The 5-Step Lifecycle

To safeguard equity arrangements and keep artistic lineages clear, every project moves sequentially through a structured, 5-stage lifecycle.

Step 1: Sprout (Private Draft)

Your project workbench inside Artfork Studio (/studio). Only you can see it.

From the Studio, click Plant a seed and choose your discipline. Each discipline has its own creation path:

• Film / Documentary — you enter the V2 Studio directly (planning Gantt, script editor, shooting schedule, cast, call sheets).
• Photography — the Photography Studio guides you through upload, AI-assisted tagging, rights settings, and watermark configuration. Photography publishes directly to the Stage (no Nursery phase).
• Publishing — the Publishing Studio opens an in-browser canvas editor for multi-page layouts (A3 to A6, US-Letter, Square; portrait or landscape).
• All other disciplines — you fill in a title, a brief summary (shown on Stage cards), and a media file or embed link.

No equity splits are committed yet at this stage. You can adjust everything before sending your work to the Workshop.

Step 2: Nursery (Open Call / Setup Phase)

The Nursery is the only phase open for grafting.

When you're ready, you publish your Sprout from the Studio. The project (status: nursery) then appears on the Workshop Billboard, where other creators browse open calls and propose grafts.

• This phase is untimed — the open call stays active until you choose to close it (or set a deadline).
• Collaborators submit grafts: a branch title, color slot, proposed branch type, brief, and equity proposal.
• You review and sign (or decline) each graft. The proposing creator auto-signs at submission; you must countersign.
• Consolidation requirement: To leave the Nursery, all proposed grafts must be signed and all branch slots filled (or you reduce max_branches to match).

Step 3: Editing (Collaborative Work)

Once you consolidate, the seed moves to active status and grafting is permanently closed.

The finalized team works on the branch content, either inside the Studio tools or offline. Discipline-specific Studio features are available throughout this phase:

• Film and documentary teams use the V2 Studio — script, shooting schedule, cast, call sheets, coverage board, and footage logger.
• Photography creators use the Photography Studio.
• Publishing creators use the in-browser canvas editor.

Before submitting for publication, all collaborators must re-sign the final equity ledger.

Step 4: Submission (Content Review)

When the work is ready, the creator submits it for publication. The project enters publishing status and Artfork runs an automated AI pre-screen in parallel:

• Green — all checks clear. The work moves to the head of the committee queue for a rapid sign-off.
• Amber — one or more low-confidence flags. A committee member reviews and decides.
• Red — a high-confidence match (copyright, trademarked material, explicit content). The artist is notified with the specific flags and can submit a dispute appeal (one appeal per submission). The committee reviews the appeal; their decision is final.

The Content Committee is a group of trusted creators who review queued works, apply a checklist, and either approve, request changes, or reject. Approvals trigger automatic publishing.

Step 5: Trunk (Live Stage Release)

Following committee approval, the project becomes a Trunk (status: trunk) and is published on the public Stage — Artfork's surface for finished works.

• The media links, files, and equity ledger are permanently locked and immutable.
• Revenue distribution flows through each creator's wallet according to the signed equity splits.
• If anyone wants to make changes, they must start a new Sprout.