House doctrine · One document
Every standing rule this house operates by, gathered into one document. Six books, each one a working chapter of the business — what we hold to be true, what we do about it, and the page in the app where the practice already lives.
The right brain makes the traffic light and the left brain makes the ticket.
Book I
The work belongs to the person who made it. Everything else in this document exists to keep that true after the work leaves the room.
Ownership is not granted by a platform, a label, or this house. It exists the moment the work is fixed.
In practice
Register the work, hold the record, and never sign away more than the specific use being paid for.
RegistrationMetanated holds, documents, and defends the record. It does not take the copyright to do so.
A split agreed in conversation is a dispute waiting for a payday.
In practice
Write the split sheet at the close of the session, while the room is still assembled.
Credits & SplitsBook II
If it is not written down, attached to the file, and readable by a machine, it did not happen.
Name it once. Credit completely. Attach identifiers. State the rights. Hash the payload. Re-read before release.
In practice
Run the five-step audit pass on every deliverable before it leaves the building.
Metadata HygieneMetadata written into the file with a content hash makes tampering visible instead of silent.
In practice
Seal every deliverable, then re-parse it and correct anything that fails the read.
The SealEvery project carries both halves: the signal that was built and the receipt that proves it.
In practice
File the ticket — accession number, contributors, rights line, hash, seal date.
The Ticket LedgerOrphaned metadata, missing credits, and broken custody are the named ways cultural work is lost.
In practice
Close each gap with the specific practice mapped to it — not with good intentions.
Cultural VulnerabilitiesBook III
A studio is a workplace with standards. The room runs the same way whoever is in it.
Arrival, phones, one voice, credit at close, respect the gear, settle the room, clean handoff, cleared guests.
In practice
The rules are posted and applied to everyone, including the owner of the building.
Studio EtiquetteCreative direction is a managed practice with phases, roles, and one decision-maker — not a mood.
In practice
Write the brief first. Generate, then judge. Review against the brief, and record the sign-off.
Creative DirectionAn unlogged session cannot be billed, credited, or defended.
Book IV
Count daily, price from cost, keep reserves boring, and never promise a return.
Operating money, tax money, and reserve money do not share a balance.
In practice
Set aside before you spend. Count daily, close monthly, reconcile quarterly.
Apprenticeship PlaybookA price that does not cover the room, the gear, the labor, and the record is a subsidy.
Targets and plans are planning assumptions. They are never guarantees of revenue, funding, or outcome.
A grant counts when it is awarded, and a payment counts when it is received with a reference.
Book V
The house teaches what it does. Nothing is taught here that is not also run here.
A standard that cannot be revised becomes folklore.
Observer, Hands, Operator, Steward, Director — each stage learns something and proves something.
Terms, standards, and identifiers are published so nobody has to guess what a word means here.
Book VI
How this house answers, what it publishes, and what it refuses to do.
Questions are answered by a page in the app, not by a person reciting from memory. No inquiry database. No briefcase.
In practice
Send the link. The page is the answer, and the page is the same for everyone.
No Face, No CaseNo invented attendance, funding, client results, honors, or figures — ever, on any page.
In practice
If it is not verified, it is not published. If it is an assumption, it is labeled as one.
Press & ClaimsA serial number and a documented record turn ordinary work into primary source material.
Published pages are free to read. Paid work is consultation and custody, not access to the doctrine.
The test
Can you name who owns it, in writing?
Can a machine read the credit without asking a person?
Does the file carry its own rights line and hash?
Is there one decision-maker, and is the sign-off recorded?
Was the price built from cost, or from hope?
If the person who made it left tomorrow, does the record survive them?
The Bible is the doctrine. The rest of the app is the doctrine running.
Notices
The Business Bible is this studio's internal operating doctrine. It is not legal, tax, accounting, or financial advice, it does not replace registration with a rights organisation or registry, and it makes no promise of revenue, funding, or any other outcome.