Auto-Draft Call Times

Auto-draft reads the day's scene schedule and produces two things: how long each scene will take to shoot, and when each cast member should be called. It uses page counts, schedule order, and a set of configurable timing factors to build a full day timeline from crew call to estimated wrap. It operates in two modes: passive and active.

Passive mode runs in the background on the CS Front tab whenever auto-draft is enabled. Ghost call times (shown in a lighter color) appear on empty cast call fields automatically as you arrange scenes. Nothing is saved until you approve a suggestion. Approving a draft: hover over the ghost cell and click the green checkmark, or click the bulk-approve button next to the cast member's name to approve all four fields at once (Call, Makeup, On Set, Lose At). To reset an approved field back to a draft, right-click the cell and select "Reset to Estimate."

Active mode writes scene duration estimates and cast call times across every shoot day in the production at once. It runs across the whole production using the same timing factors as passive mode. To trigger it: turn the auto-draft toggle ON in the CS Front floating controls sidebar. A dialog will open offering two choices: - "Apply to All Days Now" - runs the engine immediately and updates all call sheets. - "Use Passive Mode Only" - skips the batch apply; ghost drafts will still appear for the current day as you work. You can also run active mode at any time during import, using the "Auto-Draft Scene Durations and Actor Call Times" toggle in the import confirmation step.

For each shoot day, auto-draft builds a timeline in order: 1. Crew call 2. Setup period (either from a SETUP banner at the top of the schedule, or the "Avg daily setup" setting) 3. Scenes in schedule order, with banners advancing the clock 4. Estimated wrap Scene start times are calculated sequentially - each scene starts when the previous one ends. Banners like LUNCH, COMPANY_MOVE, and SETUP advance the clock by their duration without shooting any scenes during that time.

Auto-draft reads the existing banners in each day's scene schedule before doing any estimation. This lets it adapt to what is actually planned for the day rather than always assuming a generic structure.

• Meal banners (LUNCH strip, or any banner with text containing 'lunch', 'meal', 'dinner', or 'break'): auto-draft will NOT insert a second lunch banner, and deducts the banner's duration from available shoot time.
• SETUP banner at the top of the schedule (position 0): its duration is used as the day's setup period instead of the 'Avg daily setup' setting. The clock starts at crew call and the banner naturally advances it.
• Other timed banners (COMPANY_MOVE, STRIKE_WRAP, mid-day SETUP, OTHER): their durations are subtracted from available shoot time. Scenes cannot be shot during these intervals.

The time available for scenes on a given day is calculated as: Available = Avg shoot day - Setup duration - Meal break duration(s) - Other banner durations This remaining time is split proportionally across scenes based on page count.

For scenes without an existing time estimate, auto-draft calculates a minutes-per-page rate for the day: minsPerPage = (available shoot time - total existing estimates) / total unestimated pages Each unestimated scene then gets: max(1 min, round(pages x minsPerPage)). Scenes with an existing estimate are never modified.

Once scene start and end times are known, call times for each cast member are calculated based on their first and last scenes of the day: - Call Time: first scene start minus makeup duration minus blocking lead - Makeup: first scene start minus blocking lead - On Set: first scene start - Lose At: last scene end plus 15 minutes (capped at crew call + avg shoot day + 30 min) Cast members who are not in any scene on that day are not drafted.

The timing factors are set at two levels: - Production level: Globals tab, Auto-Draft Settings section. Changes here affect the active production only. - Account level: Preferences page, Auto-Draft Factors section. These become the defaults for every new production you import or create. The configurable factors are:

Each cast member can have an individual makeup duration set on their record ("Avg HMU minutes" field in the cast list). When set, this overrides the global makeup lead for that person's call time calculation. If not set, the global makeup lead is used.

In passive mode, drafted call times are suggestions until approved: - Approve one field: hover the cell, click the green checkmark. - Approve all four fields for a cast member at once: click the bulk-approve button next to their name in the cast table. - Reset an approved field: right-click the cell, select "Reset to Estimate." This clears the manual value and restores the ghost draft.