Scheduling and Budget Software

Jim Brennan

Jim Brennan

VHS Member Old Skool
Things are going well for us here at Hooligan Nation. We have gotten some paying jobs, registered our trade name and even gotten a bank account. (There's even a little money in it :grin: ) We can't quit our day jobs just yet, but we are off to a decent start.

But our goals reach higher and we have begun pre-production on a feature we will be shooting next summer. Seeking investors, we have started a business plan for the project. Naturally, that plan requires budget and scheduling info. I have been looking into Movie Magic and EP software for both purposes, as they seem to be the industry standard. They are a bit pricey though (about 4 hundred or so a piece). While I am willing to invest in a good package, I want to make sure that it is worth it.

Anyone have any experience in this realm?

Thanks in advance
 
I have not purchased this, however, for $15 it might do the trick. Someone on DVXuser mentioned it a while ago, and I bookmarked it. I can not vouch for it, as I have not used it. Read the manual first, see if it is what you want. good luck.

Filmmakersoftware
 
Jim,

I'm using Gorilla 3.0 from Jungle software. It's geared toward the indie filmmaker. It was used on I Walk the Line and many others. Best of all, the professional version is only $399.

Here's the link:

http://www.junglesoftware.com

I've used it a lot and love it.

If you're going to interface your budgeting an scheduling with the studios you'll probably want to go with their standard EP Budgeting and Scheduling (used to be Movie Magic). But for the indie, Gorilla will do it all at less than half the price.
 
I used Movie Magic for years. It is excellent software and whenyou consider that the templates for "studio/network" budgets are there in the form they want it is excellent value. The added bonus of having union rates at your finger tips whether or not you are using union people makes it easy to do a budget pitch.If it is a union shoot you have all the fringe calculations done for you. Yes, you can get templates and there are other ways and software out there but Movie Magic is the standard. They have an indy version which I have not used but I am sure it is good value as well. And if you are the number cruncher as well as performing other roles the fact that scheduling and budget etc are all linked helps to lessen the impact on the team putting out call sheets and other documents on a daily basis.
The bottom line is there is a learning curve for this software and I would advise working with someone who has experinece using it.
Good luck
 
I have played with MM but bought Gorilla. MM is sort of the standard, though that only translates to 30 - 50% so it's not that standard. Gorilla has a few pluses, it is a full production and post package. It does scheduling and budgeting like MM, but it also does accounting and contact management, generates the reports you need while filming and can track shots and and logging. It also has a module for tracking and figuring payments made to investors and a festival index. It also has budget forms for all the major studios and TV networks/ producers. It comes in three price ranges, from $200 - $400. The only real difference being the number of shoot days and the budget limit. With the $400 version you also get the current union rates db so you can budget at union rates if you need to.
I'm fairly big on standards but I don't see the "standard" is all that defined by software in this case but by the forms and both cover that. In an ongoing poll of folks who do budgeting all the time, about as many people use spread sheets as use MM. Gorilla is much farther down the line but I think that has more to do with the fact that it has always been aimed at the indi film market rather than big budget or advertising.

Both will do budgeting and scheduling. MM is long established and fairly mature, Gorilla is the new kid on the block, so in some ways it's easier but in others it has some things to learn. On the other hand Gorilla is constantly being updated and if you need something they will talk to you about it and it might get put in a future revision. MM is more locked down because it's been around longer. Personally I thought Gorilla was a better deal because it is widely used though not the major player MM is (sort of Mac VS PC) and it covered things that I was going to have to buy other software for if I went with MM.
 
Thanks for the tips. The main reason I look for 'Industry Standards' is to try and represent my endeavors as "professional". All things being equal, I will tend to go with what is widely accepted. All things, however, are rarely equal.

Luckily I still have a couple of months to decide. This will most likely be my Christmas gift to myself. I think I will download some demos to try out.

Thanks again.
 
Nooob just bought Gorilla but is short on bananas for the tutorial DVD at $70, does anyone have the DVD lying around or?
 
Anyone know if its still Gorilla vs Movie Magic? I've done a bit of research and this can be a huge aid on my next project. Gorilla is looking nice, whereas Movie Magic looks a little more complex (and you'd have to buy individual programs instead of an AIO). If Movie Magic is the standard however, probably a good idea to learn it.

Thoughts?

Kegan
 
Kegan, what I like about Gorilla IMO is the schedualing, it automatically imports Final draft or MM and separates indoors from outdoors in the script so your setups are quite easy. It also breaks down how many pages your willing to shoot each day and arranges those days for you (or at least thats what has done for me)

Niles
 
Thanks Niles - that actually sounds really useful. I think I'll try it out for my next project.

Kegan
 
I've used a hybrid approach. MM scheduling and my own spreadsheet for budgeting. Gorilla sounds pretty good though I've never used it and I tend to stay away from the budgeting side of MM since all I've dealt with have been low budget projects and I like the freedom to populate my own data for costs based on the scheduling.

-M
 
not to revive a dead thread, but I use celtx, its great for everything, all in one package and theres a free version even. It also has an iphone app and you can link everything via a cloud type service, so its great for working with multiple people on one project. I've been using it for several years and highly recommend it!

http://www.celtx.com/
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top