Rendering and troubleshooting

When a job does something you don't expect, start here. This page covers what the job page shows, what to do when a job fails or runs slow, cancelling, re-rendering, and uploading to YouTube.

What the job page shows

Open any job from the dashboard or All projects. The job page lists seven stages and updates by itself while the job runs:

1. Planning. The outline: the structure and angle, built from your brief.
2. Writing. The script, scene by scene. A separate critic then checks each claim against the job's sources. Each flagged scene gets one rewrite, and the critic checks the rewritten script again. If a blocker or major finding remains, the job stops here and nothing renders. The credits come back.
3. Sourcing footage. Clips for each scene, checked with a vision model.
4. Voicing. Each scene is voiced.
5. Assembling. Scenes, voice, captions and music are put together.
6. Rendering. The final MP4 is made.
7. Ready. The video and its publish kit are waiting.

A job doesn't stop to ask you anything, so you can close the tab. We email you when the video is ready.

When a job fails

The job page shows a red card. It says what went wrong in plain words and has one button to retry. The button says where the retry starts, for example "Retry footage" or "Retry render", and the work before that point is kept. "Show technical detail" opens the raw error, which helps if you email us.

When a job fails, the whole charge comes back to your balance straight away, and the card says how many credits came back. A retry is a new attempt, so it charges the job again, the same amount. If you don't have enough credits, or your plan already has as many videos in progress as it allows, the retry doesn't start and the job stays failed.

If the same job fails twice, email hello@cuethescene.com with the job link.

When a stage runs slow

If a stage goes much longer than usual without progress, the job page says so and shows how many minutes it has been going. Most slow jobs recover on their own. The card offers "Email us about it", and "Cancel this job" if the job can be cancelled at that point.

How many videos can run at once

Your plan sets how many videos can be in progress at once: 1 on Starter, 2 on Creator, 3 on Pro, 5 on Scale. If you're already at the limit, a new brief doesn't start. The brief box tells you, and you can submit it again when one finishes.

Cancelling a job

You can cancel a job from its page in two cases. If a stage runs much longer than usual, the page offers "Cancel this job". If an older job is waiting on your review, its review panel offers "Cancel this video". Some stages can't be stopped part-way (writing the outline, writing or checking the script, and the render), so the button doesn't show during those.

A cancel refunds the whole charge to your credit balance straight away. Refund policy has the full rules.

If your subscription lapses mid-job

If your subscription lapses after a video is assembled but before it renders, the job waits and the job page says so. Renew and it finishes by itself. Or open the workspace and press Render once you're back.

Older jobs waiting on review

Jobs made before every video ran on Auto could pause for a review, for example when footage came back thin. If one of yours shows "Ready to review", open it. The job page says what it needs, and you can carry on or cancel from there.

Re-rendering a finished video

After you change a video in the editor (captions, the audio mix, a scene's footage or voice), press Re-render to make a new MP4. Re-render uses the video as it stands in the editor, and nothing earlier runs again. The first re-render of each video is free, after that it's 50 credits a time.

Uploading to YouTube

CueTheScene does not upload for you. Open the publish kit on the finished job, download the MP4, thumbnail and captions, and upload them in YouTube Studio. If YouTube rejects the upload, Studio shows the reason. If you are stuck, send the job ID to hello@cuethescene.com.

What's next

Editing your video covers changing a finished video in the editor.

Editor overview covers the editor's panel layout and the keyboard shortcuts.

How a video gets made covers what the pipeline does after you submit a brief.

Cheers,
Carl