Getting Started

FilmBase is a desktop application for managing film and television productions. It brings together script breakdown, budgeting, scheduling, and crew management in one offline-first workspace.

Creating a Project

From the Project Hub, click New Project to create a new production. Each project is a self-contained file that you can back up, copy, or share.

Projects are organized around shooting blocks — distinct phases of your shoot like "Main Unit", "Second Unit", or "Reshoots". Every new project starts with a default block. You can create additional blocks in the Production Schedule page (Schedule > Production Schedule) by adding a phase and marking it as a shooting block. Each block can have its own script, stripboard, and schedule.

Typical Workflow

1. Import your script — go to Script > Script Breakdown and click Import
2. Tag breakdown elements — manually highlight text, or use AI auto-tagging
3. Set your shoot days — go to the Stripboard, type the number of shoot days in the toolbar
4. Arrange your schedule — drag strips manually or click Optimize for AI scheduling
5. Assign calendar dates — go to Shoot Schedule and click dates on the calendar
6. Build your budget — go to Budget > Detailed Budget
7. Generate call sheets — go to Schedule > Call Sheets, select a shoot day, and export

Download & Install

Getting the Installer

After purchasing a license, you can download FilmBase in two ways:

• Email receipt — Your purchase confirmation email from Polar contains a download link. Click it to go to the download page.
• Download page — Visit the Download page directly and choose your platform.

FilmBase is available for Windows (Windows 10 or later) and macOS (macOS 12 Monterey or later).

Installing

1. Download the installer for your platform (Windows or Mac).
2. Run the installer and follow the on-screen prompts.
3. Launch FilmBase once installation is complete.

Activating Your License

On first launch, FilmBase will prompt you to enter your license key:

1. Find your license key in the purchase confirmation email from Polar.
2. Paste the key into the activation field.
3. Click Activate.

Navigation & Layout

FilmBase is organized into five main tabs accessible from the top navigation bar:

• Script — Import scripts, break down scenes, manage characters, elements, shotlists, and storyboards
• Schedule — Build stripboards, allocate scenes to shoot days, generate call sheets, manage locations and transport
• Budget — Create and manage production budgets, track actuals, plan payment schedules, and forecast cashflow
• Cast & Crew — Manage contacts, departments, and crew assignments
• Reports — Generate financial and scheduling reports for stakeholders

Each main tab has a sidebar with sub-sections. The sidebar can be collapsed for more screen space. Settings opens as a full-screen overlay (gear icon, top-right) — your navigation state is preserved when you open and close it.

Importing Scripts

FilmBase supports importing scripts in three formats:

• FDX (Final Draft) — Best option. Preserves all metadata, formatting, and can import existing breakdown tags.
• PDF — Parsed using built-in text extraction. You can select specific page ranges. Formatting may vary.
• Plain Text / Fountain — Simple text-based screenplay format.

How to Import

1. Navigate to Script > Script Breakdown in the sidebar.
2. Click the Import New Script button in the toolbar.
3. Browse and select your script file (.fdx, .pdf, or .txt).
4. Wait for parsing to complete — you'll see a scene count summary.

Revision Imports

When importing a revised script, FilmBase uses scene matching to preserve your existing scheduling data (stripboard assignments, breakdown tags). Locked scene numbers are preserved, and new scenes receive suffix letters (e.g., 5A, 5B).

Script Editor

The Script Editor provides a formatted view of your screenplay with full editing capabilities.

Formatting

Standard screenplay elements are displayed with industry formatting: scene headings, action, character, dialogue, parenthetical, transition, and dual dialogue. Use Ctrl/Cmd+B, Ctrl/Cmd+I, and Ctrl/Cmd+U for bold, italic, and underline.

Scene Numbering

Scenes are automatically numbered on import. You can lock scene numbers to prevent renumbering when importing revised scripts. Locked scenes receive suffix letters for inserted scenes (e.g., 42A, 42B).

Revision Tracking

Revisions follow the industry-standard color order: White, Blue, Pink, Yellow, Green, Goldenrod, etc. Mark paragraphs as revised to track changes across drafts. Each revision is color-coded in the editor.

