Prototype-to-Hero Handoff

Prototype-to-Hero Handoff treats text-to-video as a pre-visualization layer with a defined exit point, not a production line. The framework splits every client video request into two gates: a fast AI prototype gate (moodboards, shot tests, ad variants rendered in hours) and a hero gate where human direction, brand-safe lip-sync, and narrative coherence get funded. Agencies that name the handoff in the SOW protect margin on both ends: they bill the prototype sprint as a discrete deliverable and keep finishing fees attached to hero assets instead of absorbing revisions into a flat retainer. The failure mode is letting raw renders cross the gate unreviewed, which commoditizes the creative output the client is actually paying for. Short-form tools make the prototype gate cheap to run at volume, so the discipline lives in the exit criteria, not the render.