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InteScene as a Movie Magic alternative
InteScene is a browser-based Movie Magic alternative for budgeting and scheduling, with a full chart of accounts and a colour-coded stripboard built into one connected workspace. Its budget tracks Estimated, Actual, Paid, Payable and Variance with fringes, globals, multi-currency and purchase orders, and it imports CSV exports from Movie Magic and Showbiz so switching does not mean retyping line items. Plans start free, with paid tiers from GBP 12 per month and a two-week free trial.
Movie Magic is a well-known professional film budgeting and scheduling tool, so an alternative needs to be credible on the numbers. InteScene offers a full chart of accounts in the structure production accountants expect, with coded accounts, sub-accounts and line items tracking Estimated, Actual, Paid, Payable and Variance. It adds the heavyweight tools producers rely on: reusable fringe libraries for payroll taxes, pension, health and holiday pay, globals that update every linked line when a single day rate changes, multi-currency lines, what-if scenarios and vendor purchase orders you can email as PDFs. It also imports CSV exports from Movie Magic and Showbiz, so an existing budget moves across without retyping hundreds of lines. The difference is that this budget does not sit alone. Costs from the breakdown, locations, catering and transport feed it automatically, and crew check-in timesheets push live labour costs into the payable figure, so overruns surface on the day rather than at wrap. Scheduling lives in the same workspace too, with a board, a colour-coded stripboard and a calendar driven by one plan, an AI scheduler that weighs daylight and availability, and a live conflict engine. Everything runs in the browser with real-time collaboration. Plans start free, paid tiers run from GBP 12 per month, and every paid plan includes a two-week free trial. Sign up at https://intescene.app/signup.
What both cover
- Chart-of-accounts film budgeting with estimated versus actual tracking
- Stripboard scheduling to set a day-by-day shooting order
- Fringe calculations for payroll taxes, pension, health and holiday pay
- Multi-currency budgeting for international productions
- Standard production reports such as day-out-of-days grids
What InteScene adds
- A full chart of accounts (Accounts, Sub-accounts, Line items) tracking Estimated, Actual, Paid, Payable and Variance, alongside a quick top-level budget for an at-a-glance grand total
- CSV import that reads Movie Magic and Showbiz budget exports via automatic header-matching, so an existing chart of accounts comes across without retyping
- Costs from the breakdown, locations, catering and transport that feed the budget automatically, so estimating starts from your real production
- Globals that update every linked line when you change one day rate, reusable fringe libraries, what-if budget scenarios and emailable vendor purchase orders
- A three-view scheduler (board, stripboard, calendar) with an AI shooting-order generator and a live conflict engine
- Crew check-in timesheets that split regular, overtime and double-time time and feed the budget's payable figure live
- Everything in the browser with real-time collaboration, plus a two-week free trial on every paid plan
Frequently asked questions
Is InteScene a good Movie Magic alternative for budgeting?
InteScene is a good Movie Magic alternative for productions that want a full chart of accounts in the browser, connected to the rest of the production. It tracks Estimated, Actual, Paid, Payable and Variance across coded accounts, sub-accounts and line items, with fringes, globals, multi-currency, what-if scenarios and purchase orders. Costs from the breakdown, locations, catering and transport feed in automatically, so the budget stays live as the production changes.
Can InteScene import Movie Magic budget files?
Yes. InteScene's budget imports CSV exports from dedicated film-budgeting tools, including Movie Magic and Showbiz, using automatic header-matching so your existing chart of accounts comes across without retyping line items. A budget import that parses to nothing usable is blocked, so you cannot accidentally wipe a budget with a misformatted file, and Merge mode reuses existing account codes instead of duplicating them.
Does InteScene handle scheduling as well as budgeting?
Yes. InteScene includes a three-view scheduler with a drag-and-drop board, a classic colour-coded stripboard and a monthly calendar, all driving one plan. An AI schedule generator proposes an optimised shooting order weighing cast availability, location grouping, travel time and real sunrise and sunset daylight, and a live conflict engine flags double-bookings, illegal turnarounds, over-length days and missing meal breaks.
How much does InteScene cost?
InteScene has a Free tier and three paid plans: Indie at GBP 12 per month, Production at GBP 20 per month and Studio at GBP 25 per month. Fringes and purchase orders are included from the Production tier, and budget scenarios from the Studio tier. Every paid plan includes a two-week free trial, and pricing is also available in USD, EUR, CAD and AUD. Sign up at https://intescene.app/signup.
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