Glossary

The words ShowMaker uses, in plain terms. They are in alphabetical order.

The words

Word	What it means
Ad	One episode of a brand. You pick its Type of ad, say what it is about, and it goes through the same four steps as an episode. See Brands and ads.
Approve	Say a step is right, so the next one can start. Nothing that costs anything runs until you approve the step before it. Reopen takes an approval back.
Beat	A moment inside a clip, with its own timing, such as "Beat 1 · 0–3s". The Director gives each clip a few beats; you can change their words and timing. The Story step has beats too: the numbered lines B1, B2… of the story.
Brand	A show for ads. It holds what you sell (Products & services, each with its photos), who it is for and its look, and every ad is made from it. Brands have their own place in the menu. See Brands and ads.
Cast	The show's characters. Each has a name, an appearance, an optional voice, and a reference image.
Clip	One continuous piece of video that the video model makes in one go. An episode is a run of clips joined into a cut. On Regular a clip is 5 to 15 seconds; on Premium, 4 to 30.
Crew	The three helpers you will see named in the app: Penny, your Screenwriter, who writes the story; Slate, your Director, who plans the clips; and Zip, your assistant.
Cut	The finished episode: every clip joined in order, with the opening and closing if the show has them. You can trim clips, set transitions and add subtitles on the Video step before you export it.
Draft first	A Premium option, on by default where it is offered. Every clip is first shot as a cheaper 480p take. You watch the whole cut, then keep it as it is or upscale clips to 1080p (Upscale to 1080p on a clip, or Upscale all on the Video step), or change them first. You can upscale any time, and Upscale to 1080p makes the same take sharper. See Draft first.
Episode	One instalment of a show, up to 10 minutes long. It goes through four steps: Story, Cast & places, Clips and Video. A brand's episodes are called ads.
Export	Render the cut as an MP4 video file (with a subtitle file if you want one) that you can download or publish. The button is Export · free. An episode shot Draft first exports at 1080p; 480p clips are scaled up to fit.
Look (of a show)	The visual style every picture of the show is drawn in, such as 3D animated feature or Anime. It comes with two style frames.
Look (of a character)	How a character appears in one episode, in that episode's outfit. You see them on the Cast & places step.
Model sheet	A character's reference image: one picture with them from several sides. It is sent with every picture and clip they are in, so their face does not drift.
Narrator	An optional voice for a show, never on screen. News, documentary and educational shows start with one.
Needs your attention	The box that appears when something failed or is waiting for you, with what went wrong and what to do. See the Pipeline.
Pipeline	A view of everything that went into an episode (story, plan, pictures, clips, cut) and how each one depends on the others. Pieces made before and reused are cached; pieces waiting on a failed one are stuck.
Places and props	The settings (a meeting room, a car) and recurring things (a feedback card) an episode needs. One picture is drawn for each and reused, so they look the same in every clip. Keep in the show makes one available to future episodes.
Premium	The higher tier: Seedance 2.5, clips of 4 to 30 seconds with six beats each, the longest continuous action. Usually started as a draft (see Draft first).
Prose	The words of a clip: who is there, what happens beat by beat, what is said, the sound and the music. You can read it as Pills (names as tags) or As sent (the exact text the video model gets), and edit it.
Re-shoot	Make a clip's video again from the same words, for a new take. The button says its price, and the cut is made again with the new take.
Reference image	See Model sheet.
Regular	The standard tier: MiniMax H3 Max, clips of 5 to 15 seconds with four beats each. About a third of Premium's price per second.
Show	Everything episodes share: the kind of show, the genre, the backstory, the look, the shape (9:16, 16:9 or 1:1) and the cast.
Step	One of an episode's four stages: Story, Cast & places, Clips, Video. Each ends with an approval.
Still	The picture a clip starts from: its place, with nobody in it yet.
Style frames	Two pictures of the show's world, with nobody in them, that every picture and clip is drawn to match.
Take	The video a clip was shot as. Each re-shoot is a new take.
Tier	How an episode is shot: Regular or Premium. You choose it when you create the episode, and it is fixed after that.
Type of ad	How an ad is built: Story, Problem → solution, Product hero, Demo or List. You pick one when you start an ad, and it is fixed once the ad exists.