What you're installing
Movie Magic Scheduling is Entertainment Partners' desktop scheduling program. The current generation is Movie Magic Scheduling 10, a redesign of the long-running version 6; the release notes list version 10.15.8, dated August 27, 2026. When we checked the EP store on September 14, 2026, it sold a monthly subscription at a limited-time introductory price of $29.99 per month, with $39.99 per month shown as the regular price. After purchase you pick a Windows or macOS download from your myEP account under Store > Purchases.
The documentation's minimum requirements list macOS 12 through 15 and Windows 10 or 11 at version 21H2 or later. Schedules save as .mmsx files on your computer and back up automatically to EP Cloud.
This tutorial builds a small schedule for DEAD RECKONING, a fictional short with eight scenes, so you can follow each step with real numbers. Menu names and button labels below come from EP's documentation and may shift between updates.
Step 1: Create the schedule and import the script
On the Home screen, click New Schedule on this Device (or File > New Schedule, or Ctrl+N on Windows and Cmd+N on macOS). A new schedule stays temporary until you save it, so save it now with a name and date.
To bring in the script, go to File > Import Script. The import documentation lists three kinds of file:
| File | What comes in |
|---|---|
| Final Draft (.fdx) | Scene headers (sluglines) and speaking characters |
| Movie Magic Screenwriter file | Scene headers and speaking characters |
| .sex (Scheduling Export) from a tagged script | Headers, characters, and the elements you tagged, including any new categories |
Each detected scene becomes a breakdown sheet, and its strip lands at the end of the Boneyard. The Boneyard is a holding area; strips there aren't scheduled. There's no PDF import in that list, so a PDF-only script has to be converted to one of these formats or entered by hand with the New Sheet button.
If you're moving an old show, open a Movie Magic Scheduling 6 .msd file with File > Open on this Device. It opens with its strips in the Boneyard as a safeguard, and you save it as .mmsx.
Step 2: Fill in each breakdown sheet
Open a sheet and work through the gray scene header. The fields that matter most for scheduling:
| Field | DEAD RECKONING, scene 3 |
|---|---|
| Scenes | 3 |
| I/E | EXT |
| Set | GAS STATION |
| TOD | NIGHT |
| Pg(s) | 1 3/8 |
| Shoot Time | 2:30 |
| Synopsis | Nate buys gas with a fake card |
| Location | Hwy 58 Chevron, Boron |
The program imports the header from the script, but page counts need checking. Pg(s) takes whole pages and eighths, and if you type more than 8 in the eighths box it converts to whole pages. Shoot Time is your estimate of how long the scene takes to shoot; the documentation notes the program doesn't enforce an hours-and-minutes format, so pick a convention and keep it. The page count calculator helps check eighths against the PDF.
Below the header, add elements with Quick Add: tab into the field, type part of a name, choose an existing element or + ADD, pick the category, and press Enter. New schedules include default categories such as Cast Members, Extras, Stunts, Vehicles, Props, Special Effects, Wardrobe, Makeup/Hair, Animals, and Music, among others. Tag everything a department will need, because the long-form shooting schedule prints these under each strip. The breakdown sheet entry explains what belongs in each category.
Step 3: Set up the board
The Board tab shows every breakdown sheet as a strip. A schedule can have several boards, each a different arrangement of the same strips, and each board can have sub-boards. The board documentation suggests sub-boards for things like first and second unit, episode blocks, or prep versus principal photography.
Before you arrange anything, use the Board selector at the top left, click the pencil beside your board, and choose Duplicate. Work on the copy. You can't duplicate a sub-board, only a whole board, and you'll want a safe version before the next step.
Step 4: Sort, then arrange strips by hand
Click SORT in the menu above the board, choose a scene header field, and add up to two more with + SORT RULE. For a first pass on DEAD RECKONING, sort by Location, then TOD, then Scenes.
Read the warning in the documentation before you click: sorting moves all banners to the top and removes day breaks. That's fine on a fresh board and painful on one you've already scheduled, which is why you duplicated it.
