Q-1058RB
TAILGATE WEEK
Post-production coordination software for episodic television
Where is this episode,
and who has it?
Baton puts the answer on one screen everybody can see. A single board shows every episode in the season. What stage it is at, who has it right now, what is due next, and what is late. Instead of the stack of spreadsheets most shows run on.
The demo is the real thing, running on a made-up show. No sign-up, no sales call, nothing to install.
One handoff, start to finish. Nobody sent an email and nobody asked where anything was.
Q-1059AL
TAILGATE WEEK
Q-1060DV
HOME MAKEOVER
Q-1061CS
HOME MAKEOVER
Q-1062AL
SUMMER GETAWAY
Standards note outstanding
Q-1063RB
SUMMER GETAWAY
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Every link in the chain
It has to be worth something to everybody, or it gets abandoned
A board stays true only if the people either side of you are getting something out of it too. Pick a job and see what it does for that one.
Stop being the place answers live
You are the human router. Everybody interrupts you to ask where something is, and the real answer is in your head and in a spreadsheet only you fully understand.
- The board answers instead of youStage, whose spin it is, what is due next, and what is blocked. Visible to everyone without anybody asking you.
- You see what is actually movingA card in progress is a card somebody has genuinely opened, not one that got marked started in a status meeting.
- What you know stops being a single point of failureThe schedule, the handoff chain and the delivery list are written down as settings, not carried by one person.
What it asks of youNothing daily. Setting up your show once, and then it runs on what people actually do.
The question that stops"Where are we on 1062?". Asked at you, all day, by everyone.
The status chase ends
Most of your day goes on asking people for updates and retyping the answers into a tracker that is out of date by the time you finish.
- Nobody has to be chased for a statusCards move because work was opened and finished. There is no round of messages to collect what already happened.
- One list instead of six tabsEpisodes, packages, deliverables and tasks are the same system, so nothing has to be reconciled between sheets.
- Delivery is per destinationEach endpoint has its own spec, owner and due date, so "delivered" never quietly means delivered to one of five places.
What it asks of youNothing that is not already your job. You stop re-keying facts other systems already hold.
The question that stops"Has anyone heard back from Standards?", and the four messages it takes to find out.
See the whole season without a status meeting
You need to know what is at risk far enough out to do something about it, and you need it without adding a meeting to get it.
- Risk is visible before it is a problemBlocked is shown separately from late, so the list of things actually stuck is short and true rather than a wall of red.
- Every change has a recordWho was told, when, about which episode, and by whom. When something goes wrong near air, the question of what happened is answerable.
- The board says what it does not knowConfirmed and estimated are labelled per card, so you are never making a call on a date that only looked solid.
What it asks of youNothing. You read it.
The question that stops"Are we going to make air on the back half?". Answered with a feeling rather than a board.
Be told what is yours, then left alone
You do not want another system. You want to know what is on you and open it. Then you want to be left alone for the rest of the afternoon.
- One line, addressed to you"Q-1060 is your spin from Harper: address notes. V1.7." It names the show, the cut and what is wanted.
- You find out the cut was replacedIf a newer version exists, the message says so and names it. Before you spend an hour on the wrong one.
- Nobody has to ask if you startedOpening the cut is what moves the card. That is the whole interaction.
What it asks of youNothing. No status to maintain, no daily update, no tickets to close. Anything that asked an editor to keep a field current would be abandoned in a week, so nothing does.
The question that stops"Did you get my notes?". The message that arrives while you are working.
Stop being asked for the same file twice
You carry the media, the deliverables and the requests, and most of the interruptions are for things somebody could have looked up.
- The delivery list is realEvery destination, its spec, its owner and what it is waiting on. Blocked is distinguished from late, so you are not defending a red row that was never yours.
- What landed is seen, not reportedA program watching your storage confirms a master exists. You stop confirming it by hand.
- Requests arrive attached to the thingA request for an element sits on the episode or package it belongs to, not in a thread you have to search.
What it asks of youNothing beyond the work. Nothing asks you to re-key what the storage already knows.
The question that stops"Can you re-send the ALT master?". For the third time, about a file that already went.
Know the cut is locked before you conform
Starting a conform on a picture that moves afterwards is the most expensive mistake in the chain, and it usually announces itself late.
- Lock is a state, not a rumourThe board says whether picture is locked, who locked it and when, rather than a message saying it should be by now.
- The version you were handed is checkedIf a newer cut exists you are told, and you are told which one it is. That failure otherwise reaches nobody.
