine path in Stage 1.

Design locations as devices that drive events and relationships, not merely as backdrops. Define each place’s story purpose, mood, and related Characters to build a location palette for scene generation in the next stage.

What to do

1. Choose the location strategy that fits the work: Genre Space, Everyday Space, or Displaced Space.
2. Generate a location palette from AI proposals, or add locations yourself with "+ Add manually".
3. Read the seven-identity strip at the top of the list to see which slots are filled and which are empty.
4. Edit each location’s name, description, category, mood, related Characters, appearance frequency and shooting zone to fit the work.
5. Pick the locations you'll use ("Select All" / "Deselect All") and move on.

The strip on top — the lens behind this palette

Not how many spaces — how many places you'll shoot in

Seven location roles

This is the stage where you'll spend the most time. You manage the overall structure in the Scene List and write each scene's actual script with AI in the Scene Editor.

Four tabs

Bulk scene-list generation — 3 methods

The Scene List doesn't just fill in blanks — it's generated after automatically allocating the number of scenes according to each beat's weight. Choose one of three paths depending on the nature of your work.

The rail that shows where you are

Choosing a generation model — you can use Claude too

A failed run doesn't take the scenes with it

Non-destructive scene-list versions

Undo scene deletion

Scene Editor — Settings

The left panel of the Scene Editor is organized into two tabs: Settings / Characters. Key items on the Settings tab:

The settings block is shorter now, so the generated script isn't pushed off the bottom of the screen. Scene cards no longer print their purpose twice.

The "Style (Dry · Natural · Poetic)" field is gone — picking it never reached the output, so it was removed. Prose style is set through the dialogue pattern and Style Preferences instead.

9 dialogue patterns

You can choose your scene's dialogue style from 9 patterns.

Per-Character acting direction — it belongs to the Character, and you switch it off per scene

You can specify acting direction (speech style, reaction speed, mannerisms, etc.) for each Character. You can add it from either the card in the Character stage or the Scene Editor — wherever you enter it, it belongs to the Character and shows up on the other side immediately, so a note that occurs to you mid-script can go in right there.

So characters aren't buried under events

You don't pick a script layout

Recording bit parts that show up while writing

Writing a script turns up people you never planned (“convenience-store clerk,” “Detective 2”). You can record those bit parts on the spot. They do not join the Character stage (the main-cast relationship graph); they are managed in the Character tab in the Library, so the relationship and faction graphs do not get buried under bit parts.

Inline editing & AI rewrite of a selection

You can edit the generated script directly. Drag-select a portion and an "AI Rewrite" button appears, letting you strengthen or replace just that part. Highlighted sections are passed to the Kick Assist chat on the right, so you can discuss edits with full context understood.

Plot Analysis (auto-triggered)

Go to the Plot Analysis tab to visually check the following for each beat.

• One-line design feedback + readiness badge (Pass / Needs work / Block)
• Emotion curve and conflict curve sparklines (intensity per scene)
• Hook density, thematic coherence, and average length statistics
• Areas to strengthen (weak scenes, duplicates, un-harvested setups) and next design actions

When you edit a scene, a "Re-analysis recommended" indicator appears. You can force a re-run with the "Re-analyze" button on the right.

This is the stage where you give your finished screenplay a title and export it in the format you want.

AI title suggestions

Press the “Get Title Suggestions” button and the AI comprehensively analyzes your synopsis, Characters, Plot, and script to generate title candidates in 4 directions.

• Theme-centered — implies the story's theme and message
• Character-centered — foregrounds the protagonist or a key character
• Image · symbol-centered — uses a core visual motif
• Genre-appeal-centered — a title that stirs the audience's curiosity

Each title is shown with a one-line rationale. Click a title you like and it's applied immediately as the project title; you can also enter your own.

Export

Choose the sections you want to export from among the synopsis, Plot structure, treatment, Character roster, and full scene script.

The treatment is generated automatically by AI based on the Plot. To back up or migrate the entire project, you can save it as a single file via Project Export (.mk.json).

To move the script into another tool, Copy all puts the whole thing on the clipboard at once.

Casting roster

Sharing by link

When something is generated, we read it back right then and point out what snags. The report isn't a separate screen — it arrives as writing in the chat on the right.

What gets read

What can be checked by comparison is checked by comparison

Reading-and-judging is kept apart from what a straight comparison already answers. The latter is stated as fact, without guesswork.

• a lead character who appears nowhere in the scene list
• gaps in the scene numbering
• a run of scenes with the same location and the same cast
• a beat with no scenes at all
• a location in the palette that no scene uses (and the reverse)
• someone listed in the cast who never appears in the script
• how long the whole thing runs at your current pace

Turning it off and on

Reviews talk without theory jargon and reach for films as examples at any stage. The old check cards and the manual "Review result" button are gone.

An AI chat assistant that stays open at all times on the right side of the screen. It answers with awareness of your project’s full context (Synopsis, Character, Plot, Scene List, and the script you’re currently editing).

Key uses

• Edit the project directly — request something like "Change the protagonist's name from Cheolsu to Minho" and the AI updates it across the whole project at once. A rename now carries through the relationship map, treatment prose, scene-card descriptions and acting directions
• Add a seed (add_seed tool) — request something like "Show a watch in scene 10 and harvest it at the end," and the setup and payoff are automatically registered in the Library's Seed Map (with plant/remind/harvest points specified)
• Add Story Ground material — paste an article or reference into the chat, and it's automatically classified and registered
• Discuss a selection — a section you highlighted in the Scene Editor is passed to the chat, so you can discuss it freely
• Works on the home screen too — usable on the home screen before you open a project, e.g. for guidance on setting up your API key

It fixes what it points at

Retracing what the AI changed

It reads the Boundary graph exactly as you see it

Chat reads the Boundary analysis as the graph on your screen. What it won't do is talk in numbers ("it rises to 62 at point 3") — it translates that geometry into what it means for the story.

