A standard series bible covers premise, characters, arcs and tone. For AI production, add four sections: what each character is in rights terms, what created it, what consent exists for anyone real, and where the files live. Those four turn a creative document into the one artefact that answers a rights review without anyone reconstructing anything.
You're already making a bible. The rights sections cost you an afternoon at the start and save you a week eighteen months later.
Why put rights in the bible at all?
Because it's the only document that already exists per character.
A rights review starts from a face on screen and works backwards. A series bible is organised by character, which means it's already the right shape — every other production document is organised by episode, shoot day or scene, and none of those start from a face.
Putting the rights material anywhere else means maintaining a second per-character index that duplicates the first. Most productions don't, which is why the reconstruction happens.
The bible is already indexed by character. A rights review is a query indexed by character. Use the document you have.
What are the four sections?
Per character, alongside the creative material you're already writing.
| Section | What it records | What it answers |
|---|---|---|
| Rights status | AI actor, a face you uploaded, or a human creator from the library | Whether consent is needed at all, and from whom |
| What created it | Which handle, which description, which references, which model | Whether anything real went into a character you're calling synthetic |
| Consent record | For anyone real: scope, media, territory, duration, payment terms, and where the record itself sits | Whether this use is covered, and until when |
| Asset custody | Where reference sets and likeness files are stored, who can reach them, when they go | Whether an ongoing custodial obligation is being met |
Source: Hexcoded, September 2026, based on the Actor Licence, Privacy Policy and Terms. Guidance rather than a legal standard. Not legal advice.
Why does "what created it" matter for AI actors?
Because "no real person involved" is a claim you may have to support.
A character generated from a text description carries no likeness obligation. A character generated from photographs of a real person is a likeness of that person however fictional the name, and the only difference between those two cases is what went into the generation.
If a resemblance question ever arrives, that record is your evidence. It either exists from the start or it doesn't exist at all — it can't be reconstructed after the fact, because the finished video doesn't carry it.
Where this falls short. A record of your inputs proves what you used. It doesn't prove the model didn't produce a resemblance from its training data, which is a question nobody currently has a good answer to.
What replaces the character description block?
A handle registry, and this is the part that's changed most.
Traditional bible advice says to write a locked character description and reuse it verbatim to prevent drift. That's still sound writing practice, but it isn't the mechanism any more.
Every actor, location, style and element you save takes an @handle you call in prompts. So what the bible needs to record is the registry — which handle corresponds to which character, what created it, and whether a real person is inside it.
The description field on each saved reference takes up to 200 characters, which is enough for the second half of that. The bible holds the map; the reference holds the note.
What does a platform already hold for you?
More than most bibles assume, and knowing precisely means you don't duplicate it.
For a human creator, Hexcoded's onboarding runs a liveness check and a face-match between a selfie and the submitted likeness, processed through AWS Rekognition. A likeness can't be published without clearing both. The consent itself is a clickwrap acceptance of the actor licence, recorded with a timestamp and IP address, and that record is kept permanently as proof consent existed.
Master face and voice recordings are treated differently. They're kept only while brand content generated with that likeness remains licensed, then deleted or irreversibly anonymised.
So your bible's consent section doesn't need to hold the consent. It needs to record which creator appears in which episode, under which terms — because the reviewer's question is about your production rather than the platform's library.
What scope should the bible record?
Two limits worth writing down once rather than rediscovering per episode.
Hexcoded's licence is digital only — paid ads and organic posts on online platforms, plus your own websites and apps. Television, print, outdoor and other offline use require a separate written agreement. If a series has any chance of a broadcast deal, that belongs in the bible as a flag rather than a discovery.
And where a human creator appears, only light edits are permitted: trimming, cropping, captions, music, end-cards. No re-generating, morphing or re-voicing a face outside the platform. For a production with an external post pipeline, that's a constraint the bible should state alongside the cast list.
What should the bible say about withdrawal?
One line per human creator, and it's the risk nobody plans for.
A creator can stop new use of their likeness at any time. Content already generated and delivered stays valid — the licence on it is perpetual — but new generation stops.
