Rehearsal Schedule Builder

Bypass the headache of conflict calendars, by using the Cast98 schedule builder. The schedule builder automatically sorts and syncs conflicts from the audition form for all cast members, so your team will never have to manually collect, sort, format, or enter conflicts into a spreadsheet ever again. This painstaking process is now fully automated, empowering directors to get on with the show instead of wasting hours on admin work before starting the schedule.

Simply select your attendees from the panel on the left, then find the perfect day to add a rehearsal on the conflict matrix. See at a glance which days are rife with conflicts and which ones maximize attendee availability.

Performers can leave a note on any conflict that is not considered all day. These are highlighted in yellow. Put your cursor over a yellow box to see what the performer has to say about a conflict. Similarly, performers may write a general note about their schedule instead of marking every single day as a conflict, and these notes are along the top row in black boxes.

Streamline your view by selecting which days of the week to show or hide from the nav bar above the conflict matrix. Try the new calendar view for a top down perspective of your existing rehearsal calendar. Conflicts will show as red and yellow bars at the top of each date on the monthly view put your cursor over a day on the calendar and a summary of the conflicts for that day will appear in a sidebar on the right.

When adding a rehearsal, enter as many details as you want and click the review attendees button to fine tune your selections. Remember to Save Changes!

Use the view schedule button in the top right to pull up a list of existing rehearsals on your skedule. Put your cursor over an existing rehearsal to reveal a menu where you can delete or edit the rehearsal details. Use the Message Attendees option to send a notification to the performers on a rehearsal. Write a short note to include with the notification, which can be extremely helpful when making skedule changes.

The Skedule Builder is best viewed on a laptop or tablet in landscape mode since most productions have a large cast and the screen real estate helps to see more conflicts at a glance.

In addition to the Skedule Builder, directors can use the Quick Add tool when viewing the Rehearsal Skedule directly. Quick Add is an easy way to put new rehearsals on the skedule without fussing over conflicts. You can probably add some rehearsals to your skedule this way before you even hold auditions, since your first read-thru, tech week, and final dress rehearsals are likely fixed.

Performers enjoy numerous benefits as well. They will never be confused by multiple versions of your old spreadsheet and will never be absent from a rehearsal with an excuse that they copied it down wrong in their calendar. Using Cast98, they can toggle the Just Mine filter to see only the rehearsals to which they are called, and then export each of those rehearsals to their own calendar with a single click. It's a great way to get your cast and crew on the same page and keep everyone informed while minimizing mishaps.

So that's it! The Skedule Builder is a powerful tool that automates hours of tedious spreadsheet work on conflict calendars. It enables an immediate transition from casting to skeduling, and supports multiple editors using it at the same time.

You can try out this tool for yourself on the Cast98 Demo Portal by visiting demo dot cast98 dot com and following the prompts for the DIY Director Demo. The demo portal is a fully functional version of Cast98 that you can use to explore the features and benefits of the platform before commiting your own production to make the switch.

If you have any questions about features, drop a comment below so everyone can benefit from the answer. Visit the Cast98 Help Center for full documentation. Thanks for watching, and break a leg!

Conflict Matrix

Use the Attendees panel to select who you want to attend a rehearsal. Any conflicts from their audition form will appear in the Conflict Matrix for easy side-by-side comparison. Hard conflicts are marked in red. Performers can leave a note on any conflict that is not considered all-day. View these notes by touching a yellow box with your mouse or finger. Performers may also leave a general note about their schedule instead of marking every single day as a conflict. These notes are along the top row in black boxes.

Create rehearsal groups to bundle cast members and select them all with a single click. Learn more about how to use groups in tandem with characters and your cast list in the Director's Guide to Casting.

Use the Conflict Matrix to find the best days for new rehearsals and click the plus sign to add one. Enter rehearsal details into the dialog that appears and click the Review Attendees button to fine-tune your selections. Remember to Save Changes!

Existing Rehearsals

The rehearsal schedule will always show the names of performers who are marked as attendees on a particular rehearsal.

An actor who has a conflict on the same day will be marked in red with a strike through their name.

Accepting Late Conflicts

It is up to the director to decide whether or not to accept late conflicts. When a performer submits an audition, a copy of all their noted conflicts is attached to their audition form. When building the schedule later, only the submitted conflicts are visible to the director.

If a performer adds conflicts after auditions are over, the director can import the new conflicts by using the Save & Sync feature on the Auditionee Dashboard.

Publish the Rehearsal Schedule

Cast members cannot see the rehearsal schedule until the show's director is ready. A director can publish the schedule from the Edit Show Details pane, at which point cast members can log into their Cast98 account and see it on their Backstage Dashboard.

We don't expect directors to spend more than an evening building a schedule for a large cast (the preview above is from a real show with real cast of 102), which is a vast improvement over the two-week turnaround that many part-time directors fight to achieve. Making changes to the schedule later is just as easy, and performers see only the newest version when they log into Cast98.