Movie Magic and Gorilla have been the two traditional desktop scheduling and budgeting packages for a long time. Movie Magic is owned by Entertainment Partners (EP), the payroll company, and it's the format studio production departments and union ADs tend to expect. Gorilla comes from Jungle Software, which says it has made production software for more than two decades, and its desktop prices sit well below Movie Magic's.
Both have changed recently. EP rebuilt Movie Magic Scheduling as MMS 10, and Jungle Software launched Gorilla Online next to its desktop apps, so a comparison written before those releases will miss a lot.
Scheduling: where Movie Magic leads
Movie Magic Scheduling's new version is built around complex shows:
- Sub-boards divide one schedule so two, three or four units can shoot the same day, each with its own start date, and combine into one master schedule.
- Enhanced conflict detection reviews strips and events (fittings, rehearsals) against shared cast, sets and elements.
- A calendar holds shoot days plus table reads, holidays, travel and even road closures near a location, and moving the start date updates the schedules.
- Multi-episode logic handles block shoots and cross-boarding inside one schedule.
- The DOOD now shows on screen, including rehearsals and travel, and the one-line exports as .xlsx as well as PDF.
MMS 10 opens MMS6 files and exports back to MMS6, which matters when the production office or a department head is still on the old version. Schedules back up to EP Cloud on every save.
Gorilla Scheduling covers the same core: screenplay import and breakdown, stripboard, cast, crew and locations with availability and conflicts, shoot days, and reports. Its report list includes the shooting schedule, one-line, Day Out of Days, breakdown sheet, elements report, cast list, crew call sheet, calendar report, and a SAG Exhibit G. The Online version adds a dual stripboard, a DOOD summary, daily category totals, custom report design and comments between users.
Jungle Software's own pages don't describe sub-boards for multiple units or conflict detection at the level MMS 10 does. If you are boarding a series with a second unit, Movie Magic is the safer choice.
Getting the script in: where Gorilla is more flexible
Movie Magic Scheduling imports a native Final Draft .fdx (scene headers and speaking characters) or a .sex file from Final Draft that carries tags.
Gorilla imports .fdx, .sex and PDF screenplays on both versions, and it can export back to Final Draft and out to Movie Magic Scheduling as .sex. That last point is practical: an indie AD can build the board in Gorilla and still hand a studio or a replacement AD a file MMS can open.
Gorilla also sells AI. Breakdown Assistant AI analyzes an imported screenplay and suggests production elements for you to review. It's integrated into Gorilla Online and comes with the Premium desktop plans. Movie Magic's product pages don't mention an AI breakdown.
Call sheets
EP's Movie Magic Scheduling page doesn't list call sheets, so productions using MMS build them in another tool. Gorilla Scheduling Online includes a call sheet; on the desktop, call sheets come from Koala Call Sheets, a separate Jungle Software product that uses the data already in Gorilla.
Budgeting
Movie Magic Budgeting (MMB) is the better-known product with line producers and studio accountants. EP describes infinitely customizable fringes, cutoffs and globals that you toggle on and off, amortization and pattern budgets, comparing budgets across multiple locations, estimating incentives, custom reports built by drag and drop, cloud-synced setup libraries, online and offline access, and an integration with EP's SmartAccounting so the chart of accounts matches between budget and accounting. It imports MMB 7 budgets. MMB 10 requires an EP account login with multi-factor authentication.
Gorilla Budgeting has globals, fringes, fringe ranges, contractual charges, multiple currencies, credits and tax incentives, accounting, a 4th level with Excel import, and Excel export on both versions. Gorilla Budgeting Online adds comparison of up to five budgets, sub-budgets, find-and-replace for multipliers, a Budget Assistant AI, and import of Movie Magic Budget files saved as .json. Fringes and the integrated Gorilla Ratebook are on paid Online plans only; on desktop, the Ratebook integration is a separate add-on.
For a line producer whose studio or completion bond company wants an MMB file, MMB is the answer. For an indie producer building a film budget with fringes and a top sheet, Gorilla Budgeting does the job.
What it costs
From the EP Store and Jungle Software's pricing page, when we checked:
| Product | Monthly | Yearly | Academic (yearly) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Movie Magic Scheduling | $39.99 ($29.99 intro) | $279.88 ($199.88 intro) | $119.88 |
| Movie Magic Budgeting | $42.99 | $299.88 | $125.88 |
| Gorilla Scheduling Desktop | $24.99 | $199 | $109 |
| Gorilla Budgeting Desktop | $24.99 | $199 | $109 |
| Gorilla Combo Pack | $39.99 | $369 | $209 |
| Gorilla Combo Premium (with AI) | $49.99 | $449 | not listed |
Gorilla also sells quarterly plans ($64.99 for Scheduling or Budgeting, $109.99 for the Combo). Gorilla Online has Free, Solo, Production and Studio plans; the prices weren't listed on the pages we opened.
Worked example, one producer who schedules and budgets for a year:
- Movie Magic: $279.88 + $299.88 = $579.76 at standard prices, or $199.88 + $299.88 = $499.76 with the introductory scheduling price.
- Gorilla Combo Pack: $369.
For a 10-week prep and shoot on monthly billing, three months of MMS and MMB is 3 x ($39.99 + $42.99) = $248.94. Gorilla's quarterly Combo is $109.99 for the same period.
Choose Movie Magic if
- the studio, network, bond company or accountant expects Movie Magic files
- you schedule multiple units, episodic blocks or cross-boarded episodes
- your production uses EP for payroll and SmartAccounting
- you need budget amortization and pattern budgets for a series
Choose Gorilla if
- you're independent and price matters
- you want to work in a browser with collaborators, or switch between desktop and online
- you want PDF script import, an AI breakdown suggestion, and a call sheet in the same product
- you need to hand off a Movie Magic Scheduling file occasionally without owning MMS
For first-time schedulers
Neither of these is built for someone who has never scheduled before. Storiara is a simpler web option: it imports PDF, Word or Final Draft scripts, extracts characters, locations, props, wardrobe, and music and effects with AI, and gives you a manual stripboard, cast Day Out of Days, a budget calculated from rate tables, and emailed call sheets. It has no Movie Magic import or export and no multi-unit boards. Producer is $39.99 a month. See Movie Magic Scheduling alternatives, Gorilla Scheduling alternatives, the film scheduling software roundup, and the compare hub.