Crew Call vs Talent Call vs Shooting Call

Crew call is the time the crew report for work. Talent call is the time the first performers report. Shooting call is the time the production plans to roll on the first shot. On almost every shoot they run in that order, with a gap between each one, because the crew have to build the first setup before anyone can act in it.

All three sit at the top of the call sheet. Here they are on the demo call sheet from Every Field on a Call Sheet, Explained:

Crew call

Crew call is when the working day starts. For most of the crew it is the time to be at base camp, checked in and ready to work. On paid shoots it is usually also when the clock starts for overtime, meal breaks and turnaround.

It is sometimes called general call, because it is the call for the general crew. UK call sheets often call it unit call. Same idea.

Not everyone gets it. Departments that need a head start are given a pre-call: camera, electric and grip arriving half an hour early to unload and build the first setup, or hair and makeup arriving early to be ready for the first actor. On our demo sheet, camera, electric and grip are at 6:00 while everyone else is at 6:30. Pre-calls are listed next to the person or department, never in the big number at the top.

If breakfast is served, it is usually before crew call, not during it. Crew call means working at that time, not arriving and queuing for eggs.

Talent call

Talent call on the header is the time the first performers report. It is a headline, not an instruction for every actor. The real instruction for each performer is in the cast block further down:

Each performer gets a chain of times:

• Pickup. When a driver collects them, if the production provides transport.
• Report (or call). When they arrive at base camp.
• Hair and makeup. When they sit in the chair. Sometimes a separate wardrobe time too.
• On set (or ready). When they need to be dressed, made up and standing on set.

Nora is in the first scene of the day, so her chain starts early: picked up at 6:00, in the makeup chair at 6:45, on set at 7:15, fifteen minutes before shooting call. Eli's first scene is not until 9:00, so his chain starts over an hour later. Calling him at 6:45 with everyone else would mean two hours sitting in a trailer.

That is the point of individual calls. Actors are expensive to have waiting, tired actors give worse performances, and on union shoots the hours count. Every performer's call is worked out from their own first scene, not from the day's general call.

Shooting call

Shooting call is when the production intends to roll on the first shot. It is a target, and the whole morning is aimed at it.

The gap between crew call and shooting call is setup: lighting the first scene, building the camera, blocking with the actors, a rehearsal, final touches. On our demo sheet that is one hour, from 6:30 to 7:30, for a simple exterior at dawn on flat ground. A night interior with a complicated lighting rig can need twice that.

If shooting call keeps slipping, that gap is where to look. Either the setup is harder than the schedule allowed, or the first scene of the day is the wrong one to start on. A small, simple scene first gets the camera rolling and the day moving.

Why people turn up at the wrong one

Almost always one of these:

1. They read the biggest number. The general call is in large type in the middle of the header. An actor sees 6:30 and comes at 6:30, when their own call was 7:15. The fix is to make individual times easy to find, and to say "see your call below" when it matters.
2. They read the time as "start" rather than "arrive". A crew member thinks 6:30 means leave home at 6:30. Crew call means working at 6:30.
3. They are working from an old sheet. Call times change after the sheet goes out. A revision that nobody flags gets missed. Put the revision time at the top and tell people what changed.
4. The labels are different from their last job. One production says "report", another "call", another "ready". Pick one set of labels and keep it for the whole shoot.

A good call sheet makes it impossible to pick the wrong time. A bad one relies on people asking.

Where the numbers come from

None of these three times is picked out of the air. Shooting call comes from what the first scene needs. Talent calls work back from that, through hair, makeup and wardrobe. Crew call works back from how long setup takes. Change the first scene and every time on the sheet can move.

That backward calculation is its own skill, and it is the next post.

Next

How to work out every call time on the sheet by starting from the first shot and counting backward.