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 a column. A preview of the first three rows updates as you map. Name is required — Continue stays disabled until Name is mapped.
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 without reloading the browser. Live cast-dependent views, including the Mailing List and live reports, refresh as soon as the imported cast are relevant to their selected day or schedule.

Cast fields and auto-detection

The mapping step groups the fields:

Basic Info — Name (required), Character Name (required), Contract Type, Email (required), Phone, Stage Name, Nationality.

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

Name, Character Name, and Email are required.
Email fields are 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 the required fields and any optional ones, then preview and import.

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	Required	Auto-detected from
Name	Yes	”name”, “crew name”, “full name”
Position	Yes	”position”, “role”, “job title”, “title”
Department	Yes	”department”, “dept”, “dep”
Email	Yes	”email”, “e-mail”, “mail”
Phone	Yes	”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

Name, Position, Department, Email, and Phone are all required (a position lives within a department).
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.