1       Film Production Management System  Production Module – Overview

Film Production Management System^TM is the Project Management solution for the Film and Television. It will help you to easily store and retrieve information that you use on a day-to-day basis. From a script or idea landing on your desk through readers’ reports, script revisions, options, selecting the cast and crew, contracts, financing, scan scheduling, shooting and daily reporting, Film Production Management System will assist you every step of the way.

1.1    Production Module – What does it do?

The Production module manages the day-to-day information generated and used during the production phase of a project. As there is often a fuzzy area between the advanced development and pre-production, the Production module can start to capture information in advance of pre-production. If the project has been developed using the Film Production Management System Development module, then all information captured to date has easily transferred to the Production module. Using the Develop module is not however a pre-requisite of using the Production module.

With the Film Production Management System Production module you can capture, track and share the following information:

• Basic production information:

The Title, Director, Producers, key phases and milestone dates, names and addresses of production offices, key crew members responsible for contracts and agreements amongst others.

• Who’s Who:

All of the Cast, Crew and other Contacts including their contact details, agents and managers, makeup and wardrobe information, Credits and sensitive information such as compensation details, perks, approvals and rights and their contracts.

• Cast and Unit Lists:

Using the underlying data, Cast and Unit lists are generated in seconds.

• Locations and Sets: Addresses, contact details, maps, facilities available, contracts.

• Tasks: All tasks of sorting out cast and crew agreements to camera rentals and arranging the insurance and budgets can be assigned to specific crew members. Those responsible will get email reminders detailing the status of all of their assigned tasks. Film Production Management System came already populated with the most common tasks. Other tasks can be simply created as needed.

• Scenes: Scenes, Cast and Sets may be automatically imported from Final Draft Scene reports are generated manually. Cast, extras, stand-ins, special equipment can all be assigned to a Scene.

• Shoot Schedules: Scenes are scheduled using an intuitive drag and drop calendar – automatically generating cast shooting calls, set calls, transportation requirements and calls for any special equipment required for a scene.

• Call Sheets and Daily Reports: Call Sheets are generated automatically based on the Scenes scheduled. Rescheduling a Scene automatically updates the Call Sheet and all Cast and Set calls. Daily reports are simply generated by updating what was actually shot, what was not, what stock was used etc. Incomplete Scenes are generated as Part Scenes and shown as being Carried so they are not forgotten about. Timings and progress to date are calculated automatically so avoiding any mistakes brought about by long working hours

• Unit Management: Film Production Management System supports up to 4 units. These can be anywhere in the world and can all benefit from the same centralized information. Call Sheets and Daily Reports are generated per Unit.

• Stock: As stock is purchased it is added to the Stock inventory. As Daily Reports are created, Stock usage is entered, creating a new balance for the inventory.

• Credits: Credits are captured up front – as agreements are negotiated. It is easy to spot who has, and more importantly, who hasn’t been given a credit. Capturing the information in this way saves hours, if not days, in Post Production when the Credit Report needs to be created.

• Financial Tracking: During production there will be numerous “operational” budgets to cover petty cash spend on cabs and other incidental spend. This is all tracked and can be simply visible to the accountant.

• Rest Days and Movement Orders: These can simply be added to the Shoot Schedule.

• Ad-Hoc Diary entries: May be added to the Production Schedule and linked to a task if necessary.

• Music Cues: Soundtrack material may be added to scenes. This is then immediately available to the legal team to begin arranging clearances.

1.3    Re-use of information – saves time and avoids mistakes

The information that you enter into Film Production Management System is entered once and used many times. Because Film Production Management System manages so many aspects of Film Production you no longer need to manage your shoot schedules in one place, your call sheets in another and your Daily Reports and Cast lists somewhere else. Film Production needs to be flexible – schedules change, cast are unavailable and the weather can mean that a whole day’s shoot needs to be abandoned. With Film Production Management System it is easy to manage this flexibility. With the information in one place it not only saves time, but avoids mistakes.

1.3       Working together, sharing information.

Most importantly, Film Production Management System is a shared, collaborative system. This means all your colleagues have access to the same database of information as you. Updates that your colleague makes to a project will be visible to you within minutes. Film Production Management System’s security allows certain users restricted access to information. When in a muddy field on location you can work on your local copy of Film Production Management System. To share your updates with others and get access to their latest updates you simply connect via the Internet and within a couple of minutes you will have all of the updates available to you.

1.4       Disaster recovery – Film Production Management System has it covered.

When using Film Production Management System you will be working on a local copy of the data. When you next connect to the internet – whether in the office, hotel or via GPRS – all of your updates will be sent to the secure Film Production Management System servers. In addition, you will receive any changes made by your colleagues. This unique on-line/off-line capability gives you the freedom to be away from the office but still having access to all of your information.

Should you be unfortunate enough to irreparably damage your laptop, or even have it stolen, you can be up and running with access to all of your data as soon as you can procure a new computer.

If your computer is stolen, the Film Production Management System encryption technology ensures that your confidential cast and crew information cannot be seen by anybody else.