Members had the opportunity to improve their job skills and find out about the latest, most innovative products in a fast-growing and competitive field: CompanyMOVE Showplanner, Gorilla Scheduling, EP Scheduling, Axium Scheduling and Mindstar’s Cinergy.

Many of the programs were designed by, or with intensive input from, DGA ADs frustrated by what they saw as the limitations of an earlier generation of software. Beyond being mere aids in the budgeting and scheduling process, these programs include such features as script breakdown, production boards, cast and crew lists, labor rate browsers, shot logging, production manager functions, and call sheets. Gorilla is specifically geared to the independent filmmaker and even includes extensive film festival information; Cinergy imports scripts directly from leading scriptwriting programs and automatically produces a basic, working production board.

The major advantage to the ‘hands-on’ seminar was that it gave Members the chance compare several different programs and learn which was right for their own projects and personal workstyles.