What it is
A call sheet is the daily plan of a shoot, sent to cast and crew the evening before. It is short, factual and complete. A good one answers every practical question before anyone has to ask it.
What to put on it
- The header. Production title, date, day number, general call time.
- Where. Address of the location, parking, nearest hospital.
- Who to call. Producer, coordinator, first assistant director.
- The day. Scenes in shooting order, with location, cast and a short description.
- Cast. Each person's call time, make-up time and on-set time.
- Crew. Call time by department.
- Conditions. Sunrise, sunset and the weather forecast.
- Notes. Special equipment, safety points, meals.
When to send it
The evening before, once the previous day has wrapped and the plan is firm. Earlier and it will change. Later and people have gone to bed. Ask for a confirmation from cast.
Common mistakes
- A call time without an address
- An old phone number for the coordinator
- Different call times in the email and in the attachment
- No plan for rain on an exterior day
Where the information comes from
Everything on a call sheet already exists somewhere: the schedule, the cast list with phone numbers, the locations, the crew. When that information is kept in one application, preparing the call sheet is assembling, not hunting. In a custom version of CrewDesk, TECHMA can generate the call sheet from the project in one click.
A call sheet for a five-person crew
Small shoots need it too, in a lighter form: date, call time, address with parking, the plan of the day in five lines, everyone's phone number, the nearest hospital and what each person brings. It fits in a message, and it replaces the ten messages of the morning.
Go further
The call sheet template lists every field in a table.