We Wrote a 100-Page Movie Script in 10 Days Using Saga and ChatGPT

In the traditional film industry, writing a feature film screenplay often takes months — sometimes years. For indie creators and startups like ours, that timeline can be a barrier. With our product, Saga, and the power of ChatGPT, we asked: what if we compressed that process into just 10 days? The goal wasn’t just speed — it was to demonstrate what’s possible when structured creativity meets AI-assisted execution.

This isn’t a “prompt once, publish never” story. It’s a disciplined, 10-day schedule that produced a ~100-page draft — writing part-time — plus a polished 17-page sample you can read today. The process is simple, repeatable, and keeps your voice intact.

The 10-Day Sprint Schedule

Here’s how we structured our sprint:

• Day 0: Lock in the concept, logline, and key characters.
• Day 1: Develop a 40-beat outline.
• Day 2: Expand each beat into a short paragraph and identify major story arcs.
• Day 3: Input the outline into Saga > ChatGPT generates scene-by-scene breakdown.
• Day 4: Write Act 1 (approx. first 30 pages) using AI + human edit.
• Day 5: Write the midpoint to transition into Act 2.
• Day 6: Write Act 2 (pages 30–75) with iterative AI prompts + human revisions.
• Day 7: Write Act 3 (pages 75–100) and craft the climax & resolution.
• Day 8: Re-read, adjust pacing, refine characters, fix “geography” issues (locations, transitions).
• Day 9: Polish dialogue, tighten scenes, remove filler, ensure tone consistency.
• Day 10: Final read-through, export a 17-page sample, and prepare for next phase (storyboard, animatic, festival submission).

What Worked

• The rigid schedule kept us focused — we knew exactly what to accomplish each day.
• AI unlocked speed: ChatGPT rapidly generated first drafts of scenes, while Saga provided structural scaffolding (character sheets, beats, outlines).
• Iterative human editing improved quality: because we reviewed each scene immediately after AI generation, we caught tone shifts and inconsistencies early.
• The result: A full 100-page draft — not perfect, but a viable feature screenplay — within 10 days

Six-Step Sprint Template (for You)

Here is a simplified version of the sprint you can apply:

1. Begin with a concise Premise Paragraph (1–2 sentences).
2. Create a 40-beat outline (covering Acts 1–3).
3. Use AI (via Saga + ChatGPT) to generate scene breakdowns from each beat.
4. Write scenes in chunks (30 pages, then 45 pages, then 25 pages) according to Acts.
5. After each chunk, pause and review/edit for tone, character, pacing.
6. Finish with a read-through/polish day: refine dialogue, transitions, location logic, then export.

What This Means for Indie Storytellers & AI-First Teams

• Speed + structure are a disruptive combination: By locking in beats early and using AI to generate scenes, you turn months of work into days.
• Human oversight remains essential: AI excels at outputting text, but humans must steer tone, character integrity, story purpose.
• The workflow we used with Saga and ChatGPT can scale: this isn’t a gimmick. It’s a replicable process, whether you’re a solo writer, a four-person team, or a remote indie studio.
• The democratization of filmmaking advances: when you can draft a full-length screenplay fast and cheaply, you free resources for production, storyboarding, animatics, and distribution.
• For AI/tech stakeholders: this is a concrete case-study in how generative models + domain-specific tooling (screenwriting structure) unlock new creative-production workflows.

What’s Next for Us

We’re now moving this draft into production prep. We’ll create storyboards from the script, use pre-viz tools inside Saga to generate animatics, and start building a workflow for a low-cost shoot. Meanwhile, we’re inviting early‐stage creators to use Saga (free tier available) to test this formulation themselves.

Read the sample : Shadow Protocol by Andrew M.A. Palmer, made during YouTube Video (12 minutes) tutorial of Saga. 17 pages of screenplay, with 10 written during the video livestream.
If you’d like the full 100-page script, reply to this post and we’ll email it to you.

Final Thoughts

Writing a 100-page feature film in 10 days was ambitious — and at times intense — but entirely possible. With the right framework, the right tools, and disciplined human oversight, the barrier between idea and full-length draft can shrink dramatically. For storytellers who have waited too long, this could be the moment to unlock your feature.
So pick your logline, fire up Saga, prompt your first beat — and let’s see what you create

Appendix

Time box: ~2–4 focused hours per weekday + one longer weekend block.

Deliverable: A first full draft (~100 pages), scene-numbered, export-ready.

Day 0 — Concept lock (1–2 hrs)
Premise paragraph, theme, ending direction. Create the project in Saga; pin a “north star” note to prevent drift.

Day 1 — Beats → Outline (2–3 hrs)
Map a 40-beat spine; use Generate sparingly to write stuck beats, then immediately edit back to your voice.

Days 2–5 — From beats to pages (2–4 hrs/day)

• Convert beats to scene headings.
• Write cold → Rewrite for cadence → Generate a chunk for the stubborn spots → edit back to your style.

Days 6–8 — Momentum & rhythm

• Keep continuity with Character Cards + Location Sheets (coming soon to Saga);
• Quick previz/storyboards to test blocking; resume pages before you over-polish visuals.

Days 9–10 — Stakes & polish

• Setup/payoff audit across A/B/C plots.
• Tight dialogue pass; scene numbers, title page; export (.FDX/Fountain).

How the process shows up on the page (with examples)

• Economy up front (pp. 1–3): The opening infiltration → ambush compresses motive and tone into two pages; no prologue bloat, just cause → consequence.
• Character via action (pp. 3–6): Rehab coaching (“Balance, not speed.”) reveals competence and empathy; we understand Mercer’s center before exposition.
• Tone motif (pp. 6–7): The kitchen hallucination intercuts mundane ritual with battlefield ghosts — an image system we can echo in later reversals.
• Clear antagonism (p. 14): The Phantom’s demo is an actionable thesis for the villain; we see how power will be applied, not just hear about it.
• Team rules (pp. 16–17): After the blown op, Mercer’s “liability” speech sets behavioral boundaries — fuel for future conflict that feels earned.

What didn’t work (and the fix)

• Over-prompting mid-scene tone shifts.
  Fix: Lock a simple scene brief (objective, conflict, turn). Finish first, then stylize.
• Dialogue inflation in Act II.
  Fix: Rewrite with constraints (“tighter, fewer syllables”), then read aloud.
• Wobbly geography in action.
  Fix: 10-minute previz pass; return to pages with concrete verbs and camera logic.

Want the beat sheet & session checklist we used? Comment or reply — if enough people ask, we’ll post them as a free download.

Links

• Screenplay sample (PDF): Shadow Protocol — Sample Pages (cover + 17 pages). Shadow Protocol — YT.pdf
• YouTube tutorial (Pt 1): Shadow Protocol — Writing a feature film screenplay in Saga. YouTube
• Background (product/ethics/stack): Intention Is All You Need to Create Your Own Hollywood Blockbuster Movies — IEEE Computer Magazine (April 2025)

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