Who runs post
The post-production supervisor is the project manager for everything after the camera wraps. They build the post schedule and budget, book facilities and vendors, track VFX and music clearances, and own the deliverables list. On a small film the post supervisor might be the producer, which works right up until the distributor's delivery schedule arrives.
The creative side is led by the editor, with assistant editors handling ingest, syncing, organizing bins, turnovers to sound and VFX, and the lists that let the finishing house conform the cut. The VFX supervisor and VFX producer run the effects vendors, and the composer and music supervisor handle score and licensed songs. Sound editorial and the re-recording mix are usually booked with a post sound facility. Editors, assistant editors, and many post crafts in Hollywood are represented by the Motion Picture Editors Guild, IATSE Local 700, which lists contracts for post houses, high budget SVOD work, and several low-budget theatrical tiers, and works under the 2024 to 2027 IATSE Basic Agreement.
The workflow in order
Post is a sequence, even though some steps overlap. This is the order on a typical scripted feature:
- Dailies: Footage from each day is synced with sound, logged, and delivered to the editor, director, and producers, usually the next morning.
- Editor's assembly: The editor cuts scenes as they're shot, following the script and the script supervisor's notes, and delivers a full assembly shortly after wrap. It's long and it isn't meant to be watched for pacing.
- Director's cut: The director works with the editor for the period set by their agreement.
- Producer and studio cuts: Producers and financiers give notes, often with test or friends-and-family screenings, and the editor keeps cutting.
- Picture lock: The cut is frozen. Changes after picture lock are expensive because every downstream department is working to its exact frame count.
- Turnovers: The assistant editors send the locked cut, EDLs, and reference files to sound, music, and VFX.
- Sound and music: A spotting session sets where score and effects go. Dialogue editing, ADR, Foley, sound effects, and score happen in parallel.
- VFX finals: Vendors deliver finished shots, which are cut in to replace temps.
- Conform and color: The finishing house conforms the cut to the original camera media, and the colorist grades the film (color grading) with the director and DP.
- Mix: The re-recording mixers balance dialogue, music, and effects into the final mix and build stems.
- Titles and credits: Main titles, end crawl, and any on-screen text are finished and checked against contracts.
- QC and delivery: The masters go through quality control, fixes are made, and everything on the delivery schedule goes out.
How long the director's cut runs
On a DGA film, Article 7 of the Basic Agreement sets the director's cut period, and producers should put it on the post calendar before anyone promises a festival date.
For a theatrical motion picture, the director's cut runs within ten weeks after the close of principal photography, or within a period equal to one day of editing for each two days of originally scheduled photography, whichever is greater. For low-budget films, it's six weeks, or one day of editing for each day of originally scheduled photography, whichever is greater. The clock doesn't start until the editor's assembly is complete and delivered, so a slow assembly pushes the whole period.
These examples show when the ratio matters:
| Film | Scheduled shoot days | Ratio calculation | Minimum period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio feature | 50 | 50 / 2 = 25 days of editing | Ten weeks, since it's longer |
| Studio feature | 160 | 160 / 2 = 80 days of editing | 80 days of editing, since it's longer than ten weeks |
| DGA low-budget feature | 24 | 24 x 1 = 24 days of editing | Six weeks, since it's longer |
Television is much faster. Article 7 gives a director four days for a one-hour episode (more than 30 and up to 60 minutes) and one day for a half-hour episode, plus time to make changes not to exceed one more day. A one-hour pilot gets five days. The editor's assembly for TV has to be delivered "promptly," which the agreement defines as four business days after principal photography for a half hour and six for a one hour.
The DGA agreement also gives the director the right, subject to their availability, to be present and consult throughout post, and to be told the dates, times, and places of post-production work. Booking a mix or color session without telling the director breaches those creative rights.
A sample indie post schedule
Here's one plausible calendar for a DGA low-budget feature that wraps a 24-day shoot on a Friday. Your numbers will differ with VFX count, music, and the distributor's deadline.
| Weeks after wrap | Work |
|---|---|
| 1 to 2 | Editor finishes assembly; assistants organize for director's cut |
| 3 to 8 | Director's cut (six-week minimum) |
| 9 to 12 | Producer cut, screenings, notes; VFX temp shots out for bids |
| 13 | Picture lock; turnovers to sound, music, VFX |
| 13 to 20 | Dialogue edit, ADR, Foley, effects, score; VFX finals |
| 19 to 21 | Conform and color grade |
| 21 to 23 | Final mix, stems, M&E |
| 23 to 24 | Titles, QC, fixes |
| 25 onward | Delivery to sales agent or distributor |
The easiest place to lose time is between cuts. Notes from four producers who can't meet in the same week can add a month before lock, and every department behind lock waits.
Deliverables
A distributor or sales agent sends a delivery schedule, and nothing gets paid until it's met. Streamers publish detailed technical specifications; Netflix, for example, has delivery specifications in its Partner Help Center and takes IMF packages through its Backlot delivery portal. A typical list for an independent feature looks like this:
| Category | Items |
|---|---|
| Picture | DCP for theatrical and festivals; a mezzanine or IMF master for streaming and TV; textless versions of titled scenes |
| Audio | Final mix (5.1 and stereo as required), dialogue, music, and effects stems, a fully filled M&E track for foreign dubbing |
| Text | Closed captions, subtitles, a dialogue and continuity list |
| Quality | QC report from an approved facility, with fixes |
| Legal | Chain of title, E&O insurance certificate, music licenses and cue sheets, clearance logs |
| Credits and guild | Final credits approved against contracts, cast and crew lists, union paperwork |
| Marketing | Key art, stills from the still photographer, trailer, EPK |
The guild paperwork runs on its own clock. SAG-AFTRA's production checklist requires a final cast list within 120 days after principal photography or 90 days after the picture is completed, whichever comes first, with an amended list if ADR, looping, or singing happens later. It also requires music cue sheets once post-production is complete. A producer who treats those as "after delivery" problems will hear about it when the security deposit isn't released.
The M&E track is the deliverable that catches first-time producers. If Foley wasn't recorded for every scene, the sound team has to fill the gaps so a foreign distributor can replace the English dialogue without losing footsteps and cloth movement. Budget for it before the mix, because building an M&E after the stems are printed costs more.
Where post budgets go wrong
Post costs sit in their own section of the budget. A common structure uses accounts like 4400 for VFX, 4500 for editorial, 4600 for music, 4700 for post sound, 4800 for the digital intermediate, and 4900 for titles, though every chart of accounts varies.
The usual overruns come from:
- temp music the director falls in love with and the budget can't license for all media
- VFX added after lock, when a shot that was going to be "fixed in post" becomes six new shots
- a mix booked before picture is truly locked, then rebooked
- no money set aside for QC fixes, which are almost guaranteed on a first pass
- deliverables budgeted as a single line instead of priced item by item from the distributor's schedule
The VFX and music budgeting post covers the two biggest variables in detail, and the deliverables glossary entry is a checklist to start from.
Post in Storiara's budget
Storiara's budget module includes post-production accounts for VFX, editorial, music, post sound, DI, and titles alongside above- and below-the-line sections, and it can export the budget to Excel for the post supervisor to price out vendor bids. It doesn't manage editorial or deliverables tracking.