Software for production companies: every job, one base
Software for production companies that runs every job from pitch to invoice: pipelines, budgets, quotes, crew, call sheets, a client portal and finance.
CreativeBase is software for production companies that runs every production and the business around it, from the first pitch to the final invoice. Pipelines, budgets and quotes, crew and call sheets, a client portal, post review and company finance live in one place, with an AI assistant called Grizzo that knows all of it.
In short: One workspace per production and one company view across all of them. The budget becomes the quote, the change orders and the invoice, so the numbers never drift. Crew and clients work from links on their phones, with no account.
Your job: keep every production moving
You are running four jobs. One is pitching, one shoots Thursday, one is in round two of notes, and one has an invoice 20 days late. The work is fine. The stack is the problem: a CRM nobody updates, a budget copied from the last job, a call sheet in a doc, cuts in one tool and invoices in another.
Each piece works. Together they leak. The quote stops matching the budget, the extra day never reaches the invoice, and at the end of the quarter nobody can say which jobs made money. Talent wins the first client. A system is what lets the company grow past what one producer can hold in their head. From talent to leverage.
CreativeBase is built for commercials, music videos, brand content, photo shoots and live events, whether that is a director with a producer or a company with ten productions running at once.
Your week in CreativeBase
Monday: a brief lands
The client sends a PDF, three screenshots of a WhatsApp thread and the word "urgent". Drop all of it into Import a project. Grizzo reads it and fills in New production (kind, type, dates, the crew the brief names) for you to confirm. Type the client's name and their logo appears.
Pick the kind: video, photo, photo and video, or an event (a brand activation, launch, concert or conference). Each kind gets its own crew roles, first budget and a starting plan dated back from the shoot or event day.
Tuesday: the pitch goes out
Build a pitch page: one link with the idea, the treatment you made elsewhere, what they get, dates and up to three price options. The client approves an option, books a call, asks a question or passes. Approving moves it to Won, and a short flow sets the shoot dates and crew.
Behind it sits the Opportunities board: several pipelines (sales, post-production or your own), each stage with a win probability, and a Forecast view of what is likely to land.
Wednesday: budget and quote
Start from an AICP-style template (sections A to T), a photo or event template, or your own spreadsheet, imported once and shared with the company. The budget has six views: Topsheet, Production budget, Actuals, Change orders, Client quote and Crew costs, with margin always on screen.
The client quote is built from the budget and checked against it line by line, so a moved line shows up before the client sees it. Send it by email, WhatsApp or the client portal. When the client asks for a second day, it goes in as a change order they approve before you shoot it.
Thursday: crew up
The Crew tab reads the budget. "Left to allocate" shows what is left for crew, and "Open hires" lists the priced roles nobody holds yet, each with Book someone. Need a gaffer by Friday? Post a crew call on your Instagram story, or send an availability check to three gaffers in your Directory. Book the one who says yes; the others are told it is filled.
Message crew writes once to everyone, the confirmed, or one department. Each person gets their own email from you by name, and a video call you add becomes a real calendar invite, with a Google Meet link when Google is connected.
Friday: the call sheet
The call sheet goes out at 9pm. The gaffer reads it at 6am. Weather, sunrise, sunset and the nearest hospital fill in by themselves, crew sit in 11 departments with their own call times, and the readiness bar flags a lunch past the six-hour mark before anyone else does.
Each person gets one email with their call time as the headline and confirms in one tap. Their Crew Pass shows only their days and collects their details, their invoice and a W-9 they fill and sign in the browser.
After wrap: post, sign-off, invoice
Upload a cut; the client and editor get separate review links with notes pinned to the second. The client portal gives the client one private link with everything waiting on them: approve the quote, a change or the cut, see where things stand and download files. Every sign-off is recorded with name, time and figure.
The approved quote becomes the invoice. Bills from crew land in Finance with their W-9 status. Pull a cost report for the team (budget, actual, committed, projected final cost and margin) and a wrap report when it is done.
