How to Keep Your Production Team On Track

Last year I wrote, directed, and edited a short film, Final Hit. During pre-production, there were a lot of moving parts to keep track of - casting, locations, crew, gear, schedules, etc. The list was extensive. I had multiple conversations happening with multiple people in multiple places, including Twitter, Email, Text, and Facebook. It was hard to maintain a level of organization throughout the process.

So, as I entered pre-production on a new short film, Big and Tall, I was determined to find a tool that would help me keep everything related to the project in one place. Enter Slack. I first heard about Slack while listening to the 99% Invisible podcast, and since I love anything that can help me stay organized, I had to check it out.

"What's Slack?" you may be wondering. Slack is a tool for teams. It's an intranet where you and your co-workers can organize all conversations and topics related to a project and keep them in one place. No more time wasted searching your inbox for that specific email. No more scouring through Dropbox folders looking for that PDF. You can message team members right there within the app. You can upload pictures and documents so everyone can have easy access to them. And when those documents are revised as the project moves forward, everyone on the team will see those changes.

I've been using it with my cast and crew for Big and Tall and it's been fantastic. I first created the team and invited everyone involved with the film to join. Then, I created separate Channels for each area of the production. Conversations, thoughts, ideas, documents, etc. stay within their designated channels. Here's a look at the channels for the Big and Tall Slack group. 

Are you using Slack? If so, let me know how you're using it for your team. Have another recommendation? Leave it in the Comments section.