Quota
Hero-first production economics — route 1.0 stills vs 2.0 quality pins vs video 1.0/1.5, and protect remaining session quota.
Educational module for Grok Imagine Cinematic Studio. Teaches hero-first queues, path labels (still / 1.0 / 1.5), retry caps, session reserves, and cost handoffs — pairs with the Budget calculator for rough dollars.
Module progress
0 of 8 lessons
0%
Quota pipeline
Read remaining → plan paths → batch under caps → reserve polish
01
Read quota
Dashboard / remaining %
02
Deliverable
What ships this session
03
Path labels
1.0 / 2.0-low / 2.0-med / 1.5
04
Hero queue
Priority spend order
05
Gates
DNA · plate · QA before video
06
Batch
Execute under caps
07
Retry policy
Cap then redesign
08
Reserve
Keep polish / emergency
09
Handoff
Cost packet → Director
Non-negotiable protocols
Role Card v4.5 — load before multi-shot spend
HERO_FIRST
Spend premium paths only on hero plates and hero motion after gates pass — never on unready drafts.
Most quota dies on pretty-but-wrong regenerations of unlocked heroes.
GATES_BEFORE_VIDEO
DNA freeze, plate lock, and (when required) Chain QA Go before any video second spend.
Video multiplies still errors. Stills-first is an economic rule, not a style preference.
PATH_LABEL
Label every batch and clip: still_standard | still_2_0_low | still_2_0_medium | video_1_0 | video_1_5. Pin quality on 2.0 — do not leave grok-imagine-image-quality in templates.
Unlabeled spend cannot be budgeted or retried intelligently.
DRAFT_THEN_HERO
Use Video 1.0 (or 1.0 stills) to prove motion/composition; promote to 2.0-medium stills and Video 1.5 only when the plate and plan are ready. Pin quality on 2.0 — the Nov 2 redirect is low, not medium.
1.5 heroes on unproven beats waste the highest unit cost in the session.
SHORT_CHAINS_EARLY
Keep early extend chains short (2–4 clips). Lengthen only after identity and QA hold.
Long broken chains cost more to throw away than short proven ones.
RETRY_POLICY
Cap retries per shot. After limit: change plate, framing, or path — do not infinite re-roll.
Hope is not a budget strategy. Fix the input, not the dice.
SESSION_BUDGET
Set stills + video seconds budget at session open; re-check remaining quota before each batch.
Mid-session surprise empty quotas kill delivery more than creative blocks.
NO_POLISH_EARLY
Never burn upscale / face restore before picture lock and QA Go.
Polish amplifies the wrong cut and is pure waste on open criticals.
NSFW_QUOTA_SEPARATE
Intimate batches require ErosForge + NSFW Quota Orchestrator — do not route through silent SFW budgets.
Path-aware spend and policy gates differ; mixing them hides cost and risk.
COST_HANDOFF
Export ordered shot list with path labels, estimated cost, and retry policy into Director / Delivery notes.
Downstream agents need economics, not vibes, to protect the remaining session.
Lessons
8 steps · mark complete as you practice
Lesson 01
Why quota is a creative tool
Quota is not only billing — it forces stills-first discipline and protects hero moments.
- Empty sessions ship worse trailers than tight budgets.
- Every re-gen of an unlocked plate is a creative tax.
- Activate Quota Optimizer before multi-shot spend, not after panic.
Drill
Name one creative failure caused by burning heroes too early.
Pack agents
Economics crew — optimize, batch, dashboard, curate
Workflow Quota Optimizer
Session economist — path routing, cost estimates, and spend holds.
ACTIVATE QUOTA_OPTIMIZERSFW Batch Orchestrator
Hero-first SFW still/i2v/video batches under remaining quota.
ACTIVATE SFW_BATCH_ORCHESTRATORNSFW Quota Orchestrator
Intimate batch planner under ErosForge — hero-first, path-labeled.
ACTIVATE NSFW_QUOTA_ORCHESTRATORReference Asset Curator
Tiers hero/standard/draft assets so spend matches plate readiness.
ACTIVATE REFERENCE_CURATORQuota Dashboard
At-a-glance remaining quota, reset windows, and spend breakdown.
SHOW QUOTA DASHBOARDPath routing
Label every asset — 1.0 draft, 2.0-low cost-match, 2.0-medium hero. After Nov 2, image-quality is 2.0-low. Pin quality.
still_standard
Still · 1.0 — Exploration, coverage, draft comps — grok-imagine-image
Cost: $0.02 / image
Risk: Not hero fidelity — promote to 2.0 medium
still_2_0_low
Still · 2.0 low — Cost-match old quality slug; Nov 2 redirect look
Cost: $0.04 1K / $0.06 2K
Risk: Looks like the redirect, not a medium hero
still_2_0_medium
Still · 2.0 medium — Hero plates, identity lock, Polish, 21:9 cinematic stills
Cost: $0.06 1K / $0.08 2K
Risk: Wasted if DNA not frozen
video_1_0
Video 1.0 — Motion proof, draft extends, timing tests
Cost: $0.05/s 480p · $0.07/s 720p
Risk: Not final sheen — promote later
video_1_5
Video 1.5 Native — Hero motion after plate + gates ready
Cost: $0.08/s 480p · $0.14/s 720p · $0.25/s 1080p
Risk: Catastrophic if identity/hands fail
Session unit estimator
Educational weights — not live billing. Compare plan shape.
Est. session units
93.0
Remaining 42% · reserve 20% · Watch reserve before 1.5.
Cost handoff builder
Session plan → copy QUOTA_COST_HANDOFF for Director
Cost packet
Includes estimator units
QUOTA_COST_HANDOFF
stamp: {{timestamp}}
project: neon-alley-chase
remaining_quota_pct: 42
deliverable: 20s teaser · stills montage + 1 hero 6s
stills_plan: 8 × 1.0 + 3 × 2.0-medium heroes
video_plan: 12s @ 1.0 draft · 6s @ 1.5 hero
hero_queue: 1 identity CU · 2 geography wide · 3 button still
retry_cap: 3 then redesign plate
reserve_pct: 20
spend_holds: No 1.5 until plate locked · no polish pre-lock
est_session_units: 93.0 (educational weights · not live billing)
policy: HERO_FIRST · GATES_BEFORE_VIDEO · DRAFT_THEN_HERO · PATH_LABEL
next: execute batch → re-check dashboard → update remaining
Activation lab
Copy-ready templates for optimizer, SFW batch, extend budget, dashboard
ACTIVATE QUOTA_OPTIMIZER Project: neon-alley-chase Read remaining session quota. Output: path-labeled shot list · stills-first plan · video seconds budget · retry caps · reserve %. Refuse video spend until DNA freeze + plate lock for heroes.
Module quiz
8 checks · best score saved in progress
When should you activate Quota Optimizer?