• Cost — what was paid for this rise
• Reversal — where the direction turns
• Predictability — whether the audience already knows what comes next
• Rhythm — whether the same intensity holds for too long

If you edit the plot or a sequence after running Boundary analysis, an "outdated" marker tells you it's time to run it again. That marker appears no matter which screen you made the edit on.

It says so when it couldn't do it

A panel for systematically managing your story's supporting structures. Enter it via the Library button at the bottom of the left sidebar, where four tools are organized into tabs.

A view of every character in the work, in one place. The character stage (relationship map) only handles the main cast, so a full roster including bit parts needs its own screen.

Main and supporting

Shown exactly as in the character stage. Read-only here — edits happen in the character stage, because letting the same information be edited in two places blurs which one is the source of truth.

Bit parts

Characters you add in the scene editor collect here. Bit parts are shown as a scene-order map — the horizontal axis is the progression of scenes and each dot is a scene they appear in. Click a dot or a name to view and edit it below, attach a note, or remove it from the list.

Deleting a bit part also deletes the acting directions attached to them.

A tool for visually managing setups and payoffs — that is, "plant and harvest." Track at a glance which foreshadowing is planted where, where it's reminded, and where it's harvested.

Two-layer structure

• Macro seeds — large foreshadowing at the beat level (theme, relationship, identity)
• Micro seeds — detail foreshadowing at the scene level (props, lines, images)

Lane visualization — one shared ruler

Each seed is shown as a lane graph. The horizontal axis is plot progression order, and the dots represent each seed's phase.

Adding seeds — chat-based

Seeds are added from the Kick Assist chat on the right. Request something in natural language like "Show a watch in scene 10 and harvest it in the final scene," and the AI calls the add_seed tool to register it in the Seed Map. Scene numbers are automatically converted into beat numbers.

User customization — Phase toggle

You can toggle a seed's phase directly on its card.

• Macro seeds — pending → planted → reminded → harvested
• Micro seeds — suggested → planted / reminded / harvested / rejected (5 states)

If you don't want to accept a seed the AI proposed, you can mark it rejected to exclude it from future generation.

A catalog of narrative techniques that make the audience want to see the next scene, and the screen where you plan what carries each seam between beats. It activates once the scene list is generated.

Seam planning — what carries this gap?

Categories — six of them, 19 techniques

The list was rebuilt for features in 2026-08 (36 → 19). Short-form items (thumbnails, challenges) are gone, and what long stories need was added — letting the audience know what the character doesn't, raising what's at risk. What makes a scene well written (metaphor, rhythm) doesn't belong here; the scene-script side handles that.

Three-state management

• In use — techniques currently applied to your work
• Recommended — techniques the AI judges to suit your work's tone and structure
• Unused — unselected techniques that exist only in the catalog

Techniques marked "in use" are injected as context into the scene-generation prompt, so they're applied consistently across the whole work.

Automatically recommends films similar in structure, tone, and theme to your current work. It activates once your synopsis and plot are complete.

How matching works

Using the synopsis text + the hash (fingerprint) of your selected plot structure as a key, it matches the closest films from the internal reference DB. When the synopsis or plot changes, the cache is automatically invalidated and new recommendations are refreshed.

How to use it

• Structure validation — a benchmark for how acclaimed works using the same plot structure resolved their beats
• Genre tone reference — check whether the genre tone your work intends has settled in
• Reference awareness — if you're too close to one work, you can consciously create distance

The internal DB consists of over 500 real, fit-verified films.

A set of slots for gathering the external reference material that will ground your story. If the Library manages your story's internal structure, Story Ground stores material brought in from outside (articles, notes, worldbuilding settings).

It's organized into 4 slots.

• Worldbuilding (worldBuilding) — era, place, rules
• Characters (characters) — character details
• Plot · Synopsis (plotSynopsis) — storyline material
• Tone · Style (toneStyle) — voice and visual references

To add material, paste an article, setting, or note into the Kick Assist chat on the right and ask "Use this as reference material." The AI automatically determines the category and registers it in the corresponding slot.

Registered material is automatically referenced throughout synopsis, Plot, and scene generation, maintaining consistency of settings. There’s no need to paste it in every time yourself.

The Synopsis and Plot are automatically stored by version, and their version trees appear beneath the corresponding stages in the left sidebar. Each scene script has a separate version history inside its Scene Editor. Characters are not automatically versioned.

• Each version's source is distinguished by a colored dot — AI Edit Chat
• You can protect an important version by marking it with a star (★)
• You can restore and switch to a previous version at any time
• You can delete unnecessary versions (with a deletion warning provided)

As your work progresses, the AI automatically learns your creative style. It analyzes the differences between AI-generated text and your edited text to extract a profile across 10 axes.

• Dialogue style / Description style / Tone / Structure / Vocabulary
• Transition style / Rhythm pattern / Scene-length preference / Ending style / Contrast intensity

Open the "Style Preferences" modal from the user menu in the sidebar to review your learned profile, and apply it to future generation with the "Apply Preferences" toggle.

The copyright strength of AI-generated work varies according to the degree of the user's creative contribution. Movie Kick supports this in three ways.

• Terms of Service — clearly state content ownership and rights relationships
• Per-version source records — AI generation, user edits, and chat application are automatically distinguished and can be used as evidence of contribution
• Authorship Contribution Report — generated from measured data at the Final Draft stage

Merely opening a screen no longer counts as an edit — the ledger records only what you actually changed. What the AI changed is kept separately under "Change history" in the chat.

For the specific rights relationships, please refer to the Terms of Service.