WORKFLOW • Framework updated · Jul 2026
AI Video Workflow: A Budget Gate at Every Stage, From Brief to Delivery
AI video overspend tends to happen between the brief and the final export, where a vague prompt quietly turns into a stack of re-rolls nobody planned for. This guide maps the five stages of an AI video workflow — brief, generation, review, revision, and delivery — and attaches one budget gate question to each. Answer the gate before you commit credits, and an open-ended drain becomes a predictable per-clip cost.
The five stages and why each needs a gate
An AI video project moves through five stages: brief, generation, review, revision, and delivery. Cost leaks at the seams between them, usually because no one decided in advance how much a given shot is allowed to consume. A budget gate fixes that. At each stage you answer one plain question before committing credits, and the answer either releases the next step or sends you back. The brief gate asks whether the shot is specified enough to generate. The generation gate asks what a single attempt costs. The review gate asks whether the output passes. The revision gate asks whether to rework or re-roll. The delivery gate asks whether leftover credits survive the billing cycle. None of these require special tooling. They turn an open-ended credit drain into a per-clip number you can forecast and defend to whoever is paying for it.
Brief gate: is the shot specified enough to generate?
The cheapest credit is the one you never spend on a blind re-roll. Before generating, write the shot down: subject, action, camera movement, setting, mood, and target duration. Then write the pass condition — the specific thing the clip must show to be usable. A prompt that cannot fail a clear test cannot pass one either, and vague prompts are what produce stacks of near-misses. The budget gate at this stage is a number, not a feeling: decide the maximum attempts you will fund for this shot before you stop and rewrite the brief. Three attempts at a known per-attempt cost is a budget; unlimited attempts until it looks right is not. Treat the brief as a living document you refine between attempts rather than a one-time input, so each generation is a deliberate test of a hypothesis instead of a fresh gamble.
Generation gate: what does one attempt actually cost?
Price a single attempt before you run it, because billing models differ sharply. Runway's API charges by the second, with published per-second rates that vary by model: Gen-4 Turbo at 5 credits per second, so a five-second clip costs 25 credits, Gen-4.5 at 12, and Veo 3 at 40. Aleph 2.0 runs 28 credits per second but enforces a 56-credit minimum per generation, so even a very short attempt bills at that floor. Luma's Dream Machine rounds duration up to the next whole second, so a nine-second clip bills as ten, and generates images in batches of four at 16 credits per batch, meaning one image attempt is really four. Pika's per-generation cost varies by model and feature: on the Turbo model it runs from 10 credits with some features up to 60 with Pikatwists, and the Pro model costs more. The gate: multiply your priced attempt by planned attempts and confirm the total fits the shot's allowance.
Review gate: does this clip pass before you spend again?
Review is where discipline pays for itself. Hold each output against the pass condition you wrote in the brief and log a plain yes or no. A close-enough that quietly becomes the seed for five more attempts is how budgets blow. Two provider mechanics help here. First, queue modes: Luma's Dream Machine offers a Fast mode that prioritizes the fastest GPUs and, once Fast credits are exhausted, a Relaxed mode that allows unlimited generations at slower queue speeds — useful for low-stakes iteration without burning paid Fast credits. Second, confirm the failure policy: whether a provider charges credits for a failed or unsatisfactory generation is not always stated on its pricing page, so verify it on the official documentation before you assume retries are free. The gate: no requeue until the current output has been judged against written criteria.
Revision gate: rework the clip or re-roll from scratch?
A re-roll restarts the full generation cost; a targeted edit usually does not. When the base clip is close, prefer reworking it. Luma's Extend, for example, adds length to an existing video — you can leave the prompt blank to let the model continue the scene naturally, or add a prompt to steer it — instead of regenerating the whole shot. The general principle applies across tools: if only the ending, the length, or one element is wrong, look for an edit path before you pay for a brand-new generation. The budget gate is a cap: set the maximum number of revision cycles a single clip may consume, and when you hit it, either accept the best take or return to the brief gate and respecify. Endless polishing at generation prices is a common way a small project quietly turns into a large invoice.
Delivery gate: do leftover credits survive the cycle?
Timing your final renders against the billing cycle is a real lever, because rollover rules differ by provider and plan. On Runway's consumer plans, Standard and Pro monthly credits do not roll over — they reset within 24 hours of your billing date — while only the Max plan lets up to one month of unused credits carry forward. Luma's monthly credits also do not roll over, but separately purchased top-up credits, which start at four dollars for 1,200 credits, are valid for twelve months, do roll over, and are used only after your monthly allotment is spent. The gate: before the cycle closes, decide whether to batch remaining deliveries now or buy top-ups that persist, rather than letting paid credits expire unused. Plan choice compounds this — match the tier's monthly credits and rollover behavior to how bursty your production calendar actually is.
Editorial note: This framework is general information, not a vendor endorsement. Check the current pricing, terms, and data-handling details directly with the provider before buying.