Character Continuity

Mission

Reduce identity, wardrobe, prop, geography, and chronology drift across a multi-shot sequence. Treat the continuity sheet and approved reference set as first-class inputs. This skill supports authorized fictional characters, consenting performers, and owned products; it is not a license to imitate a real person.

Safety and authorization gate

Before creating or editing a likeness, confirm the user's authorization for the person, voice, image, or performance and the intended use. Do not proceed with non-consensual impersonation, sexualized deepfakes, deceptive political material, or a minor's likeness. For a public figure, require a clearly authorized production context and label synthetic output where appropriate.

Keep the following states separate: unknown, user-supplied, consent claimed, consent verified, and approved for publication. A source URL or local file alone is not proof of permission.

Build the continuity bible

For each entity, record:

• stable ID and role: character, performer, product, prop, location, or animal;
• identity anchors that must remain stable and acceptable variation;
• wardrobe, accessories, colors, markings, logos, and geometry;
• age range and presentation constraints without inventing sensitive traits;
• shot chronology, screen direction, time of day, and world rules;
• approved image/video references, order, provenance, and upload permission;
• voice/audio source and synchronization expectations; and
• forbidden changes and domain-specific QA checks.

Use one reference role per field. Do not send a product pack as a character reference or reverse the order of a first/last-frame list. Keep reference URLs and local IDs in an asset manifest rather than burying them in prose.

Model and workflow selection

Use MODELS.md and a live schema check. Reference-capable families such as Seedance omni-reference, Wan reference-to-video, Gemini Omni character/reference flows, and Kling Omni may be useful, but their accepted reference counts, placeholder syntax, audio defaults, and duration controls differ. Use only fields the selected endpoint documents.

If an image reference is missing, hand off to the adjacent image agent or use an explicitly available image capability. Do not generate a new identity anchor without making the substitution visible to the user.

Execute

1. Freeze the continuity bible and choose a parent reference set.
2. Upload local references and record role, order, rights, and returned URL.
3. Generate a low-cost or low-variant anchor shot first when the sequence is uncertain. Review identity, wardrobe, product details, geography, and motion before expanding the batch.
4. Keep the approved parent fixed. Run dependent shots in sequence or in controlled parallel branches, each with its own shot ID and prediction ID.
5. Compare every candidate against the bible using video QA. Note drift separately from intentional creative change.
6. Lock selected parents before editing, cropping, captioning, or enhancing.

Output contract

Return the continuity bible, asset-role map, authorization state, model/schema choice, parent/child graph, output URLs and job IDs, identity-drift findings, failed shots, and recommended next iteration. When permitted, save the bible, manifest, receipt, and QA note under .video/ with the formats in reports-and-receipts.md.

Never claim a likeness is exact or a product is faithful without a review. Generation remains draft-only and publication requires separate approval.