Now arrange by hand. Drag one or more strips (Ctrl or Cmd or Shift to select several), or cut and paste them. DEAD RECKONING has two locations, and after sorting the board reads:
| Sc. | I/E | Set | TOD | Pgs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | INT | NATE'S CAR | DAY | 6/8 |
| 5 | INT | NATE'S CAR | NIGHT | 1 1/8 |
| 7 | EXT | DESERT ROAD | DAY | 1 4/8 |
| 2 | INT | GAS STATION, STORE | NIGHT | 2 |
| 3 | EXT | GAS STATION | NIGHT | 1 3/8 |
| 4 | EXT | GAS STATION | NIGHT | 7/8 |
| 6 | INT | GAS STATION, STORE | DAY | 1 2/8 |
| 8 | EXT | GAS STATION | DAY | 5/8 |
Drag scene 7 and scene 1 to the top (the day driving work), then the day gas station scenes 6 and 8, then the night scenes.
Step 5: Add day breaks and banners
Select the last strip of a day and click + DAY BREAK, or right-click a strip and choose Insert Daybreak, Above or Below. The day break shows the day number, the date from the sub-board's start date, and the total pages and shoot time above it.
There's also an automatic option in the drop-down next to + DAY BREAK: Insert by pg 8ths, Insert by shoot time, or Insert by screen time. It removes the existing day breaks and inserts new ones by the limit you type. Use it for a quick estimate of how many days a script needs, then place the real breaks by hand, because it doesn't know anything about locations or cast.
For DEAD RECKONING, Day 1 ends after scene 8 and Day 2 holds the night work:
- Day 1: 1 4/8 + 6/8 + 1 2/8 + 5/8. Whole pages 1 + 1 = 2, eighths 4 + 6 + 2 + 5 = 17, which is 2 1/8. Total 4 1/8.
- Day 2: 1 1/8 + 2 + 1 3/8 + 7/8. Whole pages 1 + 2 + 1 = 4, eighths 1 + 3 + 7 = 11, which is 1 3/8. Total 5 3/8.
Check that the program's day break totals match yours. Across both days that's 9 4/8 pages, and the script total should agree.
Add a banner with + BANNER, Ctrl+B or Cmd+B, or right-click and Insert Banner. Type "COMPANY MOVE TO CHEVRON, HWY 58" between scene 1 and scene 6, where the unit leaves the desert road for the gas station, and give it a duration if you want its time counted in the day. Banners can be Thin or Standard height.
Step 6: Set colors, dates, and the calendar
Open Design > Strip Designer to choose which fields show on a strip and, on the Strip Colors tab, pick a color for each time of day. If you follow the common convention, that's white for INT day, yellow for EXT day, blue for INT night, and green for EXT night; stripboard colors explained covers the edge cases. Since color follows the TOD field, a scene with a misspelled time of day won't color correctly.
In the Calendar tab, set the sub-board's start date and working days. Day breaks then show real dates, and you can drag strips onto dates in a split-screen view of the calendar and board. The calendar also holds events that aren't on breakdown sheets, like fittings, rehearsals, and holidays.
Step 7: Check the Day Out of Days
The DOOD tab shows each element in a category, one row per element across weeks, with a code for each day. The DOOD documentation lists W for work, S for start (usually shown as SW), F for finish (WF), H for hold, D for drop, P for pick-up, plus codes for travel, fitting, rehearsal, company holiday, and company travel or move days. Pick Cast Members and look for long runs of H between work days. Those are the actors whose scenes you should try to group. The day out of days glossary entry explains why holds cost money.
Step 8: Print and share
Reports include the One-line Schedule, the Shooting Schedule with categories listed under each strip, and DOOD reports. The One-line Schedule exports to PDF or Excel, and you can combine several sub-boards into one output ordered by date. For collaboration, a Shared File lives on EP Cloud and lets several users work in the same schedule, which requires an internet connection, an EP account, and version 10. To send elements and work days to Movie Magic Budgeting, File offers an export of the active sub-board as an .mbl library.
Before you send a one-liner, stamp a version color and date in the header, and compare it with the stripboard template layout if the crew is used to reading spreadsheets.
If you're choosing a scheduling tool
Movie Magic Scheduling is the format many studio and union productions expect, and the conflict detection, sub-boards, and Budgeting export are built for larger shows. The Movie Magic comparison and Movie Magic Scheduling alternatives pages lay out where other tools fit. Storiara doesn't import or export Movie Magic files; it reads PDF, Word, and Final Draft scripts into scenes and builds its stripboard from those.