diff --git a/backend/app/services/ai_analysis.py b/backend/app/services/ai_analysis.py
index c81f4c3..3ee07b2 100644
--- a/backend/app/services/ai_analysis.py
+++ b/backend/app/services/ai_analysis.py
@@ -259,6 +259,59 @@ async def _call_openai(system: str, user_prompt: str) -> str:
     return content
 
 
+def _try_parse_json(text: str) -> dict | None:
+    """Try multiple strategies to parse JSON from LLM output."""
+    # Attempt 1: direct parse
+    try:
+        return json.loads(text)
+    except json.JSONDecodeError:
+        pass
+
+    # Attempt 2: fix trailing commas
+    fixed = re.sub(r",\s*}", "}", text)
+    fixed = re.sub(r",\s*]", "]", fixed)
+    try:
+        return json.loads(fixed)
+    except json.JSONDecodeError:
+        pass
+
+    # Attempt 3: fix unescaped control characters in string values
+    # Replace literal newlines/tabs inside JSON strings
+    fixed2 = re.sub(r'(?<=": ")(.*?)(?="[,\s}])', lambda m: m.group().replace('\n', '\\n').replace('\t', '\\t'), fixed, flags=re.DOTALL)
+    try:
+        return json.loads(fixed2)
+    except json.JSONDecodeError:
+        pass
+
+    # Attempt 4: extract individual clip objects with a more lenient approach
+    try:
+        clips = []
+        clip_pattern = re.compile(
+            r'"title"\s*:\s*"([^"]*)".*?'
+            r'"start_time"\s*:\s*([0-9.]+).*?'
+            r'"end_time"\s*:\s*([0-9.]+).*?'
+            r'"virality_score"\s*:\s*([0-9.]+).*?'
+            r'"category"\s*:\s*"([^"]*)"',
+            re.DOTALL
+        )
+        for m in clip_pattern.finditer(text):
+            clips.append({
+                "title": m.group(1),
+                "start_time": float(m.group(2)),
+                "end_time": float(m.group(3)),
+                "virality_score": float(m.group(4)),
+                "category": m.group(5),
+                "reasoning": "",
+            })
+        if clips:
+            logger.info(f"Regex fallback extracted {len(clips)} clips")
+            return {"clips": clips}
+    except Exception:
+        pass
+
+    return None
+
+
 def _parse_clips(content: str, video_duration: float) -> list[dict]:
     """Parse LLM response into clip list, handling imperfect JSON."""
     # Strip markdown code fences (e.g. ```json ... ```)
@@ -271,21 +324,12 @@ def _parse_clips(content: str, video_duration: float) -> list[dict]:
         return []
 
     raw_json = json_match.group()
-    logger.debug(f"Extracted JSON ({len(raw_json)} chars): {raw_json[:500]}")
+    logger.info(f"Extracted JSON ({len(raw_json)} chars)")
 
-    try:
-        data = json.loads(raw_json)
-    except json.JSONDecodeError as e:
-        logger.warning(f"JSON parse attempt 1 failed: {e}")
-        # Try to fix common JSON issues
-        fixed = raw_json
-        fixed = re.sub(r",\s*}", "}", fixed)
-        fixed = re.sub(r",\s*]", "]", fixed)
-        try:
-            data = json.loads(fixed)
-        except json.JSONDecodeError as e2:
-            logger.error(f"Failed to parse LLM JSON ({e2}): {content[:500]}")
-            return []
+    data = _try_parse_json(raw_json)
+    if data is None:
+        logger.error(f"Failed to parse LLM JSON. Raw content: {content[:1000]}")
+        return []
 
     raw_clips = data.get("clips", [])
     clips = []