How to Create a Shooting Schedule: Step-by-Step Guide
Feb 21, 2026
How to Create a Shooting Schedule: A Step-by-Step Guide for Film Producers
Learning how to create a shooting schedule is one of the most important skills a film producer or assistant director can develop. A well-built shooting schedule keeps your cast and crew organized, prevents costly overruns, and ensures every production day is used as efficiently as possible. Whether you are producing a short film, an indie feature, a TV episode, or a commercial, the scheduling process follows the same core principles: break down the script, organize by logic not chronology, and plan every minute of every shoot day before you call action.
This guide walks you through the entire process, from script breakdown to stripboard to final call sheet, including the tools and techniques professionals use on productions of every budget size.
What Is a Shooting Schedule?
A shooting schedule is a detailed plan that outlines which scenes will be filmed on which days, in what order, and at what locations. Unlike the script, which is organized by story chronology, a shooting schedule is organized by production logic: minimizing company moves, maximizing daylight, working around actor availability, and keeping overtime to a minimum.
The shooting schedule is the master document that drives every other production document. Call sheets, day-out-of-days (DOODs), one-liners, and individual department schedules all flow from it. When the schedule is solid, the production runs smoothly. When it is missing, rushed, or unrealistic, productions go over budget and over schedule.
On most productions, the First Assistant Director (1st AD) builds and owns the shooting schedule. On smaller productions, the line producer or production coordinator may build it. Understanding the full process helps everyone on the production team anticipate challenges and communicate clearly.
Why Your Shooting Schedule Matters for Your Budget
Schedule and budget are inseparable. Every extra shoot day costs money: crew wages, location fees, equipment rentals, catering, and insurance all run by the day. A shooting schedule that is organized efficiently can shave days off a shoot, saving tens of thousands of dollars on a low-budget indie or hundreds of thousands on a studio project.
That is why building your budget and your schedule together, in parallel, is the professional standard. Your line producer should be tracking how each scheduling decision affects the budget in real time. Once your shooting schedule is locked, every top-sheet number in your production budget should reflect it.
If you are not yet working with dedicated film budgeting software, the scheduling process will expose exactly why you need it: the moment you add a shoot day, shift a location, or lose an actor, the financial ripple affects dozens of budget lines simultaneously.
Step 1: Complete a Script Breakdown
The shooting schedule begins long before you open any scheduling software. It starts with a thorough script breakdown. A script breakdown identifies every element in the script that costs money, requires coordination, or affects the schedule.
For each scene, you need to identify and record:
Scene number: The sequential number assigned in the script
Interior or Exterior (INT/EXT): Whether the scene takes place inside or outside
Day or Night (D/N): The time of day in the story world
Location: The specific place where the scene is set
Cast members: Which characters appear and whether they speak
Page count: The length of the scene in eighths of a page (a one-page scene = 8/8)
Key props: Any props that require sourcing, wrangling, or special handling
Special equipment: Cranes, steadicams, underwater housings, or anything non-standard
Visual effects or stunts: Any elements requiring VFX supervision or stunt coordination
Extras/background: How many background performers appear
Animals or vehicles: Any non-human performers or picture vehicles
Most productions complete this breakdown using breakdown sheets, one per scene, before any scheduling begins. Dedicated software automates a significant portion of this process by parsing the script electronically.
The 1/8th Page Rule
Film production measures scene length in eighths of a page because a standard screenplay page theoretically represents one minute of screen time. A scene that is 4/8 of a page is estimated at roughly 30 seconds of finished film. Page count is not a perfect proxy for how long a scene takes to shoot (a wordless two-character scene can take a full day; a three-page dialogue scene in a single setup can wrap in two hours), but it is the standard starting point for estimating scene time during the scheduling process.
Step 2: Build Your Stripboard
The stripboard is the heart of the shooting schedule. Originating in the era of physical colored cardboard strips, a stripboard is a visual representation of every scene in your production, organized into shoot days. Each strip represents one scene and displays its key attributes: scene number, INT/EXT, D/N, location, cast members, and page count.
In a physical stripboard, different colored strips indicate different elements: white for day interiors, yellow for day exteriors, blue for night interiors, green for night exteriors, and so on. Today, most productions use digital stripboards inside scheduling software, but the logic and the color conventions remain the same.
The goal of the stripboard is to arrange scenes into the most efficient shoot order possible. This means grouping scenes by:
Location: Shoot all scenes at a given location before moving. Company moves (traveling from one location to another) are expensive and time-consuming.
Cast availability: Group scenes featuring specific actors together to minimize the number of days each actor is on contract.
Lighting conditions: Shoot all day exteriors while daylight is available. Night exteriors require overtime pay and are harder to control.
Setup complexity: Plan heavy setup days (cranes, stunts, VFX) when the crew is fresh and the schedule allows buffer time.
Day Breaks and Shoot Days
In the stripboard, black or dark-colored strips mark the boundary between shoot days. When you place a day-break strip, you are closing out one shoot day and starting another. The goal is to pack each day with the right amount of work: enough to use the crew's time efficiently, but not so much that you are constantly racing the clock or burning out your team.
A general rule of thumb is that a standard shoot day on a union production allows for 10 to 12 hours of work. Pages-per-day averages vary widely by budget and complexity: a major studio feature may average 1-2 pages per day, a television drama may average 5-8 pages, and a low-budget indie may push 10 or more pages on simple days. Knowing your production's realistic page rate is essential for building a credible schedule.
Step 3: Create the One-Liner
Once the stripboard is organized, the next document you produce is the one-liner (also called a one-line schedule or stripped schedule). The one-liner is a condensed version of the shooting schedule that fits on a single page or a small number of pages, showing the shoot order, scene numbers, brief scene descriptions, page counts, and cast.
The one-liner is the document most department heads will reference when planning their work. It gives everyone a quick view of the full production at a glance. Directors use it to track their schedule progress. Department coordinators use it to plan deliveries and load-ins. Producers use it to confirm that the schedule reflects the budget assumptions.
