Open Concept Confidentiality in the Production Office

It’s open concept in the production office, yet many confidential materials cross your desk. Typically people don’t mean to look at those papers on your desk, but standing nearby, it’s hard not to. On your computer it’s easy to hide or minimize confidential material, but paper documents face up on the desk? Oooo, there’s an irresistible quality about them! Plus… no matter how we move to electronic documents and processes, we still manage paper documents too. So, what do you do?

Use file folders on the desk!

On the desk? Not in the filing cabinet? That’s right. These file folders never go into a filing cabinet. Their purpose is to mask confidential papers on your desk and still leave the documents accessible to you. Of course you can organize them further in a on-the-desk organizer, or you can just lay them across the desk as-is… it’s up to you and your style.

The side benefit, too, is that these folders help to group ever-growing piles of papers into manageable subjects: cast contracts, budget, script revisions, screen credits, production schedule, etc. Just keep the groupings large so you are not buried under stacks of file folders instead of being buried under reams of paper.

You can even choose a few colours for the file folders for even faster recognition to help you quickly find “just the right document”… although if you have any superstition in you, I recommend against using a red folder for the budget or cost report. 🙂

Cheers & a confidential shoot to you,
Deb

…for more tips, tricks and a slew of in depth knowledge organizing (and managing) a film production, check out my book, Film Production Management 101.