Crew

Import cast or crew from a spreadsheet

SceneItAll bulk-imports cast members and crew from CSV or Excel files through a shared three-step wizard: choose a file, map columns, then preview and import. A step indicator at the top of the dialog shows which step you are on. Open the wizard from the Import button on the Cast List or Crew List tab.

Prerequisites

A project is selected.
Importing needs the admin role or higher.
A file with a header row, saved as CSV (.csv) or Excel (.xlsx or .xls).

Import cast members

On the Cast List tab, select Import.
Choose File — optionally select Download CSV template first to get a file with the expected headers, then select Choose File and pick your CSV or Excel file. If the file cannot be parsed, an error appears.
Map Columns — SceneItAll auto-detects columns from their header names. Review the mappings, adjust any with the dropdowns, and choose — Skip — to ignore an optional column. A preview of the first three rows updates as you map. For Cast, Name, Character Name, and Email must each be mapped before Continue is enabled. Mapping a field means the file has a source column for it; the next step separately validates the values in each row.
Preview & Import — the wizard validates every row and shows a green “N valid” chip and, if any rows fail, a red “N errors” chip. Each row gets a check or error icon; error rows are tinted and show the first error. Select Import N members to import the valid rows.

Use Back to step back through the wizard at any point.

Imported cast appear immediately in the Cast List and Availability tabs. Views such as the Mailing List also update when the new cast members are relevant to the selected day or schedule. Saved reports keep their existing information until you refresh them.

Cast fields and auto-detection

The mapping step groups the fields:

Basic Info — Name, Character Name, Contract Type, Email, Phone, Stage Name, Nationality. Name, Character Name, and Email are required column mappings before you can continue.

Agency — Agency Name, Agent Name, Agent Email, Agent Phone.

Manager — Manager Name, Manager Email, Manager Phone.

Measurements — Height, Weight, Chest/Bust, Waist, Hips, Inseam, Jacket/Suit, Shirt/Top, Trouser/Pant, Dress, Shoe, Hat, Glove, Collar, and Measurement Notes.

Auto-detection matches common header names — for example “name”, “actor”, or “full name” for Name; “character” or “role” for Character; and the obvious names for each contact and measurement field.

Cast validation rules

Each row must contain a Name. Character Name and Email may be blank on an individual row even though their columns must be mapped.
A non-empty Email value is checked for a valid format.
Cast import does not accept or create production numbers. Imported Cast rows stay unnumbered until they are assigned to a Character, then inherit that Character’s project-unique number.
Character Name is wrapped as a list so it imports cleanly even when a single value is supplied.
Contract types are normalized — for example “principal”, “day player”, “run of show”, and also “flat” and “loan out”.

Import crew members

On the Crew List tab, select Import. The flow is the same three steps.
Choose File — select Download Excel template to get a project-specific .xlsx with a flat Department column and built-in dropdowns for Department, Position, and Head of Dept (Yes/No), pre-filled from your project’s existing departments and positions. Filling cells from the dropdowns keeps the values consistent so they import cleanly.
Map Name, Position, Department, Email, and Phone, plus any optional fields, then preview and import. All five mappings are required before Continue is enabled; the preview step separately validates each row’s values.

Imported crew appear immediately in the Crew List, Departments, Availability, and relevant Mailing List views. They are included in the availability calendar even before any dates have been assigned.

New departments are created on import

You don’t have to set up a department before importing into it. If a row’s Department doesn’t match an existing one, SceneItAll creates that department as part of the import (matching is case-insensitive and trims surrounding spaces, so “camera” links to an existing “Camera”). The same applies to positions.

Crew fields and auto-detection

Field	Requirement	Auto-detected from
Name	Mapping + row value	“name”, “crew name”, “full name”
Position	Mapping only; row may be blank	“position”, “role”, “job title”, “title”
Department	Mapping only; row may be blank	“department”, “dept”, “dep”
Email	Mapping + row value	“email”, “e-mail”, “mail”
Phone	Mapping + row value	“phone”, “telephone”, “tel”, “mobile”, “cell”
Company	No	“company”, “agency”, “firm”, “organisation”
Crew ID	No	“crew id”, “crew #”, “crew number”, “manual id”, “id”
Head of Dept	No	“hod”, “head of department”, “department head”

Crew validation rules

Each row requires Name, Email, and Phone. Position and Department may be blank on an individual row even though both columns must be mapped before continuing.
Email is checked for a valid format.
Crew ID must be letters, numbers, and hyphens, and unique within the batch.
The Head of Dept column accepts “yes”, “true”, “1”, or “y” (case-insensitive).

Import availability dates

The Availability tab has a separate Import Dates button for bulk-setting availability across many dates. See Track availability on the calendar for that flow.

Tips

Auto-detection works best when your headers use common names like “Name”, “Email”, “Phone”, and “Role”.
Review the preview in the mapping step carefully — incorrect column mappings are the most common source of errors.
Error rows are skipped, not blocking. Fix them in your source file and re-import just those rows.