For a seventy-episode arc that's a specific exposure: your lead could become uncastable at episode 41 while episodes 1 to 40 remain perfectly usable. The bible can't prevent it. What it can do is make the exposure visible early enough to decide whether a lead should be a human creator at all.
How does this change as a series runs?
Three things go out of date, and only one is obvious.
Cast additions. A character introduced in episode 30 needs a bible entry created then, not at delivery. This is the one everyone remembers and still often misses.
Handles that drift from their descriptions. A reference gets updated, the note doesn't. The registry stops matching the assets.
Deletion obligations. Custody is ongoing rather than a final step, and a record saying files will be deleted with nothing saying they were is half a record.
How do you actually build it?
Five steps, and the first one is the whole discipline.
Create the entry at casting, before any footage exists
Every character gets a bible entry when it's cast, not when it's delivered. Retrofitting rights sections onto finished work is where the gaps come from.
Record the rights status in one line
AI actor, uploaded face, or human creator. It's the first thing a reviewer needs and it determines everything else in the entry.
Record the handle and what created it
Which handle, which description, which references, which model. Put the short version in the reference's own 200-character description field so it travels with the asset.
Note the scope flags once
Digital-only distribution and light-edits-only post. Both apply across the whole series, so they belong at the front rather than repeated per character.
Review the cast list at every season break
New characters added, handles that have drifted, deletions due. Twenty minutes, and it's the only routine maintenance the document needs.
The four questions the bible should answer without reconstruction
- Who is this character, in rights terms?
- What created them, and did anything real go into it?
- For anyone real, what did they consent to and until when?
- Where are the files, and when do they go?
If the bible answers those four for every character in under ten minutes, it works as a rights document. If any of them needs someone to remember something, it doesn't.
Current as of the publication date. This post describes document practice rather than legal requirements, which vary by jurisdiction and by contract. Hexcoded's terms and actor licence are governed by the laws of India, with jurisdiction in Gurugram, Haryana. Nothing here is legal advice.
- The bible is already indexed by character, and a rights review is a query indexed by character. Use the document you have
- Four sections per character: rights status, what created it, consent record, asset custody
- Rights status in one line — AI actor, uploaded face, or human creator. It determines everything else
- Record what created a character even when nobody real is involved. It's the only evidence a resemblance question has
- The handle registry replaces the locked description block. Which handle is which character, and what made it
- Record the scope flags once, at the front. Digital-only distribution and light-edits-only post apply series-wide
- Add one line per human creator about withdrawal. Delivered episodes stay valid; new ones can stop
- Review the cast list at every season break. New characters, drifted handles, deletions due
Everything a standard bible covers — premise, characters, arcs, tone — plus four rights sections per character: rights status, what created the character, consent record, and asset custody. Those four turn a creative document into one that answers a rights review.
Because it's the only production document already organised by character, which is how a rights review works — it starts from a face on screen and works backwards. Every other document is organised by episode, shoot day or scene.
Yes. "No real person involved" is a claim you may have to support if a resemblance question arises, and what created the character is the only evidence. It can't be reconstructed later, because the finished video doesn't carry it.
A handle registry. Every actor, location, style and element you save takes a handle you call in prompts, so the bible records which handle corresponds to which character and what created it. The reference's own 200-character description field holds the short version.
For a human creator, a liveness check and face-match at onboarding, and a clickwrap consent record with timestamp kept permanently. Master recordings are kept only while content remains licensed, then deleted or irreversibly anonymised. Your bible records which creator appears where, not the consent itself.
Character entries at casting, handle notes as you create references, and a full cast list review at every season break. That review catches three things: characters added mid-series, handles that have drifted from their notes, and deletion obligations coming due.
Name it once, document it once
Every actor, location and style you save takes a handle and a 200-character note, and works across every tool. Human creators arrive with a liveness check passed and a consent record kept permanently — so your bible entry is a line rather than a file.
See the actor libraryMore on characters, consent and reusable elements in Elements.