Creating sessions from a holdover sheet

Once you receive the holdover sheet for the week, you can create a rough draft schedule using showtime builder. This tool automatically generates sessions for the whole week based on the film bookings and policies in the holdover sheet. You can then refine the schedule manually. 

Tip: To automatically create a polished schedule based on your holdover sheet and film forecasts, use the assisted schedule tool. See Create an assisted schedule from a film forecast for instructions. 

Steps

1. In Film Manager or Cinema Manager, go to Showtime Manager.
2. Navigate to the week you want to programme. 
3. Optional (Film Manager): Click the Draft button in the toolbar to create draft sessions.

4. In the toolbar, click Showtime builder.

   Showtime builder displays the films that are booked on the holdover sheet, along with their formats, planning policies, and booking dates. 

5. Select the Screen that each film will play on. 
6. Click Next.
7. Choose whether to allow overlapping sessions. 
   • Allow overlapping sessions: Showtime builder will generate all of the sessions required by the policies, even if this causes sessions to overlap. You can fix any overlaps later.
   • Allow overlapping sessions (exclude open sessions): New sessions will not overlap with existing open sessions.
   • Do not allow overlapping sessions: New sessions will not overlap with other new or existing sessions. Showtime builder might generate fewer sessions to prevent overlaps. 
8. Review the number of daytime and evening sessions that will be created for each film. 
9. Click Create schedule. 

10. Review the schedule created by showtime builder and fine-tune as needed. Make sure that:

    • All sessions will play during your standard opening hours. 
    • There are no overlapping session times.

    Tip: If there are overlapping sessions, select them and click Auto space selected sessions to space them evenly.

11. Check the price cards and other properties assigned to each session, and update them if required. 
12. Click Save.

Note: If you want to regenerate the schedule, delete the existing sessions before you run showtime builder again. This avoids creating duplicate or overlapping sessions. 

See also:

• Showtime Manager overview
• Creating sessions in Showtime Manager
• Copying sessions in Showtime Manager
• Viewing and updating session properties in Showtime Manager