A $1 million AI film prize. The real brief is in the rules.

The headline is $1 million. The deliverable is a film.

The published brief is one original 5–7-minute story, 16:9, at least 1080p, MOV or MP4, with English subtitles. Entrants must be adults. BytePlus is the technology partner; TikTok supports the initiative. One grand prize is advertised. The shortlist calendar runs through December, with the final showcase in Dubai on 8–10 January 2027.

Treat that duration as dramatic space. A six-minute reel can survive on constant novelty; a six-minute story needs a reason for the audience to remember what happened a minute ago. A door, an object or an unfinished gesture can carry that memory across the edit. Design the connection before designing another location.

Sources: 1 Billion Followers Summit [1] · Emirates News Agency [3]

Choose a pressure a character can feel

The current five theme areas cover society, misinformation, humans and AI, the environment, and human relationships. Start with a specific decision inside one of them. “A parent must decide whether to erase the only message left by a child” gives a scene something to do. “The future of humanity” still needs a scene.

Our suggested starting document is a single page: who wants what, what prevents it, which choice changes the situation, and what the final image means after that choice. Write the ending before generating the opening. Otherwise the available pictures can quietly become the screenplay.

Keep a scene only when it changes knowledge, power or intention. A beautiful passage may establish a place; a second beautiful passage needs a new job. This is also how a modest production becomes manageable: fewer scenes can receive more attention without making the film feel smaller.

Sources: 1 Billion Followers Summit [1]

A percentage is not a production plan

The website specifies at least 70% Seedance generation; clause 5.4 also refers to audio. The page’s total-runtime wording differs from clause 5.3’s credit exclusion. Ask the organizer how these are measured before locking a borderline cut.

Meanwhile, build a shot ledger. Give every planned shot an identifier, a dramatic purpose, a source, a model version and an approved duration. When a shot changes, update the ledger as well as the timeline. The point is to know what the finished film contains without reconstructing the production from browser tabs.

Test the shot that could stop the film first. A hand passing an object, two people sharing a glance, a character returning to the same doorway: these are useful production questions because the edit depends on their relationship. Set a limit on attempts and write an alternative staging before the budget is committed.

Sources: 1 Billion Followers Summit [1] · 1 Billion Followers Summit [2]

Make the rough cut before making the perfect image

Our proposed workflow begins with a timed animatic made from deliberately simple boards. Use temporary sound, read dialogue aloud and watch without explaining anything. If the audience cannot follow the decision, more texture on the walls will not solve it. Correct the structure while replacement is cheap.

Then generate in sequences rather than collecting isolated favourites. Approve the entrance, the action and the reaction together. Watch hands, eyelines, light direction and the placement of the object the scene depends on. Keep a visually plainer take when it makes the next cut intelligible.

Sound deserves its own pass. Try the scene with only voices and room tone, then add what the action needs. An effect should establish contact, distance or consequence. Music can support a turn in the story; it should not be the only evidence that the turn happened.

The rights conversation comes before the render

Ownership stays where legally valid, but entry grants a worldwide, perpetual, royalty-free, sublicensable, non-exclusive licence for award-related uses; standalone commercial resale needs agreement. Release holdbacks apply. Clear music, voices, likenesses and tool permissions. G-rated content, eligibility exclusions and process-proof obligations also apply. Read clauses 4–9 in full.

For production planning, we would keep a separate folder for each contributor and licensed asset. Record what was agreed before a voice becomes inseparable from the character. A generic label such as “AI-generated” is a poor substitute for knowing how that voice or image was obtained.

Put ownership, access and future use on the agenda at the first team meeting. A producer, composer and director may imagine different lives for the same short. Resolve that difference while everyone is discussing a proposal, rather than when a finished film is waiting to be submitted.

Sources: 1 Billion Followers Summit [2]

Leave time for the version you actually submit

Working backwards from the deadline, reserve a final review window before starting production. Our suggestion is to stop adding scenes several days before submission and use that time for a fresh screening, subtitle review and the complete export. Watch the exported file on another device; the timeline is not the delivered film.

Ask an outside viewer three questions: what did the character want, when did that change, and which moment stayed with you? Their answers can reveal a missed connection more clearly than a discussion of whether the images look expensive. Let the final revision serve that connection.

Set a spending ceiling that still makes sense without a prize. The useful outcome is a finished film you can stand behind: a clear choice, a coherent world and an ending that gives the opening a second meaning. The money explains why this call travels. The film has to explain why someone should stay.