Title Page

A WYSIWYG title page editor is built in. Fields include: Title, Written By, Based On, Draft, Draft Date, Contact, and Copyright. Toggle between the script and title page from the toolbar.

Find & Replace

Full find and replace with options for case-sensitive and whole-word matching. Navigate matches with find next/previous, replace single occurrences, or replace all.

Scene Navigator Panel

A collapsible panel on the left lists all scenes in your script. Click any scene to jump directly to it in the editor. Use this for quick navigation through long scripts.

Script Notes

Attach notes to any paragraph in the script. Notes appear as expandable indicators alongside the text and are color-coded for easy identification. Click the note indicator to view, edit, or delete notes.

Other Features

• Full undo/redo support
• Character name autosuggest when typing character paragraphs
• Scene heading suggestions (INT./EXT., locations, time of day)
• Reformat mode to change paragraph types
• Zoom controls
• Right-click for cut, copy, paste, delete, and select all

Script Breakdown

Script breakdown is the process of identifying and tagging all production elements in each scene — props, wardrobe, vehicles, special effects, extras, and more.

Manual Tagging

1. Highlight text in a script line that represents an element (e.g., "Red Sports Car").
2. A tagging popup appears near your selection.
3. Select the appropriate category (e.g., "Vehicles").
4. The text is underlined in the category color and added to the element list.

AI Auto-Tagging

FilmBase includes AI-powered auto-tagging that runs entirely on your device — no internet required. There are two AI modes:

• Understand — Fast, lightweight entity extraction. Good for quick passes.
• Reason (Hybrid) — Combines keyword matching with a local language model for deeper, context-aware extraction.

AI results appear as suggestions that you can accept or dismiss individually. A confidence threshold (default 0.5) filters low-confidence matches. Character names and common camera directions are automatically excluded.

Element Categories

FilmBase supports 20 breakdown element categories:

Scenes Panel (Left)

The collapsible left panel lists all scenes in your script. Each entry shows the scene number, story day, page count, and estimated duration — all editable inline. Use the search bar to find scenes by name or number, and the shoot day dropdown to filter to a specific day's scenes. Click a scene to load it in the breakdown view.

Scene Tags Panel (Right)

The collapsible right panel shows all breakdown tags for the currently selected scene, organized by category (color-coded cards). From this panel you can:

• Click + Add Tag on any category to manually add a tag without selecting text
• Add or remove tag categories from the panel
• Edit tag names inline by clicking on them
• See the tag count per category at a glance

Right-Click Menus

Right-click a tag in the Scene Tags panel for:

• Edit Tag Name — Rename the tag
• Apply to All Occurrences — Find and tag every instance of this text across all scenes
• Promote to Element — Add this tag to the Elements Manager
• Link to Existing Element — Connect this tag to an element already in the manager
• Unlink from Element — Remove the element connection
• Remove Tag — Delete the tag from this scene

Right-click an AI suggestion for:

• Change Category — Move to a different category (Props, Wardrobe, Set Dressing, etc.)
• Accept Tag — Confirm the suggestion
• Dismiss — Remove the suggestion

Characters

The Characters view lists all characters extracted from your script. Each character shows their dialogue count, scene count, and assigned actor.

• Actor Assignment — Assign cast contacts to characters via a searchable dropdown. Primary actor assignment is tracked.
• Reordering — Drag-and-drop to reorder characters. Auto-numbering updates based on position.
• Scene Presence — See which scenes each character appears in at a glance.

Elements Manager

A centralized view of all breakdown elements across your script. Filter by category, search by name, and edit element properties.

Budget Integration

Elements can be linked to budget line items. Enable Auto Sync on an element to automatically keep the budget line item's rate, quantity, and multiplier in sync. Changes in either direction are reflected bidirectionally.

• Import elements to budget (creates corresponding line items)
• Usage days are calculated automatically based on shoot day assignments
• Vendor assignment from contacts flagged as suppliers
• Default rate, unit, and quantity per element

Sides

Sides are the specific script pages needed for a given shoot day. Select a shoot day from the dropdown, or pick scenes manually to preview and export sides.

