Quickstart: Greenlight Your Shoot
Import a screenplay, run AI breakdowns, build the stripboard, onboard crew with RBAC, capture location scans, publish call sheets — the full setup in 6 steps, in under 30 minutes from script to first shoot day.
Import Your Screenplay
Navigate to Admin → Production → Screenplays and upload your .fountain file. Fountain is the open screenplay format — exportable natively from:
- Final Draft (export as Fountain)
- Highland 2
- Fade In
- Trelby
- Scrivener (export as Fountain)
- Plain text (Fountain is plain text + simple markup)
Aeion parses page counts, scene numbers, character names, locations, INT./EXT., DAY/NIGHT in real-time into a structured scene tree.
Per-scene metadata captured:
- Scene number + page number
- INT./EXT., DAY/NIGHT, location name
- Page-eighths (for accurate timing estimates)
- Speaking characters
- Action descriptions
- Dialogue blocks
Version control — every screenplay upload creates a new version. Side-by-side diff between versions. Lock approved versions to prevent overwrite.
Multi-script support — if you're shooting episodic content (TV / web series), import multiple scripts under a single Production. Cross-script crew + budget pooling supported.
Execute the AI Breakdown
| Category | What it extracts |
|---|---|
| **Cast** | Speaking + non-speaking roles, scene presence |
| **Background** | Extras counts per scene |
| **Props** | Specific items mentioned in action / dialogue |
| **Wardrobe** | Outfit descriptions per character per scene |
| **Makeup/Hair** | Specific looks called out |
| **Vehicles** | Picture cars, action vehicles |
| **Set Dec** | Furniture, dressing per location |
| **Animals** | Live animals + handlers required |
| **VFX** | Effects shots flagged for VFX department |
| **Stunts** | Stunt action requiring coordinators |
| **Special FX** | Practical effects (fire, water, smoke, breakaway) |
| **Sound FX** | Notable sound design called out |
| **Music** | Score / source music referenced |
| **Lighting** | Practical / motivational lighting cues per scene |
| **Notes** | Director/writer annotations |
Build the Stripboard
| Color | Scene type |
|---|---|
| White | INT. DAY |
| Blue | EXT. NIGHT |
| Yellow | EXT. DAY |
| Green | INT. NIGHT |
| Pink | Phone calls / Computer screens |
| Orange | Fantasy / Dream sequences |
Onboard Your Crew
| Role example | Sees |
|---|---|
| Director | Everything |
| Wardrobe department | Wardrobe breakdown + their scenes + call sheets (no budgets) |
| Accounting | Budget + payroll + invoices (no creative content) |
| Location manager | Locations + permits + scout data (no cast schedules beyond own) |
| Day-player crew | Their call sheets + locations only (no script access) |
Capture Location Scans in 3D
Location managers use the Aeion Mobile App for on-site scouting:
- Open the app → Locations → New Scout
- Capture using device camera (photogrammetry) or Lidar (iPhone Pro / iPad Pro)
- Walk the space — auto-stitches into a Gaussian Splat
- Upload (~10-30 MB per location)
- Cloud processes into both
.splat(Gaussian Splatting) and.glb(traditional mesh) - Links the 3D asset to the Production Location record
Browser viewing:
- Director / producer reviews in any WebGL2 browser
- Block camera angles before signing the location permit
- Compare multiple location options side-by-side
- Annotate specific spots ("crew vehicles park here", "no shooting beyond this line per permit")
VR/AR viewing (Apple Vision Pro / Quest 3):
- Walk the space at scale
- Set virtual camera angles + framing
- Pre-block actors with motion-capture avatars
- Lighting pre-visualization with sun position from the actual shoot date/time
Capacity: Aeion Spatial handles 100+ locations per production without performance issues.
Publish the Call Sheet
Click Create Call Sheet for any Shoot Day. The system pulls together:
- Scene list — order of shooting + page counts + descriptions
- Cast call times — staggered by scene order; transportation pickup factored
- Crew call times — by department; equipment trucks earlier than crew
- Location — address + map + parking + nearest hospital + emergency contact
- Weather forecast — pulled live; rain-risk flagged 5 days out
- Meal penalties — meal call + 6-hour rule enforcement
- Walkie channels — assignments per department
- Sides + script pages — auto-generated PDF + linked from the call sheet
Dispatch:
- Email — branded HTML with all info embedded
- SMS — short version with link to full call sheet
- Mobile app push — interactive call sheet with offline mode
- Open + read receipts — see who acknowledged
Day-of updates — if call times shift, push updates to all recipients. Last-changed timestamps so crew knows what's current.
