Also known as DOOD · day-out-of-days report
A production report that shows, for each cast member, which shoot days they start, work, hold, and finish — so a production can see how many days each actor is booked and paid.
A day out of days is built from the schedule. The cast run down the side, the shoot days run across the top, and each cell carries a code: SW for the day an actor starts, W for a work day, WF for the day they finish, SWF for someone who starts and finishes the same day, and H for a hold day between work days.
Its job is money and availability. Hold days are paid, so a line producer reads the report to find actors whose scenes are spread across the schedule and asks whether the board can pull them closer together. It also tells casting and business affairs exactly which dates to book.
For a writer, the day out of days is where a small moment becomes expensive: one line from a character who otherwise works in week one can hold that actor until week five. That is rarely a reason to cut a good scene from a spec, but it is often why a production rewrite moves a line to a character who is already working that day.
Start work, work, work finish, and hold. SWF marks an actor who starts and finishes on the same day, and productions add codes such as travel or rehearsal as they need them.
The assistant director or the production office, from the schedule. It changes whenever the stripboard does.
It shows what a scene costs in actor days. A single late appearance can hold an actor for weeks, which is why production rewrites sometimes give a line to a character who is already working that day.
