Turn a brief into an estimate built on your own rate card
Estimating is where margin is won or lost, and it is usually done fastest and with the least structure of anything a production company does.
The problem
A brief arrives, a senior producer spends a day in a spreadsheet, and the assumptions behind the number live nowhere. Two weeks later nobody can reconstruct why a line was priced the way it was, or which version the client actually approved.
How it works
Brief to structured line items
Describe the job and get proposed line items, assumptions, warnings, and a total for each option for a producer to review. The output is a draft to check, not an answer.
Priced on your rate card, not a generic average
Your company's labor and package rates come first. Where your card has no match, the line falls back to a standard rate and says so in its rate basis.
Client options that stay attached to the estimate
Issue options for the client to choose between without disconnecting them from the estimate, so the option they pick and the underlying math are the same thing.
Approval that creates the project
A valid client approval logs the option they picked and creates the project and initial budget together, which removes the retyping step where numbers usually drift.
A paper trail you can reconstruct
Options, line math, and assumptions are saved with the estimate, and a copy is kept each time the client responds, so you can tell later what was approved.
The difference is what happens after the plan
| Compared on | Planning-only production tools | Production Engine |
|---|---|---|
| Rate source | A generic template or industry average | Your company rate card, with unmatched lines left visible |
| Client presentation | Export to PDF and email | A hosted option review that logs the decision |
| After approval | Retype the approved number into a budget | Approval converts into the project and its initial budget |
| Version history | Filenames | A saved copy each time the client responds |
“Planning-only production tools” describes the common shape of scheduling, call-sheet, and breakdown products, not one named competitor. For a direct comparison, see Production Engine vs StudioBinder.
Questions producers ask
Does the software set our prices?
No. It proposes structure (line items, assumptions, and warnings) against your rate card. The producer reviews and decides. Where the rate card has no match, the gap is shown rather than filled with an invented number.
Can we present more than one option?
Yes. Options are issued to the client and stay attached to the estimate, so choosing one shows which version was approved.
What happens when the client approves?
The option they picked is logged and the project and its initial budget are created from it, so the approved totals are not retyped.
Run one real job through it.
Start free and bring a brief you already priced. If the estimate, the budget, and the close do not hold up against how you actually work, you have lost an afternoon.