Beat it out. Break the story into beats: one line each, each a change in the story (references/beats-and-shot-lists.md). If you can't list the beats, you don't have a story yet.
Shot-list every beat. One beat is usually one to three shots. Each shot gets a shot-brief (../video-prompt-craft/). No shot exists without a brief; no brief exists without a beat.
Board it (for anything complex). Sketch the sequence visually (references/storyboard.md). Storyboards catch screen-direction flips and pacing problems that text hides.
Gate it. Run the quality gates (references/quality-gates.md): style proof first, asset lock before generation, beat cards that each carry one clear visual change. Max two revision rounds per gate, then move on.
Fast-track the simple stuff. One product shot, one establishing clip? Skip the ceremony (quality-gates.md has the short path). Process should scale down, not just up.

Rules that don't bend

Story first, prompts second. A shot list written before any generation beats ten brilliant prompts generated in random order.
Every shot earns its place. If removing a shot changes nothing, remove it. AI video tempts you to keep generating; editing is the skill.
Plan the joins. Shots don't just sit next to each other. They cut. Note the transition or match cut per join in the shot list, or the assembly stage inherits a mess.
Budget the seconds. Total runtime divided by shot count is your per-shot budget. A 60-second video at 8 seconds a clip is eight shots max. Plan eight, not fifteen.
Lock assets before generating. Characters, products, key props get registered (../character-consistency/) before the first generation, not after the third reshoot.

story-and-shots