Gorilla has been a sensible pick for independent ADs for years, and Jungle Software has kept it moving. It now comes in two versions. Gorilla Desktop runs locally on Mac and Windows. Gorilla Scheduling Online runs in a browser with collaborators on paid plans. Both import Final Draft, Movie Magic Screenwriter, and PDF screenplays, build breakdowns and stripboards, and print the reports you need: shooting schedule, one-liner, Day Out of Days, SAG Exhibit G, breakdown sheets. Both export to Movie Magic Scheduling's .sex format.
So why look around? The reasons we hear are specific. On desktop, there is no collaboration, so the board lives on one person's laptop and gets emailed as a file. Call sheets on desktop need the Koala add-on. The two versions don't have identical features: storyboards and shot lists are desktop-only, while the dual stripboard, report template designer, comments, and DOOD summary are online-only. The online free tier is a demo capped at 20 editable scenes, enough to test a short and nowhere near enough to board a feature. AI tagging is metered: 150 scenes a month on Production, 300 on Studio, and on desktop only with a Premium plan.
Pricing itself is rarely the problem. Online Solo is $19 a month or $190 a year; Desktop Scheduling is $199 a year. If you're leaving Gorilla, it's usually for a workflow reason. The options below address different ones. A detailed table is on Storiara vs Gorilla Scheduling.
1. Storiara
Storiara fits the indie producer or AD who wants the whole team in one project without passing files. It runs in the browser, and collaborators can be given roles (Producer, Assistant Director, Department Head, Accountant, or a custom set of pages) that control what they see in the interface.
Prep starts with the script. Upload a PDF, .docx, or .fdx file; Storiara splits scenes from the headings and uses AI to extract characters, extras, locations, props, wardrobe, and music and effects. There's no scene cap, and paid accounts have no monthly AI allowance to watch. Each scene gets a page length in eighths read from the PDF, shown as, say, 2 4/8.
The schedule is a manual drag-and-drop stripboard with day breaks, daily start and end times, and a maximum day length that blocks overloaded days. The cast Day Out of Days builds itself from the board. Callsheets (Storiara's label) combine the day's scenes, cast and crew calls, location, and weather, and you can email them now or schedule them for the night before. A separate Reminders page sends a message or the call sheet to selected people up to 7 days ahead.
What Gorilla has that Storiara lacks: Movie Magic export, an Exhibit G report, and Excel export on reports. Storiara's DOOD is cast-only, the schedule can't be exported to Excel or CSV, and call sheets have no SMS. Nearest hospital is a typed field.
Pricing: new accounts get a 30-day free trial of unlimited stories, then need a paid plan. Producer $39.99 a month plus $19.99 per extra collaborator. Studio custom. A three-person team on Producer is $79.97 a month, against $49 on Gorilla Online Production.
2. Movie Magic Scheduling
If you're moving from indie work to union features, Movie Magic Scheduling is the tool you're likely to meet in the production office. MMS 10 adds sub-boards for two to four units on the same day, cross-boarding and block shooting for episodic work, conflict detection that includes fittings and rehearsals, a full calendar for events outside shoot days, and one-line export to Excel. It imports .fdx and .sex scripts and transfers elements to Movie Magic Budgeting. Gorilla's .sex export makes the move easier.
It shares Gorilla Desktop's biggest drawback: it's installed software for macOS and Windows, with EP Cloud Backup keeping saved versions. It also costs more. EP lists $39.99 a month or $279.88 a year, with an introductory $29.99 a month or $199.88 a year when we checked, and an academic price of $119.88 a year. See Movie Magic vs Gorilla.
3. StudioBinder
StudioBinder suits producers who found Gorilla too narrow. Beyond breakdowns and a stripboard that can auto sort by location and time of day and hold alternate schedules, it has screenwriting, script sides, mood boards, shot lists, storyboards, task boards, and call sheets with auto-filled weather and hospital that go out by email and text with delivery status and timestamped confirmations.
It is weaker as a pure scheduler for a feature AD, and it costs more once you want the call sheet features. The free plan is 1 project. Starter is $29 a month for 10 projects without text delivery or tracking; Indie at $49 a month adds both; Professional at $99 a month adds branded call sheets and multiple stripboard schedules. See Storiara vs StudioBinder.
4. Filmustage
Filmustage leans further into AI than Gorilla's Breakdown Assistant. It tags cast, props, locations, VFX, and wardrobe across scripts in any language, drafts a budget and VFX breakdown, and its AI Dude assistant can reorder shooting days and detect conflicts with a preview before changes apply. It has a stripboard, calendar, DOOD reports, and call sheets, and exports to Movie Magic formats.
The AI runs on coins: Director's Cut ($79 a month, or $55 a month billed annually) includes 1,700 per cycle. The free plan keeps manual tools open but runs AI on only 20% of scenes, and full-AI projects pause if you cancel. See Storiara vs Filmustage.
5. Yamdu
Yamdu is for companies that have outgrown a standalone scheduler. It imports Movie Magic and Fuzzlecheck schedules and wraps scheduling in production management: breakdowns with AI suggestions, day out of days, call sheet builder, budgeting with Showbiz import and export, crew management, time cards, recruitment, and CSV and Excel exports. There are iOS and Android apps.
It is priced for teams: Flex is $45 a month for 1 user and 1 project, with extra users at $22 and extra projects at $45 a month; Studio is $199 a month billed annually for 10 users and unlimited projects. For a solo AD on one film, Gorilla is far cheaper. See Storiara vs Yamdu.
6. Celtx
Celtx is a writing platform first, with screenplay, AV, and stageplay editors, and production tools for breakdowns, shot lists, schedules, sides, call sheets, and budgets. It makes sense for a writer-director who would otherwise juggle Final Draft and Gorilla on a short.
The production tools sit on Team (from $44.99 a month billed yearly for up to 3 members), Education, or Student plans, or as add-ons to Writer ($11.24 a month billed yearly) and Writer Pro ($18.74 a month billed yearly). See Storiara vs Celtx.
7. SetHero
If you like your Gorilla board and only the call sheet bothers you, SetHero is the smallest change. It builds call sheets in a drag-and-drop editor, sends them by email and text, and tracks received, opened, and confirmed for each person. It also keeps a contact database and builds production reports from the call sheets.
It has no breakdown or schedule, so you keep Gorilla for that. Pricing is by projects per year: Starter from $19 a month (up to 35 people and 4 days per project), Pro from $49 a month (65 people, 8 days), Studio from $129 a month (125 people, 12 days), with 25% off yearly. See Storiara vs SetHero.
Matching the tool to the problem
Name the specific Gorilla problem first. If it's collaboration, try Gorilla Scheduling Online before leaving; it may solve that on its own. If it's the call sheet, add SetHero and keep your board. If it's the next job being a union show, learn Movie Magic.
If it's the amount of manual tagging, test AI breakdown on your real script. Upload the same draft to Storiara, Filmustage, and Gorilla Online's 10-scene AI demo, and compare against your own breakdown of a busy scene. A dialogue scene in a diner is easy; a night exterior with picture cars, a stunt, and 30 background is where tools miss things.
And if it's that the schedule, call sheets, and budget live in different files, look at Storiara, StudioBinder, or Yamdu, depending on team size. Whatever you pick, print a one-line schedule from it and compare it to the Gorilla version line by line before you retire the old file. Our one-line schedule template and call sheet template are useful for that check, and more are at /templates.