Glossary
This glossary explains the film-production and FilmKit terms used in this guide. Each entry links to the page that covers it.
A–C
AI assistant: The assistant built into each project that answers questions about the project and can help with your work. FilmKit also lets you connect your own AI client. See Use the project assistant.
ALE: Avid Log Exchange, a file format that carries clip metadata into editing software. You can export footage as an ALE file. See Import and export footage.
Beat: A single story moment, such as a turning point, that you arrange on a whiteboard or place in a screenplay's outlines. See Arrange the story on whiteboards.
Board: In the schedule, one version of the shooting schedule; a project can have several and one is active. On whiteboards and storyboards, a board is a canvas or a single frame. See Build the shooting schedule.
Breakdown: The list of what each scene needs, such as its characters, places, and items, taken from the screenplay. See View the breakdown.
Call sheet: The document for one shooting day that tells cast and crew when and where to arrive, and what's being shot. See Create and publish call sheets.
Casting call: A role you're casting, with its requirements, that you can publish so actors can apply. See Create and publish a casting call.
Circled take: A take marked as good, so the editor knows which takes to use. See Log takes.
Clip sheet: A file listing the clips a camera or editing system recorded, which you import to match clips to logged takes. See Import and export footage.
Collaborator: A member of a space who can work on its projects. See Roles and access.
Crew: The people who work on the production behind the camera. In FilmKit, crew are project contacts who receive call sheets and other documents, and who can be hired through crew postings. See Add contacts to a project.
Crew posting: A crew job you publish so people in the directory can express interest. See Post a crew job.
D–G
Day out of days: A report that shows, for each cast member, which shooting days they work. Its codes are SW (start work, the first booked day), W (work), H (hold, retained between booked days), WF (work finish, the last booked day), and SWF (start, work, and finish on a single day). See Check the day out of days.
Dual dialogue: Two characters' lines printed side by side because they speak at the same time. See Write and format a screenplay.
E-casting: A request you send to an applicant to record and upload a self-tape, with instructions, sides, and a due date. See Request self-tapes with e-casting.
Eighths: Scene length measured in eighths of a page, the standard unit for estimating how long a scene takes to shoot. See Intro to screenwriting.
Element: One block of the screenplay with its own formatting, such as a scene heading, action, character, dialogue, parenthetical, or transition. See Write and format a screenplay.
False start: A take that stops almost immediately and isn't usable. You can mark a take as false. See Log takes.
Fringe: A cost that's added on top of a wage, such as payroll taxes or union benefits, as a percentage or flat amount. See Set up fringes, globals, and incentives.
Global: A named value, such as the number of shooting weeks, that budget lines can use in their formulas. See Set up fringes, globals, and incentives.
I–P
Incentive: A tax credit or rebate a production can earn by shooting in a region. FilmKit lists incentives under Credits (incentives) in budget setup. See Set up fringes, globals, and incentives.
Location: A real-world place where you shoot, with an address. One location can stand in for one or more places in the story. See Manage shooting locations.
Locked pages: Page boundaries frozen for production, so later changes add lettered A-pages (such as 12A) instead of renumbering every page. See Manage revisions and locks.
MCP: The Model Context Protocol, the standard that lets AI clients such as Claude connect to FilmKit. See Connect an AI client.
Omitted scene: A scene that's taken out of the story but keeps its place and number, so other scene numbers don't change. See Manage revisions and locks.
Outline: A lane above a screenplay's page strip where you place story beats over the pages you plan for them. See Outline the story above the timeline.
Passkey: The credential you sign in with instead of a password, stored on your device or in your password manager. See Sign in with a passkey.
Place: A setting in the story, such as "Lighthouse — Keeper's Quarters." A place can be linked to the real location where it's shot. See Manage places.
Preliminary and final: The two stages of a published call sheet. A preliminary call sheet goes out early and can change; the final one is the one to follow. See Publish and distribute documents.
Project: One film, series, or other production inside a space. A project holds its screenplays, schedule, casting, and everything else. See Intro to spaces and projects.
Publication: A document you send out from FilmKit, such as a call sheet, a script revision, or sides, with a record of who received it. See Intro to publishing.
R–S
Resource: A real-world thing the production needs, such as a prop, vehicle, or animal, with its availability. See Track production resources.
Revision colors: The color sequence (white, blue, pink, and so on) that marks each issued revision of a screenplay, so everyone can tell which pages are newest. See Manage revisions and locks.
Roll: A camera roll or sound roll: the card or media a camera or sound recorder records onto. To roll also means to start recording a take. See Set up logging.
Scene heading: The line that starts a scene, such as INT. LIGHTHOUSE - NIGHT, also called a slugline. See Write and format a screenplay.
Screenplay: The script of the film, written and formatted in the screenplay editor. See Intro to screenwriting.
Self-tape: An audition an actor records themselves and uploads. See Request self-tapes with e-casting.
Setup: One camera position and lighting arrangement. A shot can need one or more setups, and each setup can have several takes. See Log takes.
Shooting day: One day of filming, with a date, a location, and the scenes scheduled for it. See Set up shooting days.
Shot: One planned camera angle, size, and movement for part of a scene. See Plan shots.
Sides: The pages of the screenplay needed for one day's shooting or for an audition. See Create and publish call sheets.
Slate: The board shown and clapped at the start of a take to identify it and sync sound. FilmKit has a digital slate. See Use the digital slate.
Space: The shared home for your company or team in FilmKit. A space holds projects, members, and the address book. See Intro to spaces and projects.
Storyboard: A sequence of drawn or generated frames that shows how shots will look. See Draw storyboards.
T–W
Tail slate: A slate clapped at the end of a take instead of the start. See Use the digital slate.
Take: One recording of a shot, from the moment the camera rolls until cut. See Log takes.
Timecode: The running time stamp, in hours, minutes, seconds, and frames, that cameras and sound recorders write so footage can be matched. See Log takes.
Trash: The place where deleted items stay for 30 days before they're deleted permanently. Each project and each space has its own Trash. See Restore deleted items from the Trash.
Viewer: Someone with read-only access to a project, such as a cast or crew member linked as a contact. Viewers see the schedule, contacts, and published documents. See Roles and access.
Whiteboard: A free-form canvas for arranging beats, characters, scenes, and storyboards to work out the story. See Arrange the story on whiteboards.