How To Export Data from Movie Magic Scheduling to Excel

Luckily, our team put our heads together and created a new solution to this age-old problem! It’s a slick tool called the Movie Magic Scheduling to Excel Exporter. Here’s a short video that explains how this tool works:

Now let’s break down the steps involved in using this tool to get a Movie Magic Scheduling Export into Excel in just a matter of minutes!

1. Download and import .msr template

Since Movie Magic Scheduling files are encrypted and they do not allow other softwares to integrate directly with their program, there is really only one way to get data out of Movie Magic. And that is by exporting to PDF. 

Luckily, Movie Magic Scheduling does allow you to create highly customized report templates for exporting to PDFs. We used this feature to create a custom report template that places all of your Movie Magic Scheduling scene data into a special format that our online converter can then parse.

The first step is to download the template file for this custom report which is a .msr file. You can download that file here.

In Movie Magic Scheduling, go under the Design menu and then select Report Layouts.

Next, open the Movie Magic Scheduling project you wish to export data from.

Then, go under the Design menu and then select Report Layouts.

(Note: Make sure you select the Report Layouts option not Strip Layouts.)

In the Report Layouts window, click the import button and select the downloaded .msr file.

In the Report Layouts window, click on the button in the toolbar that is called Import Report Layouts.

Select the .msr file that you downloaded in step one and then click Import.

2. Export breakdowns to a PDF using custom template

Click the “Print Preview” icon at the top left corner of the report designer page.

Once the custom .msr template is imported, double-click on the imported template name. 

This will open the template editor window.

Then click the “Print Preview” icon at the top left corner of the page.

In the print preview window, slide the view scale slider to 80% then click “print”.

In the print preview window, slide the view scale slider to 80%.

Then click the Print icon in the top left of the preview pane.

When prompted to select a printer to send the report to, choose the Save as PDF option. (This will look slightly different on Window vs Mac.).

Choose a location to save the PDF file to and then click Print or Save to complete to export.

3. Upload PDF to the Movie Magic Scheduling to Excel Exporter tool

After the PDF is exported from Movie Magic, upload the file to the online tool and click “Begin Conversion”.

After the PDF is exported from Movie Magic Scheduling, head to the online converter tool website and scroll down to the file upload section.

Drag the PDF you just exported from Movie Magic Scheduling into the file select area (alternatively, you can click on the “Select Files” button and choose the PDF file there.)

Once the file is uploaded, click on the Begin Conversion button to start the conversion process.

If you encounter an error while converting, please watch this video about troubleshooting common problems.

4. Enjoy your fully editable Excel file!

Once the conversion is complete, you will be able to download it by entering your email address and having it emailed to you. It’s that simple! 

To see these instructions in action, watch this video which explains all the steps in detail:

Film production scheduling is a complex process and there are many tools that allow you to create a stripboard schedule. By exporting scene breakdown data to Excel, you can then use the scene breakdown data should you need to create a schedule in a tool other than Movie Magic Scheduling.

How Much Does it Cost?

The Movie Magic to Excel converter is free to get started with! Anyone can do 3 file conversions per month. After this point, you’ll need to upgrade to a $9/mo plan to unlock unlimited file conversions. 

We should also note that if you have a paid subscription plan with SetHero, unlimited access to this tool is already included for you, free of charge! Just send us an email at support@sethero.com, and we’ll grant you access.

Wrapping Up

The days of spending hours copying and pasting data from PDF exports from Movie Magic Scheduling are over. Thanks to this nifty tool, it only takes a few minutes to get all of your scene breakdown data converted from Movie Magic Scheduling to an editable Excel file.

Give the tool a try and then let us know your thoughts on this process in the comments section!