SLATE

Project Overview

Client: SLATE, film production startup
Team: Ryan Cho, Kaylee Cho, James Parrot, Oscar Shen
Timeline: 6 months (2025)
My Role: Product Designer, Team Lead

✦ A streamlined scheduling tool that saves indie film producers 8-12 hours per short film production. I was a product designer/project manager for this project and worked alongside a client (SLATE founders), three developers, and another product designer.

What is SLATE?

Slate is a sponsored project designed and developed by me and my team. Built specifically for indie filmmakers, it transforms the chaos of film production scheduling into something actually manageable.

By combining script parsing, availability tracking, and automated schedule generation, SLATE gives small productions an affordable alternative to complex industry tools. This results in less time coordinating schedules and more time making films.

Problem: Scheduling Inefficiencies Cost Time and Money

Film production scheduling consumes approximately 15-25% of the total production timeline, yet remains largely a manual process prone to delays. This inefficiency creates a cascading effect of increased costs and reduced productivity throughout the entire production cycle. We identified this critical bottleneck as an opportunity to streamline the filmmaking process and developed our solution to address these systemic challenges.

How Might We Help Indie Filmmakers Save Time, Cut Costs, and Schedule Effectively with Their Crew?

Solution: By creating a cross-functional tool that centralizes scheduling, availability tracking, and communication in one platform

User Onboarding

Upload your script, add production details and date ranges, then invite cast and crew with their roles to set up your project.

Script Parsing/Breakdown

The script breakdown feature automatically identifies scenes, characters, and locations, letting users quickly extract key information without manually reviewing the entire script.

Actor Availability

We created a centralized system where actors input their availability once, which automatically integrates with the scheduler to reduce manual coordination and prevent conflicts.

Automated Scheduling

Our scheduling system provides a clear calendar interface where users can track availability, make real-time updates, and view schedules by day, week, or month. It also includes weather forecasts to help prevent delays.

Research

By conducting interviews, surveys, and competitive analysis with film producers and crew members, we gained insights into their scheduling workflows and pain points. We also spoke with actors as a secondary audience to understand their availability challenges. These interviews informed us about users' production experience, coordination habits, current scheduling methods, and communication preferences.

User Personas

Traditional Scheduling Flow

Through interviews and surveys, we mapped out the traditional scheduling process and found it's slow, repetitive, and breaks easily. It requires constant coordination across different tools, and you have to start over every time something changes.

Main Insights

MVP Design Workflow

We mapped out our system to understand how it differs from existing tools and how users would navigate it. To fix manual scheduling issues, we designed an automated system using script parsing, onboarding, and dynamic calendars. We created early wireframes to test the concept and get feedback before building the final prototype.

Testing and Insights

Based on user testing of our first MVP, participants liked the core scheduling flow (especially the script parser and calendar) but pointed out problems with navigation, visual clarity, and inflexible onboarding. Users wanted a more intuitive interface and better control during setup.

Improvement 1: Intuitive Style & Color

Before: Confusing day/night color scheme with poor element distinction due to monochromatic palette.

After: Added accent colors for key interactions and industry-standard day/night coding for improved clarity.

Improvement 2: Crew Management Features

Before: Limited crew management post-setup despite user need for ongoing role, availability, and contact updates.

After: Created a dedicated Crew Management Page with editable fields and persistent crew detail access.

Improvement 3: Fix Rigid Onboarding Experience

Before: A rigid onboarding process without mid-flow editing capability caused workflow disruption and user frustration.

After: Redesigned with live edits, autosaving, and modular input to allow adjustments without restarting.

Information Architecture

Mapping our information architecture helped us identify what makes SLATE unique compared to existing scheduling tools while clarifying how different features connect. This flow also showed us how users would move through the system, from initial setup to final scheduling.

Design System

We created a shared style and component library in Figma to maintain visual consistency and speed up development. The design system ensures cohesive, memorable user experiences while remaining flexible for future iterations. I also provided interactive prototypes with clear specs covering spacing, states, and behaviors to ensure smooth handoff between design and engineering.

Reflection

This project taught me how to present design decisions clearly, incorporate feedback effectively, and balance user needs with business goals. Working with developers helped me write better specs and consider technical constraints in my designs.

As one of my first complete UX projects, I learned the value of rapid prototyping through sketches and paper mockups before moving digital. Creating a design system early on streamlined iterations and maintained consistency throughout the process.

SLATE gave me hands-on experience with cross-functional collaboration and strengthened my confidence as a product designer.

What's next for SLATE?

Future iterations would include enhanced weather integration for outdoor shoots, expanded script parser compatibility, and mobile optimization for on-set use. I'd also like to integrate an AI assistant to help users navigate SLATE easily and add analytics showing time and cost savings.

I plan to continue developing SLATE with the client to create a standardized scheduling tool for filmmakers. The goal is to save time and simplify the production process, and I'm excited to see SLATE become an essential part of every filmmaker's toolkit.