A full breakdown of the best tools to help you keep track of your project throughout the pre-production and production process.
There are more and more unique ways nowadays to keep your projects organized, managed and on schedule. As a producer, your main responsibility, along with your production team, is to keep everything managed and to stay on top of everything. With all the contracts to collect, documents and invoices to send out, it is far more beneficial to do this with a planning system. While there are a lot of project management softwares, there are some that are designed specifically for filmmakers and film productions. From managing call sheets, to production schedules, to even script breakdowns, these softwares and sites are perfect for production office members looking to a manageable way to organize their production. There are tons online that could cost a good chunk of your production budget to use, but not every up-and-coming filmmaker can afford the prices of many high prices softwares. However, there are also many that you can use and test of out for free.
Here is a list of some film production management softwares that offer a free plan when you sign up:
Filmustage is a pre-production designed to cut down your costs and your time. It, like the other two programs on this list, are designed to help you with elements of the pre-production process. It specializes specifically in script breakdowns, shooting schedules and script analysis. In addition to these features, they will also be including budgeting management soon as well, which you allow you to be able to track production spending in the same place that you will be managing the schedule. While it does have a free plan, to upgrade would only cost $19 a month for their entry level paid plan. However, the free plan already gives you enough features to get your project properly managed.
There are two things to note about Filmustage that may serve as cons:
No team access with the free plan: While the program does allow you to share work with your team, team access is not available for the free plan. Seems to defeat the purpose if it's for a production team right? Well, if this program is only for your production manager, or assistant director, then having only one account might be okay for you. However, if you need full team access, you may need to consider adding the funds for a paid plan into your production budget.
AI for Script Breakdowns & Script Analysis: Filmustage is unique in the sense that it offers AI as a tool to aid with script breakdowns and script analysis. It can help with organising all the different categories in a breakdown, and catch potential legal and copyright issues in your script draft. (Please note that this in no way is meant to serve as a replacement for an assistant director, but rather as a tool to aid assistant directors. You still need and AD for your production). However, if you prefer doing it by hand and getting your information done and vetted by a professional, or don't want anything involving the use of AI, then Filmustage might not be the software for you. Luckily there are still two more alternatives on this list.
The Producer is designed to work for a myriad of production personnel and might be perfect for you and your team. With this platform you can manage almost every aspect of your pre-production process from one place, ranging from casting to scheduling. It gives you the ability to do everything within it's platform without needing to use separate files to get what you need to get done. It is specifically designed for you the set the stage for a perfect production. You can get all of these elements in the free plan, and to upgrade, it costs $25 a month.
With this program however, has a couple draw backs.
User Limits: You can only have one user under the free plan, and it only allows you up to 5G of storage for your project. It also only allows one project at a time. If you need more storage, you may need to consider the paid plan in your budget.
Studio Binder is by far the most well known production management software in the industry. What many may not know is that it has a paid plan specifically designed for you to try. Not only is Studio Binder a great information resource, it is also a great tool to use to schedule your production, and create call sheets within the program and do everything from creating mood baords, sharing work for approval, managing the production schedule, and virtually anything required for pre-production.
Many may be wondering why such a well known platform is so low down on this list, let alone at the bottom. This is largely because Studio Binder's free plan offers you the least out of the free plan softwares on this list.
Designed to be Limited: With the free plan you are only allowed 1 project per account, and the only services listed on its site are managing contacts and creating call sheets. The full extent of what can be used in the free plan is not fully outlined on the site, as it is only designed to be tested, and not fully used. If you are interested in using Studio Binder in full, you may need to consider the paid plan. If not, the two above softwares may be better for you to use for free on your initial project in comparison to this.
In Conclusion.....
While most programs will require you to pay to access the majority of their features, if you are a starting company or are working on your first project, these options could work just right for you and get you on the right track in terms of your production. They can also help you in figuring out which one you would prefer to upgrade to and pay for when the time is right.
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