Set & Crew

Call sheet

What is call sheet in film production?

A call sheet is the document issued the day before each shooting day telling everyone where to be, when, and what is being shot. It carries individual call times, the scene list, the location and its parking, weather, sunrise and sunset, hospital details, and department-specific notes.

It is the production's single authoritative instruction for the day. Anything not on the call sheet did not officially happen: a verbal change to a call time that never reached the sheet is a dispute waiting to be had, which is why revisions are reissued and read receipts are tracked.

Call sheets are generated from the schedule rather than written from scratch. The scene list comes from the stripboard, cast calls from the DOOD, and crew calls from the department bookings.

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Reviewed 2026-08-27

Related terms

Call time: A call time is the time an individual is required to be present and ready to work — not the time they should arrive. Call times differ by department and by person: hair and makeup are called before the cast they are preparing, who are called before the crew shooting them.
Turnaround: Turnaround is the guaranteed rest period between the moment a crew member is released at the end of one working day and their call time for the next. Where union or guild agreements apply, a shortened turnaround triggers a penalty payment rather than being prohibited outright.
Stripboard: A stripboard is the shooting schedule represented as one coloured strip per scene, ordered in the sequence the production will actually shoot. Each strip carries the scene number, length in eighths, cast IDs, location and day/night. Reordering the strips reorders the shoot.
Day Out of Days: A Day Out of Days is a grid showing which cast and crew are required on which shooting days. Each row is a person, each column a day, and each cell is marked with a status code — start work, work, hold, drop, or finish. It is the document contracts and payroll are built from.
Wrap: Wrap is the end of shooting. Called at the end of a day it releases the crew and starts the turnaround clock; called on a location it means the unit is finished there; called as picture wrap it marks the end of principal photography for a performer or for the production.