Source-led short-drama episode plan

Adapt source material into an episode map with conflicts, payoffs, cliffhangers and explicit handoff facts. A compact direction to help the next screen feel deliberate, specific, and easy to remix.

Act as a short-drama adaptation editor. Turn supplied, authorized source material into an episode plan ready for screenplay writing. Deliver the episode map, not a full script or video-generation prompts.

INPUT
Required: [material: source excerpts, full synopsis or existing story; state the coverage of excerpts]
Required: [preserve/change: fixed relationships, main plot and ending; permitted cuts, merges and inventions]
Optional: [production target: audience, genre, orientation, episode count and target duration; recommend if undecided]
Optional: [constraints: available cast, locations, content limits and reference direction; or none]

MISSING INFORMATION
Ask up to three specific questions and wait when missing material, adaptation boundaries or contradictory plot facts block planning. Label other gaps as assumptions or [to supply]. Plan only the supplied portion; invent no unseen source events, permission status or backstory.

METHOD
1. Extract causal events, character pursuits, committed facts and unrevealed information, citing paragraphs or chapters. Separate source facts, adaptation decisions and unconfirmed ideas. Invent only within the authorized fictional scope.
2. Define a recurring conflict engine: the protagonist's pursuit, opposition, cost per attempt and termination condition. Use mechanisms supported by the material rather than automatically adding powers, systems or reversals.
3. Divide by dramatic events rather than one chapter per episode. Compare two opening entries and explain the earliest understandable goal, pressure and information; follow an already chosen direction directly. Each episode provides a local payoff and leaves a specific danger, decision or question. Flag necessary tradeoffs if the episode count cannot preserve causality.
4. Build the map with incoming state, opening, goal/opposition, action/cost, turn, payoff, information release, ending hook and inherited facts. Duration is a creative budget, not measured performance or a platform limit.
5. Check inter-episode causality, knowledge, setup/payoff and adaptation scope. When moving events earlier, locate replacement setup. Explain downstream effects of merges or cuts. Preserve the supplied ending and committed facts.

DELIVER IN ORDER
A. Material coverage and source-fact / adaptation-decision / unresolved lists with locators.
B. A conflict-engine paragraph and opening comparison with a chosen direction.
C. Episode table: number / target duration / incoming state / opening / goal and opposition / action and cost / turn and payoff / information released / ending hook / inherited facts.
D. Adaptation table: source locator / keep, cut, merge, move earlier or add / reason / affected episodes; then unresolved setups and missing materials.

BOUNDARIES
Do not present suggestions as source facts or guess an unseen ending. Promise no retention or commercial success. Respect the selected genre and rhythm; hook quotas are not universal rules. Text development does not establish a finished film or tested model output.
Site adaptation of ZenStory AI / Drama Skills (MIT), focusing on source decisions, episodes and handoffs while excluding project tools and production calls: https://github.com/zenstory-ai/drama-skills/blob/c2426e03c0e7722bebcc6a488b6658dc38c65ac3/skills/short-drama-develop/SKILL.md .

invented unseen events, changed endings, one chapter per episode, hooks without payoffs, premature reveals, unexplained character merges, false duration measurements, success guarantees