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Filmmaking apps are everywhere. From digital viewfinders to AR lighting simulators, there are dozens of must-have apps for filmmakers available on your smartphone.
Unless, of course, you’re a producer.
While directors and cinematographers get plenty of love in the filmmaker app conversation, producers are often left out in the cold. Let’s fix that. We’re highlighting the best filmmaking apps for producers.
We’ll cover the top film production apps for crew payroll, project management, casting, and even location scouting.
Let’s dig in.
Some of the best apps for filmmakers are those that make basic tasks easier. For the professional producer, hiring and paying your crew is critical. However, the process itself tends to be time-consuming and tedious.
Fortunately, iPhone filmmaking apps and Android filmmaking apps are changing that status quo. Here are a few of the best film production apps for streamlining your crew payroll workflow.
At Wrapbook, we’re on a mission to increase the prosperity of the project economy, and we pursue that mission by providing technology-driven solutions that enable efficient production. The Wrapbook App eliminates the headaches of production payroll by providing a fast, transparent, and secure solution for project management.
Production teams can collect startwork, approve timecards, and track payments with more ease and efficiency compared to a traditional payroll experience.
Available on any iOS device, the Wrapbook App is one of the best iPhone filmmaking apps for production. It connects you directly to the powerful payroll and production insurance solutions associated with your Wrapbook account.
Our dashboard enables production teams to coordinate the chaos of production with a snapshot of active projects, open to-dos, and payment activity.
Simple tools empower your team to easily manage critical tasks like onboarding and timecard approval anytime, anywhere.
The Wrapbook App is also transparent and secure. All personally identifiable data is fully encrypted and locked behind biometric authentication methods, like Face ID and Touch ID.
Extensive tracking features show you the status of any payment in real-time, and automatic alerts ensure that you’re always in the loop on critical issues.
By digitizing your workflow through Wrapbook and the Wrapbook App, you can stop wasting time on payroll and get back to the business that matters most. Major production companies like SMUGGLER are using Wrapbook to streamline production payroll right now.
GreenSlate is an entertainment payroll company that uses digital tools to cut waste. Wasted time, wasted paper, and wasted money.
Designed specifically for the production industry, the GreenSlate App allows users to manage most payroll tasks from the palm of their hand. Through this filmmaker app, you can approve timecards, collect digital signatures, submit purchase orders, and more.
The GreenSlate App is currently available among both iPhone filmmaking apps and Android filmmaking apps.
Gusto offers users an all-in-one tool for human resource management. With Gusto, users have the power to hire, pay, and manage their teams from a single digital location.
The Gusto Wallet Mobile App is not exclusively a filmmaker app, so it is not specifically designed with production in mind. However, it can still be a huge help to you and your crew.
The Gusto Wallet Mobile App empowers producers to save time by cutting out the middleman. You can find it among both iPhone filmmaking apps and Android filmmaking apps.
Filmmaking apps for project management are the unsung heroes of modern production.
A shocking number of productions still run on paper. It’s long past time for a digital upgrade.Film production apps for project management can offer simple digital tools to speed up, de-stress, and generally optimize tasks that can otherwise bog a production down.
Let’s check out a few examples.
Collecting talent release forms can be a real pain. They eat up physical space, have to be processed by hand, and very often wind up being digitized during wrap anyway.
Easy Release Pro is a filmmaker app that seeks to replace paper talent releases with a single app designed for photo and video professionals. Users can collect all necessary data and signatures from their mobile device, then save both PDF and JPEG copies to their cloud storage.
Easy Release Pro is available for $12.99 among both Android and iPhone filmmaking apps.
StudioBinder combines the functionality of several film production apps to create an all-in-one software solution for production management. StudioBinder’s filmmaker app includes tools for personalized call sheets, script breakdowns, shooting schedules, and much more.
StudioBinder even boasts tools for shot list and storyboard construction, transforming its software suite into a centralized hub for all your pre-production needs.
StudioBinder allows users to get started for free, but they do require a subscription fee for advanced features and higher volumes of project work. Paid subscription plans with StuioBinder start at $29.00 per month for the “Indie” level and range up to $99.00 per month for the “Studio” level.
Croogloo is a production management software designed to put crew members first. Their mission is “to empower all crew with the tools they need to produce at their best while they’re on or off set.”
