Getting started as a producer

1. Sign in

Sign in with Google or Apple, or enter your email address and CrewShift emails you a sign-in code. The first time, you're asked for the Access code you were given. That code sets your account up as a producer. See Signing in.

2. Set up your company

Start typing in the KVK number or company name field and pick your company from the list. CrewShift fills in the legal name, KVK number and address from the Chamber of Commerce register. You can also type it all yourself. Only the company name is required. Next to the VAT number, Check looks the number up in the EU's VIES service. Edit a field that came from the register and the Verified via KVK mark disappears.

If your account has no name yet, fill in Full name too. Then tick both boxes (one confirms you're authorised to handle your crew's personal data for the production, the other accepts the terms and privacy policy) and tap Complete setup.

Each new project gets a copy of these details for its deal memos and for the invoices crew send you, and you can change them per project. A later change to your profile only reaches projects you create after it.

3. Create your first project

Tap New project on your Dashboard or under Projects. Give it a title and a base of operations. The Production company, Billing address, KVK number and VAT number come pre-filled from your company details. Change them if this production bills through another company. The company and address are required because crew invoices are addressed to them. The VAT number is optional, but it is printed on crew invoices and an invoice with reverse-charged VAT needs it. KVK is optional here too, but you need it before you send a deal memo (CrewShift asks for it then).

The project's dates follow from its days. Open the Planning tab and use Add day for every shooting, prep, wrap, travel or office day. See Set up a new project and Projects & the shooting schedule.

4. Set the work rules

The work rules (base hours, overtime tiers, premiums) turn clocked hours into pay. You pick them while creating the project: the standard Fijn Weekend rules, or Custom ones that can start from a template. Settle them before you send your first deal memo, because once a crew member signs one, the project's rules are locked. Per diems are set per shooting day on the schedule (Per diems). See Work rules.

5. Build your crew

In the project's Crew tab, add the positions you need, search for crew and send offers. Each offer opens a negotiation. When a crew member accepts, tap Review & send deal memo in the project's Negotiations tab or in your Inbox to sign and send the deal memo. The crew member is confirmed once they countersign. The full walkthrough is in Hire a crew member.

Every crew member on every production day uses one crew-day. Office and travel days are free. Sending a memo reserves its days, and the countersignature charges them. The project of the first deal memo you send that includes a production day gets 30 free crew-days, to use within six months of that send (Your free allowance).

6. Decide who approves

The approval chain sits in the project's Crew tab, under Approval chain & rights, and sets who signs off whose timesheets and, for approvers with the Finance duty, whose invoices. You're always at the top. Add approvers below you and give each one departments. Anything from a department you haven't assigned comes straight to you. See Set up your approval chain.

7. Pay your crew

Crew submit their days and the hours climb the approval chain. Timesheets and invoices that wait on you land in your Inbox, where you approve them or propose changes. Approve the invoice and pay it the way you always do. Then tap Mark as paid on the project's Hours & pay tab, and the crew member confirms on their side once the money arrives. To follow spend per project, scroll to Finances on its Planning tab (Project finances). Step by step: Review and approve hours and Handle pay and invoices.

Your dashboard

After setup you land on your Dashboard, which at first only offers New project. Once you have a project, Needs your attention lists overdue invoices, timesheets and invoices to approve, and deals waiting on you. Finances adds up signed commitments, actual spend and the forecast at wrap across your active and planning projects. The Production calendar puts every project's days in one calendar, by month, week or agenda, or as a Slate with one row per project across the coming weeks. Above it, one row per project says where it stands, such as Shooting · day 3 of 12, with its signed crew, open positions and schedule changes waiting for the producer's answer, and a tap on a day in Week, Agenda or Slate shows its details with Open day and Open project. To see those days in Apple Calendar, Google Calendar or Outlook, use Subscribe in calendar app. See The calendar, Subscribe in your calendar app and Project finances.