Create AI shorts with HeyGen, Creatomate, Replicate, Gemini and OpenAI

Shorts Creation v10 (Telegram Filming) — n8n Template Description

How it works

This workflow is a fully automated YouTube Shorts production pipeline. It takes the structured output from a video digestion workflow (transcript, key moments, metadata) and produces finished, rendered vertical shorts complete with AI-generated avatar narration, AI-generated B-roll video clips, dynamic multi-layout compositions, social media copy, and a lead magnet document — all uploaded to Google Drive and tracked in Google Sheets.

It's designed to be called as a sub-workflow — triggered by a parent workflow that provides video analysis data (transcript, key moments, visual analysis, metadata).

The full pipeline:

Stage 1 — Extract & Prepare The workflow receives pre-analysed video data (transcript, sections, B-roll clips, metadata) from the parent workflow via the Execute Workflow Trigger. A Code node extracts and structures the key snippets, B-roll timestamps, and video context ready for AI processing.

Stage 2 — Short-Form Concept Ideation (Gemini AI Agent) A Gemini-powered AI agent analyses the transcript, key moments, and video overview to generate 3 unique short-form concepts per video. Each concept includes a hook, body structure, CTA, full avatar script, and a lead magnet deliverable prompt. The agent uses structured output parsing to guarantee clean JSON. Concepts are fed with real examples from top-performing creators for style reference.

Stage 3 — Loop Through Concepts The workflow loops through each concept and for each one runs the full production pipeline in parallel:

Stage 4 — HeyGen Avatar Generation Each concept's full script is sent to HeyGen's API to generate a vertical (1080×1920) AI avatar video. The workflow polls HeyGen's status endpoint until rendering is complete, then captures the avatar video URL.

Stage 5 — AI B-Roll Generation (Replicate — Seedance 1 Lite) While the avatar renders, the workflow generates AI video B-roll clips using ByteDance's Seedance 1 Lite model on Replicate. The AI Video Director determines what B-roll is needed, and prompts are sent to Replicate to generate 2-second vertical clips at 24fps and 720p. Multiple clips are generated and aggregated.

Stage 6 — AI Video Director (Gemini AI Agent) A Gemini-powered AI Video Director creates a beat-by-beat storyboard with dynamic layout transitions. It generates a RenderScript specifying layout types (avatar full-frame for hooks/CTAs, split-screen for demos, picture-in-picture overlays for focus moments), transition effects, and timing. The effects library provides scroll-stopping transitions like RGB glitch, accent flash, zoom shake, and whip pan.

Stage 7 — Creatomate Rendering The Creatomate Template Builder Code node converts the AI Director's storyboard into a Creatomate-compatible render payload — assembling avatar video, B-roll clips, transitions, text overlays, and effects into a single 1080×1920 composition. The render is sent to Creatomate's API, polled until complete, then downloaded.

Stage 8 — Upload & Social Copy The finished video is uploaded to Google Drive and shared. An OpenAI-powered Social Media Copywriter generates platform-optimised titles, descriptions, hashtags, and captions for YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, and TikTok. Everything is logged to a Google Sheets tracker.

Stage 9 — Lead Magnet Document Generation In parallel, a Gemini-powered Document Generator creates a downloadable lead magnet (actionable guide, template, checklist, etc.) based on the CTA promise from each concept. The document is converted to HTML and uploaded as a Google Doc, shared publicly, and linked in the tracker sheet — ready to use as a content magnet in video descriptions.

Setup guide

Required accounts & API keys

Replicate model

This workflow uses Seedance 1 Lite by ByteDance for AI-generated B-roll video clips:

• https://replicate.com/bytedance/seedance-1-lite

n8n credentials to configure

Google Workspace setup

1. Google Sheets — Create a spreadsheet called shorts_tracker with a sheet named Shorts Tracker. Columns should include: Created Date, YouTube Title, Short Title, Concept Type, YouTube Short Title, YouTube Description, Instagram Caption, TikTok Caption, Hashtags, Google Drive URL, Magnet URL.
2. Google Drive — Create a folder for rendered shorts. Update the Upload to Google Drive node with your folder ID.
3. Google Docs — Lead magnet documents are auto-created and shared via the Google Drive API.

Steps

1. Import the workflow into n8n
2. Configure all credential sets (HeyGen, Replicate, Creatomate, Gemini, OpenAI, Google OAuth2)
3. Set up your Google Sheets tracker and Drive folder
4. Update the HeyGen avatar IDs in the "HeyGen - Generate Full Avatar" node to match your HeyGen avatars
5. Connect this as a sub-workflow — it expects to be called by a parent workflow (like the Video Digestion Workflow) via the Execute Workflow Trigger
6. The parent workflow passes in: source video data, transcript, sections, key moments, visual analysis, and video overview

What this workflow produces (per video)

For each source video, the workflow generates 3 unique shorts, and for each short:

• ✅ Finished rendered vertical video (1080×1920 MP4) uploaded to Google Drive
• ✅ AI avatar narration with hook, body, and CTA
• ✅ AI-generated B-roll video clips
• ✅ Dynamic layouts with scroll-stopping transitions
• ✅ Platform-optimised copy (YouTube, Instagram, TikTok)
• ✅ Lead magnet Google Doc with shareable link
• ✅ Full tracking row in Google Sheets

Nodes used (44 total)

• Execute Workflow Trigger
• Code nodes (x4 — snippet extraction, effects library, Creatomate template builder, HTML converter)
• AI Agents (x4 — Gemini-powered concept ideator, video director, document generator + structured output parsers)
• OpenAI node (social media copywriter)
• Google Gemini Chat Models (x5)
• HeyGen API (x2 — generate + poll status)
• Replicate API (AI B-roll generation)
• Creatomate API (x2 — render + poll status)
• Google Drive (x2 — upload + share)
• Google Sheets (x2 — tracker logging)
• HTTP Request (Google Docs creation)
• Set/Edit Fields, Split In Batches, Split Out, Merge, Aggregate, Wait, If nodes

Example Reels: Example 1 Example 2

Built by @adamgoodyer — The Anti-Guru Technical Educator. Real workflows, real implementation, no fluff.