Multi-day view — crew sees their next 5 shoot days at a glance in the mobile app.
Integration Recipes
Production → Cut handoff. Each shoot day's dailies auto-route to the linked Cut project. Editors see scene metadata, slate info, and scripts attached to clips inline.
Spatial → location scout. Location scans live in Aeion Spatial. Reference them from any production module (call sheets, scheduling, post-production planning).
Finance → budget tracking. Every line item (rentals, day rates, per diems, overtime) tracks against budget in real-time. Variance alerts surface to the line producer.
Collab → script revisions. Co-author screenplays in Aeion Collab with revision marks (blue revision, pink revision, etc.). Approved revisions auto-update the breakdown + stripboard.
Calendar sync. Crew members can sync call times to Google Calendar / Outlook / Apple Calendar. Updates push automatically when call times change.
Mobile offline mode. PWA caches call sheets, script, stripboard for offline access. Crew in remote locations (no cell service) can view their call times and take continuity notes. Sync on reconnect.
Troubleshooting
AI breakdown missing elements. Common cause: non-standard formatting in the screenplay (unusual scene headings, missing INT./EXT., etc.). Try re-uploading after normalizing to standard Fountain syntax. The deterministic fallback is more lenient if AI struggles.
Stripboard rejecting a scheduled scene. The scheduler enforces union compliance — likely a SAG-AFTRA turnaround violation or IATSE meal penalty risk. Hover the rejected scene for the specific rule + recommended adjustment.
Crew member can't see their call sheet. Check their department assignment + RBAC level. Day-players need at least read on Call Sheets in their department. Email + SMS dispatch needs valid contact info — check the crew record.
3D location scan failed to process. Check the scan upload — if mostly motion-blurred frames, processing rejects it. Re-shoot with slower camera motion. Lidar scans process more reliably than pure photogrammetry.
Weather forecast wrong. Forecast pulls from OpenWeatherMap by default. Switch to an alternate source (WeatherAPI, AccuWeather, or NOAA) in Settings → Production → Weather Provider.
Budget tracking drift. Real-time tracking depends on Finance integration. Verify under Admin → Production → Integrations → Finance. If finance entries lag, the variance alerts will be wrong. Use the manual Reconcile button to force a refresh.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Aeion Production runs on a flat per-workspace model. Invite your Director, 5 Producers, and 80-person crew without your bill increasing. Critical for productions that scale from 5 people in Pre-Pro to 150 during Principal Photography.
The AI engine chunks your screenplay by scene and extracts the 15 industry-standard categories with structured-output validation. If AI is unavailable, a deterministic rule-based extractor takes over. A 120-page script processes in ~15 seconds.
Location managers capture a Lidar / video scan using the Aeion Mobile App. Aeion Spatial processes it into `.splat` (Gaussian Splatting) and `.glb` (mesh) formats and links to the Production Location record. View in any WebGL2 browser or in Apple Vision Pro via WebXR.
Yes. Timesheets validated against SAG-AFTRA (meal penalties, turnaround), IATSE (golden time), DGA (prep/wrap days), Teamsters (forced calls). Violations surface as error / critical severity with dollar-value penalty estimates. Payroll exports to Gusto, ADP, Entertainment Partners formats.
Budget line items track against actual spend in real time. Forecasting calculates spending velocity (daily / weekly burn rate) via linear regression, projects total completion cost with a 95% confidence interval, and flags departments at overrun risk. Real-time updates when receipts hit the GL.
Yes — bidirectional sync with Google Calendar, Outlook, Apple Calendar. When you publish a Call Sheet, crew members' calendars update with their call time, location, and parking notes. Day-of changes push automatically.
Yes. Mobile PWA caches Call Sheets, Script, and Stripboard schedules offline. In remote areas with zero cell service, crew can view their call times and take continuity notes. Data syncs the moment Wi-Fi is available.
Users mapped to departments with access levels (`none` / `read` / `write` / `admin`) per collection. Wardrobe sees costume breakdown but not budgets; Accounting sees budget but not script details. Protects sensitive financial data + prevents script leaks.
Yes. Each production is a separate workspace within the tenant. Crew + budgets + breakdowns scoped per-production. Crew members assigned across productions see only their current assignment.
Production customers have shipped feature films (100+ pages, 250+ scenes), TV seasons (10+ episodes per season), commercial campaigns (50+ commercials per quarter), and live events (50+ shoots in one week). No hard scale limit.