• Selection modes — Choose by shoot day (auto-selects scenes) or manual scene selection
• Preview — Live preview with proper screenplay formatting and page count
• PDF Export — Standard screenplay formatting with scene numbering, revision color stripes, and page numbers
• Zoom controls for comfortable previewing

Shotlist

Plan individual shots for each scene with detailed metadata.

Per-Shot Data

• Shot type — Wide, Medium, Close-up, etc.
• Shot movement — Static, Pan, Tilt, Dolly, Crane, Handheld, Steadicam, etc.
• Shot angle — Eye level, Low angle, High angle, Dutch, Bird's eye, etc.
• Lens — Specific lens specification (e.g., "50mm f/1.4")
• Equipment notes — Additional gear requirements
• Description and estimated duration
• VFX / Sound flags — Mark shots requiring visual effects or special sound work

Script Context Panel (Right)

Open the collapsible right panel to see the current scene's script text alongside your shot list. This is essential for lining — it shows the script paragraphs with a zoom slider for comfortable reading.

Script Coverage (Lining)

Enable Lining Mode to select script paragraphs covered by each shot. Coverage is visualized with color-coded lanes alongside the script text, showing exactly which dialogue or action each shot covers. Export to PDF or Excel.

Right-Click Menu

Right-click any shot card for:

• Display Options — Toggle which fields show on cards: Thumbnail, Type, Movement, Angle, Lens, Equipment, Description, VFX Notes, Sound Notes
• Shot Color — Assign a color category: Master (Blue), Coverage (Red), VFX (Purple), B-Roll (Green), Insert (Yellow), Special (Pink)
• Delete Shot — Remove the shot

Storyboard

Visualize your shots as storyboard panels with two viewing modes:

• Cards View — Grid of shot cards with images, descriptions, and metadata
• Timeline View — Horizontal sequence showing shots in order

Animatic Playback

Watch your storyboard as a movie with play/pause/stop controls. Playback runs at 24fps with the current shot highlighted. Supports seeking, looping, and total duration tracking.

Image Management

Upload images per shot panel. Images are stored locally in your project's media folder. Export storyboards to PDF or generate an MP4 video of your animatic timeline.

Panels & Right-Click

In Cards view, the left panel shows a scene navigator and the right panel shows the script context (same as the Shotlist view). Right-click any storyboard card for Display Options, Shot Color assignment, and Delete Shot — identical to the Shotlist context menu.

Magic Sheet

The Magic Sheet is a matrix view showing which elements and characters appear in which scenes. Rows are elements (grouped by category), columns are scenes.

• Click any cell to toggle a tag on/off for that scene
• Filter by category: Cast, Props, Wardrobe, Extras, Vehicles, and more
• Shows total occurrence count per element and per scene
• Cast assignments automatically create character-scene links

Stripboard

The stripboard is the primary scheduling tool in film production. Each scene is a colored strip, and strips are arranged into shoot days separated by End of Day markers.

Shooting Blocks & Scenarios

Every new project starts with a default shooting block. You can create additional blocks (e.g., "Second Unit", "Reshoots") to organize different phases of production. Each block has its own script and schedule.

Within each block, you can create multiple scenarios — alternative arrangements of the same script. Scenarios appear as tabs at the top of the stripboard. One scenario is marked as the master (shown with a star), which is the active schedule used by call sheets and reports. To manage scenarios:

• Click the + button at the top-right of the tab bar and select Create New Scenario
• Right-click any scenario tab to rename, duplicate, set as master, or delete it
• Each scenario tab has its own toolbar with all stripboard actions

Setting Up Shoot Days

Before you can schedule scenes, you need to define how many shoot days you have:

1. In the stripboard toolbar, look for the calendar icon next to the shooting block name.
2. Next to it you'll see a number input labeled "shoot days". Type in the total number of shoot days for this block (e.g., 18).
3. End of Day markers are automatically created and inserted between your scene strips, dividing them into that many days.

