Every Field on a Call Sheet, Explained

A call sheet reads top to bottom, from the whole day down to one person. The header says which day it is and when the crew starts. The locations block says where. The schedule says what gets shot, in what order. The cast and crew blocks give each person their own time. Notes, special requirements and the next day's plan fill the rest.

If you want to fill one in as you read, open the free call sheet template in another tab.

The header

This is the part people read on their phone at 5 a.m. Everything needed to get to work on time is up here.

1. Production company and office. The company making the film, its office address and main phone number. Freelancers are often on two jobs at once, so this is how they know which one this is.

2. Key roles. The handful of people crew might need to reach before they arrive: usually the producer or line producer, the director and the first AD. Names and mobile numbers. The second AD is often the one who actually picks up.

3. Title and date. The film's name and the shoot date, written out in full. Big enough to read at arm's length.

4. Day number. "Day 1 of 3." This is the number people use on set ("we're on Day 6"), and it is how you tell two call sheets apart at a glance.

5. General call time. The time most of the crew reports. Large, centered, impossible to miss. Anyone with a different time gets it in the crew or cast block below.

6. Notes. One or two lines that matter more than anything else today. Here it is the heat. On another day it might be a road closure or a stunt.

7. Base camp. Where trucks, catering, hair and makeup, and crew parking go. It is often a different address from the set. Film Logic adds a map, but the address is what matters.

8. Weather, sunrise and sunset. Temperature, conditions, wind, chance of rain, and sunrise and sunset for the location, not the office. On an exterior day, sunset is a deadline.

9. The day's times. Crew call, talent call, shooting call, lunch and estimated wrap. Crew call is when crew report. Talent call is when the first performers report. Shooting call is when the camera is meant to roll on the first shot. The next post in this series is about the difference between those three.

General notes

Anything the whole unit needs to know that does not fit a box. Location rules, radio channels, parking, shuttle times. Keep it short. A notes section that runs to a paragraph gets skipped, and then the one line that mattered gets skipped with it.

Locations

1. Shoot location. The real place and its address, with access notes where they matter ("enter by the marked track only"). One row per location. A second row means a company move during the day.

2. Sets. Which of the script's sets are shot there. Here the salt flats double as both the flats and the inside of a moving pickup truck.

3. Parking. Where crew leave their cars. If it is not at the set, say how people get from one to the other.

4. Nearest hospital. Name and address of the nearest emergency room to that location. Check it against the actual address before the sheet goes out. It belongs on the front page, not buried on the back.

The schedule

This is the day's shooting order, taken straight from the stripboard.

1. Scene number. From the locked script. If scenes have been split (18A, 18B), use the script's numbers exactly. Notice the order: 1, 14, 10, 3, 2. That is normal. Films are shot by location and light, not by story order.

2. D/N. Day, night, dawn or dusk. Together with INT and EXT in the scene heading, these letters decide lighting, locations and turnaround. Day/Night, INT/EXT explains why they matter so much.

3. Cast ID. Numbers, not names. They match the cast block below, so a scene with eight people in it still fits on one line.

4. Pages. The length of each scene in eighths of a page. If eighths are new to you, read Counting Pages in Eighths.

5. Start. When each scene is planned to start. A plan, not a promise.

6. Estimate. How long each scene should take. The starts are worked out from these, so if one estimate is wrong, every start after it moves. How to Estimate How Long a Scene Will Take covers where the numbers come from.

The shaded rows are banners: setup, lunch and wrap. The totals at the foot give the day's page count and shooting hours. Just over five pages in eight hours on a hot exterior is ambitious but possible. That total is the quickest check on whether a day is realistic.

Cast

One row per performer working today.

1. ID. The cast number. Number one is usually the lead, and the numbers stay the same for the whole shoot. Next to it: the actor's name and the character they play.

2. DOOD status. One or two letters from the Day Out of Days report:

• SW Start Work, their first day on the film
• W Work, an ordinary working day
• WF Work Finish, their last day
• SWF Start Work Finish, a one-day part
• H Hold, paid but not working today

Both actors here are SW. That means two people who have never met this crew, and someone should look after them.

3. Pickup. When a driver collects them, if the production provides transport. Blank if they drive themselves.

4. H/MU. When they sit in the hair and makeup chair. Some sheets add a separate wardrobe time.

5. On set. When they need to be ready on set. Nora is in the first scene, so her times start early. Eli is not needed until 9:00, so his chain starts later. Different calls for different people is the whole point of this block.

6. Wrap. When they are expected to be released.

Crew

Everyone working today, grouped by department, with a phone number and a call time. Most people match general call. The exceptions stand out: camera, electric and grip are called at 6:00, half an hour before everyone else, to get the gear ready. That early time is called a pre-call.

Bigger productions move the full crew list to the back page and keep only department heads on the front.

Special requirements

The things a department needs to prepare that are not on an ordinary day: picture vehicles, effects, weapons, animals, stunts. These come from the script breakdown. If it is flagged here, the department head should have seen it days ago. The call sheet is the final reminder, not the first mention.

Advance schedule

A short look at the next shoot day: the scenes, the cast and roughly when. Departments use it to plan tonight's prep. Performers use it to see whether they are working tomorrow before anyone has called them.

What this sheet does not have

Some fields only appear when the day needs them. If there are extras, they get a block of their own, listed by count and description ("12 diners, 2 waiters") with a call time and wardrobe instructions. Some productions add a quote of the day, usually a line from the day's scenes. Crews miss it when it is gone.

A call sheet for a three-person weekend short does not need most of this. It still needs the date, the reporting address, everyone's call time, the scene list, a contact number and the nearest hospital. Start there, and add fields when a real day gives you a reason to.

Next

Crew call, talent call, shooting call. Three times on the same sheet that sound alike and mean different things, and the reason people turn up at the wrong one.