Start from the breakdown
A schedule built from memory misses things. Go through the script or the shot list and write, for each scene, what it needs: location, cast, props, wardrobe, special equipment, time of day. This is the breakdown, and everything else follows from it.
Group by what is expensive to move
You do not shoot in story order. You shoot in the order that costs least. Group scenes by:
- Location. Moving a crew is the biggest time cost of a day.
- Cast. Keep an actor's days together rather than spread over the week.
- Light. Exteriors at the hour they need, interiors around them.
- Gear. Rented equipment on consecutive days.
Estimate honestly
Count setups, not pages. A simple dialogue scene with two setups is not the same as a moving shot through a crowd. Ask the director and the director of photography for their estimate, then compare it with what the last shoot really took.
Add buffers where things break
Company moves, the first setup of the day, scenes with children, animals, weather or vehicles. Put the margin there, not as a vague extra hour at the end of the day.
Turn the schedule into tasks
Each shooting day creates work before it: a permit to confirm, a camera package to book, wardrobe to fit, a call sheet to send. Write each as a task with an owner and a due date. A schedule nobody is preparing for is only a calendar.
Share one version
The classic failure is two versions of the schedule in circulation. Keep it in one place the whole team opens, and change it there. In CrewDesk, the project dates sit on the shared calendar and the preparation lives in the project's tasks.
A worked example
Take a two-day corporate shoot: four interviews, B-roll in a factory and an exterior at sunset. Day one groups the interviews in one room, lit once, with the shortest interview first while the crew settles. The factory B-roll follows after lunch, when the production line runs. Day two starts with the remaining interiors and ends with the exterior, placed by the time of sunset, with an interior pickup kept in reserve if it rains.
Tools for the job
Our shooting schedule template gives the columns, and the glossary explains the stripboard and the day out of days.
Terms used on this page
B-rollCall sheetDay out of daysShooting scheduleShot listStripboard