What Is Film Production Management?

A professional film producer can expect to face countless dilemmas on the job. 

As founder of the production management software company, Assemble, there is one challenge that stands out above the rest. The most consistent challenge for producers tends to be related to a simple question: how can one achieve overall efficiency and productivity when keeping track of so many moving parts? While there are a number of new apps that can improve your production workflow, sometimes it’s best to start with the basics.

In this article, we’ll cover the film production management process like a system, explore how it works, and identify two key techniques that can help producers save time, increase their focus throughout the day, reduce general stress, and maximize productivity.

Main points

• Film production management involves coordinating various stages—planning, pre-production, production, post-production, and delivery—to ensure a project is completed efficiently and on time.
• A production workbook, which stores all essential documents for each phase of production, helps producers stay organized and minimize delays.
• Standard operating procedures (SOPs) create a structured approach for repetitive tasks, ensuring consistency and efficiency across the production team.

Film production management as a system

It’s helpful to start a conversation about film production management by reviewing the basics. A film production involves many separate yet coordinated activities converging into a single process with the intended goal of delivering a finished film project on time.

Let’s begin by zooming out and looking at a flowchart of a typical film production from planning to final delivery.

You’ll notice two things right away.

First, the various activities in a film production fit into a larger process in a particular order dictated by five consecutive stages: planning, pre-production, production, post-production, and delivery.

Second, the various activities generally fall into three categories: production, security, and legal obligations. Production activities include executing the project, such as casting, shooting, and editing. Security activities ensure you have backup plans in case things go wrong, like production paperwork, media backups, and contingency budgeting. Legal obligations ensure compliance, such as holding insurance and following government rules around hiring.

The producer’s role is to address these characteristics by (1) synchronizing the activities with protective buffers so as to avoid bottlenecks and by (2) balancing the production, security, and legal obligations of your project to maximize the efficiency of the overall system

Now that we’ve reviewed the big picture, let’s highlight two specific techniques that a producer can implement to maximize their efficiency: keeping a production workbook and creating standard operating procedures (SOPs).

The production workbook

A key tool for film production management is the production workbook, also called a wrap binder. This workbook organizes and stores all documents, files, and forms associated with each phase of the production process: planning, pre-production, production, post, and delivery. This includes everything from the budget to call sheets to production overages.

For example, an organized producer can easily find documents such as location agreements and certificates of insurance when needed, minimizing delays for their production team. Using production management software like Assemble allows producers to store all these essential documents on a cloud platform accessible by the entire production team.

What are standard operating procedures?

A standard operating procedure (SOP) is a list of instructions for regularly occurring activities. SOPs ensure consistency, efficiency, and coordination. Producers should create SOPs for all processes and share them with the production office and other team members to promote organization and efficiency.

Hiring your team: standard operating procedure example

Here’s an example of a typical SOP a producer might consult beginning from pre-production.

1. Build your crew list. Break down the script and then confer with your director to get a better idea of what kind of crew you’ll need. Think through pre-production and post for additional roles. Finally, interface with the heads of every department within the production for any roles you might have overlooked, (i.e. DIT, security, catering).

2. Secure the necessary insurance coverage. A workers’ compensation policy is usually required to hire independent contractors or employees in the U.S.

3. Track your cast and crew list in a document that includes day rates, scheduling conflicts, and guild guidelines to prepare accordingly in your budget planning.

4. As you hire, collect signed agreements from all cast and crew. Agreements should include important terms like a payment schedule and credits. Schedule your payroll and be sure funds will be available according to your agreements.

5. Line up back-up crew in case of last-minute cancellations.

6. Stay on top of your payroll throughout the production and close out the process properly by issuing tax documents to your workers when appropriate, such as 1099 forms for freelancers in the U.S.

Backing up media: standard operating procedure example

Another common practice productions will need to take daily is backing up media. Here’s another example of a standard operating procedure.

1. Calculate the amount of storage media your production will require. Consulting with your camera department is helpful because the size of the files will depend on the camera settings as well as the volume of shooting you expect to do. You must also consult with your editing department, as proxy footage and other assets will take up even more space.

2. Take the anticipated amount of storage media and double it. Budget accordingly.

3. During production, backup all your footage directly from the camera media onto two separate storage drives on a daily basis.

4. During post-production, ensure your editing team backs up all their work in the same way—duplicated on two separate drives, at least once daily.

5. To archive the project, simply ensure that a copy of the mastered final deliverable is included in each drive along with all the work to date. Consider printing the media to tape for longer-term archiving.

Wrapping up

By analyzing the film production management system as a whole, you can improve your skills as a producer by implementing tools like the production workbook and developing standard operating procedures for your repetitive tasks. These two methods will help you save time, work more efficiently with your team, and reduce stress throughout the filmmaking process.

Finally, remember that Assemble provides an excellent platform for organizing all your production assets—from pre-production documents to post-production reviews. Assemble offers smarter tools to help maximize the performance of your production management system and improve the overall efficiency of your film production.

Final FAQ

What is film production management?

Film production management refers to coordinating and organizing all logistical and financial aspects of a film project, ensuring the production stays on schedule and within budget. It involves overseeing various departments, like the production department, and managing resources, staff, and equipment to deliver a final product on time.

What does a production manager do?

A production manager oversees the entire production process, focusing on managing resources, maintaining the budget, and ensuring that the crew and equipment are where they need to be. 

They work closely with the production accountant to monitor spending and report financial updates, ensuring the project meets its financial goals while adhering to industry standards.