diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 51a26251..8a2c86c8 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -22,7 +22,9 @@
   a negative stored in its own settings whenever the wired one is blank, and the editor has
   no field for that stored copy — so emptying the visible box left an earlier negative in
   force with nothing on screen saying so. The editor's box is authoritative, empty included.
-  The log now names which of the two supplied the text.
+  The log now names which of the two supplied the text. The negative primitive is also
+  written unconditionally, like the positive beside it — guarded, it kept the widget value
+  harvested from an IMPORTED workflow, so someone else's negative encoded on every run.
 
 ### Reverted
 - **GGUF loading is back to expanding the checkpoint at load.** The quantized path through
diff --git a/movie_editor/backend/builder.py b/movie_editor/backend/builder.py
index 83f8c764..ed34e3a8 100644
--- a/movie_editor/backend/builder.py
+++ b/movie_editor/backend/builder.py
@@ -421,8 +421,12 @@ def build(object_info: dict, models_config: dict, params: dict, media: dict | No
 
         # 2. param overrides on the primitives + sampler seed.
         graph["pos"]["inputs"]["value"] = params.get("prompt", "")
-        if params.get("negative_prompt") is not None:
-            graph["neg"]["inputs"]["value"] = params["negative_prompt"]
+        # Unconditional, like the positive above it. Guarded on `is not None`, an absent key
+        # left the node holding the widget value harvested from the IMPORTED workflow — so a
+        # negative that came in with someone else's graph kept encoding on every run while
+        # the editor's Negative prompt box sat empty and editable. The box is the only
+        # negative the editor has; empty has to mean empty.
+        graph["neg"]["inputs"]["value"] = params.get("negative_prompt") or ""
         if params.get("num_frames_per_scene") is not None:
             graph["frames"]["inputs"]["value"] = family_frames(family, params["num_frames_per_scene"])
         if params.get("frame_rate") is not None:
diff --git a/movie_editor/tests/test_builder.py b/movie_editor/tests/test_builder.py
index afac0eb1..52f20a5e 100644
--- a/movie_editor/tests/test_builder.py
+++ b/movie_editor/tests/test_builder.py
@@ -1270,3 +1270,13 @@ def test_the_editor_negative_reaches_studios_settings_too():
     settings = json.loads(graph["studio"]["inputs"]["studio_settings"])
     assert settings["refiner"]["negative_prompt"] == "no hats"
     assert graph["neg"]["inputs"]["value"] == "no hats"
+
+
+def test_an_imported_negative_does_not_survive_an_empty_box():
+    """`neg` is seeded from the imported workflow's widget values. Overwriting it only when
+    the editor sent a non-None negative meant an imported one kept encoding forever, with an
+    empty editable box on screen claiming otherwise."""
+    params = dict(PARAMS)
+    params.pop("negative_prompt", None)
+    graph, _report = builder.build(OI, {"slots": []}, params)
+    assert graph["neg"]["inputs"]["value"] == ""