A typical one-liner row includes:
Shoot day number
Scene number(s)
INT/EXT and D/N
Scene description (a brief slug line or logline)
Location
Pages
Cast numbers
Step 4: Build the Day-Out-of-Days (DOOD)
The Day-Out-of-Days report, almost universally abbreviated as DOOD, tracks when each cast member works across the production. For each actor, the DOOD shows their status on every shoot day using a standardized code:
SW: Start Work (first day)
W: Work
WF: Work Finish (last day)
SWF: Start Work Finish (works only one day)
H: Hold (on contract but not working)
F: Finish
T: Travel
The DOOD is critical for calculating cast costs in your film budget. Actors on weekly contracts cost money on hold days just as they do on work days. An inefficient schedule that scatters an actor's scenes across many weeks means you are paying hold fees for days they are not on set. A tight DOOD reduces holds and significantly lowers your above-the-line costs.
On union productions governed by SAG-AFTRA agreements, the DOOD is also used to calculate minimum guarantees, turnaround requirements, and overtime obligations. The Directors Guild of America similarly uses scheduling documents to verify compliance with rest periods and consecutive workday limits.
Step 5: Assign Call Times and Build Daily Call Sheets
Once the full schedule is built, the next step is translating it into daily call sheets. A call sheet is issued for each shoot day and tells every cast and crew member when and where to report, what is being shot, and what they need to bring or prepare.
Key elements on every call sheet include:
General call time: When the crew is expected on set and ready to work
Individual cast call times: Actors often have staggered calls based on their scenes and makeup/costume needs
Location address and parking: Where to report and where to park
Scene schedule for the day: The scenes being shot, in order
Advanced schedule: A preview of the following day's work
Department-specific notes: Special instructions for art department, camera, locations, etc.
Weather and sunrise/sunset times: Critical for exterior shoots
Emergency contacts: Key contacts including production office, locations, and medical
Under union agreements, call sheets must be distributed at least 12 hours before the next call time, giving cast and crew time to prepare. On non-union productions, distributing the call sheet the evening before is still best practice and a sign of a professional production.
Turnaround Rules
Turnaround is the minimum rest period required between a crew member's wrap time on one day and their call time on the next. Under SAG-AFTRA and IATSE agreements, turnaround requirements typically range from 8 to 12 hours. When a shoot day runs long, this can push the following day's call time later, which ripples through the entire schedule. Building realistic shoot days helps protect turnaround and keeps the crew healthy and productive throughout the production.
Scheduling Factors That Protect Your Budget
Professional schedulers know that certain decisions save money and others create hidden costs. Here are the key variables to account for when building your schedule:
Golden Hour and Magic Hour
The hour after sunrise and the hour before sunset, often called golden hour or magic hour, offer soft, warm, directional light that is highly sought after for exteriors. However, this window lasts only 45 to 60 minutes. If your script calls for magic hour shots, they must be carefully scheduled and usually require a backup plan. Losing a magic hour shot because the previous scene ran long is a common and costly problem.
Company Moves
Every time the entire crew moves from one location to another during the same shoot day, that is a company move. Company moves typically consume 30 to 90 minutes of shoot time even when everything goes smoothly. Scheduling multiple company moves in a single day significantly reduces the number of pages you can realistically complete. Group locations to minimize moves.
Night Shoots
Night shoots involve overtime costs, light control challenges, and crew fatigue. When possible, front-load night shoots in the schedule so they occur when the crew is fresh and the budget has not yet been stressed. Never schedule a night shoot immediately following a challenging day shoot without adequate turnaround.
Child Actors
Child actors are subject to strict state labor laws that vary by jurisdiction. In California, for example, minors on set are limited in their work hours based on age, and a studio teacher and welfare worker are required on set. These regulations directly affect how many pages per day you can shoot when a child actor is involved. Always factor child labor restrictions into the schedule before locking in shoot days with minors.
Weather Contingencies
Exterior shoots are vulnerable to weather. Build weather cover into your schedule: identify interior scenes that can be shot if an exterior day is rained out. Having a realistic weather cover plan prevents a wet exterior day from becoming a completely lost shoot day.
Shooting Schedule Software: Your Options
Professional scheduling used to require physical stripboards and stacks of index cards. Today, dedicated software handles the heavy lifting, and the market has several options depending on your budget and workflow:
Movie Magic Scheduling
Movie Magic Scheduling by Entertainment Partners is the industry standard on studio and network television productions. It offers robust stripboard management, DOOD reports, one-liner exports, and deep integration with Movie Magic Budgeting. The learning curve is steep, and the licensing cost (several hundred dollars per year) is not trivial for micro-budget productions. On professional productions, however, deliverables are often expected in Movie Magic format.
StudioBinder
StudioBinder offers a modern, cloud-based approach to scheduling. Users can import scripts directly and have scenes parsed automatically, which accelerates the breakdown process significantly. The interface is more approachable than Movie Magic for first-time schedulers, and it includes call sheet creation and collaboration features that make it popular with mid-size productions and commercial teams.
Celtx
Celtx is a comprehensive pre-production platform that includes script writing, breakdown, and scheduling tools in one subscription. It is particularly popular with film students and emerging filmmakers because of its relatively accessible pricing and all-in-one workflow.
Shot Lister
Shot Lister is a mobile-focused scheduling and shot list tool that works well for directors and ADs who need a portable solution on set. It is particularly useful for day-of scheduling and shot management rather than full pre-production planning.
Spreadsheets and Templates
For very low-budget productions, a well-structured spreadsheet can serve as a functional shooting schedule. The limitation is that manual spreadsheets do not automatically update the DOOD when you move scenes, and they cannot catch scheduling conflicts. They work, but they require more manual effort and create more room for human error.
Common Shooting Schedule Mistakes to Avoid
Even experienced schedulers fall into patterns that create problems on set. Here are the most common mistakes and how to avoid them:
Overloading shoot days: Packing too many pages into a day sets up the crew for failure from the start. Be realistic about setup times, meal breaks, and the complexity of each scene. A schedule that requires 10% overage to complete every day is not a schedule, it is wishful thinking.
Ignoring meal penalties: Under union agreements, crews must break for a proper meal within six hours of their call time. Meal penalty fees can add up quickly on a tight budget. Build meal breaks into the schedule, not as afterthoughts.
Scheduling critical scenes on day one: The first shoot day is always challenging as the crew finds its rhythm. Schedule important but non-critical scenes early and save your most complex work for days two through five when the unit is running smoothly.
