Concept
Susan's note, verbatim, then the working read. Nothing here is final until she signs off.
Why the joke lands
“Divisible load” is the regulator's own term. Santa is arguing that a sleigh of gifts splits into legal loads — so he shouldn't need an oversize permit. It only works on an audience that knows the term. That audience is the customer. It is the one line that must survive every cut.
The move that makes it C2C
The script has a hole between the reveal and the fade: nobody explains how the presents get moved. Fill it — Amara and Cal take the load off Santa's hands. The company that untangles the paperwork is literally the company that saves Christmas. One beat, and the ad argues for the product instead of just wishing you a merry one.
Beat sheet
Seven beats, 58 seconds. Timings are the working cut — tighten in the edit, not before.
Cold open — two rigs, falling snow
Night highway. Amara's Freightliner leads, Cal's Kenworth behind, headlights cutting the flakes. No dialogue. Let the road sound carry it.
Amara sees something
Cab interior. Dash glow, snow melting on glass. She leans toward the windshield.
“Looks like someone is up ahead.”The stop
Exterior, low and wide on the tractor. Air brakes. Headlights rake across a rig pulled onto the shoulder, hazards blinking in the snow.
Reveal
Wide: Santa, roadside, sleigh on a flatbed, DOT cruiser's light bar washing the snow red and blue. Hold one beat longer than is comfortable.
Cal offers a hand
Cal out of the cab, boots in the slush, half a grin. He's done this a thousand times.
“Hey, you need a hand?”The money line
Close on Santa — exasperated, mittens, clipboard in frame from the officer's side. The whole spot hangs here.
“He says it's a divisible load!”The load moves
Presents handed bag by bag from sleigh to trailer. Cal heaves, Santa fusses, Amara supervises with a coffee. Reefer doors close, latch thunks. Decal on the door — composited.
Pull away · VO close
Two rigs roll out, tail lights shrinking. Santa waving from the shoulder, smaller and smaller. VO over the last shot, logo in the final two seconds.
“Santa might get the credit, but we know who really makes Christmas happen…”Shot list
Ten setups. Generation method per shot — tag decides which tool and how much of it is composited afterward.
Convoy, night snow — wide
Two rigs rolling, headlights, snowfall lit by the beams. Establishing.
generated · plateAmara, cab interior
MCU, dash glow, snow on glass. Delivers line 1.
generated · characterTractor comes to a stop
Low exterior, air brakes, headlights raking the shoulder rig.
generated · plateReveal — Santa and the cruiser
Wide, light bar washing red/blue across snow. Sleigh on a flatbed.
generated · compCal out of the cab
Boots in slush, half-grin. Delivers line 2.
generated · characterSanta — the money line
Close, exasperated, officer's clipboard edge in frame. Line 3.
generated · characterLoading the presents
Montage, 2–3 inserts. Comic rhythm, hands and bags, breath in cold air.
generated · insertsReefer doors close · decal
Latch thunk. Door decal added as a designed overlay in Fusion.
fx · overlayPull away
Two rigs out, tail lights shrinking, Santa waving.
generated · plateVO close · logo
Snow, type, C2C logo. ElevenLabs VO over the tail of S09.
motion · graphicsCast
Per the character bible. Susan named two; one of them needs a name attached before we generate anything.
Amara
Freightliner, reefer, white with teal accents. Beanie, denim jacket, work boots. Sharp, dry, unbothered — she's the one who spots the problem and decides.
- Asset
- Full design spec on file
- Status
- Ready to generate
Calvin “Cal” confirm
The older Black driver in the bible — Susan called him “the other Black character.” 68, calm authority, patient. He's the one who gets out of the truck.
- Asset
- No design spec yet
- Status
- Needs reference build
Santa new
Stylized 3D to sit with the cast — not a mall Santa, not a Coke Santa. Road-worn, red suit under a hi-vis vest. Dignity intact, day thoroughly ruined.
- Asset
- Design from scratch
- Status
- Look test needed
DOT officer
Keep him off camera. A uniform invites credibility problems and a real-agency read. Clipboard edge, a shoulder, a voice — that's all the scene needs.
- Asset
- None
- Status
- Recommend off-screen
Deliverables
Working ladder. Cutdowns come out of the master, not built separately.
16:9 · 58s
1920×1080 ProRes + H.264. Web and broadcast-safe versions. YouTube, site embed.
9:16 · 30s
Reels, TikTok, Stories. Reframe S02/S06 tight — faces carry it.
1:1 · 15s
Facebook and LinkedIn. Hook on the money line, then the mention.
3 images
Social cards pulled from the master grade.
Captions ×3
One per platform, plus the VO script as delivered.
Project bundle
Resolve project, plates, generated assets, prompts used.
Schedule
Back-planned from a Dec 15 air date. Five weeks, and the generation block is the long pole.
Checklist
Checked state saves in this browser. It's a working list, not a record.
Open items
What's blocking, and who can unblock it.
Susan said “the other Black character.” In the bible that's Calvin, 68. Maya is the Indian woman, Alfonzo the Hispanic lead. Worth confirming she means Cal.
Susan“Yells out” reads like he's outside the cab. If they convoy in two rigs, the pull-away shot is twice as good.
SusanRight now it's a brand thank-you. A single line about 24/7 holiday permitting would make it sell something.
Susan58s master assumed. Confirm 30s vertical and 15s square are wanted.
SusanTen setups, two passes. Worth setting a ceiling before the Nov 13 block opens.
JeremyAssets
Where everything lives on the work machine.
├── brief.md — concept, beats, cast mapping, open items
├── script.md — pending
├── refs/ — tone and look references
├── assets/ — generated characters, plates, stock
├── drafts/ — review cuts
├── renders/ — Resolve exports
└── site/ — this dashboard