Remote collaboration: best tools to rely on

Whether it’s planning a shoot, reviewing edits or managing media, productions rely on a growing number of platforms to keep teams connected and collaborating effectively. We round up the best tools for the job

Words Katie Kasperson

Strada | strada.tech

The pandemic forced teams to adopt remote workflows, and since then they have stuck around. “We all defaulted to the cloud as the collaboration solution, but the problem is, we have to pick and choose what we can afford to put in it,” begins Michael Cioni, co-creator of Strada, a peer-to-peer remote editing tool. Video files are uniquely complex and exceptionally large, requiring sums of money, time and bandwidth to upload and download them. “In a world where turnaround times are getting shorter, budgets are getting smaller and teams are getting further apart, that becomes a real quagmire.”

Strada addresses these issues head-on. Rather than relying on third-party storage providers, it puts power into the hands of its users, allowing them to access each other’s devices “as if they’re sitting next to one another,” says Cioni. The interface looks just like Finder or File Explorer – removing any UX-related barriers to entry – where users can browse their shared drives and drop videos instantly into their editor of choice. “I never upload them, you never download them, and neither of us has to pay a cloud to host them,” Cioni summarises.

Strada also eliminates an element of uncertainty. “Because it’s peer-to-peer, there are some security advantages – it’s not in a public cloud or in a data centre that’s being used to train AI, and you physically know where it is,” says Cioni. “For people who want to have sovereignty over their media, this is advantageous because it’s sitting on their drive. They can unplug anytime.”

While anyone could use Strada for any type of file sharing, Cioni wants to focus on videos. “I’ve been a filmmaker for 25 years. It’s the world we love. It’s the problem we think is the most painful” – and it is already providing solutions. On one production, the crew was filming in Anchorage, Alaska while the editor was working from London, ‘accessing the footage in real time’.

Strada only costs $8 per month, while the cloud is a trillion-dollar industry, according to Cioni. An early mover in the peer-to-peer space, Strada “can do something that the cloud cannot,” he says. “We unlock creative control.”

dzjinius | dzjinius.com

An all-in-one production management platform, dzjinius – built by the Belgian software company initially known as DzjinTonik – is the only collaboration solution out there that covers “the full pre- to post-production chain on one integrated data model,” according to CEO Christophe Haan, who joined in 2024. “The inspiration was a frustration the founding team knew first-hand: information scattered across dozens of disconnected tools – scripts in one system, schedules in another, budgets in a third – with teams endlessly re-keying data. Errors rippled through all departments. But dzjinius solves that fracturing by bringing the pre- to post-production chain into a single, integrated environment with one data model.”

Designed to drive efficiency and ‘simplify production management workflows’ for studios, broadcasters and others working in entertainment, dzjinius offers ‘modules’ for scheduling, scriptwriting, budgeting, casting and more. “What drew me to dzjinius was the combination of a genuinely differentiated product, more than a decade of engineering invested in a structured production-data platform and a market that is clearly under-digitalised,” Haan shares. “It is aimed at production companies of every size, and it is modular. Customers start with the capabilities they need most and expand at their own pace – no big- bang transformation.”

The solution’s success also comes down to its open APIs and connecting partners, such as Limecraft and Cheqroom. When Warner Bros tapped dzjinius to streamline its scripted content production, for instance, Limecraft stepped in to provide secure on-set ingest, audio and video syncing, dailies generation and browser-based review. Meanwhile, dzjinius handled dynamic scheduling, intelligent tagging and automated call-sheet generation.

The platform also lent a hand on ITV’s Coronation Street and Emmerdale dramas. To meet both series’ ambitious production demands, the studio found a partner in the dzjinius platform, managing scriptwriting and scheduling in one place. “Every team member works from the same live dataset, which results in one version of the truth,” explains Haan – it’s an essential element of successful collaboration, especially on high-volume, multi-unit productions.

In addition, dzjinius is working to make the platform more efficient, accessible and focused on quality storytelling. At IBC 2026, the company will demonstrate dzjinius on-set, “a tablet-first app that connects the studio floor directly to the production database,” explains Haan, “so what happens on-set flows straight back into the system.”

Louper | louper.io

A cloud-based collaboration platform built for post-production professionals, Louper streamlines the creative review process by enabling both real-time over-the-shoulder sessions and asynchronous feedback within a single platform. By offering 4K live streaming, integrated video chat, browser-based access and timestamped annotations, the platform eliminates scattered feedback and speeds up revision cycles.

LucidLink | lucidlink.com

LucidLink is a file-streaming service that allows users to access and edit large video files directly from the cloud – no download required – as if they are local. Operating as a shared global system, the platform allows creatives to work on the same files, at the same time, without having to worry about overwrites. LucidLink also includes enterprise-grade security measures such as end-to-end zero-knowledge encryption.

Shade | shade.inc

Shade provides an intelligent cloud platform designed for creative teams to store, stream and collaborate on extra-large media files such as 4K video, ProRes and BRAW. Operating as a virtual local drive, it uses byte-level predictive streaming to let users open and edit cloud files instantly. Teams can work together from a single source of truth, mount multiple drives simultaneously and pin assets for offline workflows, eliminating traditional file transfers and streamlining hybrid workflows.

Iconik | iconik.io

The only platform to blend media asset management, real-time collaboration, review and publishing, Iconik allows creative teams to streamline workflows from ingest to archive. It integrates with existing cloud storage and editing tools, remaining agnostic while presenting users with a single interface. Standout features include AI-powered indexing, tracked version histories and timecoded feedback – and now, users can publish directly from their media library.

This article appears in the August/September 2026 issue of Definition