Freelancer Scheduling Calendar

The freelancer calendar is where freelancers manage their own availability, pencils and confirmed bookings. It shows everything that affects their time in one place.

🗓️ What freelancers see

Freelancers always see the full truth of their own schedule:

• All 1st and 2nd pencils.
• Confirmed bookings.
• Challenge status on any 1st pencil that has been challenged.
• DND (Do Not Disturb) blocks.
• Dummy bookings they have added for personal or external work.
• Project names and studio names on every block that has an owner.

Nothing is hidden from the freelancer on their own calendar.

✏️ Creating a booking

To add something to their calendar, freelancers:

1. Click on an empty area of their timeline.
2. The New Booking window appears.
3. They choose a booking type:
• 1st pencil
• 2nd pencil
• Confirmed
• DND
4. They can select a studio to own the booking, or leave this field empty to create a dummy booking.
5. They enter a project name, date range and any notes.
6. They save the booking.

The new block appears on their timeline immediately.

🟪 Dummy bookings

Dummy bookings are created when a freelancer leaves the studio field empty:

• They behave like normal bookings in terms of pencil order and availability.
• The freelancer sees them with full details, including the project name they entered.
• Studios see them as anonymous blocks that follow the same visibility rules as any other non-owned booking:
• A dummy 1st pencil can be challengeable.
• A dummy 2nd pencil can protect a 1st pencil from being challenged.
• A dummy confirmed booking appears as unavailable time.

This lets freelancers block out time for other work without exposing who that work is for.

🔁 Editing and cancelling

Freelancers can change their bookings directly from the calendar:

• Clicking a block opens its details.
• They can adjust dates, change notes, switch the booking type, assign or remove a studio, or delete the block.
• When a booking is removed, the corresponding time becomes available again according to the rules explained in the pencil system sections.

⚔️ Responding to challenges

When a studio challenges a 1st pencil:

• The affected period on the freelancer’s calendar is labelled Challenged.
• Clicking the block opens a comparison view showing:
• The original 1st pencil details.
• The challenger’s request and notes.
• The freelancer chooses whether to:
• Confirm the 1st pencil.
• Confirm the challenger instead.
• Decline both bookings.

Once they decide, the calendar updates automatically and lower pencils are released where applicable.