Before and with CreativeBase
| What you need to do | Before | With CreativeBase |
|---|---|---|
| Keep the quote in step with the budget | Two spreadsheets, hope | Quote built from the budget, checked line by line |
| Bill the extra day the client asked for | If someone remembers | Change order approved first, counted in the invoice |
| Know who confirmed the call | 40 texts | One-tap confirmations, listed per person |
| Collect W-9s from crew | Chased in January | Signed in the browser on their Crew Pass |
| Record the client's sign-off on a cut | "Looks good!" in an email | Name, time and version in the client portal |
| Know which jobs made money | End of quarter, maybe | Profit by production, cost and wrap reports |
| Run union payroll | Payroll company | No, keep your payroll company |
Running the company, not just the job
Home opens on the next shoot and "Needs you", the five things most waiting on you across every production, solved in place. Money is hidden until you press the eye, which helps when a client is looking over your shoulder.
Team access has two layers. Your company workspace has owner, admin and member roles, with invites emailed from the app. Each production can invite outside people by email with only the sections you choose (Producer, Crew without the budget, or View only), and the database enforces it. A freelance coordinator can run the call sheet without ever seeing your margin.
Finance shows what is owed to you, overdue and what you owe, with a tax set-aside estimate, profit by production, Chase and Pay lists, 1099 flags, a tax pack and a read-only accountant link.
Everything else sits in the same place: a Directory with your crew book, places and vendors (with insurance status), Messages with rooms per production, replies, @mentions and PDFs, tasks across all productions, and a calendar synced both ways with Google Calendar.
Grizzo reads your productions, budgets, crew, call sheets and your own Brain documents (SOPs, rate cards, playbooks), searches the web and writes documents. He proposes a budget line or a task, and nothing changes until you press Apply. He drafts follow-ups on Home (payment reminders, quote follow-ups, W-9 asks) for you to review and send. He does not build call sheets or write shot lists; those stay yours.
Where CreativeBase is not the right tool
- Script-driven narrative film. No screenplay import, script breakdown, stripboard or storyboard tool. StudioBinder or Celtx fit better. See CreativeBase vs StudioBinder.
- Payroll. No union rules, timecards or fringes.
- Online payments and e-signature. Clients approve with a recorded click and pay outside the app.
- Accounting sync. No QuickBooks, Xero or bank feeds, and no sales tax or VAT lines.
- Frame-accurate review. Notes are to the second, with no drawing on the frame or version compare. Frame.io goes deeper for heavy post.
- A phone app. Producers work on a computer. Crew and clients use their links on any phone.
Pricing and how to start
Accounts start with a short call where you see CreativeBase on a real production and pricing is set. If you want to try it after that, your first production is free, with no end date. Clients, crew and collaborators you invite use it free. Book a demo.
For the parts in more depth, read how to price a video production, how change orders work, or compare the best production management software.
Questions people ask
What is the best software for a production company?
It depends on the work. For commercials, music videos, brand content, photo shoots and events, CreativeBase runs the whole company: pipelines, every production's workspace, budget to quote to invoice, crew and call sheets, a client portal and company finance. For script-driven narrative film, StudioBinder or Celtx suit better because they have script breakdown and stripboards.
Can a production company run several productions at once in CreativeBase?
Yes. Home ranks the five things that most need you across every production, tasks and the calendar cover all of them, and Finance shows profit by production.
Do our clients and crew need an account?
No. Crew confirm call sheets, open their Crew Pass and sign their W-9 from links on any phone. Clients approve quotes, change orders and cuts in a client portal link. Anyone you invite into a production uses CreativeBase free.
How do team roles work in CreativeBase?
Your company workspace has owner, admin and member roles, and invites are emailed from the app. Each production can also invite outside collaborators with access limited to the sections you choose: Producer, Crew (everything but the budget) or View only.
Does CreativeBase do payroll or take client payments?
No. CreativeBase tracks money but does not move it. Invoices go out with your payment details, crew bills are marked paid when you pay them, and union payroll stays with a payroll company.
How much does CreativeBase cost for a production company?
Pricing is set on a short call, because every account starts with a demo. If you want to try it afterwards, your first production is free with no end date.
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