Part of the cinematic pipeline: entry point creative-studio
production-tracking
The control layer for a pile of generated shots: what exists, what state it is in, what it cost, who owns it, and what is late. Owner: producer agent. Readers: creative-director, prompt-engineer, editor, continuity-supervisor, the Manager.
It extends, and does not repeat: film-studio shot-production-at-scale.md (manifest, take ledger, folder tree, locks, retakes), bibles-and-continuity.md (shot IDs, ledgers), film-legal-distribution (rights and release gates), higgsfield-master credits-and-budget.md (credit prices). Credits are quoted and spent only with the user's yes; this skill records and reports, it never generates.
Concepts follow the big production trackers (ShotGrid or Flow Production Tracking, ftrack, Kitsu) in a small, file-based form: projects hold sequences, scenes and shots; shots have tasks, versions (takes), statuses, owners and review notes (3P, vendor docs and comparison articles). A CSV is enough for a short film; move to Kitsu (open source, self-hostable, 3P) when many people need live review.
1. Router
| Need |
Open |
| Shot tracker columns, status rules, take ledger link |
references/schema-and-statuses.md |
| Asset library folders, naming, versions, 3-2-1 backup |
references/asset-library-and-backup.md |
| Credit budget per scene, burn chart, daily and weekly reports |
references/budget-and-reports.md |
| Run the report |
references/tracker.py (with shot-tracker-template.csv, scene-budget-template.csv) |
| Load this file plus at most two references per step. |
|
2. Setup (day 0, no credits)
- Folder tree: film-studio shot-production-at-scale.md section 6, plus
tracking/ at the project root.
- Copy
references/shot-tracker-template.csv to tracking/shots.csv and scene-budget-template.csv to tracking/scene_budgets.csv.
- Fill one row per planned shot from the shot list (shot IDs are permanent: S03-SC07-SH012). Fill
credits_est from the approved quote; due_date from the schedule.
- Set scene budgets from the quote (SKILL film-studio section 4 planning rates, an estimate) plus 15 percent contingency held at project level, not per scene.
- Mark the first sequence as the calibration run; re-quote the rest from its actual burn.
- Create
tracking/reports/ for dated daily and weekly reports.
3. Status ladder (one direction; a step back needs a note)
planned > prompted > drafted > approved > final.
- planned: shot exists in the list; refs and boards ready or pending.
- prompted: prompt written, 512 check done, quoted; not yet generated or waiting for the yes.
- drafted: at least one take generated at proof tier.
- approved: a take passed the scorecard (85 drafts) and continuity QA; creative-director initial in
approval.
- final: final-quality render passed 90 and is in the edit lock; archived with prompt, seed and refs.
Gates: no
prompted to drafted without the user's yes on spend; no approved to final without the final quote and yes. Failed QA moves back to drafted with a defect tag.
4. Daily routine (producer, 10 minutes)
- Collect results from the take ledger and
log.md; update takes, credits_actual, status, seed, model.
- Run
python -I references/tracker.py tracking/shots.csv --budgets tracking/scene_budgets.csv and read the three blocks: status counts, credits versus budget, overdue.
- Write the daily report (budget-and-reports.md section 2) in
tracking/reports/YYYY-MM-DD-daily.md.
- Flag anything over 100 percent of a scene budget or 85 percent of the project cap to the Manager the same day.
- Back up the day's approved assets (asset-library-and-backup.md section 4).
5. Weekly routine (producer, 30 minutes)
Weekly report (budget-and-reports.md section 3): progress by sequence, burn versus plan, waste rate (target under 25 percent of credits on rejected outputs, an estimate), top defect tags, re-forecast to complete, schedule risks, legal and rights status (film-legal-distribution gates), decisions needed from the user.
6. Rules
- Source of truth: the tracker CSV plus take ledger; chat is not a record.
- Never delete takes before delivery and archive; keep approved plus the last two rejects per shot (film-studio rule).
- Credits are estimates until the live Generate button or invoice confirms them; mark estimates as such.
- No client names or brands in sample data or in another project's tracker.
- Confidential files stay in the project folder; do not upload tracking data containing scripts or personal data to outside tools without the user's approval.
- Spend, publish, delete: the user's yes via the Manager.
7. Check before reporting
Run the script on the real CSV, confirm total shots equals the shot list, no unknown statuses, no unreadable dates, budgets present for every scene. A report that cannot reconcile to the shot list is not sent.
8. Report to the Manager (10 lines max)
Shots by status, credits spent versus budget (total and worst scene), overdue shots, waste rate, forecast to complete, backup status, risks, decisions needed.
