Call sheet

In practice

The call sheet is issued the day before, usually by the assistant directors, and it is the document everyone on set actually reads. It lists the scheduled scenes by number with their page counts and cast, the time each person is due, and the location details a crew needs to arrive in the right place.

Scene numbers are why it works. The call sheet points at the locked script and the day's sides by number, so a renumbered scene or a missing OMITTED slot turns tomorrow's call sheet into a puzzle. Writers delivering revised pages during production should expect them to be read against it.

Writers rarely appear on a call sheet unless they are on set, but the sheet shows what a day of their script asks for: how many pages, how many locations, how many actors. It is a useful reality check on why a production asks to combine locations or trim a scene.

A scene, and the line a call sheet gives it

On the call sheet this scene becomes one row: scene 24, INT. ROADSIDE DINER - NIGHT, one and three-eighths pages, cast 2 and 4, with a note that rain must be on the windows. Mara's and Okafor's actors each get their own pickup, makeup and on-set times, and the props department sees that it needs a flash drive.

What a call sheet is

A call sheet is the document that runs a single day of filming. It tells every person on the production when to arrive, where to go and what will be shot, so that a crew of dozens or hundreds can start work at the same moment in the right place.

It is issued the day before, usually the evening before, once the day's plan is settled. Changes in weather, an actor's availability or yesterday's progress can all change tomorrow's plan, so a call sheet is final only when it is sent, and a revised one replaces it if the plan changes again.

Call sheets matter on every scale. A two-person short film benefits from one as much as a studio feature does, because it forces the plan to be written down and gives everyone the same information.

What is on a call sheet

The top of the sheet gives the essentials: the production's name, the shoot day number, the date, the general crew call time, the first shot time, the weather with sunrise and sunset, the location address with parking, and the nearest hospital. Key contacts, such as the producer and the assistant directors, are listed too.

The middle lists the scenes being shot in order, with their numbers, scene headings, page counts and cast numbers, so each department can prepare. Below that is the cast list, giving each actor's call, makeup and on-set times, followed by background actors and any special needs such as stunts, animals or vehicles.

The rest covers departments and what comes next: equipment, special effects, catering and meal times, safety notes and an advance schedule for the following days. A call sheet template usually lays these out in the same order, so cast and crew always know where to look.

Who makes the call sheet

The assistant directors make it. On most productions the second assistant director prepares the sheet from the shooting schedule, the director's shot list and the stripboard, and the first assistant director approves it, often with the unit production manager.

The information comes from across the production. The schedule decides the scenes, the casting and actors' departments confirm availability, the locations team supplies the address and parking, and each department head adds what it needs. The ADs turn all of it into one page or a few.

It goes out to everyone at once, by email or a production app, and the second AD tracks who has received it. On union productions, call times also have to respect rest periods between days, so the sheet is checked against those rules before it is sent.

How the script becomes a call sheet

The path starts with the screenplay. A script breakdown lists everything each scene needs, cast, props, wardrobe and effects, and the scenes are then grouped and ordered into a shooting schedule, usually by location rather than by story order.

Scene numbers and page counts in eighths of a page carry through every step. That is why a locked, numbered script matters to production: the call sheet's row for scene 24 has to match scene 24 in the script everyone is holding, and a change to the script after the schedule is built can ripple into tomorrow's call sheet.

Writers rarely make call sheets, but writing with them in mind helps. Clear scene headings, accurate page counts and a script that is versioned cleanly make the breakdown faster. In Plot, named save points mark the locked draft, so production can always tell which version the schedule was built from.

Call sheet, shooting schedule and day out of days

The shooting schedule covers the whole shoot: which scenes are filmed on which day. The call sheet covers one day, with the detail needed to carry it out. Each day's call sheet is drawn from the schedule.

A day out of days is a chart of which days each actor works across the shoot, marked with codes for starting, working, holding and finishing. It is used to plan cast contracts and costs, and the call sheet then confirms each actor's times for a given day.

Sides are the script pages for the day's scenes, often printed small and handed out with the call sheet. Together they give the cast and crew everything they need for tomorrow: when to come, what to shoot and the words to say.