Manually Arranging Strips

You can drag and drop strips to reorder them manually:

• Click a strip to select it, or hold Ctrl/Cmd and click to multi-select
• Drag selected strips to a new position — they'll be assigned to the shoot day based on their position relative to the End of Day markers
• All reordering is fully undoable with Ctrl/Cmd+Z
• Right-click any strip for quick actions: insert day breaks, split scenes, or send to boneyard

AI-Powered Optimization

To have FilmBase automatically arrange your scenes into an optimized schedule:

1. Make sure you've set your shoot days count (see above).
2. Click the Optimize button in the scenario toolbar.
3. An optimization dialog opens with two columns of settings:

Left column — Speed:

• Quick (~5 sec) — Fast pass with basic constraints
• Smart (~15 sec) — Balanced optimization with location clustering and actor consolidation
• Thorough (~60 sec) — Deep optimization considering all constraints and GPS proximity

Left column — Constraints:

• Max pages per day — Limit how many script pages can be scheduled in one day
• Max locations per day — Limit location moves per day
• Separate day/night — Prevents mixing day and night scenes in the same shoot day
• Turnaround hours — Minimum rest between consecutive shoot days (default 10)

Right column — Priority:

• Balanced (Recommended) — Considers all factors equally
• Prioritize Locations — Groups scenes at the same location together to minimize company moves
• Prioritize Actors — Minimizes the number of working days per actor to reduce costs

Right column — GPS Optimization (if your locations have GPS coordinates):

• Minimize Travel Distance — Groups nearby locations together
• Optimize Travel Route — Minimizes backtracking between locations
• Furthest Location Last Day — Schedules the most distant location at the end of the shoot

Click Start Optimization to run. A progress indicator shows the status. When complete, you'll see a results summary. The stripboard is updated with the optimized arrangement.

Display Options

Customize how the stripboard looks using the toolbar controls:

• Toggle between compact and expanded strip heights
• Show/hide columns: INT/EXT, Time of Day, Location, Set, Cast Numbers, Story Day, Page Count, Estimated Time, Synopsis
• Color strips by location or apply custom colors

Inspector Panel (Right)

Open the collapsible right panel to inspect and edit the selected strip. What you see depends on what's selected:

• Scene strip — Shows scene header (number, INT/EXT, time of day, location), synopsis, story day, page count, real world set, shooting mode, and the cast list for that scene
• End of Day marker — Shows the day number and date, editable call time and wrap time, day statistics (scene count, pages), and a turnaround warning if the gap to the next day is too short
• Banner strip — Shows the banner text

Right-Click Menu

Right-click any strip on the board for a full context menu:

• Cut / Paste Below / Cancel Cut — Move strips around
• Inspect — Open the inspector panel for this strip
• Add Banner Strip / Add Meal Break / Add Company Move — Insert special markers
• Change Color — Apply a strip color (INT. Day, EXT. Day, EXT. Night, INT. Night, Dawn/Dusk, plus Teal, Purple, Red, Lime, Indigo, Amber, Cyan, Pink, or Reset to Default)
• Split Scene — Divide a scene into two strips
• Add Cast Member — Assign a cast member to this scene
• Scene Status — Mark as Shot, Mark as Not Shot (Create Pickup), or Mark as Not Shot (No Pickup)
• Move to Boneyard — Remove the strip from the schedule (can be restored later)
• Delete End of Day / Delete Banner — Remove markers

Scene Allocator

The Scene Allocator is a visual, card-based alternative to the traditional stripboard view. Instead of a linear strip list, scenes appear as cards organized into shoot day groups.

How to Use It

1. Select a shooting block and scenario from the toolbar (same as the stripboard).
2. Set your shoot days using the shoot days input in the toolbar.
3. The left panel shows Unassigned scenes — scenes not yet placed into any shoot day.
4. The right panel shows your shoot day cards in a grid. Drag scenes from the unassigned panel onto a day card, or drag scenes between day cards to rearrange.
5. Each day card displays totals at a glance: page count, scene count, and estimated time.

Unassigned & Completed Panels (Left)

The collapsible left panel has two tabs:

• Unassigned — Scenes not yet placed into any shoot day. Drag them onto day cards to schedule them.
• Completed — Scenes marked as shot. These are moved out of the active schedule.

Conflict Warnings

Each day card shows a conflict badge if there are scheduling issues — such as turnaround violations, actor double-bookings, or location availability problems.

Call Sheets

Call sheets are the daily documents distributed to cast and crew. FilmBase generates professional, industry-standard call sheet PDFs that auto-populate from your stripboard and schedule data.