Not building contingency days: Most productions of any significant scale build one or more contingency days into the schedule, days that are unscheduled and reserved for catching up if the production falls behind. Without contingency, a two-day delay at the start of a shoot becomes a budget crisis with no recovery path.
Ignoring actor availability windows: Actors have other commitments. A schedule built without confirming every actor's hold dates and hard outs creates conflicts that are expensive and sometimes impossible to resolve.
From Schedule to Budget: The Connection That Matters
A locked shooting schedule is the foundation on which a credible production budget is built. Every number in your budget that is time-dependent (crew wages, equipment rentals, location fees, catering, hotel and per diem for out-of-town shoots) must tie directly back to the shooting schedule. When the schedule changes, those budget lines must update as well.
This is where a dedicated film budgeting platform becomes essential. If you are still managing your budget in a generic spreadsheet, changes to the schedule require manual updates across dozens of cells and formulas. The margin for error is high, and the time cost is significant.
With Saturation's film budgeting software, you can build and manage your production budget in a platform designed specifically for film and TV. Once your shooting schedule is locked, Saturation makes it straightforward to track actuals against your budget in real time, manage vendor payments through Saturation Pay, and give your entire production team visibility into where the money is and where it is going.
Your schedule determines how many shoot days you need. Your shoot days determine your crew costs. Your crew costs are often 40 to 60 percent of your total production budget. Getting the schedule right is not just a logistics task: it is a financial decision that shapes the entire production.
Shooting Schedule FAQ
How long does it take to build a shooting schedule?
For a feature film, building a complete shooting schedule from script breakdown to locked stripboard typically takes one to two weeks. For a short film or commercial, a focused scheduler can complete the process in one to three days. The timeline depends on script complexity, the number of locations, and the size of the cast.
Who is responsible for creating the shooting schedule?
On most productions, the First Assistant Director (1st AD) is responsible for building and maintaining the shooting schedule. The 1st AD works closely with the director, line producer, and department heads to ensure the schedule is realistic and reflects everyone's needs. The line producer reviews and approves the schedule with an eye on its budget implications.
What is the difference between a shooting schedule and a call sheet?
A shooting schedule covers the entire production, showing all scenes, locations, and shoot days from first to last. A call sheet covers a single shoot day, providing detailed logistics for that specific day including call times, scene order, location addresses, and departmental notes. The daily call sheet is generated from the shooting schedule.
How many pages per day is normal?
Industry averages vary by format and budget. A studio feature film typically shoots 1.5 to 3 pages per day. A television drama (one-hour episode) typically shoots 5 to 8 pages per day. A low-budget indie or commercial may shoot more pages per day if the setups are simple and the locations are controlled. Music videos often measure work by shots rather than pages.
Can you create a shooting schedule without dedicated software?
Yes, particularly for very small productions. A spreadsheet can function as a basic shooting schedule. However, dedicated scheduling software significantly reduces the time required, catches conflicts automatically (such as a character appearing in two places on the same day), and generates professional deliverables like DOODs and one-liners with minimal manual effort.
Summary: The Shooting Schedule Workflow
Here is a condensed version of the complete workflow for creating a professional shooting schedule:
Complete the script breakdown for every scene: INT/EXT, D/N, location, cast, page count, special elements
Enter all scenes into scheduling software or a spreadsheet-based stripboard
Organize scenes by location to minimize company moves
Layer in cast availability to minimize holds and weekly guarantees
Apply production logic: night shoots, day exteriors, stunts, children, animals, VFX
Place day breaks to create realistic shoot days based on your production's page rate
Generate the one-liner for director and department head review
Generate the DOOD and share with your line producer to update cast cost projections
Lock the schedule with director and producer sign-off
Build or update your production budget to reflect the locked schedule
Generate daily call sheets from the locked schedule, distributed 12+ hours before each shoot day
The shooting schedule and the production budget are two sides of the same coin. Every decision made in the schedule has a financial consequence, and every budget constraint shapes what the schedule can support. Producers and ADs who understand both documents, and who work from them in parallel, give their productions the strongest possible foundation for a successful shoot.
Once your schedule is locked and your shoot days are confirmed, Saturation makes it straightforward to build a production budget that reflects exactly what you planned. Start with your shoot days, layer in your crew deals and vendor costs, and track every dollar as production moves forward.
How to Create a Shooting Schedule: A Step-by-Step Guide for Film Producers
Learning how to create a shooting schedule is one of the most important skills a film producer or assistant director can develop. A well-built shooting schedule keeps your cast and crew organized, prevents costly overruns, and ensures every production day is used as efficiently as possible. Whether you are producing a short film, an indie feature, a TV episode, or a commercial, the scheduling process follows the same core principles: break down the script, organize by logic not chronology, and plan every minute of every shoot day before you call action.
This guide walks you through the entire process, from script breakdown to stripboard to final call sheet, including the tools and techniques professionals use on productions of every budget size.
What Is a Shooting Schedule?
A shooting schedule is a detailed plan that outlines which scenes will be filmed on which days, in what order, and at what locations. Unlike the script, which is organized by story chronology, a shooting schedule is organized by production logic: minimizing company moves, maximizing daylight, working around actor availability, and keeping overtime to a minimum.
The shooting schedule is the master document that drives every other production document. Call sheets, day-out-of-days (DOODs), one-liners, and individual department schedules all flow from it. When the schedule is solid, the production runs smoothly. When it is missing, rushed, or unrealistic, productions go over budget and over schedule.
On most productions, the First Assistant Director (1st AD) builds and owns the shooting schedule. On smaller productions, the line producer or production coordinator may build it. Understanding the full process helps everyone on the production team anticipate challenges and communicate clearly.
Why Your Shooting Schedule Matters for Your Budget
Schedule and budget are inseparable. Every extra shoot day costs money: crew wages, location fees, equipment rentals, catering, and insurance all run by the day. A shooting schedule that is organized efficiently can shave days off a shoot, saving tens of thousands of dollars on a low-budget indie or hundreds of thousands on a studio project.
That is why building your budget and your schedule together, in parallel, is the professional standard. Your line producer should be tracking how each scheduling decision affects the budget in real time. Once your shooting schedule is locked, every top-sheet number in your production budget should reflect it.
If you are not yet working with dedicated film budgeting software, the scheduling process will expose exactly why you need it: the moment you add a shoot day, shift a location, or lose an actor, the financial ripple affects dozens of budget lines simultaneously.
