Monday's schedule, Wednesday's reality
The head of post plans the week on Monday: editor A finishes a brand film on Tuesday and starts a training series on Wednesday, editor B has two corporate cutdowns, the colourist is booked on Thursday for the brand film, and the freelance sound mixer on Friday.
On Tuesday the brand film client says their CEO cannot review until Thursday. Editor A starts the training series early, then has to stop when feedback arrives. The grade moves to Friday, clashing with the mix. The freelance colourist has another booking Friday. Nobody updated the calendar, so editor B's cutdowns are booked into a suite that editor A is now using.
Why post schedules collapse
- Client review dates slip, and every stage after them moves.
- Calendars show bookings, not the dependencies between them.
- Freelance colourists and mixers are booked separately, by message.
- Suites and editors are booked in different places.
- The head of post rebuilds the schedule several times a week by hand.
What schedule chaos costs
Editors switching between jobs lose time every time. Freelance colourists and mixers are paid for days that move or are lost. Deadlines slip on jobs that did nothing wrong, because another job's delay took their suite. And the head of post spends much of the week rescheduling instead of looking after the work. Editors notice when the plan changes every day. They stop trusting the schedule, keep their own lists, and the head of post loses the one thing a schedule is for: knowing who is doing what, today.
How we build the post schedule
- Each job's post is laid out as stages: assembly, rough cut, client review, fine cut, review, picture lock, grade, mix, deliverables.
- Each stage books a person and, where needed, a suite, with a length based on the job.
- Client review stages are linked to the review flow, so when a review date moves, the stages after it move too.
- When a move causes a clash with another job, the schedule shows the clash and suggests options: swap editors, move the other job's stage, or use a different suite.
- Freelance colourists and mixers are booked through the same holds process as shoot crew, with links to confirm.
- Editors see their own week on a phone or in their calendar, updated when things move.
| Stage | Needs | Moves when |
|---|---|---|
| Edit | Editor and suite | Review dates change |
| Client review | Client time | Client reschedules |
| Picture lock | Client sign-off | Review closes |
| Grade | Colourist and grading suite | Picture lock moves |
| Mix | Mixer and sound suite | Picture lock moves |
The week the CEO was busy
The brand film review moves to Thursday. The schedule moves the fine cut, lock, grade and mix, and shows a clash between the grade and the mix on Friday, and between editor B's cutdowns and suite 1. The head of post chooses to move the mix to Monday and put editor B in suite 2. Messages go to the mixer and the colourist to confirm.
Everyone's calendar updates. Editor A starts the training series knowing when the brand film feedback is due back, so she plans a clean break rather than being pulled off halfway through a scene. The client who caused the delay is not charged for it automatically, but the producer can see exactly what it moved, which helps if a change note is needed.
Looking further ahead gets easier too. With every job's stages on the schedule, the head of post can see a busy fortnight coming and book a freelance editor early, instead of discovering the gap when two jobs hit picture lock on the same day.
Is your post schedule like this?
- The post schedule is rebuilt by hand several times a week.
- One client's delay pushes other jobs.
- Freelance colourists and mixers are rebooked at short notice.
- Editors and suites are double booked.
- Editors switch jobs mid-day because of changes.