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| SC# | Set | Cast | D/N | Pgs | Location | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TOTAL PGS: | ||||||
| # | Actor | Character | Status | RPT | H/MU | RDY@ | Comments |
|---|
| Stand-Ins & Photo Doubles | RPT | RDY@ |
|---|
| Background | RPT | RDY@ |
|---|
| SC# | Set | Cast | D/N | Pgs | Location |
|---|
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I've been a 1st AD for 20+ years. The call sheet is the one document every single person on the crew reads every single day, and most of the templates floating around the internet were clearly made by people who never had to answer for one. Here's what actually matters, section by section.
Production title, the date, and the day of days (DAY 4 OF 22). The day of days is not decoration; it's how everyone orients to where the show is. Get it wrong once and the office will never let you forget it. Crew call goes big and bold. If there's one number on the page people have to find in half a second at 6am, it's that one.
Crew call, shooting call, breakfast, lunch, estimated wrap. Lunch is six hours after call, and the meal penalty math starts the second you blow it, so put the real time down, not the hopeful one.
Scene number, set or description, cast numbers, day or night, page count, location. Keep descriptions short and readable; the crew needs "INT. KITCHEN, Sarah confronts Tom," not a paragraph. Scene order on the sheet is shooting order, not script order.
Every cast member working gets a number, a status (W for working, SW for start work, H for hold), report time, hair and makeup time, and a ready-at time. Those times are commitments. Build them backward from when the camera actually needs the actor, and remember makeup takes the time it takes regardless of what the sheet says.
Stand-ins, photo doubles, and background get their own report and ready times. Background numbers change late and often; the sheet is where the day's real count lives, so keep it honest.
The advance schedule strip at the bottom is tomorrow's plan, and on a real show the advance becomes the master schedule faster than anyone admits. Departments prep off it. Keep it current or hear about it.
Nearest hospital with the address, not just the name. Weather including sunrise and sunset, because someone is doing math against the daylight. Basecamp and crew parking, with the honest walk time. Safety notes when there's stunts, water, weapons, or anything else that needs eyes on it. None of this is filler; it's the part that matters most on the worst day.
A call sheet should try to fit on one front page, and one back page (for crew times). If you're spilling over, get creative and find ways to squeeze it in there. Maybe drop an advance day or simplify scene descriptions.
If you're a 2nd AD building one of these every night, you already know the template isn't the hard part. The hard part is rebuilding it at 9pm when the schedule changed again. That's the part I built Call Sheet Commander to kill: import the shooting schedule PDF, get the whole run of days built in about 10 seconds, drag scenes when things move. The free template above is yours either way.