How to Create a Call Sheet

1. Navigate to Schedule > Call Sheets in the sidebar.
2. Select the shoot day from the Shoot Days panel on the left (shows day number, date, and block name — a checkmark appears next to days that already have a call sheet).
3. The running order, cast list, and locations are automatically populated from your master scenario stripboard.
4. Fill in additional details: crew call time, weather, emergency contacts, personnel, department call times, background/extras, and any notes.
5. Click Export PDF to generate the finished call sheet.

Changes auto-save as you type — you can come back and edit any call sheet at any time.

What's Included

• Production info — Name, company, project code
• Timings — Crew call, shooting call, first shot, lunch, estimated wrap, sunrise/sunset
• Weather — Condition, high/low temperature, wind speed, rain chance
• Emergency — Medic, hospital (name/number), police, fire, security
• Running order — Scene number, pages, D/N, set & description, cast numbers, notes
• Cast list — Character, artist, arrival, H/MU, costume, set call, SWF status (from Day Out of Days)
• Locations — Address, map link, base camp, parking, nearest hospital
• Personnel — Key crew, executives, department calls with times
• Background/Extras — Count, descriptions, scene numbers, call times
• Advance schedule — Preview of tomorrow's scenes

Smart Bundling with Sides

When exporting, you can include script sides for the day's scenes directly in the PDF, so cast and crew receive everything in one document.

Shoot Schedule

The Shoot Schedule maps your stripboard shoot days onto actual calendar dates. This is where you decide when each shoot day happens in the real world.

How to Assign Dates

1. Navigate to Schedule > Shoot Schedule.
2. Select the shooting block you want to schedule from the toolbar.
3. You'll see a calendar view (toggle between Month and Week views). Unscheduled shoot days are listed as available for assignment.
4. Click on an empty calendar date to assign the next unscheduled shoot day to that date.
5. Click on an already-assigned shoot day to edit its call time, wrap time, location, and notes.

What Happens When You Assign Dates

Once dates are set here, they flow through the rest of the app:

• The End of Day markers on the stripboard will display the assigned calendar dates
• The Day Out of Days chart uses these dates to calculate hold days and availability
• Call sheets display the correct date in their header
• Conflict detection uses actor and location availability against these dates

If you change the order of dates, shoot days are automatically renumbered chronologically.

Production Schedule

A Gantt-style timeline of your entire production — from development and pre-production through post.

Creating Shooting Blocks

This is where shooting blocks are created and managed. Blocks are the foundation of all scheduling in FilmBase:

1. Create a new phase by clicking the Add Phase button.
2. Give it a name (e.g., "Main Unit"), set start and end dates, and choose a color.
3. Check the "Shooting Block" checkbox to make this phase a shooting block.
4. Once marked as a shooting block, it appears in the block selector across all Schedule pages (Stripboard, Call Sheets, etc.).

All new projects start with a default block, but you can create as many as you need — for example, separate blocks for "Main Unit", "Second Unit", "Pick-up Days", or "Reshoots".

Events

Add production events to the timeline (location scouts, rehearsals, table reads, etc.). Each event has:

• Label, date, start/end time, location, and notes
• Priority: Low, Medium, or High
• Category: Pre-Production, Production, Post-Production, Rehearsal, Travel, etc.
• Recurrence: None, Daily, Weekly, or Monthly
• Attendees

Views

Switch between three views:

• Timeline (Gantt) — Horizontal bars showing phase durations with zoom controls
• Month view — Full month calendar grid
• Week view — Detailed 7-day view

Holidays can be added to block out dates on the timeline.

Day Out of Days

The Day Out of Days (DOOD) chart shows when each cast member is needed across the full production schedule. It's an industry-standard document used to track actor working days, hold days, and availability.

How It Works

The DOOD is automatically generated from your stripboard and shoot schedule. Rows are characters/actors, columns are shoot days. Each cell shows a status code indicating what that actor is doing on that day. Statuses are auto-calculated but can be manually overridden.

