Series lead avatar from a photo: $0.95 once, then reuse the handle

What does a recurring AI series lead cost? A one-time $0.95 to create the avatar, then the per-second talking-video rate each time it speaks. Ten 45-second episodes at the plus tier come to $110.25 in video plus $0.95 for the avatar: $111.20.

Serialized vertical drama keeps the same face on screen for dozens of episodes. YouTube's new Shorts series feature even assigns episode numbers by publish date, so the lead is the thing that makes a playlist feel like a show.

Three ways to create it

POST /v1/avatar-1.0/generate takes a top-level avatar_handle and an input union. The prompt type describes the avatar in text. The profile type (props in the API) takes structured traits such as ethnicity, sex and age. The image type (photo in the API) takes a fetchable public HTTPS image_url.

Before submitting, Sume rejects localhost, private-network URLs, non-HTTPS URLs and non-image responses, so test the photo URL from outside your network. Only use a photo of someone who has agreed to be the lead.

curl -X POST https://api.sume.com/v1/avatar-1.0/generate \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SUME_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: lead-s1-v1" \
  -d '{"avatar_handle":"series_lead","input":{"type":"photo","image_url":"https://example.com/lead.png"}}'

Handle hygiene

The handle can start with @; Sume normalizes it and stores it without the @. Poll the job, then use the returned handle on talking-video. List your avatars with GET /v1/avatar-1.0/avatars to see what the workspace already owns before you create a duplicate.

Season arithmetic

Per-second rates apply to every episode that uses the lead (no-product rates read from the catalog).

Keep the cast stable

Pin the handle in your episode config rather than regenerating the lead per episode. Each regenerate is a new $0.95 avatar that will not look identical, which is the opposite of what a series needs.

Why a handle is the unit

The handle is what ties a season together. Create the avatar once at $0.95, then pass its handle to every talking-video call. A new episode costs the per-second rate only, so a stable cast is cheaper than a new face each week and it is more recognisable to viewers.

• One avatar creation is $0.95, flat.
• Handles are stored without the leading at sign.
• Never regenerate the lead mid-season.

Season math in one line

A ten-episode season of 30-second plus episodes costs 10 x $7.35, which is $73.50, plus $0.95 for the avatar. The table above shows other lengths. Because the avatar is created once, the fixed cost shrinks per episode as the season grows, so the per-second rate dominates the budget.