You can know what it costs if it doesn’t.

We are building a tool to help you check a decision before you commit money.

You see
What you would owe
What it would cost to change course
Whether the move leaves the money you have chosen to keep

Meet Vela, a fictional studio developing books for the screen. Its signed writing agreement keeps costing money when new projects stop.

Vela, before the change

0 weeks the line4.0 weeks cover14.2 weeks

The studio has cash for 14.2 weeks of its €700 weekly bills. The line marks the four weeks it has chosen to keep.

Try one change

Change the fee to see what the studio would have left. Editing it resets the example.

Cash cover 14.2 weeks€9,940 available

Shorten the writer retainer to 3 weeks of notice

Vela retains a writer for €180 a week. Twelve weeks of notice means €2,160 still to pay, even with no projects.

Fee in this example (€)

You have not agreed to the change yet. It costs €120. The original contract still stands.

Why it exists

A bank balance can look available even when you have already agreed to pay it out. Rent and writing fees keep coming when projects slow. Check those commitments before taking on more.

What the example shows

Fewer projects do not mean smaller bills

The €180 weekly minimum continues until the notice period ends.

Shorter notice means less left to pay

Three weeks of notice leaves €540 to pay: €1,620 less. The change fee is a separate cost; rent and other bills remain.

How it works

Start with your bills.

Enter your cash and signed payment terms. Check whether further charges are possible, or you could have to pay from your own pocket.

Say how much you will keep.

Name the amount you will not go below. It stays visible alongside the total of your business's recorded bills.

Check the cost of a change.

Lucid refuses a change that would leave less than your chosen amount. It also shows any charges with no fixed maximum.

Agree the change and record it.

You decide whether to proceed. Arrange the change with the supplier, then record the signed terms.

Watch it say no

"What are the odds projects stop?"

The money you will keep

Before spending, the studio chose to protect €2,800: four weeks of €700 bills. A change that would leave less is refused, however much it might earn.

Recorded business bills are a separate total. You also record any promise to pay from your own pocket. The studio's bank balance may not be all you could lose.

In development

The code that adds up recorded payments is written and tested. Studio records and the full decision process are still to come.

Vela also pays to keep a right open while it seeks a production partner. Read that example, or see what is built and what comes next.

Read the brief

Lucid's method comes from the Incerto. We record which passages support each rule and where we have made our own decisions.