Shotwright

One canvas
for all your production needs.

Stop working across different tools. Shotwright drafts all your documents in one place.

Creative Brief

Closing Time

On the last night the Rialto’s projector will ever run, the man who has threaded every reel for thirty-one years plays one final show to the neighborhood that grew up in its seats.

Concept

We spend the final night inside a single-screen cinema, the week before the wrecking permit clears. The marquee still works. The carpet does not. We are there from the afternoon load-in to the moment the booth goes dark.

The film lives in two rooms. Downstairs, the house fills with people who had first dates here, who saw Jaws here, who bring their kids to a place that will not exist on Monday. Upstairs in the booth, Sal threads the last reel the way he has threaded every reel since 1994, by hand, by feel, not looking down.

There is no narration. The building does the talking: the rattle of the platter, the warm dust in the beam, the sound a thousand seats make when they tip up at once. We end on the beam cutting out, and the ordinary work-light coming up on an empty house.

Why now

Single-screen houses are closing fast enough that there will be almost none left by the end of the decade. Closing Time is not a think piece about that. It is one specific room on its one specific last night, and the only window to film it is the night it happens.

The approach

Single camera, mostly on sticks, handheld only when we follow Sal up the booth stairs. Available light: the marquee, the lobby sconces, the beam itself. We expose for the faces in the house and let the room fall off into black. The only score arrives with the work-lights, after the picture ends.

Subject
Sal Provenzano, 64. The Rialto’s projectionist since 1994. He learned on the machine he is now shutting off.
Tone & approach
Observational and unhurried. Only the light that is already on. The camera listens more than it moves. No score until the house lights.
Format
12 to 15 minute documentary short. Single camera, available light, sync sound. Festival cut plus a :90 cutdown for the preservation fund.
Audience
Festival programmers and the people who fund film preservation. Anyone who has a room they would cross a city to sit in one more time.
Visual references
  • 01The projector beam through dust, the only source in a dark room. Cinema Paradiso’s booth, but reported, not nostalgic.
  • 02A sold-out house seen from the screen side, faces lit by the picture.
  • 03Hands threading film by feel, the way a line cook works without looking down.
  • 04The empty auditorium under fluorescent work-light, the magic switched off.
Closing Time · Creative Brief1 / 4

Drafted from what's already on your canvas.

Shotwright drafts every document from your references, notes, and script, and keeps them in one place.

Creative brief
The north-star doc. What the project is, who it's for, the tone. Drafted from your canvas inputs.
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Director's treatment
Your take, the look, the approach. In your voice, shaped for commercials, docs, or music videos.
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Storyboard
Frames that link back to the script lines they cover, drafted from the boards on your canvas.
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Shot list
Industry shot-size codes (ECU/CU/WS), grouped by setup, with the must-gets flagged.
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Script breakdown
Cast, props, wardrobe, and effects tagged with the standard production color key.
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Show bible
Format, world, recurring segments, and the engine for a series or a channel.
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Then it becomes one production book.

Shotwright compiles them in pre-production order into one print-ready binder your crew can shoot from.

Creative Brief
Closing Time
On the last night the Rialto’s projector will ever run, the man who has threaded every reel for thirty-one years plays one final show to the neighborhood that grew up in its seats.
Concept

We spend the final night inside a single-screen cinema, the week before the wrecking permit clears. The marquee still works. The carpet does not. We are there from the afternoon load-in to the moment the booth goes dark.

The film lives in two rooms. Downstairs, the house fills with people who had first dates here, who saw Jaws here, who bring their kids to a place that will not exist on Monday. Upstairs in the booth, Sal threads the last reel the way he has threaded every reel since 1994, by hand, by feel, not looking down.

There is no narration. The building does the talking: the rattle of the platter, the warm dust in the beam, the sound a thousand seats make when they tip up at once. We end on the beam cutting out, and the ordinary work-light coming up on an empty house.

Common questions.

What is a production book?
A production book is the single, ordered document a crew shoots from. It compiles the brief, treatment, storyboard, shot list, and script breakdown into one place, in shoot order, so the whole team works from one source of truth.
What documents does a Shotwright production book include?
A creative brief, a director’s treatment, a storyboard, a shot list with industry shot-size codes, and a script breakdown with the standard color key. You choose which to include; Shotwright compiles them in pre-production order.
Does Shotwright write it, or do I?
Both. Shotwright drafts each document from the references and notes on your canvas, in your project’s voice, and you edit from there. Nothing is published until you approve it.
Can I export or print the production book?
Yes. The book compiles into one print-ready binder you can export as a PDF or print, on paid plans.

Build your production book.