Young screenwriter Gu Er Yu went all out online to tear into his former idol Wong Kar-wai, causing a stir for over a month that even shocked the tech circle with entertainment gossip.
But while the tech world sighed 'Your circle is really murky,' it rolled out a solution:
An AI Agent called Elser.AI emerged, allowing newbie creators to break free from industry hierarchies, unleash their talents, and achieve 'creative equality.'
First off, Elser.AI has a super low learning curve and is incredibly fun—a true creation marvel.
Its interface is straightforward: feed it a full script, novel excerpt, or even a single wild idea, and it creates a video for you.
Taking the classic Peter Pan story as an example, input the novel, it quickly generates a script, lets you pick video style, analyzes characters, and auto-generates their looks.
Input story text to generate script and characters
Every step in between can be controlled and adjusted by the creator.
For instance, if the look doesn't match your vision, tweak it via prompts for hair color, face shape, height, outfits, etc. Or upload your preferred character image.
Adjust character appearance
Once characters are set, Elser.AI auto-generates a storyboard.
This is where directors shine: from composition, depth of field, camera angles, movements, to character actions, expressions, lines, voice—all adjustable via prompts and built-in options.
Storyboard adjustment
Even in final editing, you can revisit and tweak earlier details anytime.
To create higher-quality, more engaging works, you don't need 'How to Use AI' or 'Prompt Writing' tutorials—you need literature and art classes.
Many lamented before: While AI writes poetry and paints, I'm still tightening screws at my desk. Elser.AI finally evens the score for humans!
No wonder Elser.AI amassed 200K global active users without any promo—mostly pro short drama and anime teams, plus indie creators and small studios. Servers often crashed early on.
The one-person company era is here!
After getting beta access, we showed it to a friend doing key art at an animation studio. First reaction: 'Am I out of a job?!' Second: 'Tell the boss to subscribe—saves tons of overtime!' Third: 'Why work? Team up with friends and start our own studio!'
Even non-pros can play easily following the flow.
(Friends who've tried it can't stop tinkering...)
Those beloved unscreened plots from classics, anime, novels/movies, or fanfic parallel universes can now be realized via Elser and shared worldwide.
For example, the video below: an early user imagined Slam Dunk 30 years later using the previous Elser.AI version.
The Elser.AI founding team describes their mission:
AI's productivity revolution makes short drama creation universal, letting ordinary people bypass lengthy IP chains and turn stories straight into shorts.
This lifts short dramas from mass-produced sameness into creative, social, interactive content.
One person = one short drama factory; everyone builds their own IP.
They believe: In AI era, AI generates, but creation is human. AI infers, but aesthetics are human.
Humanity's value endures in this or any era.
To Elser, AI doesn't replace humans—it aids turning ideas into vivid visuals fast. More people can now share inner stories and change fates via creation...
Crucially, Elser.AI hands creators 'picky control' over key short drama steps. AI seeks efficiency, but quality demands discerning taste.
And taste requires humans.
'Our goal: Make creation as simple as possible so creators truly enjoy it—joy unleashes creativity.' Says founder/CEO Liu Geng.
Elser works showcase
Global short dramas and anime shorts are booming: US shorts grow 50% in 2025; Japan (1/9 US size) is #2 market, over 85% growth.
On June 27, Asia Short Drama Association Secretary-General Terada Koya noted:
Japan's short drama market surges. Forecasts: $480M by 2025, +85% YoY, ~15% global share— a key growth market.
Anime shorts rocket in 2025.
Q4 2024 Douyin anime shorts topped ~$2M recharge; daily ad spend now exceeds $1M.
Another 100x growth myth.
Projections: Overseas anime shorts explode in 2026; Elser.AI's platform is ready, empowering everyone.
The video below: short drama 'Died 10,000 Times, Now I Just Want to Date' made with Elser.AI.
Elser.AI's founders are refreshingly unique.
Unlike typical tech founder backgrounds, CEO Liu Geng is Peking U philosophy BA/MA/PhD. No wonder he nails AI's existential questions: 'Who is AI, where from, where to?'
His first job: Wuhan U philosophy faculty, teaching and aesthetics research.
Liu says: Aesthetics training hugely shaped Elser.AI.
First, immersed in literature, visual arts, music, film—honed appreciation.
More key: Systematic analysis/dissection of works/authors—opposite to creators' intuitive sparks.
This lets me efficiently teach AI good works: Decode secrets of user-loved content (style, narrative, mood).
Feed pro knowledge to Agent for better stories, styles, visuals... boosting creator output quality.
No wonder: CEO ingested massive optimized art data—AI's smart naturally.
Team says CEO was web novel/gamer kid, early fanfic writer. Scholar life easy?
Elser.AI team
But acing exams ≠ market savvy/company mgmt.
For his long-held 'AI content platform' dream, Liu quit Wuhan U in 2020 for ByteDance: Guagua Long language R&D head, then Douyin CSR training director—full product/market/creator pipeline.
Then, at anxiety-prone 35, he quit (forsaking million-options) to build Elser.AI.
ByteDance honed market sense/product skills. He says:
While chasing next TikTok, I think:
Step 1: Help creators low-cost/high-effort output higher 'aesthetic value' content;
Step 2: Build differentiated aesthetic communities with it, draw consumers, spin flywheel.
We focus anime shorts: Z-gen fave, nascent, endless expression potential.
Any genre (sci-fi to history), style (Da Vinci to Miyazaki) for new aesthetics.
In 2021 ByteDance short drama product, I saw its 'aesthetic' punch. Aesthetics informs content essence.
Vs CEO's lofty philosophy, CTO Zhang Guodong is grounded.
No gaming/web novels in school—from rural Linyi, Shandong to Beijing Sci-Tech U CS; parents farm.
Pre-uni: No PC, no code. Yet student prez, PKU grad, Ali offer—ditched for Elser.
These 9-year-apart bros built killer Elser, backed by Zhengxuan, Qiji, Houlang, Yunmu.
Right: CEO Liu Geng, Left: CTO Zhang Guodong
Next: Lower barriers, better video qual, use user data/algo to spot new story paradigms/trends, analyze, recommend to creators (e.g. ideas).
Trad film chains long/expensive; success beyond quality = luck.
Elser's wish: Tech frees passionate creators from constraints.
To refine Agent, team made 12 AI anime shorts in-house, script to final via self-tools.
Picky quality drives iteration.
Werewolf short below: Elser-made. PS: Lip-sync spot-on!
On 'Why hide such great Agent, no promo?': Spend wisely on R&D, perfect C-end workflow.
Go deep or not at all.
Now ripe: Overseas short drama Agent Waitlist open; Dec 1 launch w/ full Nano Banana Pro, beta for listers. Domestic post-model filing.
No invite-code hype. Current Waitlisters get first wave post-Dec 1. Full access after scaling concurrency/experience.
Click https://www.elser.ai/zh to start your create-(play) journey!