- Credits are frames, not guessesCredit durations are counted in frames at your show’s real frame rate, so the crawl is timed rather than approximated.
What it asks of youNothing. Your completion is recorded from finishing the step.
The question that stops"Is 1061 actually locked?". Asked after the conform has already started.
Get the handoff with the version on it
You are near the end of the chain, which means you inherit every upstream slip and usually hear about it last.
- The handoff names the cutNot "the latest". The actual version, checked against what exists where it is checkable.
- Your due date is your step’sCards carry the date that step is due, not just the air date, so the real window is visible.
- You can see what is ahead of youWhether picture is locked, and whether the thing you are waiting on has moved.
What it asks of youNothing. Being an outside vendor does not mean being outside the board.
The question that stops"Which version is this mix against?". Asked after the mix.
One place that says what is ready and what is cleared
You need the finished picture and the right variant. You also need certainty about what is cleared to travel where.
- Variants keep their clearancesAn INTL cut inherits the parent’s packages except the ones not cleared for it, and it names what it left behind rather than dropping it quietly.
- Your deliverable is its own lineIt has its own spec, owner and due date. It also has its own gate when it waits on a QC pass.
- As-broadcast captions stay searchableWhat was said, on which episode, without reopening a master.
What it asks of youNothing. You are a destination on the delivery list like any other.
The question that stops"Is this the version that goes to the international cut?"
Your note is attached to the episode, not an inbox
A compliance note that lives in an email thread is a note that can be missed, and the miss is found after air.
- Notes attach to the objectOn the episode or the package, with an owner and a done-state. Not in a thread whose subject line is a number.
- You are a gate, if you should beA destination can be configured so the rest of the fan-out waits on your pass, rather than going out in parallel and hoping.
- Nothing is deletedEverything is archived with a reason, so "what was in that show" stays answerable long after.
What it asks of youThat your note goes on the episode rather than into an email. That is the whole change.
The question that stops"Did anybody action the S&P note on 1059?"
One screen, no status meeting
You want to know the season is on track and to hear about the exceptions, without becoming part of the reporting chain.
- The season at a glanceEvery episode, its stage, its owner, and what needs attention. On a board that can stay up on a wall and keep moving.
- Exceptions, not noiseThings genuinely blocked are separated from things merely late, so what you are looking at is short.
- Nothing is being staged for youIt is the same board post is working on, not a summary built for a meeting.
What it asks of youNothing.
The question that stops"How are we doing?". Answered differently depending on who you ask.
See post from the production side
Post is where the schedule either holds or quietly stops holding, and you usually find out at the point it costs money.
- Tape days connect to air datesOne tape day can serve several broadcast weeks, and the board resolves that rather than making somebody work it out.
- Slip is visible earlyStages have real dates derived from your cadence, so drift shows up while there is still room to act.
- Pre-production is in the same placeThe paperwork spine for each show lives with the episodes it belongs to.
What it asks of youNothing daily.
The question that stops"Are we going to need another week of online?"
Know what shipped, where it went, whether it passed, and when
You care about one thing per episode: did the right file reach the right place on time, to spec.
- Delivery is per destinationEach endpoint tracked separately, with its own spec and timing. Never one "delivered" flag covering five places.
- Passed is distinct from sentA QC gate is a gate: the things behind it wait, rather than going out and being pulled back.
- Re-deliveries are tracked as suchA revision is a different thing from a version, and only an episode that actually delivered can carry one.
What it asks of youNothing.
The question that stops"Did the S&P master actually go, or did somebody just start it?"
Nothing new is exposed to the internet
You are being asked to approve a cloud tool that wants to know about facility storage, which is normally where the conversation gets difficult.
- The program in the building only sends outIt does not open a port and does not accept connections. There is no inbound path to approve.
- Credentials never leaveLogins for your storage and media systems stay in the facility. They are never uploaded.
- Facts travel, files do not"A master exists", "a file landed", "a cut was updated". Never the media itself.
What it asks of youRunning one outbound-only program where it can see the volumes that matter. It is optional. The board works without it, showing estimated dates instead of confirmed ones.
The question that stops"What exactly does this thing need access to?"
Questions that stop getting asked
“Has anyone started on 1062?”
The card moves when someone opens the cut.
“Who has 1060 right now?”
Initials sit on the card. Nobody opens anything.
“Did anybody tell Standards?”
The bell shows who was told, and how.
“Which cut am I giving notes on?”
Every handoff names the version on the card.