Step 1: Complete a Script Breakdown
The shooting schedule begins long before you open any scheduling software. It starts with a thorough script breakdown. A script breakdown identifies every element in the script that costs money, requires coordination, or affects the schedule.
For each scene, you need to identify and record:
Scene number: The sequential number assigned in the script
Interior or Exterior (INT/EXT): Whether the scene takes place inside or outside
Day or Night (D/N): The time of day in the story world
Location: The specific place where the scene is set
Cast members: Which characters appear and whether they speak
Page count: The length of the scene in eighths of a page (a one-page scene = 8/8)
Key props: Any props that require sourcing, wrangling, or special handling
Special equipment: Cranes, steadicams, underwater housings, or anything non-standard
Visual effects or stunts: Any elements requiring VFX supervision or stunt coordination
Extras/background: How many background performers appear
Animals or vehicles: Any non-human performers or picture vehicles
Most productions complete this breakdown using breakdown sheets, one per scene, before any scheduling begins. Dedicated software automates a significant portion of this process by parsing the script electronically.
The 1/8th Page Rule
Film production measures scene length in eighths of a page because a standard screenplay page theoretically represents one minute of screen time. A scene that is 4/8 of a page is estimated at roughly 30 seconds of finished film. Page count is not a perfect proxy for how long a scene takes to shoot (a wordless two-character scene can take a full day; a three-page dialogue scene in a single setup can wrap in two hours), but it is the standard starting point for estimating scene time during the scheduling process.
Step 2: Build Your Stripboard
The stripboard is the heart of the shooting schedule. Originating in the era of physical colored cardboard strips, a stripboard is a visual representation of every scene in your production, organized into shoot days. Each strip represents one scene and displays its key attributes: scene number, INT/EXT, D/N, location, cast members, and page count.
In a physical stripboard, different colored strips indicate different elements: white for day interiors, yellow for day exteriors, blue for night interiors, green for night exteriors, and so on. Today, most productions use digital stripboards inside scheduling software, but the logic and the color conventions remain the same.
The goal of the stripboard is to arrange scenes into the most efficient shoot order possible. This means grouping scenes by:
Location: Shoot all scenes at a given location before moving. Company moves (traveling from one location to another) are expensive and time-consuming.
Cast availability: Group scenes featuring specific actors together to minimize the number of days each actor is on contract.
Lighting conditions: Shoot all day exteriors while daylight is available. Night exteriors require overtime pay and are harder to control.
Setup complexity: Plan heavy setup days (cranes, stunts, VFX) when the crew is fresh and the schedule allows buffer time.
Day Breaks and Shoot Days
In the stripboard, black or dark-colored strips mark the boundary between shoot days. When you place a day-break strip, you are closing out one shoot day and starting another. The goal is to pack each day with the right amount of work: enough to use the crew's time efficiently, but not so much that you are constantly racing the clock or burning out your team.
A general rule of thumb is that a standard shoot day on a union production allows for 10 to 12 hours of work. Pages-per-day averages vary widely by budget and complexity: a major studio feature may average 1-2 pages per day, a television drama may average 5-8 pages, and a low-budget indie may push 10 or more pages on simple days. Knowing your production's realistic page rate is essential for building a credible schedule.
Step 3: Create the One-Liner
Once the stripboard is organized, the next document you produce is the one-liner (also called a one-line schedule or stripped schedule). The one-liner is a condensed version of the shooting schedule that fits on a single page or a small number of pages, showing the shoot order, scene numbers, brief scene descriptions, page counts, and cast.
The one-liner is the document most department heads will reference when planning their work. It gives everyone a quick view of the full production at a glance. Directors use it to track their schedule progress. Department coordinators use it to plan deliveries and load-ins. Producers use it to confirm that the schedule reflects the budget assumptions.
A typical one-liner row includes:
Shoot day number
Scene number(s)
INT/EXT and D/N
Scene description (a brief slug line or logline)
Location
Pages
Cast numbers
Step 4: Build the Day-Out-of-Days (DOOD)
The Day-Out-of-Days report, almost universally abbreviated as DOOD, tracks when each cast member works across the production. For each actor, the DOOD shows their status on every shoot day using a standardized code:
SW: Start Work (first day)
W: Work
WF: Work Finish (last day)
SWF: Start Work Finish (works only one day)
H: Hold (on contract but not working)
F: Finish
T: Travel
The DOOD is critical for calculating cast costs in your film budget. Actors on weekly contracts cost money on hold days just as they do on work days. An inefficient schedule that scatters an actor's scenes across many weeks means you are paying hold fees for days they are not on set. A tight DOOD reduces holds and significantly lowers your above-the-line costs.
On union productions governed by SAG-AFTRA agreements, the DOOD is also used to calculate minimum guarantees, turnaround requirements, and overtime obligations. The Directors Guild of America similarly uses scheduling documents to verify compliance with rest periods and consecutive workday limits.
Step 5: Assign Call Times and Build Daily Call Sheets
Once the full schedule is built, the next step is translating it into daily call sheets. A call sheet is issued for each shoot day and tells every cast and crew member when and where to report, what is being shot, and what they need to bring or prepare.
Key elements on every call sheet include:
General call time: When the crew is expected on set and ready to work
Individual cast call times: Actors often have staggered calls based on their scenes and makeup/costume needs
Location address and parking: Where to report and where to park
Scene schedule for the day: The scenes being shot, in order
Advanced schedule: A preview of the following day's work
Department-specific notes: Special instructions for art department, camera, locations, etc.
Weather and sunrise/sunset times: Critical for exterior shoots
Emergency contacts: Key contacts including production office, locations, and medical
Under union agreements, call sheets must be distributed at least 12 hours before the next call time, giving cast and crew time to prepare. On non-union productions, distributing the call sheet the evening before is still best practice and a sign of a professional production.
Turnaround Rules
Turnaround is the minimum rest period required between a crew member's wrap time on one day and their call time on the next. Under SAG-AFTRA and IATSE agreements, turnaround requirements typically range from 8 to 12 hours. When a shoot day runs long, this can push the following day's call time later, which ripples through the entire schedule. Building realistic shoot days helps protect turnaround and keeps the crew healthy and productive throughout the production.