Status Codes

These are the industry-standard codes used in the chart:

Calendar Mode

Toggle to Calendar Mode to see every date in your production range — not just shoot days. In this view you can:

• Click any date cell to add events: Hold, Travel, Rehearsal, Fitting, Drop, or Pickup
• Manual overrides are preserved when auto-recalculating status codes
• The hold threshold (how many idle days before an actor is "dropped" rather than "held") defaults to 7 days and can be configured

Conflict Detection

FilmBase automatically flags issues on the DOOD:

• Turnaround violations — When rest between consecutive shoot days is less than the minimum (default 10 hours)
• Actor conflicts — When an actor is scheduled on a day they've marked as unavailable
• Calendar conflicts — When a shoot day overlaps with a rehearsal, fitting, or travel day

Locations

Manage all your filming locations — real-world addresses, base camp details, parking, hospitals, and availability.

Adding a Location

1. Navigate to Schedule > Locations and click Add Location.
2. Enter the real-world location name and address.
3. Paste GPS coordinates or a map URL — FilmBase parses coordinates from most map URL formats automatically.
4. Fill in additional details: base camp address, tech parking, crew parking, nearest hospital, and contact info.

Linking Script Locations

Your script contains location names from scene headings (e.g., "INT. WAREHOUSE"). These need to be linked to real-world locations. Unassigned script locations appear as clickable chips — click one and select which real-world location it maps to. This link is used by the stripboard optimizer to group scenes at the same physical location.

Map View

Toggle the map view to see all your locations plotted visually. Click any pin to select it. Locations without GPS coordinates appear in a list below the map. FilmBase automatically calculates distances between locations — completely offline, no internet required.

Availability Calendar

Set available and unavailable date ranges per location (e.g., a venue is only available certain weeks). This availability feeds into the conflict detection system — if you schedule a scene at a location on a date it's unavailable, you'll see a warning on the stripboard and DOOD.

Drivers & Transport

Manage transport logistics — driver assignments, pickup schedules, and transport manifests for each shoot day.

Setting Up Drivers

1. Navigate to Schedule > Drivers.
2. Select a shoot day from the toolbar.
3. The Morning Call run is auto-populated with actors scheduled for that day based on your master scenario stripboard.
4. Assign a driver to each passenger by selecting from your driver contacts, or mark them as Self-Drive.
5. Enter pickup time, pickup location, dropoff time, and dropoff location for each assignment. Travel time calculates automatically.

Transport Runs

Each shoot day has default runs: Morning Call and Wrap. You can add custom runs for other needs (Tech Scout, Location Recce, etc.). Each run has its own scheduled time and passenger list.

Where Transport Data Appears

Driver assignments aren't isolated — pickup and arrival times automatically appear on the cast rows in your Call Sheets. You can also export a dedicated Driver Report PDF with the full daily transport manifest.

Budget Summary

An executive-level dashboard showing your production's financial health at a glance.

• Overview cards — Total Budget, Total Spent, Variance, Pre/Production/Post breakdowns
• ATL/BTL — Above the Line and Below the Line totals (when enabled)
• Charts — Pie chart (budget breakdown by category), bar chart (Estimated vs Actual)
• Alerts — Over-budget categories highlighted with variance amounts
• Top spenders — Ranked list of highest actual expenditures
• Navigation — Click any category to drill into the Detailed Budget

Detailed Budget

The core budgeting tool. Build your production budget line by line with a 4-level hierarchy: Categories > Accounts > Details > Sub-Details.

Building Your Budget

1. Navigate to Budget > Detailed Budget in the sidebar.
2. Add a top-level Category (e.g., "Camera", "Art Department", "Talent").
3. Inside each category, add Accounts (e.g., "Director of Photography", "Camera Rental").
4. Inside accounts, add Detail rows for individual line items with rate, quantity, and unit.
5. For more granularity, add Sub-Detail rows inside detail rows.

View Modes

• Tree View — Hierarchical expand/collapse showing all levels at once. Click the arrow next to any row to expand or collapse it.
• Drilldown View — Navigate level by level with a breadcrumb trail. Click into a category to see its accounts, click an account to see its line items. Use the breadcrumb to navigate back up.

Using Formulas & Global Variables

Instead of typing a fixed number, you can enter a formula in the rate or quantity fields. For example, type =ShootDays * 350 to calculate a daily rate across all shoot days.

