Short-drama makers on Xiaohongshu post the sums: one credit is so much money, an episode takes so many credits, a season of sixty episodes costs this much, and redoing takes adds about a third more. Some spend thousands of yuan before anyone watches.

The problem

Credit counts hide the money. The price per generated second hides the takes you threw away. And nothing stops a busy week from spending next month's budget.

How Scenaloom handles it

  1. Costs show beside credits as an estimate in your currency, worked out from the price you pay for your plan or pack.
  2. Film stats show what each take cost, the cost per usable second, and a projection for the episode and the season. Before any paid job runs, its cost shows in credits and in money.
  3. In Settings, set a monthly cap in credits. At the cap, Scenaloom either asks you first (raise it, or continue once) or stops paid AI until next month. You get a warning at 80%.
Monthly AI spend cap in Settings: 2,000 credits a month, an estimate in money at the Pro plan price, with Ask me first selected
The monthly cap, shown in money, and what happens when you reach it.
A confirmation before a paid job: Start table read uses 90 credits, an estimate in money at your price, an estimate
Every paid job shows its cost in money before it runs.

The result

A number you can plan a season around, and a ceiling the month cannot pass without your say. Free credits are spent first and never count towards the cap; chats and writing cards never do either.

Amounts in money are estimates from your own plan or pack price, shown with ≈.

Questions

What can the cap be?

Any whole number of credits from 10 to 1,000,000 a month. The month runs in UTC.

Can a connected app go past my cap?

No. Connected apps can neither pass the cap nor change it.

Try it on a story. Start free with “Last Ferry”, the example on this page, or with your own work.

Start free with this example