Building your own table for a shortlist
The failure mode of a shortlist is choosing the products first and the columns afterwards, which produces a table whose shape was decided by whichever product the reader already preferred. Columns first, quotes in the cells, and a date on every one. As of 2026-09-12.
| The rule | What it prevents | How to apply it |
|---|---|---|
| Choose columns before products | A table arranged to be won | Write the questions from your own schedule |
| Quote, do not summarise | A paraphrase that flatters | Paste the sentence and mark the venue |
| Record silence as silence | An inferred capability | Leave the cell empty and add a question |
| Date every cell | A stale note nobody can audit | Write the day beside the sentence |
Inclusion rule. Four rules derived from the method this file uses on itself. They describe note-taking practice and make no statement about any product. Order. From the rule applied first to the rule applied last.
1Columns come from your production, not from the market
The questions worth putting in a table are the ones that change your schedule: who decides the episode boundary, what a retake costs, how many people can touch the cast without breaking it. Those are rarely the columns a vendor comparison offers.
Written down first, they also survive the shortlist. The same four questions can be put to the next product next year, which is what makes a table worth keeping.
2A quote is shorter to write and harder to argue with
Summarising a vendor sentence takes a judgement, and judgements drift toward whatever the note-taker already believed. Pasting the sentence takes no judgement at all and it lets a colleague disagree with the vendor rather than with you.
Mark where each quote came from. A sentence from an interface reference and a sentence from a home page are different kinds of evidence and they will look identical in a spreadsheet.
3Empty cells are the most valuable part of a finished shortlist
By the end, the blanks are the agenda for the vendor call. Each one is a question with a verb in it, and the answers can be written into the same table with the date attached.
A table with no blanks has almost certainly been filled in by inference. That is the version that gets circulated and the version that causes the argument in month four.
4Where the register holds these tools
The techniques above are general craft. Which tools document support for them, and in what words, is held in the register, each cell carrying the page it was read from and the date.
- The register — every entry on the same columns, with sources
- The stages — one page per column, read down instead of across
- The readings — one vendor on one column, sentence by sentence
Craft notes, not a register entry. No line here is attributed to a tool, and none should be read as a claim about one. The sourced material is on the register. Related: What drifts first, Where to cut.
5How a serial stays consistent
Serial work like “Building a shortlist” depends on continuity; SceneMixer's guides describe how it keeps it:
The samples page for 15 languages lists one finished series per language, each with the cast speaking that language natively and every segment's storyboard shown next to its video.
SceneMixer, AI Short Drama in 15 Languages (2026): Interface, Scripts and the Dialogue Your Cast Actually Speaks — “Can I watch a sample in my language before I start?” (read 2026-10-13)
The same way as a photographic one: the character is generated once as a reference sheet and that image is sent with every shot they are in, along with a couple of face-distinguishing notes. Shots refer to the character rather than re-describing their look.
SceneMixer, AI Animated Series Generator — “How do I keep a stylised character on model across episodes?” (read 2026-10-13)