Scheduling
Free Film Scheduling Software
Free film scheduling software with a real stripboard.
Scheduling tends to be the most expensive software a small production buys, and the hardest to justify. The industry standard has no free version at all, so here is what you can schedule without paying.
Last reviewed .
Is free film scheduling software good enough?
For a short film or a first feature, yes. A stripboard is a well-defined thing — one strip per scene, coloured by interior/exterior and day/night, ordered into shooting days, with a Day Out of Days falling out of the result. Free tools produce correct stripboards. The industry-standard desktop package buys you refinement and interchange with other productions, not a different concept.
The options, honestly
ScenePaper
Ours- What’s free
- A full colour-coded stripboard generated from your breakdown, drag-to-reorder strips, day breaks and banners, page counts in eighths, what-if scenarios you can compare side by side, automatic Day Out of Days, and crew conflict detection.
- The catch
- Web-based, and it schedules from a breakdown inside ScenePaper rather than importing another tool’s schedule file. There is no interchange with the industry-standard desktop format.
- Best for
- Shorts, first features and indie productions that need a real stripboard and cannot justify a per-seat licence.
StudioBinder
- What’s free
- A modern browser stripboard with shooting schedules and breakdowns, available on a free tier.
- The catch
- The free tier caps how many scenes you can strip and how much of a screenplay you can import, and limits you to one project.
- Best for
- Scheduling a short or a commercial that fits inside the free caps.
Movie Magic Scheduling
- What’s free
- Nothing. There is no free tier — it is the industry standard and it is licensed per seat.
- The catch
- Cost, plus a learning curve. It is genuinely excellent and genuinely out of reach for a student short.
- Best for
- Funded productions where the AD already knows it and other departments expect its files.
Gorilla Scheduling
- What’s free
- No standing free tier, but priced for indie productions rather than studios, with a real stripboard and budgeting.
- The catch
- Still a paid purchase, and the interface shows its age next to browser tools.
- Best for
- Indie producers who want desktop scheduling and budgeting without studio pricing.
A spreadsheet
- What’s free
- Free, and an honest fallback for a micro-budget shoot where a schedule is really just an ordered list of scenes.
- The catch
- No colour conventions, no eighths, no Day Out of Days, and reordering a day means retyping. It stops scaling the moment cast availability constrains the order.
- Best for
- A weekend shoot with one location and three actors.
What you actually get free
The schedule is the middle of the chain, and both ends are free too:
- Fountain screenplay editor with revision colours and collaboration
- Scene-by-scene script breakdown that feeds the schedule
- Colour-coded stripboard scheduling with what-if scenarios
- Day Out of Days, generated from the schedule
- Shot lists with camera metadata and storyboard frames
- Call sheets with revisions, read receipts and turnaround checks
- Budgets with cost reports and change orders
- Verified crew marketplace — hire at zero commission
All of it free — see what that means.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is the best free film scheduling software?
- ScenePaper, if you need an uncapped stripboard and Day Out of Days without paying — the industry-standard desktop packages have no free tier at all. StudioBinder’s free tier is good if your production fits inside its scene cap. For a single-location weekend shoot, a spreadsheet is honestly fine.
- Is there a free alternative to Movie Magic Scheduling?
- Yes. Movie Magic Scheduling has no free version, but browser-based stripboards cover the same concept — strips per scene, standard colour conventions, day breaks, page counts in eighths and an automatic Day Out of Days. What you give up is file interchange with productions that expect its native format.
- Can I make a stripboard for free?
- Yes. On ScenePaper the stripboard generates from your script breakdown at no cost, with standard colour coding, drag-to-reorder strips, day breaks and banners, and page counts in eighths. Scenario comparison and Day Out of Days are included.
- What is a Day Out of Days?
- A grid showing which cast members work on which shooting days, marking each as start work, work, hold, or finish. It drives cast bookings, travel and holding fees, and it is generated from the schedule rather than maintained by hand — so it changes automatically when the schedule does.
- What do the stripboard colours mean?
- The standard convention is white for interior day, yellow for exterior day, blue for interior night and green for exterior night. The colours let an AD read the shape of a shooting day at a glance — how much night work, how many company moves — without reading a single scene number.
- Will ScenePaper start charging for scheduling?
- Everything is free right now. If paid plans arrive they will target funded productions with large teams, you will be told before anything changes, and nothing you have already scheduled will be taken away.
Schedule your film free.
A real stripboard, Day Out of Days included, no licence.