How to upload a Movie Magic template

Most production companies and studios budget on their own chart of accounts. Upload a template lets you start from that chart instead of a built-in one. Storiara reads the Movie Magic Budgeting file, keeps its categories, accounts, fringes, globals, and charges, and files its estimates into the accounts the chart already has.

A template here means a .mmbx file with a chart of accounts and little or nothing in it. If your file already has a full set of figures you want to keep, use upload an existing budget instead.

Before you start

• Save the chart from Movie Magic Budgeting 10 as a .mmbx file. Older .mbd files need to be opened there and saved as .mmbx first.
• You need budget edit access, and the project must not have a budget yet. To replace an existing one, delete it from the three-dot menu or use Import .mmbx in the grid toolbar.

Steps

1. Open Budget under Financing. The page says No budget yet.
2. Click Upload a template and choose the .mmbx file.
3. The setup dialog opens with your file selected under Start from, shown as Your template: and the file name. The line under it counts what was read, for example "42 categories, 610 accounts. Estimates fill this chart of accounts."
4. Leave Fill in estimates on to have the chart filled. Turn it off to create the budget from the chart with nothing in it, then click Create budget.
5. With estimates on, choose the Format, Production level, optional Target budget, and Union agreement, then go through the Schedule and Financial steps. These are the same questions as in how to set up a budget.
6. Click Set up budget. The page shows Building the budget for about a minute, and the build carries on if you reload or leave.

You can also reach the upload from inside the dialog. Click Set up budget first, then pick Upload a template under Start from and use Choose a .mmbx file.

Where the estimates go

Each estimate line is matched to an account in your chart, by account number first, then by name, then by department. Storiara does not add categories to your chart, and it leaves your fringes and charges alone.

A studio chart will not have an obvious account for every line. Those lines go to the department's general account, such as "Other" or "Miscellaneous". When a later sync or Reconfigure opens its review, they show as lines to check, each with a picker to move it to any account. A move is remembered on later syncs.

If the file already has amounts

When the uploaded file has a total above zero, the dialog says "This file already has amounts" with the total and a Use it as it is link. Click it to keep the file exactly as it is, with no estimates added.

If it doesn't work

• Could not read the template means the file is not a .mmbx Storiara can open. Save it again from Movie Magic Budgeting 10 and retry.
• "Choose a file to continue" under Start from means Upload a template is selected but no file has been picked yet.
• The buttons are missing? Your role can view the budget but not edit it.

The Budget guide covers the grid once the budget exists. For background on charts, see the film chart of accounts guide.