Think Crew’s schedule settings let you customize how your schedule tracks elements in the Day Out of Days, store custom values to use in banners and print headers, and define the types of events that can be placed on your calendars. These settings apply to the current schedule only, so each schedule in your project can be set up differently.
Accessing Schedule Settings
To open the schedule settings:
- Open the schedule you want to configure
- Click the “File” menu in the schedule menu bar
- Select “Settings…”
The settings panel opens with three tabs: Dood, Variables and Event Types. You can also open these settings from the Day Out of Days settings menu, or by clicking “Edit Event Types” in the Calendar Manager.
All changes are saved automatically as you make them. If you don’t have permission to edit the schedule, the settings will be grayed out.
Dood Tab
The Dood tab controls how elements are labeled and tracked in your Day Out of Days.
Day Out of Days Abbreviations
Each day an element appears in the Day Out of Days is marked with a short abbreviation. You can change any of these to match your production’s conventions:
- Start: The element’s first working day (default “S”)
- Work: A working day (default “W”)
- Finish: The element’s last working day (default “F”)
- Hold: A day the element is on hold between working days (default “H”)
- Drop: The last working day before the element is dropped (default “D”)
- Pickup: The first working day after the element is picked up again (default “P”)
Drop/Pickup
Some union contracts allow you to drop an actor from payroll and then pick the actor up again after a certain number of days off. Depending on your contract, you may be able to do this more than once. These settings tell Think Crew how to handle drops and pickups in your Day Out of Days:
- Use drop/pickup: Turn this on to allow drops and pickups in this schedule’s Day Out of Days. When it’s off, elements are held between working days and the other drop/pickup settings are disabled.
- Reset all element drop/pickup days to: The number of consecutive days off an element needs between working days before it is dropped instead of held. Enter a number and click “Reset All Elements” to apply it to every element in the schedule. The default is 10 days.
- Number of times to drop/pickup: How many times an element can be dropped and picked up again. The default is 1.
Drops and pickups only apply to elements that have “Allow Drop/Pickup” turned on in the Day Out of Days section of the Element Manager. Elements are not set to allow drops by default, so remember to turn it on for the cast members whose contracts allow it.
Note: “Reset All Elements” replaces the drop/pickup days for every element, including any you’ve set individually. If some elements need a different number of days, such as an actor on a different contract, set them afterwards in the Element Manager.
Variables Tab
The Variables tab lets you store up to four custom values for your schedule: Misc 1, Misc 2, Misc 3 and Misc 4. You can use them in your banners and print headers by typing the matching variable:
- {schedule_misc_1}
- {schedule_misc_2}
- {schedule_misc_3}
- {schedule_misc_4}
For example, you could enter your production company in Misc 1 and your producer’s name in Misc 2, then add them to your print headers. If you change a value later, every banner and print header that uses it updates automatically.
To see every variable you can use, and where else you can use them, see Using Variables. To learn more about adding variables to banners, see Creating Banners.
Event Types Tab
Event types are the kinds of events you can place on your schedule’s calendars, such as holidays, travel days or rehearsals. Each event type has the following settings:
- Name: The full name of the event type
- Short Name: An abbreviation used where space is limited
- Day Off: Check this if the event means nobody is shooting that day, such as a holiday. Days with a day off event are skipped when counting shoot days and are treated as holidays in the Day Out of Days.
To add a new event type, click the “+” button at the top of the list, then enter its name and short name. To remove an event type, click the remove button at the end of its row.
Note: An event type that is being used by an event on any calendar can’t be deleted. Remove or change those events first, then delete the event type.
Taking a few minutes to set up your schedule settings at the start of prep makes sure your Day Out of Days, calendars and printouts follow your production’s conventions from day one. You can come back and adjust them at any time as your production evolves.