Define global variables in Project Settings > Budget > Globals (e.g., "ShootDays = 18", "CrewSize = 25"). Reference them by name in any formula across the entire budget. When you update the variable, all formulas using it recalculate automatically.

Math Rows

Insert a math row to calculate a percentage of other rows. For example, add a "10% Contingency" row that automatically computes 10% of selected categories or line items. The value updates whenever source items change.

Units

Choose from time-based units (Days, Weeks, Months, Hours) or standard units (Allow, Flat, Per, Rate). You can also use shorthand like "10w 2d" (10 weeks and 2 days) and FilmBase will convert it automatically.

Multi-Currency

If your production spans multiple countries, assign different currencies to individual line items. Set up currencies and exchange rates in Project Settings > Budget > Currency.

Inspector Panel (Right)

The collapsible right panel has two modes — toggle between them using the icons at the top of the panel:

Item Mode — When you click a line item, the inspector shows its details:

• Applied Fringes — All available fringes are listed. Click to toggle a fringe on or off for that item. Shows the fringe name, rate (%), and whether it's statutory.
• Linked Global Variables — Shows globals linked to the item's Rate, Multiplier, or Amount. Click an available global to link it. Click the unlink button to remove.
• Total Override — For parent items or categories, apply a global variable to override the calculated total.
• Assigned Set & Groups — Manage set and group assignments for filtering.

Settings Mode — Create and manage globals and fringes without leaving the budget:

• Fringes tab — Click + Create New Fringe to add a fringe with a name, rate (%), optional cutoff, and statutory flag. A sub-tab lets you create Fringe Groups (bundles of fringes applied together).
• Globals tab — Click + Add to create a global variable with a name, value or formula, target field (Rate, Multiplier, Amount, or Total), and unit type. A sub-tab lets you create Global Groups.

Visual Indicators

Budget rows show icons so you can see at a glance which items have fringes or globals applied:

• % icon (green badge) — Appears in the row's tags area when fringes are applied. Hover to see how many fringes.
• Globe icon (blue badge) — Appears in the tags area when a global is applied as a total override.
• Small globe badge on columns — A small circular indicator appears on the Rate, Multiplier, or Amount column when a global variable is linked to that specific field.
• Database icon (green) — Indicates the item is linked to a breakdown element.
• File icon — Indicates a sub-budget item.

Right-Click Menu

Right-click any budget row for a full context menu:

• Add Sibling / Add Child — Insert items at the same level or nested inside
• Insert Sub-Budget — Reference another budget scenario
• Import Elements — Pull in elements from the breakdown
• Duplicate / Cut / Copy / Paste — Standard clipboard operations
• Change Color — Apply a row color (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Teal, Blue, Purple, Pink)
• Set Section — Mark as Above the Line or Below the Line (categories only)
• Set Production Phase — Tag as Pre-Production, Production, or Post-Production (categories only)
• Apply Global Variable — Select a global to link to this item
• Apply Fringe — Toggle a fringe on this item (leaf items only)
• Set Currency — Assign a specific currency (leaf items only)
• Convert to Math Row / Formula Row / Standard Row — Change the row type
• Insert Subtotal Below — Add a calculation row summing items above
• Manage Groups / Assign Set — Organize for filtering
• Delete — Remove the item

Fringes

Fringes are percentage-based additions (tax, insurance, pension, benefits) applied to line items. You can create fringes in the inspector panel's Settings mode, or in Project Settings > Budget > Fringes. To apply a fringe, select a line item and toggle it in the inspector's Applied Fringes section, or right-click and use Apply Fringe.

Other Features

• Sub-budgets — line items that reference other budget scenarios
• Groups and sets for filtering and organizing line items
• Cut/copy/paste with full undo/redo
• Account code auto-generation with configurable numbering schemes (Settings > Budget > Account Codes)

Actuals

Track real expenses against your budget. Each expense is linked to a budget line item for instant variance analysis.

• Status tracking — Scheduled, Paid, Overdue, Due Soon
• Variance — Color-coded Estimated vs Actual comparison
• Expense panel — Add/edit expenses per line item with amounts, dates, and descriptions
• ATL/BTL sections — Above/Below the Line grouping supported

Payment Schedule

A matrix view tracking when budget amounts are due. Rows are line items (grouped by category), columns are dates.

