Short-form video looks simple from the outside because the final artefact is short. The workflow behind it is not: source material, cuts, captions, titles, metadata, thumbnails, scheduling, and platform-specific packaging all create friction.
Where it is now
The YouTube Shorts pipeline lives in the active T-drive projects as a media automation area. It connects naturally to the photography stack, videogen MCP service, and the broader idea of turning creative output into a repeatable production lane.
The barriers
The barrier is taste. Automation can produce volume, but volume without editorial judgement is noise. A useful pipeline needs structure without flattening the creative decisions that make a short worth watching.
How I am approaching it
I am treating the pipeline like the rest of the stack: separate the repeatable mechanics from the judgement calls. Let tools handle formatting, movement, naming, rendering, and packaging; keep human taste in the loop for selection, pacing, and message.