The AD Carries the Production
Every assistant director knows the feeling: the entire production's logistics live in your head and your spreadsheets, and if anything falls through the cracks, you are the one who hears about it. The AD is responsible for the script breakdown, the shooting schedule, the daily call sheets, set management, and keeping every department informed and prepared. It is the most organizationally demanding role on any production.
Yet the tools most ADs use have not changed in decades. A printed script with highlighter marks. A spreadsheet that becomes unwieldy by week two. A Word template for call sheets that requires manual data entry every evening. WhatsApp messages that disappear in a flood of group chat.
Script Breakdown Without the Tedium
The script breakdown is where every production begins, and it is traditionally the AD's most time-consuming pre-production task. Reading through a feature-length script scene by scene, identifying every character, location, prop, wardrobe piece, vehicle, and special requirement — this process takes days of focused work.
CutPrint generates a complete breakdown from an uploaded script in minutes. Not a rough outline — a detailed, scene-by-scene breakdown with cast, locations, time of day, and categorized production elements. The AD reviews the output, makes adjustments, and moves on to scheduling. The days spent on manual highlighting become hours of review and refinement.
A Stripboard That Lives on Your Phone
The stripboard is the AD's primary scheduling tool. CutPrint's digital stripboard preserves the familiar visual metaphor — color-coded strips arranged vertically with day breaks — but adds the ability to drag and rearrange scenes with a finger swipe. Daily page counts update automatically. Cast conflict warnings appear instantly when a scene placement creates a scheduling problem.
And because the stripboard runs on the mobile app, the AD has it on set. When the director decides to add a scene or the weather forces a schedule change, the AD can adjust the stripboard immediately — no need to return to the production office and the laptop.
Call Sheets Generated, Not Typed
Every evening, the AD or second AD prepares the next day's call sheet. In a traditional workflow, this means manually typing scene details, cast call times, crew calls, location addresses, weather, and notes into a document template. It takes thirty minutes to an hour, and it is done at the end of an already exhausting day.
CutPrint generates call sheets directly from the locked shoot day on the stripboard. Scene details, cast calls, location information, and crew requirements are pulled from the production data that already exists in the system. Review, adjust if needed, export to PDF, and share to WhatsApp — all in minutes instead of an hour.
Offline Because Sets Are Not Offices
Film sets are not offices with reliable wifi. They are remote locations, moving vehicles, crowded streets, and studio floors with concrete walls that block signals. CutPrint works offline by default. The full schedule, all scene breakdowns, and the current call sheet are available on the AD's phone without any internet connection. Changes made offline sync automatically when connectivity returns.
For the role that holds the production together, the tools should work everywhere the AD goes — not just where the wifi reaches.