THE ARMOURY
PRODUCTION READINESS SCORECARD
Twenty-five questions that separate a pipeline from a habit
- Format
- Scored assessment, PDF and on this page
- Length
- 25 questions
- Gate
- None
- Licence
- Use it, commercially
Twenty-five questions across five areas, scored zero to five, that tell you whether a team or a studio is actually ready to run generative production at volume, or is running demos and hoping.
Use it on a supplier you are evaluating, or on yourself before you commit to a campaign you cannot deliver.
DOWNLOAD THE PDFNo email, no form. The whole thing is on this page too.
HOW TO USE IT
- 01Score each row 0 to 5. Zero means it does not exist. Five means it is written down, in use, and somebody owns it.
- 02A row nobody can answer scores zero. "We sort of do that" scores one.
- 03Total out of 125 and read the band table at the end.
A. Locks and references
- Master plates existA frozen, versioned reference frame per product that must not change
- Plates verified against a source of truthPrint artwork or the physical object, not the client’s website
- Trained identities rather than re-uploaded referencesFor any face appearing across more than a handful of assets
- Set specification written before generationKey direction, temperature, surface, lens language, prop rule
- Version tags and dates on every reference artefactSo a packaging change cuts a new plate rather than editing the old one
B. Control gates
- Type gateEvery printed word read at full resolution against the artwork
- Silhouette gateOverlay on the plate at 40% opacity, with a stated pass criterion
- Light gateOne key direction and temperature held across the set
- Claims gateNo invented certification, award, ingredient or percentage survives
- Failures return to sourceA failed frame is regenerated, never retouched into passing
C. Measurement
- Cost per accepted asset is measuredNot cost per generation, and not per campaign average
- The ledger is written automaticallyBy the pipeline, not by a person at eleven at night
- Acceptance rates known per shot typeA fraction, not a reassurance
- Credit ceiling per asset encodedAnd it halts the run rather than logging a warning
- Operator and review time countedIncluding salaried time, which is capacity
D. Compliance
- Model licences cleared before renderingFor the specific model and version, not in general
- Consent files complete before the first renderIncluding derivative training, scope, territory and term
- Disclosure decided at brief stageSet to the stricter of platform policy, UK position and EU Article 50
- On-asset labelling plus provenance metadataNot metadata alone
- Record kept per assetModel, version, sign-off, disclosure, placement
E. Handover and continuity
- Client owns the plates and trained identitiesSo the second campaign starts from a lock
- Naming convention in forceAugust’s output is findable in November
- The pipeline is documented, not rememberedIt survives the operator leaving
- Systems run in the client’s accountsA system you cannot operate without the supplier is a dependency
- A named person can stop a runWith the authority to reject, at a defined point
Reading the score
| SCORE | VERDICT | WHAT TO DO |
|---|---|---|
| 105 to 125 | Production-ready | Commit to volume. Spot-check the measurement rows quarterly. |
| 80 to 104 | Works, with known gaps | Run the campaign. Fix the lowest-scoring area before the next one. |
| 50 to 79 | Demo-grade | One campaign is survivable. Volume is not. Build locks and gates first. |
| Below 50 | Not ready | Do not commit to a campaign that depends on consistency. Start with section A. |
LICENCE
Free to use, copy, adapt and put your own name on. No attribution required, though a link back is appreciated. Published by TaleCrafters, talecrafters.studio.
THE WRITING BEHIND IT
- How We Keep a Product Consistent Across 100 AI-Generated ShotsShot one is easy. Shot one hundred is the job. This is the method, including the numbers we plan against.
- Cost Per Accepted Asset: Measuring Generative Production ProperlyThe metric that makes generative production explainable to the person who signs the invoice, and the arithmetic behind it.
- How to Brief an AI Video Production StudioMost generative briefs fail on the same missing paragraph. Here is what to put in one, and what a studio should ask you back.
- What Creative Automation Actually Removes From a Marketing WeekThe hours automation removes are not the ones anybody expects. They are also not the ones any vendor demo shows you.
YOUR MOVE
Using this on a live job?
If the checklist turns up something you would rather not run yourself, TaleCrafters does this for a living. Bring the brief and the deadline.