• Zoom levels — Monthly, Weekly, or Daily granularity
• Cell data — Total amount, expense count, and status (paid/overdue/due soon/scheduled)
• Summary totals — Total Estimated, Total Actual, Total Variance, Overdue Count, Upcoming Count
• Actions — Add payments, mark as paid, bulk mark entire categories as paid
• Configurable date range for the visible window

Cashflow

A visual dashboard showing how money flows out over time.

• Burn rate — Weekly spending rate calculation
• Exhaustion date — Projected date when budget runs out at current rate
• Charts — Cumulative spending line chart over time
• Alerts — Overdue expenses panel and upcoming expenses (this week)
• Footer summary — Total Budget, Total Spent, Remaining

Contacts

Your production address book. Manage all cast, crew, vendors, and background actors.

Contact Types

Each contact can be flagged as: Crew, Cast, Supplier, Background Actor, and/or Driver. Multiple flags can be active simultaneously.

Fields

• Personal — First name, last name, email, phone, profile image, notes
• Business — Business name, registration number, VAT number, business address
• Banking — Bank name, account number, branch code
• Crew roles — Multi-select department and role assignments
• Availability — Blackout dates with unavailable periods and notes
• Rate cards — Actor rate card system for cast members

Global Contacts

Contacts can be shared across projects via the Global Contacts database (accessible from the Project Hub). Import global contacts into any project.

Departments

Organize your crew by department and role.

• Create departments (Camera, Sound, Art, Grip, Electric, etc.) with crew roles inside them
• Visual hierarchy showing department > role structure
• Drag-and-drop roles between departments
• Unassigned roles shown separately
• Statistics: total departments, total roles, unassigned count

Financial Reports

Generate formatted financial documents for producers, investors, and stakeholders. Export to PDF (A4 landscape) or Excel.

• Budget Top Sheet — Category-level summary with ATL/BTL sections
• Detailed Budget Report — Full line-item detail with quantities, rates, and amounts
• Cost Report — Budget vs Actuals comparison
• Variance Report — Highlights over/under budget items

Scheduling Reports

Generate scheduling documents per shooting block. Export to PDF or Excel.

• One-Liner Schedule — Scene list in shooting order with scene number, description, INT/EXT, DAY/NIGHT, cast numbers, pages. Day breaks show totals.
• Day Out of Days — Cast availability grid with standard status codes (SW, W, WF, H, etc.)
• Cast List — Character assignments with actor name, phone, email, scene count, and total pages
• Breakdown Sheets — One page per scene (landscape) with all tagged elements organized by category
• Driver Reports — Daily transport overview with driver schedules, passenger assignments, and pickup/dropoff details

Global Settings

Settings that apply to all projects.

• User Profile — Username, email, display name, production company, role, avatar
• Theme — Dark mode, Light mode, or System default
• Infrastructure — Default projects folder, backups folder, auto-backup frequency (15/30 min, hourly, daily, manual)
• Stripboard Appearance — Default strip height, column visibility, color mode
• Budget Appearance — Font sizes, weights, text transforms per hierarchy level. Grid line visibility, thickness, and colors.
• Default Account Numbering — Base number, increment, format types per level (numeric, alpha, roman), separators
• Licensing — Enter and manage your license key

Project Settings

Settings that apply to the current project only.

Budget Settings

• Currency — Define currencies with exchange rates for multi-currency budgets
• Units — Custom unit definitions and conversions
• Fringes — Fringe benefit tiers (tax, insurance, benefits) applied to categories
• Global Variables — Named values/formulas (e.g., "ShootDays = 30") referenced throughout the budget
• Account Codes — Customize numbering format per level with regeneration support

Script Settings

Script-specific configuration per project.

Backup & Restore

Backups

FilmBase creates clean, optimized backups of your project data. Auto-backups run at the frequency set in Global Settings. Manual backups can be created at any time via the toolbar. Backups are stored in your project's backups folder. The system keeps the most recent 10 auto-backups and preserves all named backups.

Restoring

Restore from any backup via the Project Hub. A safety backup of the current state is automatically created before restoring.

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