From your book to a hand-drawn film

Upload, free

Upload a book as Word, PDF, EPUB or plain text, from 1,500 to 110,000 words; for a longer book, write to us for a quote. Or upload a screenplay as Final Draft, Fountain, PDF, Word or text. You see how long your film will run and its price straight away. Nothing is charged to upload.

Pay once to start

One payment covers the screenplay, the starting looks and voices, every part’s cast, every part and the finished film. Every word of your book is kept, so the price is set by its length: from $799 for a film of about 90 minutes to $4,499 for a book of 110,000 words (every size). There is no subscription. Part-editor edits are included, within the allowances described below. You also choose a style when you start, Light-hearted or Serious, described below.

Screenplay, in your own words

The screenplay is written from your whole book, chapter by chapter.

• The narration is your sentences, word for word. Every sentence is kept, and none is reworded.
• Quoted dialogue is used exactly as you wrote it.
• Only the action lines, which describe what we see, are new.
• You read it, ask for changes and approve it.

Already have a screenplay? Bring it. It is laid out and never reworded.

Starting looks and voices (automatic)

Once you approve the screenplay, every recurring person, place and object is drawn once, and each character is given a voice. You do not have to approve these for the whole book. They are the starting point for each part’s cast.

You can redraw the starting looks (up to 40 redraws are included).

Each part, in three steps

The film is made in parts, usually one per chapter, from a few minutes to about 15 minutes each, one at a time. Each part goes through the same three steps.

1. The part’s cast. You see everyone in this part at the age they are in it and dressed for it, with their voices, and the places it happens in. Anything unchanged from an earlier part is reused and marked “Same as Part 2” (or whichever part it came from). Change any drawing in plain words, such as glasses or a different jacket, or listen and pick another voice, then approve the cast. A change applies to this part and the parts after it, never to an earlier part.
2. The build. The part is made from that cast. It usually takes about an hour.
3. Edit and approve. You watch it, change it in the part editor if you want to, and approve it. Approving a part unlocks the next one.

Each character has a distinct voice, and children get children’s voices. Voices are chosen by age (child, teen or young adult, adult, old) and stay the same for the same person at the same age. You can also record your own voice for one role. It is your own voice only.

You can stop after any part and keep everything made so far. A photo can guide a drawing, but a cartoon will never be an exact likeness.

The part editor (step 3 of each part)

On a timeline, you can:

• Move, delete, copy and paste pictures, and set a close-up.
• Ask for a change to any picture in plain words, or make a new picture from an existing one.
• Click any spoken line to change its words or how it is read, and re-record it on the spot, or add a line.
• Move the music.
• Save, and rebuild the part.

Allowances are included in the price: one remake of each part with your notes, new pictures in the part editor up to about six per minute of film made so far, and up to 40 redraws of the starting looks. Moving, copying, cropping and re-recording lines are not limited.

The whole film

Approved parts join into one film with title cards, to download as an HD (1080p) MP4 and share.