Movie Magic Budgeting & Scheduling
Industry-standard software for film and TV production budgeting and shoot scheduling.
What it is
About Movie Magic Budgeting & Scheduling
Movie Magic Budgeting (MMB) and Movie Magic Scheduling (MMS) are the de facto industry-standard tools for production finance and logistics management across film, television, and commercial production. MMB structures a production budget into accounts (above-the-line, below-the-line, post-production, insurance, contingency) using a hierarchical account code system that matches the format expected by financiers, completion guarantors, and studio finance departments. Line producers and production accountants build and maintain the budget throughout production. Movie Magic Scheduling generates the shooting schedule by breaking a script into scenes and allowing the assistant director to drag and reorder scenes into shooting days based on location, cast availability, and logistics. The stripboard — a visual representation of shooting day strips — is the universal language for schedule communication on UK and US productions. Both tools output documents that are standard in production contracts: the production budget "topsheet" for financiers, and the one-liner schedule for the director and department heads.
What you can do with it
Capabilities
Build a below-the-line production budget from scratch using the standard account code structure.
Break a script into scenes and drag strips into a shooting schedule optimised by location and cast.
Produce a production budget topsheet formatted for a completion guarantor or broadcast commissioner.
Run a cost-to-complete report mid-production showing estimated spend versus original budget.
Export a one-liner schedule for the director and department heads showing each shooting day's scenes, pages, and cast.
How to learn it
Learning Resources
Entertainment Partners training portal (ep.com/resources) — free and paid tutorials for MMB and MMS
ScreenSkills (screenskills.com) — UK film and TV skills body; production management courses reference Movie Magic as standard
YouTube: "Movie Magic Budgeting tutorial" returns practitioner walkthroughs for both new and experienced users
On-the-job: most line producers learn MMB by shadowing a senior line producer or production accountant on an active production
Pro Tip
Set up your account code structure before entering any numbers — changing account codes mid-budget breaks all your period-detail references, and renaming accounts that have been shared with a financier creates a version control problem that takes days to reconcile.
Skills that use this tool
Roles that use this tool