Scheduling Factors That Protect Your Budget
Professional schedulers know that certain decisions save money and others create hidden costs. Here are the key variables to account for when building your schedule:
Golden Hour and Magic Hour
The hour after sunrise and the hour before sunset, often called golden hour or magic hour, offer soft, warm, directional light that is highly sought after for exteriors. However, this window lasts only 45 to 60 minutes. If your script calls for magic hour shots, they must be carefully scheduled and usually require a backup plan. Losing a magic hour shot because the previous scene ran long is a common and costly problem.
Company Moves
Every time the entire crew moves from one location to another during the same shoot day, that is a company move. Company moves typically consume 30 to 90 minutes of shoot time even when everything goes smoothly. Scheduling multiple company moves in a single day significantly reduces the number of pages you can realistically complete. Group locations to minimize moves.
Night Shoots
Night shoots involve overtime costs, light control challenges, and crew fatigue. When possible, front-load night shoots in the schedule so they occur when the crew is fresh and the budget has not yet been stressed. Never schedule a night shoot immediately following a challenging day shoot without adequate turnaround.
Child Actors
Child actors are subject to strict state labor laws that vary by jurisdiction. In California, for example, minors on set are limited in their work hours based on age, and a studio teacher and welfare worker are required on set. These regulations directly affect how many pages per day you can shoot when a child actor is involved. Always factor child labor restrictions into the schedule before locking in shoot days with minors.
Weather Contingencies
Exterior shoots are vulnerable to weather. Build weather cover into your schedule: identify interior scenes that can be shot if an exterior day is rained out. Having a realistic weather cover plan prevents a wet exterior day from becoming a completely lost shoot day.
Shooting Schedule Software: Your Options
Professional scheduling used to require physical stripboards and stacks of index cards. Today, dedicated software handles the heavy lifting, and the market has several options depending on your budget and workflow:
Movie Magic Scheduling
Movie Magic Scheduling by Entertainment Partners is the industry standard on studio and network television productions. It offers robust stripboard management, DOOD reports, one-liner exports, and deep integration with Movie Magic Budgeting. The learning curve is steep, and the licensing cost (several hundred dollars per year) is not trivial for micro-budget productions. On professional productions, however, deliverables are often expected in Movie Magic format.
StudioBinder
StudioBinder offers a modern, cloud-based approach to scheduling. Users can import scripts directly and have scenes parsed automatically, which accelerates the breakdown process significantly. The interface is more approachable than Movie Magic for first-time schedulers, and it includes call sheet creation and collaboration features that make it popular with mid-size productions and commercial teams.
Celtx
Celtx is a comprehensive pre-production platform that includes script writing, breakdown, and scheduling tools in one subscription. It is particularly popular with film students and emerging filmmakers because of its relatively accessible pricing and all-in-one workflow.
Shot Lister
Shot Lister is a mobile-focused scheduling and shot list tool that works well for directors and ADs who need a portable solution on set. It is particularly useful for day-of scheduling and shot management rather than full pre-production planning.
Spreadsheets and Templates
For very low-budget productions, a well-structured spreadsheet can serve as a functional shooting schedule. The limitation is that manual spreadsheets do not automatically update the DOOD when you move scenes, and they cannot catch scheduling conflicts. They work, but they require more manual effort and create more room for human error.
Common Shooting Schedule Mistakes to Avoid
Even experienced schedulers fall into patterns that create problems on set. Here are the most common mistakes and how to avoid them:
Overloading shoot days: Packing too many pages into a day sets up the crew for failure from the start. Be realistic about setup times, meal breaks, and the complexity of each scene. A schedule that requires 10% overage to complete every day is not a schedule, it is wishful thinking.
Ignoring meal penalties: Under union agreements, crews must break for a proper meal within six hours of their call time. Meal penalty fees can add up quickly on a tight budget. Build meal breaks into the schedule, not as afterthoughts.
Scheduling critical scenes on day one: The first shoot day is always challenging as the crew finds its rhythm. Schedule important but non-critical scenes early and save your most complex work for days two through five when the unit is running smoothly.
Not building contingency days: Most productions of any significant scale build one or more contingency days into the schedule, days that are unscheduled and reserved for catching up if the production falls behind. Without contingency, a two-day delay at the start of a shoot becomes a budget crisis with no recovery path.
Ignoring actor availability windows: Actors have other commitments. A schedule built without confirming every actor's hold dates and hard outs creates conflicts that are expensive and sometimes impossible to resolve.
From Schedule to Budget: The Connection That Matters
A locked shooting schedule is the foundation on which a credible production budget is built. Every number in your budget that is time-dependent (crew wages, equipment rentals, location fees, catering, hotel and per diem for out-of-town shoots) must tie directly back to the shooting schedule. When the schedule changes, those budget lines must update as well.
This is where a dedicated film budgeting platform becomes essential. If you are still managing your budget in a generic spreadsheet, changes to the schedule require manual updates across dozens of cells and formulas. The margin for error is high, and the time cost is significant.
With Saturation's film budgeting software, you can build and manage your production budget in a platform designed specifically for film and TV. Once your shooting schedule is locked, Saturation makes it straightforward to track actuals against your budget in real time, manage vendor payments through Saturation Pay, and give your entire production team visibility into where the money is and where it is going.
Your schedule determines how many shoot days you need. Your shoot days determine your crew costs. Your crew costs are often 40 to 60 percent of your total production budget. Getting the schedule right is not just a logistics task: it is a financial decision that shapes the entire production.
Shooting Schedule FAQ
How long does it take to build a shooting schedule?
For a feature film, building a complete shooting schedule from script breakdown to locked stripboard typically takes one to two weeks. For a short film or commercial, a focused scheduler can complete the process in one to three days. The timeline depends on script complexity, the number of locations, and the size of the cast.
Who is responsible for creating the shooting schedule?
On most productions, the First Assistant Director (1st AD) is responsible for building and maintaining the shooting schedule. The 1st AD works closely with the director, line producer, and department heads to ensure the schedule is realistic and reflects everyone's needs. The line producer reviews and approves the schedule with an eye on its budget implications.
What is the difference between a shooting schedule and a call sheet?
