How Icebreaker Series WLW Is Made: From Idea to Finished Episode

Icebreaker Series WLW may use AI to create its visual world, but producing an episode involves far more than entering a few instructions and waiting for a finished video. Creator Gen writes the story and dialogue, directs the scenes, chooses the performances and completes the post-production herself.

In her exclusive interview with SoaplandTV, Gen explained how Ana Malik and Noémie Morin went from characters she was writing for fun to the centre of a series now being released while the first season is still in production.

It started with the story

Icebreaker was not originally intended to become a produced series. Gen spent several weeks developing the initial story and was writing it purely for herself before becoming curious about what Ana and Noémie might look like on screen.

She began developing their visual identities and experimenting with AI to find out whether she could bring the world she had imagined to life. Having never produced anything in this way before, the first episodes became an experiment in whether the characters and their chemistry could translate visually.

Gen made the first episode, then jumped ahead to create the first-kiss episode because she wanted to see whether the relationship she had written would work on screen. She then returned to Episode 2.

Once three episodes existed, Gen decided to publish them on social media. The response encouraged her to continue.

What does Gen create herself?

Gen writes the story, characters and dialogue and directs every scene. Her decisions cover the emotions she wants from the characters, their actions, camera angles, locations, clothing and other visual details.

AI is used to generate the images and video that allow those choices to become visible on screen. Gen told SoaplandTV that Kling is currently the main platform she uses for video generation.

She then takes that generated material into post-production herself. That includes deciding which takes are used, where each cut happens, how long the camera remains on a character and how the scenes flow together.

“I choose which takes make it into the episode, how long a look lasts, where a cut happens, when we stay on a character instead of cutting away, how the scenes flow together and ultimately how the episode feels.”

Getting one shot right can take many attempts

AI generation does not always produce exactly what Gen asks for first time. She can generate the same scene ten, twelve or fifteen times because an expression is wrong, a character is standing in the wrong position or the result does not communicate the emotion she intended.

That unpredictability can also produce unexpected mistakes. Gen joked that a scene can finally have the correct emotion and composition, only for one of the characters to suddenly appear without trousers.

Unlike directing a human performer, she cannot simply request a slightly different delivery and repeat the take. Achieving a very specific expression or movement can involve generating and adjusting the scene repeatedly until it is close enough to what she imagined.

Ana and Noémie continue developing during production

The first season is being created while viewers are following it, rather than having been completed in advance. Gen has the foundation of the story and knows where it is heading, but seeing Ana and Noémie visually has also affected the way she writes them.

She told SoaplandTV that characters on a page and characters on screen do not feel quite the same. Once Ana and Noémie became visual, their personalities became clearer to her and she was able to develop their relationship with greater depth.

That process means the characters are continuing to evolve while the series itself is being made.

How long does an Icebreaker episode take to make?

The workload has increased as the episodes have become longer. Gen initially released around three minutes of Icebreaker each week, while more recent episodes are closer to six minutes.

Producing them can currently mean working between 12 and 14 hours a day for six days of the week. Gen says the remaining day is often spent replying to comments and interacting with the audience following Ana and Noémie.

For her, AI has made it possible to produce a series she could not independently finance through traditional production, but she is clear that the technology has not removed the work involved.

“So AI is what makes Icebreaker physically possible for me to produce, but the story, characters and creative direction come from me.”

Where to follow Icebreaker

Follow Icebreaker Series WLW on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and YouTube for new episodes, clips and updates from the series.

Keep checking SoaplandTV for more Icebreaker interviews, episode coverage and features. Image credits: Used with permission of Icebreaker Series WLW.