A true hero's journey: Building a workflow for scripted content productions

Store files localy & enjoy your growing databases, e.g talent, crew, locations

Watch dailies and manage post-produciton with ARRI Webgate - anywhere, anytime

Quick communication and handy mobile app

Partially automated call sheet feature

Real time update for Day-out-of-Days for all departments

Online tool for shooting scheduling or import features

Unlimited users (stern except Yamdu development)

Managable scouting and casting

Collaborative breakdowns

Production planning and easy calendar export

Tracking of financing and contractual status

One secure spot for your development and easy script import

Grow and enhance your next project

Use project as templates and prepare for your next advanture

Wow, Yamdu has so many features! That’s impressive… but how on earth should I be able to establish such a workflow and get started? In this blog we will show you how to get prepared for that journey.

Step “Don’t wait”:

Start using Yamdu at the earliest stage if possible, maybe even during your development and financing process. Or during pre-production. It is not recommended to establish such a new workflow just a few days before shooting.

Step “Get started”:

Set up a project. You can always decide what features you would like to use and which ones you do not want to use – and change them later in the project settings. It is recommended to think of other reliable persons in your team, who can be project administrators besides you. By inviting users or editing users in the crew section you can assign the role “admin” just like any other position. So you do not have to manage Yamdu all by yourself.

Step “Script import”:

As soon as first drafts of the script are available, ask your writer / writers to upload it in the script section of Yamdu. The versioning tool (drag a new version into the field and drop it on the older version) will help your team to keep an overview. When you click on “breakdowns”, you can import the script into Yamdu by choosing from the files in the script object (or upload it from your local storage). Possible file formats are: FinalDraft, CeltX, Fountain, or any PDF written in Hollywood standard. Within a short time, Yamdu will create scenes with detailed information and “objects” such as characters and sets. By importing a new version of the script, Yamdu will show you the updates (with an easy way to correct possible mistakes) and then refresh all that information.

Step “Go mobile”:

The more users you invite, the better it would be to tell them they can use Yamdu on smartphones and tablets as well. It will help to speed up things as Yamdu helps to increase communication. You can open Yamdu on any device in almost any browser.

Step “Too many emails”:

If crew members complain about too many emails sent by Yamdu, please tell them, that in the beginning Yamdu ensures, that all information is distributed. However, every user can edit his or her own notification settings in his/her user settings in the top right hand corner.

Step “one master breakdown”:

The scene breakdowns are the backbone of most of the other features of Yamdu. The idea is, that the entire crew is working on one master breakdown and keeps on working with the specific tools of Yamdu. At this point it makes sense to introduce Yamdu to your departments. Note, that all departments are masters of their “little kingdom”, but final decisions are easily accessible to all other users to whom it is relevant. As your crew grows it does make sense to introduce Yamdu in a first preproduction meeting. Of course, Yamdu introduces itself as well, as all users receive tutorials and Quick Guides specifically chosen for their individual departments. It’s useful to underline the “big picture” and how Yamdu will help everyone if properly used. Especially with the link to a current shooting schedule later on – even if collecting data seems like redundant work in the beginning.

Step “Enhance communication within Yamdu”:

When your team starts to work with Yamdu, please have your production crew reward them. Maybe it is just a simple comment in Yamdu like “Thanks!” when location photos are uploaded or actors are added as suggestions. It helps your team to feel more comfortable with a cloud-based system.

Step “Set up events via Yamdu”:

It is helpful, to use the powerful calendar tool of Yamdu as the one and only project calendar. As users can subscribe to their Yamdu calendar, all relevant events will automatically appear in their own calendars. However, it is a one-way-subscription to apps such as Google Calendar, iCal, Outlook, etc. Changes need to be undertaken in the Yamdu calendar. If that workflow is clear, there should be no confusion.

