Run a production's stills without the spreadsheet
The photographer uploads from set through a link. The cast is tagged before you get to it, talent approve on a phone within the percentages you set, and every download is logged.
Photo: Dana Reyes · EP105 · Day 14
Kills, credits and deliveries, tracked without a spreadsheet.
Tagging and talent review are for stills. Video is stored alongside them.
The photographer uploads from set with a link
Send the unit photographer their own link. They type the passcode from a separate email and drop the day's shoot into your project from a laptop on set. The link expires when you set it to, and you revoke it when the job is done.
Files land in the project; they are not filed or tagged for you. Images are scanned on upload; videos are not.
Name each cast member once
Faces that look like the same person are grouped as the shoot comes in. Name a group once and every photo in it is tagged; later uploads of that person join them on a close match. Then filter the shoot to that person instead of scrolling for them.
Photos only. Groups the match is unsure about wait for you to confirm.
Talent approve on a phone within your percentages
Enter the solo and group percentages from the talent's agreement on their link. Talent get a code and a passcode in two emails and swipe to approve or kill. If a kill would make the percentage impossible to reach, the screen blocks it and shows the math. Each decision is timestamped.
The check uses the percentages you enter on the link. It does not read the contract.
Press kits go out with each download counted
Filter to approved, select the frames and make an export. Each recipient gets their own link and a passcode in a separate email, and you see how many times each one downloaded. Credit and copyright stay written into the image files unless you choose to strip them.
Delivery links expire in 7 days. Remove one recipient and everyone else keeps access.
The activity log answers who downloaded what
The project's Activity page lists uploads, downloads, approval changes and exports, each with the person and the time. Filter by action, member or date when the studio's security review asks who downloaded a frame.
Views are not logged. Needs the View audit logs permission.
The week without it
Across a feature or a season, the work around the unit stills lands on the unit publicist. The day's shoot arrives on a drive or a file-transfer link. A PDF contact sheet goes to the talent rep, and days later the answer comes back as "kill 47, 112, and the one where I'm looking left." The kill percentages from each agreement live in a spreadsheet nobody wants to be the one to get wrong. Press kits go out as a zip from someone's laptop, credits stripped on the way, and when a frame turns up where it should not, the only record is an email thread.
The week in ReelStorage
- Upload. The photographer gets a link and a passcode and drops the day's shoot into the project from set. No account, nothing to install.
- Tag. Faces are grouped as the files arrive. You name each cast member once, as a character and role. Later photos of them are tagged on a close match, and anything less waits for you in Tag Suggestions.
- Approve. Each talent's link carries the solo and group percentages from their agreement. They approve or kill on a phone, the screen holds them to the numbers, and every decision is timestamped.
- Deliver. Filter to approved, build the kit from a collection, and send each outlet its own link and passcode. Credits stay written into the image files unless you strip them. Links expire in 7 days.
- Answer. When the studio asks who downloaded a frame, the activity log has the person and the time.
- Connect. The lab's own scripts can list, pull and tag the same frames through the API, with a key an owner issues and narrows. On every paid plan.
What the studio will ask about
Security reviews expect access controls, logging and watermarking, and they expect to see them rather than hear about them. ReelStorage is TPN Gold Shield certified and aligned to MPA Content Security v5.3.1. Permissions are set per project, any member can be limited to approved stills, downloads are counted per recipient, and per-person watermarking puts each viewer's name across what they see. An independent penetration test was completed in March 2026; the attestation letter is available on request.
Who it is for
- Unit publicists, who spend more of the week chasing approvals than planning publicity.
- Unit still photographers, whose day should be upload, tag, deliver and go home.
- Studio photo labs, which keep running the lab and get the production's stills in a shape they can work with.
Questions
- What kind of software is ReelStorage?
- Digital asset management built for production stills. One project per title holds the storage, cast tagging, talent approvals, delivery and the activity log. It works alongside the photo lab you already use; the lab keeps doing the lab's job.
- Can it take a full feature or a season's worth of stills?
- Yes. Uploads process in the background, so the photographer can drop in a full shoot day and keep working while faces are grouped. Plans are priced by storage, not by seat, so the whole unit can be in the project.
- How do kill limits work with a talent agreement?
- On each talent's approval link you enter the solo and group percentages from their agreement, separately. As they review, the screen tracks their kills against those percentages and blocks a kill that would make the required share impossible to reach. Each approve and kill is timestamped. The check uses the numbers you enter; it does not read the contract.
- Do photographer credits survive export?
- Yes. The credit, caption, copyright and keywords are written into each image download unless you switch Strip metadata on for that export. The name in the file is still there when the shot runs. Video downloads do not carry written credit.
- What will the studio's security review ask, and what can you show them?
- ReelStorage is TPN Gold Shield certified and aligned to MPA Content Security v5.3.1. Files are encrypted in transit and at rest. Permissions are set per project, and any member can be limited to approved stills only. Downloads are counted per recipient, approvals and permission changes are logged with who and when, and watermarking, turned on per person, tiles each viewer's name across what they see.
- Can talent approve from their phone?
- Yes. Talent get an access code and a passcode in two separate emails and open their stills in a mobile browser. They zoom, approve or kill, and see where they stand against their percentages. There is no account to create and nothing to install.
Tell us what you're shooting next.
Start with one title. Upload a shoot, bring its metadata in from a CSV, and confirm the cast. Then decide.
A person on our team reads it and writes back.