Staying on Schedule and on Budget: How Films@59 Uses farmerswife
Films@59 was founded in 1990 by joint Managing Directors Gina Fucci and Jeanne Thompson. From day one, the company has been driven by curiosity, creativity, and a commitment to questioning how things can be done better, always grounded in a culture of respect for everyone involved.
Over the years, Films@59 has delivered thousands of hours of content and has become an approved supplier for major broadcasters and global streaming platforms. Their people sit at the heart of the company, and a focus on responsiveness and innovation has shaped much of their growth. Today, Films@59’s kit rental and post-production facilities support award-winning content across all genres, at every scale, and in locations around the world.
Films@59 has worked with Digital Garage for almost 18 years, essentially since DG’s early days. Together, they began looking for a system capable of supporting the wide range of workflows required across the company, which ultimately led them to farmerswife.
The Challenge
Before adopting farmerswife, Films@59 relied on bespoke software developed in-house for quoting, scheduling, invoicing, and purchasing. Although this system had served them well for many years, it eventually became unsustainable because it was no longer supported by Microsoft or modern operating systems.
With the help of Digital Garage, Films@59 set out to find a tool that could support everything from small ad-hoc hardware needs to non-linear hardware, Avid online editing suites, ProTools and S6 mixing solutions, scheduling requirements, and large-scale storage solutions.
The Solution
Films@59 began using farmerswife in July 2022. Transitioning away from their in-house system was a significant step, as they were proud of what they had built and struggled to find a product that matched its adaptability. farmerswife was able to bring their workflow together by combining Quoting, Scheduling, and Invoicing in one place, creating a complete end-to-end management solution.
While farmerswife is a complex system that required the team to rethink and connect each stage of their workflow, the benefits are clear. Reporting and holiday management have become reliable everyday tools, and the recent ability for operators to view their own holiday has been a particularly valuable improvement. Since the initial rollout, they have also expanded their use of the system to include Purchasing, Invoicing, and Asset Tracking.
The granular access controls have been especially important, giving Films@59 the ability to tightly manage user permissions to protect confidentiality and meet GDPR requirements. With farmerswife it has also become far easier to supply clients with accurate, regular budget updates, offering reassurance that projects remain on schedule and within budget.
Is this something your team needs in its workflow? farmerswife helps production and post-production companies bring quoting, resource scheduling, invoicing, and reporting together in one connected system, making it easier to stay organised, transparent, and in control as you scale.
Get in touch here to learn more or speak with the farmerswife team.