1---2name: production-tracking3description: "Production tracking for AI films, series, shorts and ad campaigns: a shot tracker schema (shot ID, scene, status planned/prompted/drafted/approved/final, takes, credits estimate vs actual, model, seed, owner, approval), asset library structure, versioning and 3-2-1 backup rules, a credit budget per scene with a burn chart, and daily and weekly production reports. Includes a ready CSV template and a standard-library Python script (references/tracker.py) that prints status counts, credits spent vs budget and overdue shots. Load at project start, during every shooting-equivalent day, and for any budget, schedule, status or backup question. Never spends credits itself."4license: MIT5user-invocable: true6metadata:7 source: https://skillmd.com/skills/rghrmkr1993/production-tracking8 version: "1.0.0"9 researched: "2026-10-14"10---1112Part of the cinematic pipeline: entry point creative-studio1314# production-tracking1516The control layer for a pile of generated shots: what exists, what state it is in, what it cost, who owns it, and what is late. Owner: producer agent. Readers: creative-director, prompt-engineer, editor, continuity-supervisor, the Manager.1718It extends, and does not repeat: film-studio `shot-production-at-scale.md` (manifest, take ledger, folder tree, locks, retakes), `bibles-and-continuity.md` (shot IDs, ledgers), `film-legal-distribution` (rights and release gates), `higgsfield-master` `credits-and-budget.md` (credit prices). Credits are quoted and spent only with the user's yes; this skill records and reports, it never generates.1920Concepts follow the big production trackers (ShotGrid or Flow Production Tracking, ftrack, Kitsu) in a small, file-based form: projects hold sequences, scenes and shots; shots have tasks, versions (takes), statuses, owners and review notes (3P, vendor docs and comparison articles). A CSV is enough for a short film; move to Kitsu (open source, self-hostable, 3P) when many people need live review.2122## 1. Router23| Need | Open |24|---|---|25| Shot tracker columns, status rules, take ledger link | references/schema-and-statuses.md |26| Asset library folders, naming, versions, 3-2-1 backup | references/asset-library-and-backup.md |27| Credit budget per scene, burn chart, daily and weekly reports | references/budget-and-reports.md |28| Run the report | references/tracker.py (with shot-tracker-template.csv, scene-budget-template.csv) |29Load this file plus at most two references per step.3031## 2. Setup (day 0, no credits)321. Folder tree: film-studio shot-production-at-scale.md section 6, plus `tracking/` at the project root.332. Copy `references/shot-tracker-template.csv` to `tracking/shots.csv` and `scene-budget-template.csv` to `tracking/scene_budgets.csv`.343. Fill one row per planned shot from the shot list (shot IDs are permanent: S03-SC07-SH012). Fill `credits_est` from the approved quote; `due_date` from the schedule.354. Set scene budgets from the quote (SKILL film-studio section 4 planning rates, an estimate) plus 15 percent contingency held at project level, not per scene.365. Mark the first sequence as the calibration run; re-quote the rest from its actual burn.376. Create `tracking/reports/` for dated daily and weekly reports.3839## 3. Status ladder (one direction; a step back needs a note)40planned > prompted > drafted > approved > final.41- planned: shot exists in the list; refs and boards ready or pending.42- prompted: prompt written, 512 check done, quoted; not yet generated or waiting for the yes.43- drafted: at least one take generated at proof tier.44- approved: a take passed the scorecard (85 drafts) and continuity QA; creative-director initial in `approval`.45- final: final-quality render passed 90 and is in the edit lock; archived with prompt, seed and refs.46Gates: no `prompted` to `drafted` without the user's yes on spend; no `approved` to `final` without the final quote and yes. Failed QA moves back to `drafted` with a defect tag.4748## 4. Daily routine (producer, 10 minutes)491. Collect results from the take ledger and `log.md`; update `takes`, `credits_actual`, `status`, `seed`, `model`.502. Run `python -I references/tracker.py tracking/shots.csv --budgets tracking/scene_budgets.csv` and read the three blocks: status counts, credits versus budget, overdue.513. Write the daily report (budget-and-reports.md section 2) in `tracking/reports/YYYY-MM-DD-daily.md`.524. Flag anything over 100 percent of a scene budget or 85 percent of the project cap to the Manager the same day.535. Back up the day's approved assets (asset-library-and-backup.md section 4).5455## 5. Weekly routine (producer, 30 minutes)56Weekly report (budget-and-reports.md section 3): progress by sequence, burn versus plan, waste rate (target under 25 percent of credits on rejected outputs, an estimate), top defect tags, re-forecast to complete, schedule risks, legal and rights status (film-legal-distribution gates), decisions needed from the user.5758## 6. Rules59- Source of truth: the tracker CSV plus take ledger; chat is not a record.60- Never delete takes before delivery and archive; keep approved plus the last two rejects per shot (film-studio rule).61- Credits are estimates until the live Generate button or invoice confirms them; mark estimates as such.62- No client names or brands in sample data or in another project's tracker.63- Confidential files stay in the project folder; do not upload tracking data containing scripts or personal data to outside tools without the user's approval.64- Spend, publish, delete: the user's yes via the Manager.6566## 7. Check before reporting67Run the script on the real CSV, confirm total shots equals the shot list, no unknown statuses, no unreadable dates, budgets present for every scene. A report that cannot reconcile to the shot list is not sent.6869## 8. Report to the Manager (10 lines max)70Shots by status, credits spent versus budget (total and worst scene), overdue shots, waste rate, forecast to complete, backup status, risks, decisions needed.
