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All Team Guides

Adding Your Crew

TL;DR — Quick-Add builds your crew roster for budgeting, deal memos, and scheduling — no account, no email. Invite by Email (a Pro feature) gives someone real login access to the project. Most crew start as quick-adds; invite only the people who actually need to collaborate in the app.

The Team Tab

Open any project and choose the Team tab (it’s the first tab in the project dashboard, and the Team button on a project card jumps straight to it). The panel is laid out top to bottom: a Team Members heading with a Select button in the corner, the email-invite area, your crew roster, any pending invitations, connected mobile devices, and—at the very bottom—the Quick-Add Crew buttons.

The Team tab for The Last Reel showing the crew roster with each member's role, the Select button, and the Quick-Add Crew buttons

The email-invite form only appears on Pro projects. On a free plan you’ll see an “Upgrade to Pro to invite team members by email” banner in its place—but Quick-Add works on every plan.

Quick-Add vs. Invite

Key Distinction

Quick-Add Crew creates a placeholder roster entry. No account is created, no email is sent, and the person gets no app access. Think of it as adding a name to the call sheet — useful for budgeting, day-rate tracking, deal memos, and scheduling.

Invite by Email (Pro) sends a real invitation email with a unique link that expires in 7 days. When the recipient clicks it, signs in, and accepts, they gain login access to your project and appear as a linked team member.

Quick-Add Crew Buttons

At the bottom of the Team tab, the Quick-Add Crew row shows one-click chips for common positions: Director, Producer, Director of Photography, 1st Assistant Director, Editor, Gaffer, Key Grip, Costume Designer, Location Manager, Production Designer, and Production Coordinator. Click any chip to instantly add a placeholder member with that role. Each chip disappears once that role is already on your roster, so the row naturally narrows as your crew fills out.

Every quick-add creates two linked records in a single step: a team member for the roster and a project crew position tied to the global position catalog. Because they’re linked, the position’s department and default day rate carry over automatically for budgeting.

Need something outside the common set? Click Browse all positions… beneath the chips to search the full catalog. See the Roles & Positions guide for the complete list.

Adding Your First Crew Member

  1. Open your project and go to the Team tab.
  2. Scroll to Quick-Add Crew and click a chip (e.g., Director), or use Browse all positions… to find a specific role.
  3. A new entry appears in the roster above, with the role pre-filled.
  4. The position is now tracked for your budget and available when you build deal memos. Use Edit on the entry to add a real name, phone, and email.

What’s Next