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Production Management
The Film Production Resources List
An attempt at cataloging useful repositories of knowledge. Over 100 links to government agencies and Industry standard websites.
Kaizen – The art of continuous improvement
In business, kaizen refers to activities that continuously improve all functions and involve all employees from the CEO to the assembly line workers. Let's explore how this concept can be applied to video production.
The big cost tracking problem of small shows
Cost reporting can be difficult, especially for production companies that output content daily. Together, let’s dive into the issue to find process and technology-driven solutions.
Post Production Workflow
Not too long ago, a friend with Line Producing experience was offered a job as a Post Supervisor. We sat down together and went over the various steps of the process. Here is a visual guide to help you with your first post production job!
Reviews
Call Sheet Software – a comparative review
Today, there is enough Call Sheet software on the market to warrant this comparative review to even exist. But is it good enough to rival a spreadsheet template?
The new Movie Magic Budgeting – Review
The latest release of Movie Magic Budgeting comes with a new look and cloud functionalities. But is it as innovative as its creator claims?
Google Sheets
Crew List Template & Tutorial
A dynamic Crew List template for your shows and a tutorial designed to teach Google Sheets beginners how to create similar documents.
Film Production Google Sheets Cheatsheet
A collection of useful formulas, peculiar syntaxes, and other tips for building production office spreadsheets.
Scraping view count from Facebook and Youtube in real time
Note: The content of this article is now outdated, but the logic remain the same. I highly recommend Ben Collin’s article on the subject to help you achieve your data scraping goals. Every production company wants to know if the content it produces is worth what it costs to make […]
The Basics – Array formulas
Array formulas are all about efficiency. In previous posts, I told you to simply copy and paste a formula from one row to an other in order to replicate it. I didn’t want to complicate things then, but technically, I was giving you an inefficient way of doing something. In […]
How To
How to invoice for your work
You would think that everyone knows how to get paid for their work. But I’ve been on the receiving end of hundreds of invoices, and it’s now clear that the practice remains a mystery for many. So here are a few tips on how to create, send, and tack an […]
Employee Vs Independent Contractor
Note: This article was written prior to the enactment of the AB-5 bill in California. In addition to the information contained below, I encourage you to read this article on Castifi’s blog. If someone has ever given you the option to chose between submitting an invoice or filling a time […]
How to read your Deal Memo
No one likes paperwork, especially the fine prints. But when working as a freelancer, it’s worth reading in a contract you sign. Sometimes a deal memo can be very minimal, so you might not see all the details outlined below, but you can always ask questions, and, if you judge […]
How to PA: Division of labor
Here’s my attempt at describing how a professional AD department works. Note that you’ll rarely see this kind of system on independent movies or shows. It takes a very experienced AD team to pull this off. Very often, the less experienced crew members just aren’t aware of it, and trying […]
Production Payroll
Increments of Six – How to write and read payroll time
“Military time”, “Filmitary time”, “Cine time”, “Decimal time”…There are many names for the time system used on time cards. I personally like to call it “Increments of Six”. But all in all, few people know much about it, what it’s for, or how to use it. So here is my […]
Payroll – How to calculate your hourly rate
More than once, I have received an email from a freelancer, pointing out that the hourly rate on their deal memo was wrong. And 99% of the time, it’s actually right! So without further ado… How to calculate your day rate if you are working in California: Most freelancers get […]