Everyone’s own work
The card moves when you open the cut
Everybody gets their own list, in three columns: Pending, In Progress, Done. Press WATCH NOW and the cut opens. The card moves by itself.
Nobody has to remember to mark anything. Opening the cut is what moves it. Eachcard shows the date that step is due, not just the air date, and work from episodes and packages sits in one list, because your day is not sorted by which system the job came out of.
Replaces“Has anyone started on 1062?” Before this, a card looked the same whether it had sat untouched for two days or someone was watching it right then.
See what it does →Who was told what
The 4pm status email, gone
A bell at the top opens this week’s activity. Who was told, what they were told, which episode it was about, and how it reached them. It updates on its own, so a board left up on a wall keeps moving.
There is nothing to connect and nothing to break. It works with no Slack, no setup and no passwords handed over. If you do use Slack, it posts there too.
ReplacesThe 4pm status email. And the reply-all that follows it.
See what it does →Optional add-on · works with what you already run
Find out before you give notes on the wrong cut
Every handoff names a version. This add-on checks that version against the cuts that really exist, before anybody spends an hour on the wrong one.
It is not an Avid feature. Whatever system knows which cuts exist pushes that in, and Baton takes the same shape from all of them . Avid MediaCentral, a PilotWare export, a nightly export, or a person pasting in the list. All four produce verified handoffs.
With nothing connected, a handoff shows as not checked. grey, not red. Nobody having looked yet is not a problem with the episode.
How the add-on works →- Q-1060Devonv1.7VerifiedLatest cut in production management.
- Q-1061Caseyv1.7Supersededv1.8 exists, cut 40 minutes ago.
- Q-1062Alexv1.7Not foundNo cut by that name was found.
- Q-1063Robinv1.7Not checkedProduction management not reachable.
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How we keep it honest
Three things this board will never do
A board that guesses is a board people stop trusting. These rules are written down because the temptation to bend them shows up with the first complaint.
It never turns “nobody checked” into “missing”
A drive it cannot reach, a system nobody set up, and a file that genuinely is not there are three different things. They stay three different things on screen.
It never passes off a guess as a fact
Some dates are confirmed by a system watching your storage. Some are worked out from the air date. Every card says which one it is showing.
It never asks you to keep a status up to date
Anything a person has to remember to update is a field that will eventually be wrong. One wrong field is all it takes for people to stop believing the board.
Where your media stays
Your footage never leaves your building
There are two pieces. The board runs in the cloud, so anyone can open it from anywhere. A small program runs inside your facility and reports what it sees.
- The cloud side never touches your storage or your media.
- The program in your building does not open anything to the internet. It only sends out.
- Your logins for your own systems stay in your building.
- If that program goes offline, the board falls back to estimated dates and says so. It keeps working.
Runs in the cloud
- the board
- tasks and handoffs
- a record of what happened
Runs in your building
- your drives and masters
- your media system
- transcodes and delivery
What it connects to
It plugs into what your post already runs on
Of these, 6 work today. The rest are built on request, and that is written on every one of them below, so you never find out on a call.
- Frame.io. Built on request
- Sony Ci. Built on request
- MediaSilo. Built on request
- Vimeo / Wipster. Built on request
- Avid MediaCentral / Production Management. Working today
- PilotWare. Working today
- A nightly export, or a pasted list. Working today
- DaVinci Resolve. Built on request
- Adobe Premiere / Productions. Built on request
- Your own storage. Working today
- Box. Built on request
- Dropbox. Built on request
- Aspera / Signiant. Built on request
- Amazon S3. Built on request
- Iconik. Built on request
- Dalet / Ateliere. Built on request
- Slack. Working today
- Email. Working today
- Microsoft Teams. Built on request
- SMS / push. Being built
- Telestream Vantage. Built on request
- Your network’s delivery portal. Built on request
Working todayBeing builtBuilt on request
An episode has always carried a link to where its cut can be watched, and the board stores that link without caring who issued it. So connecting a review platform fills a seam that already exists rather than changing how any of this works.
See every one, with its real status →Getting started
Adding your show is setup, not a rebuild
Your cut stages, your target runtime, your editors, your delivery list. All of it is settings somebody fills in once. Nobody writes new software for your show, and nothing gets forked off into a private version that stops getting updates.
What we need from your showSee it on a real board
The demo is the actual software, running on a made-up show. Click into an episode, open somebody’s list, press WATCH NOW and watch the card move.
Walkthroughs are with someone who spent 15 years as an assistant editor, not a sales rep. Who builds it.