Building the reporting layer Archstone has been forced to run by hand
A Greenlit design-partner proposal centered on distribution statement ingest, producer reporting, and contract-linked avails.
The reporting problem is not analysis. It is ingestion, normalization, and visibility.
Archstone receives distributor statements in inconsistent formats, needs to turn them into internal reporting, and then has to translate that same data back out to producers.
The workflow already exists. The issue is that statement data still has to be manually entered, cleaned, and reassembled before the team can answer a simple question about a title, a quarter, or a producer update.
Years of company history
Enough operating data to inform a real internal system.
Statement intake
Distributor reporting usually arrives as Excel or PDF before anyone can work with it.
Core team members
A small team needs one shared operating system, not more tabs.
Movies per statement
A single statement can cover 20 to 30 titles, which is why manual sorting breaks down fast.
The proof of need is already in Archstone's current reporting workflow
Nothing in this proposal is speculative. The current process already has structure. It just requires too much manual translation between incoming statements, internal reporting, producer updates, and avails tracking.
Incoming distributor statements
PDF + EXCELDistribution data arrives by email, usually as a PDF or Excel file, and is not already in a system Archstone can work from.
Manual normalization
RE-ENTRY WORKSomeone still has to sort the statement, identify the movie, period, and values, and enter or organize the result manually.
Internal accounting reports
QUARTER-END WORKThe internal reporting layer is valuable, but today it is built from incoming statements instead of generated from a normalized data model.
Producer reporting and avails
MANUAL OUTPUTSProducers need title-level visibility, while avails and contract-linked territory status still sit outside the reporting workflow.
Operational reference point
PORTAL REFERENCEThe Jackrabbit portal gave the team a clearer reference for centralized title management, contract tracking, reporting, release dates, and internal accounting visibility.
The current system works because a few people keep carrying it
Archstone's pain is concentrated around getting distribution data into one system, turning it into reliable reporting, and sharing the right slice of that data with the right people.
Fragmented statement formats
Distributor reporting comes in multiple file formats and is not ready to use on arrival.
Manual data entry
The team still has to touch the same reporting data by hand before it becomes useful.
Producer reporting drag
Producer-facing updates are tedious because the data has to be rebuilt into a report each time.
No central lookup layer
The team needs one place to search by title, quarter, source, and reporting period.
Avails disconnected from contracts
Territory availability and expiration logic should tie back to contract data, not just live in a sheet.
Avails lookup is still clunky
The team wants to quickly see what territories are available and when they expire, but today that still lives in a Google Sheet database Scott called "not ideal."
Greenlit already covers the platform layer. Archstone needs a reporting workflow on top.
The proposal is designed to enhance the existing Greenlit platform with Archstone-specific workflows. It is to use Greenlit as the foundation, then add the Archstone-specific workflows around distribution ingest, normalized reporting, producer visibility, and contract-linked avails.
Bring incoming statements into one system
Use Greenlit as the entry point for forwarded distributor emails, PDF statements, and Excel files.
Normalize the data once
Turn title, source, period, revenue, fees, expenses, and balance into structured reporting data the team can reuse.
Share the right title-level view
Greenlit's permissioning model can be adapted so producers only see their film and only the reporting data meant for them.
Tie terms back to availability
Sales agreements, distribution terms, avails, and expirations can sit next to the reporting system instead of outside it.
Core
Platform
Build the Archstone distribution reporting hub
Phase 1 should solve the internal ingest and reporting problem first, before producer access or deeper rights tooling.
Forward or upload distributor statements from email, PDF, and Excel
Normalize top-level values by title, source, period, revenue, fees, and balance
Create internal dashboards and search by title and quarter
Generate internal reporting outputs from one consistent data layer
Keep human review in the loop so statement accuracy stays controlled
Turn internal reporting into a producer portal
Once the internal reporting layer is stable, the next step is to expose the right slice of that data to producers and connect it to contract and avails context.
Permissioned title-level producer views
Quarter-based producer report generation
Upload and summarize sales or distribution agreements
Link sold territories and expirations back to avails
Ingest
Forward or upload the incoming statement once.
Normalize
Sort it into title, source, period, revenue, fees, and balance.
Summarize
Generate internal and quarter-end producer reporting from the same data.
Share
Expose only the permitted title-level view to the producer on that film.
Build out rights visibility and waterfall management
Once reporting and producer visibility are in place, Greenlit can extend the system into title-level rights visibility, contract-connected avails, and waterfall structures, stakeholder allocations, and payout logic.
Upload and summarize sales and distribution agreements
Track sold territories, expirations, and avails together
Title-level rights visibility and tracking
Track waterfall structures, stakeholder allocations, and payout logic
Searchable contract and reporting assistant
Additional integrations once the core data model is stable
A rollout sequence you can actually talk through
This gives the project a practical order of operations: stabilize the internal reporting layer first, open up the producer-facing workflow second, then build the deeper rights and waterfall layer on top.
Reporting and ingest foundation
Stand up statement intake, top-level normalization, title and quarter search, and the internal reporting hub the team can trust.
Producer views and avails workflow
Turn the normalized reporting layer into permissioned producer updates, then connect sold territories, expirations, and contract context.
Rights visibility and waterfall management
Extend the system into title-level rights tracking, waterfall structures, stakeholder allocations, payout logic, and the deeper financial workflows that build on the core reporting model.
This is a
sales company gap
not a one-company
problem
The same pain shows up across sales agencies and lean studios: statements arrive in inconsistent formats, reporting is still manual, and producers need updates without direct access to internal systems.
A design-partner build layered on top of Greenlit
Archstone would not be commissioning an entirely separate product. The proposal is to adopt Greenlit as the base platform, then layer a focused custom build around Archstone's distribution ingest, reporting, producer visibility, and avails workflows.
Workflow discovery
Map incoming statements, current reports, avails sheets, and contract workflows.
Sample-file mapping
Use real statement and contract examples to shape the extraction and reporting model.
Phased implementation
Ship ingest and reporting first, then producer views and avails, then rights visibility and waterfall management.
Feedback loop
Use real usage inside Archstone to refine the broader Greenlit product.
A focused custom build on top of Greenlit
This proposal is structured around the initial Archstone build itself: the distribution reporting hub, producer portal foundations, contract-linked avails, and the rights plus waterfall workflow Greenlit will implement with the team.
Greenlit foundation
Use Greenlit as the base environment for projects, contracts, permissioning, and internal coordination.
Custom implementation
Archstone-specific statement ingest, reporting workflow, producer portal foundations, and rights / waterfall management.
Scope refinement
Use real statement and contract samples to tighten extraction and avails behavior before implementation sequencing.
$15,000 one-time
Why Archstone is the right design partner
Real operating complexity
Sales, production, legal, accounting, and market workflows already collide in one small team.
Real statement complexity
The team is already dealing with PDF and Excel reporting from multiple distribution sources.
Frequent reporting pressure
The workflow gets stress-tested by quarter-end reporting and ongoing producer update requests.
Specific requirements
The team is now clearly asking for ingest, reporting, producer visibility, and avails support rather than vague automation.
Category relevance
If this works for Archstone, it can translate to other lean sales agencies and studios.
Proposed next steps
Align on the design-partner scope and commercial structure.
Confirm the highest-priority Phase 1 workflow needs.
Identify sample statement files, current reports, and contract examples for implementation planning.
Approve the Phase 1 distribution scope, budget, and rollout order.
Kick off the design-partner build on top of Greenlit.
Give Archstone a cleaner way to report and run the slate.