A shooting schedule covers the entire production, showing all scenes, locations, and shoot days from first to last. A call sheet covers a single shoot day, providing detailed logistics for that specific day including call times, scene order, location addresses, and departmental notes. The daily call sheet is generated from the shooting schedule.
How many pages per day is normal?
Industry averages vary by format and budget. A studio feature film typically shoots 1.5 to 3 pages per day. A television drama (one-hour episode) typically shoots 5 to 8 pages per day. A low-budget indie or commercial may shoot more pages per day if the setups are simple and the locations are controlled. Music videos often measure work by shots rather than pages.
Can you create a shooting schedule without dedicated software?
Yes, particularly for very small productions. A spreadsheet can function as a basic shooting schedule. However, dedicated scheduling software significantly reduces the time required, catches conflicts automatically (such as a character appearing in two places on the same day), and generates professional deliverables like DOODs and one-liners with minimal manual effort.
Summary: The Shooting Schedule Workflow
Here is a condensed version of the complete workflow for creating a professional shooting schedule:
Complete the script breakdown for every scene: INT/EXT, D/N, location, cast, page count, special elements
Enter all scenes into scheduling software or a spreadsheet-based stripboard
Organize scenes by location to minimize company moves
Layer in cast availability to minimize holds and weekly guarantees
Apply production logic: night shoots, day exteriors, stunts, children, animals, VFX
Place day breaks to create realistic shoot days based on your production's page rate
Generate the one-liner for director and department head review
Generate the DOOD and share with your line producer to update cast cost projections
Lock the schedule with director and producer sign-off
Build or update your production budget to reflect the locked schedule
Generate daily call sheets from the locked schedule, distributed 12+ hours before each shoot day
The shooting schedule and the production budget are two sides of the same coin. Every decision made in the schedule has a financial consequence, and every budget constraint shapes what the schedule can support. Producers and ADs who understand both documents, and who work from them in parallel, give their productions the strongest possible foundation for a successful shoot.
Once your schedule is locked and your shoot days are confirmed, Saturation makes it straightforward to build a production budget that reflects exactly what you planned. Start with your shoot days, layer in your crew deals and vendor costs, and track every dollar as production moves forward.
How to Create a Shooting Schedule: A Step-by-Step Guide for Film Producers
Learning how to create a shooting schedule is one of the most important skills a film producer or assistant director can develop. A well-built shooting schedule keeps your cast and crew organized, prevents costly overruns, and ensures every production day is used as efficiently as possible. Whether you are producing a short film, an indie feature, a TV episode, or a commercial, the scheduling process follows the same core principles: break down the script, organize by logic not chronology, and plan every minute of every shoot day before you call action.
This guide walks you through the entire process, from script breakdown to stripboard to final call sheet, including the tools and techniques professionals use on productions of every budget size.
What Is a Shooting Schedule?
A shooting schedule is a detailed plan that outlines which scenes will be filmed on which days, in what order, and at what locations. Unlike the script, which is organized by story chronology, a shooting schedule is organized by production logic: minimizing company moves, maximizing daylight, working around actor availability, and keeping overtime to a minimum.
The shooting schedule is the master document that drives every other production document. Call sheets, day-out-of-days (DOODs), one-liners, and individual department schedules all flow from it. When the schedule is solid, the production runs smoothly. When it is missing, rushed, or unrealistic, productions go over budget and over schedule.
On most productions, the First Assistant Director (1st AD) builds and owns the shooting schedule. On smaller productions, the line producer or production coordinator may build it. Understanding the full process helps everyone on the production team anticipate challenges and communicate clearly.
Why Your Shooting Schedule Matters for Your Budget
Schedule and budget are inseparable. Every extra shoot day costs money: crew wages, location fees, equipment rentals, catering, and insurance all run by the day. A shooting schedule that is organized efficiently can shave days off a shoot, saving tens of thousands of dollars on a low-budget indie or hundreds of thousands on a studio project.
That is why building your budget and your schedule together, in parallel, is the professional standard. Your line producer should be tracking how each scheduling decision affects the budget in real time. Once your shooting schedule is locked, every top-sheet number in your production budget should reflect it.
If you are not yet working with dedicated film budgeting software, the scheduling process will expose exactly why you need it: the moment you add a shoot day, shift a location, or lose an actor, the financial ripple affects dozens of budget lines simultaneously.
Step 1: Complete a Script Breakdown
The shooting schedule begins long before you open any scheduling software. It starts with a thorough script breakdown. A script breakdown identifies every element in the script that costs money, requires coordination, or affects the schedule.
For each scene, you need to identify and record:
Scene number: The sequential number assigned in the script
Interior or Exterior (INT/EXT): Whether the scene takes place inside or outside
Day or Night (D/N): The time of day in the story world
Location: The specific place where the scene is set
Cast members: Which characters appear and whether they speak
Page count: The length of the scene in eighths of a page (a one-page scene = 8/8)
Key props: Any props that require sourcing, wrangling, or special handling
Special equipment: Cranes, steadicams, underwater housings, or anything non-standard
Visual effects or stunts: Any elements requiring VFX supervision or stunt coordination
Extras/background: How many background performers appear
Animals or vehicles: Any non-human performers or picture vehicles
Most productions complete this breakdown using breakdown sheets, one per scene, before any scheduling begins. Dedicated software automates a significant portion of this process by parsing the script electronically.
The 1/8th Page Rule
Film production measures scene length in eighths of a page because a standard screenplay page theoretically represents one minute of screen time. A scene that is 4/8 of a page is estimated at roughly 30 seconds of finished film. Page count is not a perfect proxy for how long a scene takes to shoot (a wordless two-character scene can take a full day; a three-page dialogue scene in a single setup can wrap in two hours), but it is the standard starting point for estimating scene time during the scheduling process.
Step 2: Build Your Stripboard
The stripboard is the heart of the shooting schedule. Originating in the era of physical colored cardboard strips, a stripboard is a visual representation of every scene in your production, organized into shoot days. Each strip represents one scene and displays its key attributes: scene number, INT/EXT, D/N, location, cast members, and page count.
In a physical stripboard, different colored strips indicate different elements: white for day interiors, yellow for day exteriors, blue for night interiors, green for night exteriors, and so on. Today, most productions use digital stripboards inside scheduling software, but the logic and the color conventions remain the same.
