Studio Binder: The Call Sheet You Won’t Throw Away
Studio Binder is the intelligent call sheet creator you never knew you needed.
I’m going to go ahead and say it… call sheets are a pain. Nonetheless, they are a necessary part of the film production process. If you’re not already familiar with the term, a call sheet is simply a form designed to communicate important production information to your crew.
A typical call sheet will have call times, emergency contact information, parking info, and more. It answers most of the routine questions that crew members may have about a production location so you, the director/producer/AD, can focus on other areas of the production process.
Practically speaking, there’s nothing incredibly complex about a call sheet; they just take time to fill out. However, the time spent filling out your call sheet could be used to focus on other areas of your production.
A screenshot of the free call sheet template found here on PremiumBeat.
Traditionally, call sheets have been filled out by hand or computer, then emailed as a PDF to the crew. A simple search will yield hundreds of free PDF call sheet templates including our very own free call sheet template here on PremiumBeat. But all of these documents have the same problem — you must fill them out by hand. This is the problem that Studio Binder looks to fix.
What is Studio Binder?
Studio Binder is an online call sheet creator that optimizes the creation, organization, and distribution of call sheets. Studio Binder makes creating call sheets easy through a sleek and minimal interface. The service allows you to easily create projects and assign contacts to various roles in the production. Studio Binder will save your contacts into their database. This will easily allow you to assign crew members to future productions.
After assigning roles and creating your contacts, it’s time to begin filling out the call sheet. The call sheet works almost like filling out an online survey. You will be prompted to fill out various fields like title, location, and nearest hospital, but unlike traditional PDF call sheets, Studio Binder is intelligent. When you begin typing in a location, the address will autofill using, presumably, an online address API.
The same is true for nearby hospitals. Instead of having to lookup the hospital address or phone number, Studio Binder will autofill the hospital name as soon as you begin typing the name. Studio Binder will even automatically show what the weather will be like for your location at the time on the call sheet.
After you fill out necessary fields, it’s time to create the daily schedule. Studio Binder makes scheduling a breeze. Using their easy calendar system, you can drag and drop cards for scenes, important events, and moves. It’s incredibly easy to use. In fact, I find it much easier to use than similar calendar services like Google Calendars.
Studio Binder also allows you to send personal messages to individual crew members in their call sheet email. After you complete the call sheet, Studio Binder will automatically send a custom email to the cast and crew in your list. By far the best feature is the email tracking inside of Studio Binder. As the creator of the call sheet, you can monitor who has opened their email and who has confirmed to be there. No more “I didn’t see the email!”
What We (Honestly) Think
We aren’t paid to write reviews here on PremiumBeat. We choose to review tools if they look promising to the industry. Studio Binder is one such tool. Studio Binder has the power to radically improve your production process. Through sleek design and a wonderful user experience, Studio Binder doesn’t just make creating call sheets not boring… it actually makes it fun.
The only negative that we can see with Studio Binder is the price. You can only send 15 call sheets a month using the free plan. They have paid plans that range from $5 a month (35 call sheets), all the way up to $285 a month (800 call sheets). They are also offering PremiumBeat readers 25% off a 3 month subscription if you just use the code ‘PREMBEAT’ at checkout.
I highly recommend at least checking out the free version to see if Studio Binder might be a good fit for your next production. Studio Binder has also let us know that they’ll bring online file sharing to their service in the near future.
What’s your experience with Studio Binder? Do you know of any other helpful tools for creating call sheets? Share in the comments below.
