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A documentary's money is not a client's money
A commercial pays on approval. A documentary pays when a grant lands, and sometimes years apart. Here is a sample 18-month film with a budget of $240,000.
| Month | Stage | Money in | Paper |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Development grant | $30,000 | Grant tracked, milestone invoice |
| 4 | Production funding, first tranche | $80,000 | Invoice, report to funder |
| 9 | Second shoot block | $50,000 | Crew booked, releases signed |
| 13 | Rough cut for executive producers | $40,000 | Package review |
| 16 | Fine cut, festival cut | $40,000 | Versions, music licenses |
| 18 | Delivery | Final files, spec check |
Each tranche is a milestone on a payment schedule. A grant tracker holds the applications and their deadlines. On the project's Money page you can see what has been collected, committed and spent at any point, which is what a funder's report asks for.
Releases over eighteen months
A verite film collects releases slowly: a fisherman on a dock, a nurse on a night shift, a family in their kitchen. They need to be kept together, by person, for as long as the film is in distribution. Your errors-and-omissions insurer may ask for them.
Hand a phone to the person, or send a link. Signing mode locks the screen to that release, so nobody wanders into your workspace. Each signed text is frozen with its signature. One register lists them all, and it exports to a CSV. A minor's release is signed by a parent or guardian. Start from the talent release template, and have a lawyer check your wording.
Hours of footage, many voices
The hard part of a doc's review is the number of people with an opinion. An executive producer, a funder with approval rights, a subject who was promised a look, a sales agent.
- Versions stack by title, so rough cut 4 sits on rough cut 3.
- A package goes to several reviewers, each with a due date.
- Your team's notes stay internal, and a cut can wait on sign-off before anyone outside sees it.
- A transcript takes a press, and it runs on Cutvey's own media box. It is never sent to a model provider. Search it, make captions, and download SRT or WebVTT. Each started 10 minutes uses one AI action, up to 3 hours a file.
For a subject's privacy, a review link can have a 4-digit password, a last day, and downloads off. Review copies can carry a watermark.
Crew over years
A small doc crew changes with each block. The fixer in one town, a local sound recordist in another. The roster keeps roles, rates, unavailable days and every project you made together, so the person you used in March is a search away in September. Crew are free and never count as seats.
Paying for the film
Plenty of doc studios fund their films with brand and nonprofit work. Run both in the same workspace. Solo's 10 active projects will be tight once a slate is running, and Pro has 50. Only active projects count, so a finished project you archive frees a place.
Where Cutvey is not the right fit
There is no archive here. Keep your raw footage on your own storage, since Cutvey holds what you review and deliver, and it is not a backup. No fundraising, festival submission or sales tools exist. A 90-minute feature with a heavy script is better scheduled elsewhere, though non-fiction schedules fit the stripboard well. The music license register tracks what you hold, and it does not clear rights for you.
Frequently asked
Is it fine for a one-person doc?
Yes. Solo covers one person and 10 active projects. You will want Pro once you have an editor and a producer in the same workspace.
Can a subject review their scene?
Yes. A link can show one cut, with notes off if you only want them to watch.
Next: the review guide, what is a call sheet, plan the shoot.