Episodic detective pilot — agent playbook
This is the hardest cast-lock test in the catalogue: three named characters, a flashback arc inside 12 scenes, and a held cliffhanger that earns "to be continued". The example is [MAYA · EP1 · The Lost Tea Master](/chapters/maya-ep1-lost-tea-master-example.html) — a young Chinese-Canadian PI tracks a missing tea master through rain-soaked Vancouver Chinatown.
Output
Reliability
4.0
Customize this playbook
Fill in the fields below. Your answers are inserted into the complete recipe when you copy it.
e.g. "MAYA" — the show name.
e.g. "EP1 · The Lost Tea Master" — used on poster + card.
1-sentence pitch. Drives the agent's beat planner.
1-2 sentence world description.
e.g. "Maya Chen"
e.g. "28-year-old Chinese-Canadian private investigator"
1 short sentence — re-pasted whenever protag appears.
1-2 sentences with EXPLICIT phenotype — the new 6th axis (2026-06-03).
secondary facial details (expression baseline, freckles, scars, etc.)
the costume for the WHOLE episode
default emotional state
always "SAME COSTUME across the whole episode"
e.g. "Mrs. Tan"
e.g. "70-year-old teahouse proprietress"
1 short sentence
1-2 sentences with EXPLICIT phenotype (same format as protag)
secondary distinguishing features
1-line outfit
default emotional state
array of shot indices, e.g. [4]
e.g. "The Green-Coat Woman" (often unnamed)
1-line role
1 short sentence
1-2 sentences with EXPLICIT phenotype (same format as protag)
often kept partially in shadow until a reveal scene
the costume that defines them (a colour, a prop)
array of shot indices, e.g. [5, 10, 11, 12]
e.g. "painterly noir", "neo-noir watercolour", "1940s charcoal"
4-5 colour names
where the light comes from + atmosphere
the canonical flashback position. Default: 5 (in a 12-scene arc).
how flashback differs from present. e.g. "warmer afternoon light, washed-out, dreamier"
always the last shot. e.g. 12.
array of character names present in the cliffhanger frame.
gemini-tts voice. Recommended: "Gacrux" (warm noir female).
4-5 paragraphs of over-the-shoulder noir narration.
e.g. "rain-soaked noir piano with quiet upright bass, slow contemplative, instrumental"
12 (canonical for a 120s pilot). 8 minimum, 18 max.
kebab-case for filenames. e.g. maya-ep1-lost-tea-master.
RUNNER
Create and edit images and video with your agent.
npm install -g @livepeer/runner