Series, templates, and production assets

Templates eliminate repetitive setup; shared assets prevent repetitive copies. Keep those two roles distinct and the production folder remains portable.

Series and Singles

A series defines a repeatable production format. A Single is a standalone episode that uses the channel-wide Singles template. Both can have a physical copy-template folder beneath Primary storage.

The resource cards show episode count, next number, template version, copy-folder health, named file states, shared asset count, declared folders, and checklist count. Treat a missing or empty template state as real—text entered into a path field is not proof the file exists.

Build a series template

Add identity. Choose a name, short label, colour, and template version.
Declare episode folders. Enter one relative path per line. Use / for nested folders; for example, put Footage/Camera A and Footage/Camera B on separate lines. The Add Camera A + B button inserts both paths without duplicating an existing entry. Do not use absolute or traversal paths.
Prepare the copy folder. Choose Open Template Folder. Everything physically inside this folder is recursively copied into each new episode.
Set optional named paths. Intro, Outro, Thumbnail, and Resolve paths describe shared files the template card can inspect.
Add defaults. Supply a default episode description and one upload checklist item per line.
Attach shared assets. Link reusable items from the channel Assets catalogue when each episode should refer to the same file.

Copy template versus shared asset

Copy-template contents become independent files inside every new episode. Shared assets stay in the channel Assets folder and remain linked; they are not duplicated into every episode.

Direct multi-camera targets

After creating an episode, point each Viewfinder phone at its own nested folder. While After2AM Manager is open, it scans the complete episode Footage tree and catalogues a recording in place after the file stops changing. No second media copy is created.

Template safety checks

Before showing a template as ready or copying it, the app rejects unsafe paths, symbolic links, unreadable content, reserved manifest names, duplicate folder paths, offline storage, and a mounted volume that does not match the configured identity.

Opening a template folder prepares the canonical Templates/Series or Templates/Singles hierarchy without replacing existing content. Finder’s .DS_Store is ignored.

Remove and restore a series

Removing a series that existing episodes still reference hides it from future episode creation but preserves history. An unused series can be removed from the catalogue. In both cases, template folders and files remain on disk. A removed template can be restored from the management sheet.

Manage global production assets

Assets catalogues channel-wide Branding, Audio, Resolve, Typography, Motion graphics, and Other resources. Search covers name, tags, notes, and licence text.

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Add Assets

Copy several files into a category with unique names and SHA-256 verification.

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Scan Folder

Recursively catalogue regular, visible, uncatalogued files already in Assets.

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Replace or Relink

Verify a replacement while preserving the asset identity and series links.

Record rights

Store version, tags, notes, attribution, restrictions, and optional expiry.

Editing an asset’s category changes catalogue metadata; it does not move the file. Licence expiry is recorded but does not create an automatic alert. Folder Scan records existing regular files but does not remove stale catalogue entries.

Replace and delete deliberately

Replace or Relink verifies the new managed copy before switching the asset record, so every series reference follows the same identity. The old managed file moves to Trash only when it is not shared.

Asset deletion can unlink every referencing series. Shared files remain, a missing file removes metadata only, and an unshared managed file plus its preview moves to Trash.