Step “Shooting scheduling”:

As you start to plan your shooting schedule, you have three choices:

1. Do all your scheduling within Yamdu. Yamdu offers a web-based scheduling tool, that uses all the scenes and information and is easy to understand. It should be sufficient for short term productions with internet access. Just be aware, that – in case more than one user is able to edit the schedule and does so in one shooting schedule scenario, the latest “click on save” counts. If a schedule is set as “active” all information linked to it, such as Day-out-of-Days for actors, sets, etc., change immediately and the departments always know, what schedule version is currently used.

or:

2. If you and/or your First AD want to work with existing offline scheduling tools, you can import shooting schedules from Movie Magic Scheduling 6 (https://yamdu.com/en/blog/import-movie-magic-schedules-to-yamdu/) or FuzzleCheck. The importer works similar to the script importer. When new versions are imported, Yamdu will show you step by step scenes, characters and sets to correct possible mistakes and check the import. The freshly imported schedule can be checked again after import, and then marked as “active” with one click. Again, all linked information changes in real time and no redundant work is needed.

or:

3. You can also start by importing schedules for the software you are currently using. And later on, maybe as changes in the schedule are not as volatile anymore, you can stop the import and move on with the Yamdu scheduling tool only for the rest of your shooting period.

Step “call sheets”:

When it comes to your first day of shooting, call sheets will become an issue. Again, there are two ways to take care of call sheets within Yamdu:

1. Using all Yamdu features: As you move on to shooting, you can see how call sheets are automatically created for each shooting day. First, they are in editing mode, but they already contain all basic information of the shooting day according to the active shooting schedule, such as the scenes, actors and extras, and the address of the location if all of that has already been fixed and marked with the star icon. You just have to add the users, external contacts and further recipients for a mailing list that can be re-used for your next call sheet. The same applies to call times, with extra text fields for your instructions, and so on. Of course, you can also add the crew list with a single mouse click. And additional files can be added as attachment, e.g. navigation instructions, permits, etc. When a call sheet is marked as “final” it can be sent to all recipients by one click and an email with the call sheet attached as PDF is sent out by Yamdu containing your email-address as sender (!) and the call time is forwarded via app and it appears in the dashboard of each user.

or:

2. If you do not wish to create your call sheets with Yamdu and rather upload your own files, then no problem. If you use Yamdu for your shooting scheduling, you can also go to the call sheet feature, select, upload and simply use the call sheet feature for mailing and structuring purposes, in addition to attaching your own call sheet file, e.g. as a PDF.

And there are even more options and partners:

Step “budgeting”:

For those clients, who like to share data files between Yamdu and a locally installed budgeting software, we recommend Showbiz Budgeting by Media Services. If your schedule is online – no matter how you have chosen to do so – it is quite simple to transfer some data from Yamdu into Showbiz Budgeting. Below your shooting schedules you can download the exchange file. Then import it in Showbiz.(https://yamdu.com/en/help/specific-features/how-to-export-a-yamdu-schedule-to-showbiz-budgeting/)

Step “video content management”:

Of course, you can upload video files to Yamdu. However, when it comes to high quality video content management with individual rendering options, water marking, commenting video clips by frame, and more, we recommend our add-on ARRI Webgate. It does not matter which camera you are using or where your post-production will be done. ARRI Webgate is a video file sharing solution developed by industry giant ARRI in order to provide a convenient way to upload dailies (proxy files) or any editorial or VFX-clip of your movie. You can easily handle the access rights for your Yamdu users, as soon as they have registered with ARRI Webgate (for free and only due to verification reasons). So ask your data wrangler to upload dailies via ARRI Webgate and make them accessible to all crew members who need it, e.g. for continuity purposes – anywhere anytime. Here is more information on ARRI Webgate. (https://yamdu.com/en/features/post-production-with-yamdu-and-arri-webgate/)

Step “on-set data / script supervisor”:

If you like to have the fully digital shaped production, you can use LockitNetwork on set. Your Script & Continuity can retrieve the current scheduling information from Yamdu and have it imported to the LockitNetwork app. With additional meta-data from the camera (per option provided by Master Lockit) all information is gathered during the shooting day and almost no work needs to be done afterwards in order to get the daily reports, editing reports and lined script files for each day. Of course, those files immediately appear in the reports area in Yamdu’s “Files & Documents” section. Please find some additional information on the benefits of Lockit together with ARRI Webgate here. (https://webgate.de/features/partner_tools)

Since the interface to LockitNetwork needs to be activated for project by our support, please contact us, if you are interested in this powerful add-on.

As you can see, Yamdu provides a many ways to speed up your productions in a digital age. But it still remains as flexible as you would like it to be. If you want to do parts of your production the “old way”, no problem. Just give it a try and discuss with your crew what works best for you.