Task templates for recurring projects

If you run retainers or a standard production process, you type the same tasks into every project. Templates end that: save a project's task list once, then apply it to any new project in two clicks.

A template stores tasks — title, description, priority, and each task's due date relative to the project's key date ("2 days before", "On the day", "3 days after"). That way the schedule shifts automatically with every new project.

Save a template

Open a project whose task list is worth repeating, go to its Tasks tab and click Save tasks as template. Give it a name (e.g. Standard shoot) and a description, and untick any tasks that were one-offs. If the project has a key date, each task shows how it will be stored — On the day, N days before, N days after; without a key date the tasks are saved without due dates.

Creating and editing templates is for admins and managers; everyone can use them.

Apply a template

Two ways:

• When creating a project — the create dialog has a Task template picker. "The template's tasks are added to the project when you create it."
• On an existing project — Add tasks from template on the Tasks tab. Pick the template and a Count dates from date (pre-filled with the project's shoot or due date); a preview lists every task with its resolved due date before you confirm.

Applied tasks land unassigned, so assign them to the right people afterwards — who does what tends to differ per project.

Templates follow the phase

A template is saved for the phase its project was in — pre-production, production or post-production — and the picker shows that phase's templates plus any general ones. So your shoot-day checklist does not clutter the picker of a post-production project.

The retainer workflow

For a monthly retainer client, create a fresh project each month — Laowai — August — from the same template instead of letting one project collect thirty deliverables. Each month starts with the full task list, dated from that month's key date. The assistant can help too: it can list your templates and apply one to a project when you ask.