How Shamel Studio Is Revolutionizing Production Logistics for Indie Filmmakers

When Thomas Verdi, founder of The Film Fund, first entered the film industry, everyone told him he had to use Movie Magic for scheduling and budgeting. It was the industry standard, after all. But like many filmmakers, he found it clunky, unintuitive, and difficult to navigate. So he did what most of us do. He pieced together a workflow using whatever tools made sense, tools that better matched the pace and demands of real-world production.

The same drive to make the production process smoother and more intuitive is what drives Shamel Studio, a new platform for scheduling, budgeting, and call sheets. It’s quickly gaining traction with producers, assistant directors, and emerging filmmakers alike.

At The Film Fund, we champion simplicity, innovation, and creative freedom, especially for independent creators. That’s why we’re excited to spotlight Shamel Studio. It’s a powerful and accessible tool that helps filmmakers spend less time managing logistics and more time making movies.

Shamel Studio: Fast, Familiar Tools for Filmmakers

When filmmaker Feras Alfuqaha set out to build Shamel Studio, his mission was clear: eliminate the logistical headaches that slow down filmmaking.

Feras, a veteran producer with credits ranging from indie shorts to studio-backed feature films, had seen the same issues come up on all types of sets. Whether the budget was $500,000 or $50 million, teams constantly battled outdated software, bloated spreadsheets, and time-consuming manual work. The tools available were either too expensive, too rigid, or too slow.

Shamel Studio was built in response. It’s a modern, intuitive platform that helps filmmakers create schedules, budgets, and call sheets in one place and in a fraction of the time.

From first-time directors to seasoned ADs, Shamel is designed to be fast, familiar, and accessible. Its mission is to level the playing field by giving all filmmakers access to professional-grade tools without a steep learning curve or bloated workflows.

Scheduling: Script Breakdown in Seconds

Scheduling with Shamel starts with a simple upload of your script. In seconds, Shamel scans the entire screenplay and automatically breaks it down by scene, identifying essential elements like cast, sets, props, wardrobe, vehicles, and more. This saves hours of manual tagging and data entry.

From there, filmmakers can plan their shoot using a classic stripboard view. Scenes can be color-coded, dragged and dropped, and grouped by location or shoot day. Prefer a more visual layout? Shamel also offers a clean calendar view for intuitive day-by-day scheduling.

Scheduling Features Include:

• Multi-version schedules
• Five-level scene hierarchy sorting
• Day breaks, banners, and off-days
• Export to Movie Magic Scheduling formats

Whether you’re managing five shoot days or coordinating a multi-unit series, Shamel gives you total control without having to build everything from scratch.

Budgeting: Accurate Estimates Instantly

Once your schedule is ready, Shamel can auto-generate a working production budget based on the script and calendar. It pulls in key data like shoot days, cast appearances, background talent, and set needs, and applies up-to-date union and fringe rates based on your state and production type.

Shamel’s budgeting tools are as intuitive as a spreadsheet but far more powerful. You can add or duplicate line items, adjust globals, create versions, and build full production budgets with ease.

Budgeting Features Include:

• Real-time fringe rates and tax incentive data
• Support for multiple states including CA, NY, NJ, GA, and more
• Drag-and-drop budget line reordering
• Full PDF export and print-friendly formats

For new producers or ADs working on tight budgets, Shamel removes the guesswork and delivers a clean, professional budget quickly.

Call Sheets: Auto-Filled and Production-Ready

Shamel’s call sheet builder generates polished, professional call sheets in minutes. It pulls directly from the schedule and cast data to populate:

• Scene numbers and descriptions
• Cast and crew call times
• Locations and weather forecasts
• Meal breaks, safety notes, and department memos

Each call sheet is ready to send as a clean PDF and can be customized with your production logo and branding. There’s no need to copy and paste from spreadsheets or stress over formatting. Even small teams can produce professional paperwork effortlessly.

Built for Indie Filmmakers and Small Teams

Most production software was designed decades ago for high-budget studio systems. They come with long onboarding processes, expensive licenses, and rigid workflows that don’t match the realities of smaller productions.

Shamel takes a different approach. It’s modern, browser-based, and ready to use on day one.

Why Indie Teams Love Shamel:

• Speed: From script upload to production-ready documents in under an hour
• Familiarity: Mirrors traditional workflows so experienced crew members can jump right in
• Accessibility: No installation required. Everything runs in your browser

Whether you’re shooting a short, a pilot, or a micro-budget feature, Shamel gives you the same speed and organization as a big-budget production.

Supporting the Next Generation of Creatives

At its core, Shamel Studio is about empowerment. The team behind it understands that filmmaking is hard enough, and your tools shouldn’t get in the way. That’s why they’re focused on helping filmmakers move faster, stay organized, and concentrate on the creative work.

Since launching in early 2024, Shamel has quietly become the secret weapon of seasoned professionals and emerging production companies alike. It’s already been used on dozens of sets, from student films to union projects, and has started gaining traction with film schools and production programs that want to teach smarter workflows from day one.

Shamel Studio is part of a new wave of tools redefining how films get made. It isn’t just a replacement for older systems. It’s a rethink of what production tools should feel like: fast, collaborative, and built to move at the speed of creativity.

If you’re producing your first short, prepping a festival-bound feature, or simply tired of outdated tools, Shamel Studio is ready to support you. It offers fast, intuitive tools made by filmmakers, for filmmakers.

To learn more or try it out, visit Shamel Studio.