Guide

How Content Slate works

Content Slate follows a video from the moment you think of it to the day it's published, plus everything around it: the brand paying for it, the creator you're shooting with, the convention you're filming at. This guide walks through each part in the order you'll use it.

Getting started

Sign in with your email. Go to the app, enter your email, and type in the code we send you (or tap the link in the same email). No password.
On iPhone, add it to your home screen. In Safari tap Share, then Add to Home Screen. Open Slate from your home screen and sign in there with the code, not the link. The home screen app keeps its own sign-in, separate from Safari.
On Android, same idea. In Chrome tap the ⋮ menu, then Add to Home screen (or Install app). Sign in with the link or the code.
Put it on your phone. On iPhone, open the app in Safari, tap Share, then Add to Home Screen. On Android, open it in Chrome, tap the three-dot menu, then Add to Home screen. It opens like an app.
Sign in on your other devices. Use the same email. Everything syncs.

Coming from Notion or another planner? Send me your export and I can bring your history in, so your stats start from real numbers.

Capturing ideas

The bar at the top of every screen is for ideas. Type it, pick a format (Long-form, Short, Stream, Post, Photo, Written, Podcast), and press Enter. It lands in Ideas. That's it. Don't stop to fill anything else in.

This Week

Your week, Monday to Sunday. Anything with a date shows on its day.

Drag a card to another day to move it. On a phone, press and hold first.
+ Plan something on any day picks from your unscheduled videos or starts a new one.
Across the top you'll see follow-ups due with brands and creators, and loaners due back soon.
The meter shows how many of this week's videos you actually published. Platform bars break it down by YouTube, TikTok and the rest.
Copy last week brings last week's plan forward as fresh ideas. Tap it twice to confirm.

Ideas

Every idea you've banked, newest first. Search, filter by format or video type, and show only unplanned, dated, or sponsored ideas.

Date picker on each row puts the idea on This Week.
Start scripting moves it into the pipeline.
Shelve parks it. Shelved ideas aren't deleted, and you can revive them any time from Pipeline.

Pipeline

Every video moves through the same stages:

IdeaScriptingFilmingEditingReady to PostScheduledPublishedShelvedArchived

Drag a card to another column, or tap the next stage → button on the card.

The lights

✓Green: on track.

~Yellow: getting close. It's been in this stage a while, or its date is in the next two days and it's still being made.

!Red: stuck or late. Over the time limit for its stage, past its date, or scheduled before a brand's embargo.

Time limits: Scripting and Filming 14 days, Editing 10, Ready to Post 5. Hover any light to see why it's that color. The Pipeline tab shows the totals.

The numbers up top

In production, stuck or late, published in the last 90 days, and your ship rate: published videos divided by published plus shelved. Click a number to filter the board.

The video page

Tap any card to open its page. Tabs appear as you need them.

Overview

Title, the promise (one line: "By the end, you'll know…"), stage, format, video type, platforms, date, go-live time, brand, event, collabs, link and notes. Below that: repurpose buttons and the video's history.

The promise matters most. If you can't finish that sentence, the idea isn't ready to script. It's the fastest way to know what to shelve.

Packaging

Title options with a character counter (aim for under 50), and three thumbnail concepts. Star the title you ship.

Review or Story

Pick a review-type video type (Review, First Look, Long-term Review, Comparison) and you get the review questions: what you're testing, who it's for, pros, cons, alternatives, verdict. Everything else gets four story questions: the moment, the stakes, the gear's role, what changes. You can switch with the toggle.

Script

Research, your hook, then chapters: your beats in order with notes and rough minutes. Chapters total up to a runtime estimate and become your YouTube chapters on the Publish tab.

Shot List

Shots grouped under your chapters, with type (A-roll, B-roll, screen), size, frame rate, gear and location. Tick Gathered as you shoot. Gear you still need shows at the top as a pull-out list.

Sponsor

Only shows when a brand is linked. Approval status, draft due date, link, code, talking points and the ad read. The deal's terms and embargo show here too.

Publish

Upload and promotion checklists (sponsored videos add the disclosure steps), description, copy-ready chapters, pinned comment, and a caption for each other platform you're posting to.

Results

Shows once a video is published. Log 7-day views, CTR, average view duration and subs gained, plus what worked and what you'd change.

Repurpose

On Overview, + Short, + Post or + Stream creates a linked spin-off in Ideas, tagged to the same brand and event.

Network

Two views: Brands and Creators & collabs.

Brands are grouped by status: Active, In Talks, Pitching, Paused, Passed. Each keeps the contact, role, email, where you met, terms, follow-up date and next step. When you pass on a brand, note why.
Creators have a name and a handle, what they make, socials, and every video you've done together. Type @handle and it becomes a link. Find searches that platform for them.
Set a next follow-up date and it shows on This Week.
On any video, brand, collab and event fields have a + New option, so you never have to leave the video to add someone.

Deals, loaners, embargoes

Open a brand in Network and use + Add deal. Save a new brand first.

Deal type: Paid, Loaner, Gifted or Affiliate.
Due: when the deliverable is due. Shows on its day in This Week.
Embargo lifts: any video for that brand scheduled before this date turns red.
Return gear by: for loaners. Shows on This Week as the date gets close.

Events

Conventions, launches, shoots. Add dates and a location to get a countdown, then link videos to the event from the video page.

History and undo

Moving, shelving or rescheduling shows an Undo button for a few seconds.
Every video keeps a history of what changed and when, at the bottom of Overview. Published videos show how many days they took from idea to published.
Changes made inside the video page are logged when you press Save. Cmd / Ctrl + S works too.

Your data

Private: your records are locked to your account by the database itself. Other users can't read them.
Synced: sign in on any device with the same email.
Backups: Account → Download backup saves everything as a file. Import backup brings it back.
Delete: Account → Delete all my data erases everything in your account. Download a backup first if you might want it.

Questions or ideas: collab@matsuxl.com.