The goal of the stripboard is to arrange scenes into the most efficient shoot order possible. This means grouping scenes by:
Location: Shoot all scenes at a given location before moving. Company moves (traveling from one location to another) are expensive and time-consuming.
Cast availability: Group scenes featuring specific actors together to minimize the number of days each actor is on contract.
Lighting conditions: Shoot all day exteriors while daylight is available. Night exteriors require overtime pay and are harder to control.
Setup complexity: Plan heavy setup days (cranes, stunts, VFX) when the crew is fresh and the schedule allows buffer time.
Day Breaks and Shoot Days
In the stripboard, black or dark-colored strips mark the boundary between shoot days. When you place a day-break strip, you are closing out one shoot day and starting another. The goal is to pack each day with the right amount of work: enough to use the crew's time efficiently, but not so much that you are constantly racing the clock or burning out your team.
A general rule of thumb is that a standard shoot day on a union production allows for 10 to 12 hours of work. Pages-per-day averages vary widely by budget and complexity: a major studio feature may average 1-2 pages per day, a television drama may average 5-8 pages, and a low-budget indie may push 10 or more pages on simple days. Knowing your production's realistic page rate is essential for building a credible schedule.
Step 3: Create the One-Liner
Once the stripboard is organized, the next document you produce is the one-liner (also called a one-line schedule or stripped schedule). The one-liner is a condensed version of the shooting schedule that fits on a single page or a small number of pages, showing the shoot order, scene numbers, brief scene descriptions, page counts, and cast.
The one-liner is the document most department heads will reference when planning their work. It gives everyone a quick view of the full production at a glance. Directors use it to track their schedule progress. Department coordinators use it to plan deliveries and load-ins. Producers use it to confirm that the schedule reflects the budget assumptions.
A typical one-liner row includes:
Shoot day number
Scene number(s)
INT/EXT and D/N
Scene description (a brief slug line or logline)
Location
Pages
Cast numbers
Step 4: Build the Day-Out-of-Days (DOOD)
The Day-Out-of-Days report, almost universally abbreviated as DOOD, tracks when each cast member works across the production. For each actor, the DOOD shows their status on every shoot day using a standardized code:
SW: Start Work (first day)
W: Work
WF: Work Finish (last day)
SWF: Start Work Finish (works only one day)
H: Hold (on contract but not working)
F: Finish
T: Travel
The DOOD is critical for calculating cast costs in your film budget. Actors on weekly contracts cost money on hold days just as they do on work days. An inefficient schedule that scatters an actor's scenes across many weeks means you are paying hold fees for days they are not on set. A tight DOOD reduces holds and significantly lowers your above-the-line costs.
On union productions governed by SAG-AFTRA agreements, the DOOD is also used to calculate minimum guarantees, turnaround requirements, and overtime obligations. The Directors Guild of America similarly uses scheduling documents to verify compliance with rest periods and consecutive workday limits.
Step 5: Assign Call Times and Build Daily Call Sheets
Once the full schedule is built, the next step is translating it into daily call sheets. A call sheet is issued for each shoot day and tells every cast and crew member when and where to report, what is being shot, and what they need to bring or prepare.
Key elements on every call sheet include:
General call time: When the crew is expected on set and ready to work
Individual cast call times: Actors often have staggered calls based on their scenes and makeup/costume needs
Location address and parking: Where to report and where to park
Scene schedule for the day: The scenes being shot, in order
Advanced schedule: A preview of the following day's work
Department-specific notes: Special instructions for art department, camera, locations, etc.
Weather and sunrise/sunset times: Critical for exterior shoots
Emergency contacts: Key contacts including production office, locations, and medical
Under union agreements, call sheets must be distributed at least 12 hours before the next call time, giving cast and crew time to prepare. On non-union productions, distributing the call sheet the evening before is still best practice and a sign of a professional production.
Turnaround Rules
Turnaround is the minimum rest period required between a crew member's wrap time on one day and their call time on the next. Under SAG-AFTRA and IATSE agreements, turnaround requirements typically range from 8 to 12 hours. When a shoot day runs long, this can push the following day's call time later, which ripples through the entire schedule. Building realistic shoot days helps protect turnaround and keeps the crew healthy and productive throughout the production.
Scheduling Factors That Protect Your Budget
Professional schedulers know that certain decisions save money and others create hidden costs. Here are the key variables to account for when building your schedule:
Golden Hour and Magic Hour
The hour after sunrise and the hour before sunset, often called golden hour or magic hour, offer soft, warm, directional light that is highly sought after for exteriors. However, this window lasts only 45 to 60 minutes. If your script calls for magic hour shots, they must be carefully scheduled and usually require a backup plan. Losing a magic hour shot because the previous scene ran long is a common and costly problem.
Company Moves
Every time the entire crew moves from one location to another during the same shoot day, that is a company move. Company moves typically consume 30 to 90 minutes of shoot time even when everything goes smoothly. Scheduling multiple company moves in a single day significantly reduces the number of pages you can realistically complete. Group locations to minimize moves.
Night Shoots
Night shoots involve overtime costs, light control challenges, and crew fatigue. When possible, front-load night shoots in the schedule so they occur when the crew is fresh and the budget has not yet been stressed. Never schedule a night shoot immediately following a challenging day shoot without adequate turnaround.
Child Actors
Child actors are subject to strict state labor laws that vary by jurisdiction. In California, for example, minors on set are limited in their work hours based on age, and a studio teacher and welfare worker are required on set. These regulations directly affect how many pages per day you can shoot when a child actor is involved. Always factor child labor restrictions into the schedule before locking in shoot days with minors.
Weather Contingencies
Exterior shoots are vulnerable to weather. Build weather cover into your schedule: identify interior scenes that can be shot if an exterior day is rained out. Having a realistic weather cover plan prevents a wet exterior day from becoming a completely lost shoot day.
Shooting Schedule Software: Your Options
Professional scheduling used to require physical stripboards and stacks of index cards. Today, dedicated software handles the heavy lifting, and the market has several options depending on your budget and workflow:
Movie Magic Scheduling
Movie Magic Scheduling by Entertainment Partners is the industry standard on studio and network television productions. It offers robust stripboard management, DOOD reports, one-liner exports, and deep integration with Movie Magic Budgeting. The learning curve is steep, and the licensing cost (several hundred dollars per year) is not trivial for micro-budget productions. On professional productions, however, deliverables are often expected in Movie Magic format.
