Template
Shooting Schedule Template
The structure of a shooting schedule — what each strip carries, how shoot days are grouped, and the trade-offs that decide the order. Copy the structure, or generate it from a breakdown in ScenePaper.
What is a shooting schedule?
A shooting schedule is the order in which a film's scenes will be shot, grouped into shoot days. It is built from the script breakdown, with each scene becoming a strip carrying its cast, location, page count and time of day. Scenes are ordered to minimise company moves, cast hold days and overtime — not to follow script order.
The template, field by field
What each strip carries
| Field | What it's for | Required |
|---|---|---|
| Scene number | From the locked script revision. | Required |
| Interior / exterior | Combined with day/night, this determines the strip colour. | Required |
| Day / night | Drives both strip colour and how the day must be grouped. | Required |
| Set name | The set as written, which maps to a real location once scouted. | Required |
| Synopsis | One line, so the board is readable without the script. | Required |
| Page count | In eighths. Day totals indicate whether a day is shootable. | Required |
| Cast IDs | Which numbered cast are required — the input to the Day Out of Days. | Required |
| Estimated time | Rough hours allocated, for days where page count alone misleads. | Optional |
| Location | The scouted location, once confirmed. | Optional |
Stripboard colour conventions
| Field | What it's for | Required |
|---|---|---|
| White | Interior, day. | Required |
| Yellow | Exterior, day. | Required |
| Blue | Interior, night. | Required |
| Green | Exterior, night. | Required |
| Day break | Divides one shoot day from the next. This is what turns an ordered list into a schedule. | Required |
| Banner | A non-scene marker — company move, travel day, holiday, unit split. | Optional |
Shoot day header
| Field | What it's for | Required |
|---|---|---|
| Day number | Day n of total — appears on the call sheet too. | Required |
| Date | Calendar date, once the schedule is fixed against a start date. | Required |
| Location(s) | Where the day shoots, and any move during it. | Required |
| Total pages | Sum of the day's strips in eighths. | Required |
| Cast required | Union of the cast IDs across the day's strips. | Required |
How to build a shooting schedule
- 1
Start from a completed breakdown
Every strip is generated from a broken-down scene. Scheduling from the script directly means re-deriving cast and page counts by hand, and getting them wrong.
- 2
Group by location first
Company moves are the single most expensive thing in a schedule. Cluster everything at a location before considering anything else.
- 3
Separate day and night blocks
Mixing day and night within a shoot day wrecks turnaround for the following day. Group night work into blocks and accept the transition days.
- 4
Minimise cast hold days
A cast member held between two work days is usually paid for the gap. Pull their scenes together even at some cost elsewhere.
- 5
Keep exteriors adjacent
Adjacent exterior days give you weather cover — you can swap in an interior when it rains only if one is scheduled nearby.
- 6
Check the page counts
Total each day in eighths. A day well above your production's average is a warning, not an ambition.
- 7
Build an alternative and compare
Clone the schedule, try a different order, and compare shoot days, moves and hold days. Committing to the first workable version is how productions overspend.
Hard-won tips
- Company moves cost more than almost anything else you can control. Cutting one is usually worth several compromises elsewhere.
- Schedule the hardest scenes when the crew is fresh, not in the last week when everyone is exhausted and over budget.
- Leave weather cover for exteriors. An adjacent interior day is the cheapest insurance in production.
- Actor availability usually constrains more than location cost. Solve for cast first when the two conflict.
- Never schedule a night shoot immediately before an early call. Turnaround will break and you will pay for it.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
- What order are film scenes shot in?
- Almost never script order. Scenes are grouped by location to reduce company moves, then by cast to reduce hold days, then by day/night to protect turnaround. Script order is a coincidence when it happens.
- What do stripboard colours mean?
- White is interior day, yellow exterior day, blue interior night, green exterior night. This convention is near-universal and worth following exactly.
- How many pages can you shoot in a day?
- It varies enormously — a dialogue-heavy indie might manage 4–5 pages a day, a studio feature 1–2, and a soap 8 or more. Use your own production's average rather than a general rule.
- What is a day break?
- The divider between two shoot days on the stripboard. Strips above belong to one day, strips below the next.
- What is a banner?
- A marker inserted between strips for something that is not a scene — a company move, travel day, holiday or unit split.
- What is the Day Out of Days?
- A grid showing each cast member's start, work, hold and drop days across the schedule. It is derived from which cast appear in which shoot days, and it determines what you pay performers.
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