Getting started

Your first episode, step by step

Showspring turns an idea into a finished episode - script, character voices, scene visuals, audio mix, render, and publish. This guide walks you through every step in order. Come back here whenever you need a quick reminder of the sequence.

What you produce

Each episode you finish in Showspring can ship as three things:

A full episode - a scripted multi-character video, rendered to MP4, uploaded to YouTube and saved to Google Drive.
Shorts - vertical clips extracted or produced separately, published across YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and X.
A podcast episode - an audio-only version of the script, with generated intro and outro music, distributed to Spotify and Apple Podcasts via RSS.

One session in the app can produce all three. Most operators run them together: finish the full episode, pull shorts from the most quotable moments, let the podcast pipeline run in the background.

The episode workflow

The app uses a ten-step progress bar across the top. Work left to right - each step unlocks the next when you approve. You can always go back.

Go to app.showspring.com. If your session is active, the app opens directly. If not, you'll be prompted to authenticate.

A few seconds.

Select or create a project

Your projects appear in the left sidebar. To start a new one, click + New project. A project holds your show bible, characters, locations, and all episodes for a single show. Pick the project you want to work in before continuing.

Immediate if your project already exists.

Generate an idea - Creative Director

Step 1 in the progress bar is labeled Idea. Choose a generation mode: Recommend Something (AI researches your channel and pitches four ideas), I Have an Idea (you describe a concept and AI creates four takes on it), Research & Debate (AI researches a live topic, characters debate it), or Recurring Segment (for formats like a news segment). Grok scores each pitch; you pick the one that fits. Click Approve Idea → when you're happy with the title and pitch.

Usually 20-60 seconds for pitches to generate.

Write the script - Script Writer

Step 2 is labeled Script. Set your target length with the slider (default 17 minutes), choose your script AI, then click Generate Script. The script arrives as a list of clips - each clip is one character's line, one camera cut. Read through it, edit any line by clicking it, then click Approve Script →.

Usually 1-2 minutes for a full episode script.

Check the readout - Script Readout

Step 3 is labeled Readout. Click Play Readout to hear the script performed with a distinct synthesized voice per character using browser text-to-speech - free and instant. Use this to catch pacing issues and awkward lines before you commit to a full voice render. When you're satisfied, click Approve Readout →.

Real-time playback - as long as the script is.

Assign locations - Locations

Step 4 is labeled Locations. The app extracts the locations referenced in your script and asks you to map them. Assign clips to existing locations from your project library or create new ones. This step drives the visual consistency of your scenes.

Usually a minute or two depending on the number of distinct locations.

Generate scene images - Scenes

Step 5 is labeled Scenes. For each clip, you can generate a keyframe image using one of the available image engines. The keyframe becomes the starting frame for video generation. You can also upload your own reference images. Work through clips in the strip at the top or generate all at once.

Generation time varies by engine.

Generate video clips - Video Generator

Step 6 is labeled Video. Each scene image becomes a short video clip using Gemini Veo. You can generate clips individually or queue the whole episode. Clips appear in the timeline as they finish.

A few minutes for a full episode, depending on clip count and model queue.

Trim - Trim

Step 7 is labeled Trim. Review your clips in the timeline editor. Adjust in and out points, remove clips that don't land, and set the running order. Changes here go directly into the final render.

As long as you want to spend on it.

Mix audio - Audio

Step 8 is labeled Audio. The audio editor shows your voice, SFX, music, and ambient tracks. Adjust levels, trim audio clips, and check the mix before rendering. ElevenLabs voices are generated here if you haven't already run them.

Voice generation usually takes a few minutes for a full episode. Mixing is your call.

Render - Render Engine

Step 9 is labeled Render. Click Render Episode. The app combines your video clips, audio mix, and any effects into a single MP4. You can choose 4K upscale mode (Lanczos is fast; Real-ESRGAN is slower and AI-enhanced) and audio normalization. When rendering is done the file appears in the player and is saved to Google Drive.

Several minutes for a full episode - longer for 4K upscale.

Publish - Publish to YouTube

Step 10 is labeled Publish. By default, full episodes upload to YouTube via the API. Shorts can be published to YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and X individually or via Publish All. YouTube Shorts default to manual upload mode - the app prepares the title, description, tags, and MP4 for you to upload by hand via YouTube Studio. You can switch to API upload mode in Settings if you prefer.

API upload is usually a minute or two. Manual mode takes as long as you need in YouTube Studio.

Tip You don't have to finish everything in one session. The app saves your progress at each approved step. Come back anytime and pick up where you left off.

How Showspring thinks

A few concepts that shape the whole app:

Concept	What it is
Project	One show. Holds the show bible, characters, locations, recurring segments, and all episodes. You can run multiple projects side by side - one per show.
Show bible	A document that defines the show's tone, format, recurring characters, running jokes, and rules. The app's script AI reads the bible before generating anything - it's what keeps characters sounding like themselves episode to episode.
Episode	One piece of long-form content. A single episode goes through all ten steps: idea, script, readout, locations, scenes, video, trim, audio, render, publish.
Clip	One unit inside an episode - typically a single character's dialogue line paired with a scene image and a video clip. Episodes are made of dozens to hundreds of clips.
Short	A separate vertical-format clip. Shorts have their own 7-step pipeline (Idea, Script, Images, Video, Audio, Render, Publish) and their own publish calendar.
Segment	A recurring show format - a news desk segment, a Q&A, a debate. Segments have templates that the script AI can follow, keeping the format consistent across episodes.

Note The show bible needs to be set up in your project before you can generate scripts. Characters, their voice profiles, and any location assets also live at the project level. The Projects & show bible guide covers this setup.

If something goes wrong

The app asks you to sign in again mid-session. Your session expired. Sign in again - your progress is saved at the last approved step.
Idea generation returns an error or spins indefinitely. Wait 30 seconds and try again. Occasional timeouts happen when the AI APIs are under load.
Script generation stalls. Refresh the page. The script may have finished in the background - check step 2 to see if clips are already there.
A video clip fails to generate. Try regenerating that individual clip. If the whole batch stalls, move on to other clips and come back.
Render starts but never finishes. Check that video and audio assets are present for all clips in your timeline. An empty clip slot can halt rendering.
Publish fails with a YouTube auth error. Go to Settings and reconnect your YouTube account. The in-app re-auth flow handles this without leaving the app.

What's next

Deeper guides for each part of the workflow:

Projects & show bible

Set up a new project, write your show bible, manage characters and locations.

Ideas & scripts

Generation modes, pitch selection, script editing, and recurring segments.

Voices & readout

Voice profiles, ElevenLabs voice generation, readout review, and the audio editor.

Visuals & video

Image engines, scene generation, Veo video generation, and the trim editor.

Render & publish

Render options, 4K upscale, Google Drive, and publishing to all platforms.