StudioBinder
StudioBinder offers a modern, cloud-based approach to scheduling. Users can import scripts directly and have scenes parsed automatically, which accelerates the breakdown process significantly. The interface is more approachable than Movie Magic for first-time schedulers, and it includes call sheet creation and collaboration features that make it popular with mid-size productions and commercial teams.
Celtx
Celtx is a comprehensive pre-production platform that includes script writing, breakdown, and scheduling tools in one subscription. It is particularly popular with film students and emerging filmmakers because of its relatively accessible pricing and all-in-one workflow.
Shot Lister
Shot Lister is a mobile-focused scheduling and shot list tool that works well for directors and ADs who need a portable solution on set. It is particularly useful for day-of scheduling and shot management rather than full pre-production planning.
Spreadsheets and Templates
For very low-budget productions, a well-structured spreadsheet can serve as a functional shooting schedule. The limitation is that manual spreadsheets do not automatically update the DOOD when you move scenes, and they cannot catch scheduling conflicts. They work, but they require more manual effort and create more room for human error.
Common Shooting Schedule Mistakes to Avoid
Even experienced schedulers fall into patterns that create problems on set. Here are the most common mistakes and how to avoid them:
Overloading shoot days: Packing too many pages into a day sets up the crew for failure from the start. Be realistic about setup times, meal breaks, and the complexity of each scene. A schedule that requires 10% overage to complete every day is not a schedule, it is wishful thinking.
Ignoring meal penalties: Under union agreements, crews must break for a proper meal within six hours of their call time. Meal penalty fees can add up quickly on a tight budget. Build meal breaks into the schedule, not as afterthoughts.
Scheduling critical scenes on day one: The first shoot day is always challenging as the crew finds its rhythm. Schedule important but non-critical scenes early and save your most complex work for days two through five when the unit is running smoothly.
Not building contingency days: Most productions of any significant scale build one or more contingency days into the schedule, days that are unscheduled and reserved for catching up if the production falls behind. Without contingency, a two-day delay at the start of a shoot becomes a budget crisis with no recovery path.
Ignoring actor availability windows: Actors have other commitments. A schedule built without confirming every actor's hold dates and hard outs creates conflicts that are expensive and sometimes impossible to resolve.
From Schedule to Budget: The Connection That Matters
A locked shooting schedule is the foundation on which a credible production budget is built. Every number in your budget that is time-dependent (crew wages, equipment rentals, location fees, catering, hotel and per diem for out-of-town shoots) must tie directly back to the shooting schedule. When the schedule changes, those budget lines must update as well.
This is where a dedicated film budgeting platform becomes essential. If you are still managing your budget in a generic spreadsheet, changes to the schedule require manual updates across dozens of cells and formulas. The margin for error is high, and the time cost is significant.
With Saturation's film budgeting software, you can build and manage your production budget in a platform designed specifically for film and TV. Once your shooting schedule is locked, Saturation makes it straightforward to track actuals against your budget in real time, manage vendor payments through Saturation Pay, and give your entire production team visibility into where the money is and where it is going.
Your schedule determines how many shoot days you need. Your shoot days determine your crew costs. Your crew costs are often 40 to 60 percent of your total production budget. Getting the schedule right is not just a logistics task: it is a financial decision that shapes the entire production.
Shooting Schedule FAQ
How long does it take to build a shooting schedule?
For a feature film, building a complete shooting schedule from script breakdown to locked stripboard typically takes one to two weeks. For a short film or commercial, a focused scheduler can complete the process in one to three days. The timeline depends on script complexity, the number of locations, and the size of the cast.
Who is responsible for creating the shooting schedule?
On most productions, the First Assistant Director (1st AD) is responsible for building and maintaining the shooting schedule. The 1st AD works closely with the director, line producer, and department heads to ensure the schedule is realistic and reflects everyone's needs. The line producer reviews and approves the schedule with an eye on its budget implications.
What is the difference between a shooting schedule and a call sheet?
A shooting schedule covers the entire production, showing all scenes, locations, and shoot days from first to last. A call sheet covers a single shoot day, providing detailed logistics for that specific day including call times, scene order, location addresses, and departmental notes. The daily call sheet is generated from the shooting schedule.
How many pages per day is normal?
Industry averages vary by format and budget. A studio feature film typically shoots 1.5 to 3 pages per day. A television drama (one-hour episode) typically shoots 5 to 8 pages per day. A low-budget indie or commercial may shoot more pages per day if the setups are simple and the locations are controlled. Music videos often measure work by shots rather than pages.
Can you create a shooting schedule without dedicated software?
Yes, particularly for very small productions. A spreadsheet can function as a basic shooting schedule. However, dedicated scheduling software significantly reduces the time required, catches conflicts automatically (such as a character appearing in two places on the same day), and generates professional deliverables like DOODs and one-liners with minimal manual effort.
Summary: The Shooting Schedule Workflow
Here is a condensed version of the complete workflow for creating a professional shooting schedule:
Complete the script breakdown for every scene: INT/EXT, D/N, location, cast, page count, special elements
Enter all scenes into scheduling software or a spreadsheet-based stripboard
Organize scenes by location to minimize company moves
Layer in cast availability to minimize holds and weekly guarantees
Apply production logic: night shoots, day exteriors, stunts, children, animals, VFX
Place day breaks to create realistic shoot days based on your production's page rate
Generate the one-liner for director and department head review
Generate the DOOD and share with your line producer to update cast cost projections
Lock the schedule with director and producer sign-off
Build or update your production budget to reflect the locked schedule
Generate daily call sheets from the locked schedule, distributed 12+ hours before each shoot day
The shooting schedule and the production budget are two sides of the same coin. Every decision made in the schedule has a financial consequence, and every budget constraint shapes what the schedule can support. Producers and ADs who understand both documents, and who work from them in parallel, give their productions the strongest possible foundation for a successful shoot.
Once your schedule is locked and your shoot days are confirmed, Saturation makes it straightforward to build a production budget that reflects exactly what you planned. Start with your shoot days, layer in your crew deals and vendor costs, and track every dollar as production moves forward.
Try Saturation today with our
free budget templates.
Get Free Template