The same path every time, so making content is a checklist, not a blank page. Every existing skill plugs into one step; this doc just strings them together. Nothing here is new law: when a step's source file disagrees with this summary, the source file wins.
Three phases: Decide, Write, Prep. Record hands off to the video-production process; ship-and-watch closes the loop.
An idea can enter at any step (a filmed clip enters at step 8, a "react to this" find arrives with its format already decided as a screen recording), but every piece passes through the Decide steps before it ships. No orphan content.
Decide
Steps 1 to 7: what the piece is and why it exists.
1. Capture the idea
Everything lands in docs/ideas/idea-inbox.md, unpolished. One line is enough. Advice quotes and mental models go to their banks in the same file.
2. Map to a problem
Which of the person's five problems does it touch (docs/foundation/person.md names them)? Ground it in a real client problem, framed as their experience ("you've probably been on a project where…"). Or mark it reach/personality, not everything hits a business problem (a Watch List film piece is pure personality). If it's neither, rethink it.
3. Pick the intent
Entertain, educate, inspire, or prove? What does the week need, per the weekly recipe in docs/foundation/job.md.
4. Pick the pillar
Which of the four lanes: 01 Interactive Experiences (craft) · 02 Building a Studio (story) · 03 Systems Thinking (promise) · 04 Film and TV (personality). The problem from step 2 usually points straight at it.
5. The series comes with it
Each pillar has exactly one series, so this is automatic, not a choice (the roster lives in the series system, docs/series/00 content-series-system.md). Also ask: can designed participation be planted here? In passing or in full. Not forced, always asked.
6. Structure
How the message is built: pick one of the four structures in 02 Skills/Structures.md. This is not the medium and not the topic, it's the skeleton of what you say.
7. Format
What the audience receives: pick the container in docs/foundation/formats.md (if it's Video, also pick the production method there). Series default first; downgrade to a lighter one rather than skip a week.
Write
Steps 8 to 10: the words.
8. Write the hook
02 Skills/Hook-Engine.md writes the first line; Hook-Converter.md turns a rough note into options; Hook-Library.md has worked examples and the patterns to refuse.
9. Write the script
Pour the hook into the structure from step 6, using the series file's episode structure (docs/series/). Check against 02 Skills/Performance-Playbook-Shareable.md and the voice rules: one screenshotable line, credential line placed, public/private line respected, no em dashes, British English. Save to docs/scripts/, named NN Project Name - Presenter.md, clean spoken-word only.
10. Caption + cover line
Cover line (text on the first frame): 02 Skills/Post-Image-Text-Engine.md. Caption: the caption-writer skill, into a ## Caption section of the script file. CTAs locate the viewer, they don't beg; nothing for sale that doesn't exist.
Prep
Steps 11 and 12: ready to roll.
11. Set up
Script on screen to read from, camera framed, screen-capture ready if the format needs it.
12. Record
Press record. This hands off to the video-production process (edit, subtitles, cover, approval, publish).
After record: ship and watch
Batch and film per 02 Skills/Weekend-Batch-Production-System.md, edit per Editing-Guidelines-and-Process.md. Then watch what pops - a piece that pops off can earn series status (docs/series/00 content-series-system.md). That's the only way new series get born.
The whole thing on one line each
| # | Question | Tool |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Capture | got it down? | idea inbox |
| 2 Problem | which of the 5 (or reach)? | person.md |
| 3 Intent | why does this exist? | job.md |
| 4 Pillar | which lane? | docs/foundation/content-pillars.md |
| 5 Series | (auto: one per pillar) | content series files |
| 6 Structure | story, breakdown, take, explainer? | Structures.md |
| 7 Format | video, slides, image, text? | Formats.md |
| 8 Hook | scroll-stopping first line? | Hook Engine |
| 9 Script | structure + voice | Playbook + series file |
| 10 Surround | cover + caption | Post-Image-Text-Engine + caption-writer |
| 11 Set up | ready to roll? | - |
| 12 Record | filmed | Weekend Batch → video production |
Worked example (30 seconds)
Idea in the inbox: "that rebrand everyone's talking about changed nothing but the logo."
- Problem: identity ("our brand doesn't reflect who we are"). 2. Intent: educate. 3-5. Place it: pillar 01, Behind the Screen; designed participation plants naturally ("a brand you can't take part in is a poster"). 6. Structure: Breakdown (take apart a real rebrand). 7. Format: Video, screen recording + talking head. 8-10. Write: hook from their line, breakdown structure, one screenshotable verdict, then cover line + caption. 11-12. Record into the weekend batch.
Twelve steps, none of them from scratch.