Like StudioBinder, Croogloo combines the power of several filmmaker apps into a single, unique solution. Croogloo can generate script sides, watermark critical documents, and transfer your Movie Magic schedule to a standard Google Calendar. Croogloo can even facilitate mass SMS texts to your entire crew.
Croogloo’s price point varies according to your needs. Subscription plans start at $19.00 per month at the “Production Assistant'' level and range up to $999.00 per month at the “Production Office'' level.
Casting can be a chaotic, frustrating process. Finding the perfect performer for even one role is a massive challenge. The perils of analogue organization don’t make it any easier. In an increasingly digital world, filmmaking apps designed to streamline the casting process are a no-brainer.
For more than half a century, Backstage has been the premiere trade publication and job directory for professional performers in the United States. Now, Backstage is leaping to the industry’s cutting edge with the Backstage Mobile App.
Unlike most of the filmmaking apps on this list, the Backstage Mobile App is aimed primarily at actors. However, it remains it an invaluable tool for the casting process.
By putting more information in performers’ literal hands, the app allows producers and casting directors to manage talent calls on a one-to-one basis. The app gives you more access to more talent with less chaos and complication.
Free to download, the Backstage Mobile App can increase the speed, flexibility, and clarity of finding your perfect cast.
UpCast is a filmmaker app that allows producers and casting directors to manage the entire casting process from their smartphone. Users can generate casting calls, review talent submissions, and export custom PDF files with cast info.
UpCast prides itself on being the first casting software that allows talent to send current photos and videos upon request. Burned by outdated headshots in the past? Worry no more.
UpCast allows you to manage projects and organize talent submissions from your device of choice with a free casting account.
Casting Networks is an online platform designed to bring performers, project creators, and casting directors into a single network. The Casting Networks Mobile App puts the power of that entire platform directly in the palm of your hand.
Casting Networks allows users to publish projects, organize talent, and schedule auditions at their convenience. You can sign up and start your first Casting Networks talent call with a Project Creator account for free.
Filmmaker apps for location scouting and tech scouting are often underrated tools in a producer’s kit. Filmmaking apps can facilitate production planning on location with efficiency and ease.
Here are two filmmaker apps to consider for your next scout.
At the present moment, Helios Pro is perhaps the filmmaker app among all filmmaker apps. Helios began as a straightforward sun-tracking app for cinematographers.
It has since blown up with an exhaustive range of features utilizing augmented reality, 3D meshes, and dynamic star maps. The result is an all-in-one app for visualizing exactly what shots will look like at any time at virtually any location.
While Helios Pro was not originally designed with producers in mind, you can still use it to level up your production team. As with most filmmaking apps, the real value of Helios Pro is driven by your own creativity.
Producers can engage the app’s AR capabilities to plan not just shots but the entirety of a production’s on-location logistics. You can use Helios Pro to lock down your production’s layout on set, plan shoots digitally, and dial in your daily shooting schedule, all with more precision than would be attainable otherwise.
Helios Pro is available on mobile iOS devices for $17.99.
Google Earth is perhaps the most classic of all filmmaking apps for producers. It is still the single most effective and accessible tool for digital scouts currently available.
Digital scouting is the process of scouting a location without actually being there. While it should under no circumstances be considered an alternative to physical scouts, digital scouting is an important part of a production team’s toolkit.
As a filmmaker app, Google Earth facilitates digital scouting by rendering a 3D representation of Earth down to the street level.
It empowers you to explore virtually any exterior location on the planet at your leisure. You can develop overhead maps, scout for parking lots, and even troubleshoot sightlines from the comfort of your bathrobe. This balance of detail, ease, and control remains unparalleled by other filmmaking apps.
Google Earth is free to use and available on iOS devices, Android devices, and the web.
The best apps for filmmakers are those that solve common problems with practical solutions, and there’s always room for improvement. Filmmakers must continue to embrace disruptive technology whenever they can, whether it’s an innovative app or the revolution of virtual production.
At Wrapbook, we pride ourselves on providing outstanding free resources to producers and their crews, but this post is for informational purposes only as of the date above. The content on our website is not intended to provide and should not be relied on for legal, accounting, or tax advice. You should consult with your own legal, accounting, or tax advisors to determine how this general information may apply to your specific circumstances.
The Wrapbook Team consists of individuals who are thrilled about building modern software tools for creators. We’re a team of compassionate and curious people dedicated to solving complex problems with sophisticated solutions. You can find us across the U.S. and Canada.
