The call sheet is the page everyone on a shoot opens the night before, and again in the car the next morning. It answers the questions people would otherwise text the producer at 6:40 a.m. What time do I need to be there, where do I park, who do I ask for at the door, when is lunch?
On a feature film it runs to several pages. A corporate shoot needs one, and below are a template to copy, a filled example and what to do when the day changes after it went out.
Building the schedule is covered in how to build a shooting schedule, and what to confirm before you get here is in the pre-production checklist.
In short
- A call sheet answers the morning questions: when to arrive, where to park, who to ask for at the door, when lunch is.
- Talent, the client and anyone needed for a single block get their own call time.
- Send it the afternoon before to everyone named on it, and ask them to reply that they got it.
- On the day, one person owns the sheet, and a changed call time gets a call or a text before the sheet is updated.
What goes on a call sheet
- The header has the project, the date and the general call, which is when the crew starts work. Add the planned wrap and the time you have to be out of the building, the two numbers the producer watches all day.
- A call time for each person. Call time means on set and ready to work, so a presenter called at 9:00 sits down for makeup at 9:00 and the first take is at 9:30. Talent, the client and anyone needed for a single block get their own time instead of the general call, so nobody waits two hours in a lobby.
- The location section has the full address, where to unload and park, which entrance to use and who lets you in. “Security desk, ask for Daniel” saves ten minutes at the door. Most of these answers come from the location scout.
- Contacts are the producer, the client’s person on the day and someone at the building, with mobile numbers. Talent’s personal numbers go on the sheet only if they agreed to it, and the producer can be the single number for everyone else.
- The schedule is the list of blocks with start times, copied from the shooting schedule rather than rebuilt here.
- Below it, what to wear and what to bring, per person when it differs: wardrobe for people on camera (advice for employees who aren’t actors), building badges, product samples.
- For anything shot outdoors, add the forecast and the sunset time for that date. An exterior planned for 5 p.m. in November can end up in the dark.
- Bigger sets also list the nearest hospital with an emergency room, which takes a minute to look up.
- Notes takes the rest, like a meeting room that has to be put back the way it was.
A call sheet template to copy
CALL SHEET
Project:
Date:
General call:
Planned wrap:
Out of the location by:
LOCATION
Address:
Unloading / parking:
Entrance, ask for:
CALL TIMES
Name, role: call time
CONTACTS
Producer:
Client on the day:
Location contact:
SCHEDULE
Time, block, length
WEAR AND BRING
WEATHER AND SUNSET
(exteriors only)
NEAREST HOSPITAL
NOTES
A filled example for a one-day corporate shoot
The example is a brand film for a fictional client, Northwind, shot at their office: a CEO interview, three employee testimonials and B-roll. The loading dock closes at 16:00, so the plan ends at 15:00 and keeps an hour of buffer.
CALL SHEET: Northwind brand film
Wednesday, November 11
General call: 07:30
Planned wrap: 15:00
Out of the building by: 16:00
| Time | Block | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 07:30 | Crew call: unload, build the interview set | 90 min |
| 09:00 | CEO: makeup, mic, read-through | 30 min |
| 09:30 | CEO interview | 60 min |
| 10:30 | Setup change for testimonials | 15 min |
| 10:45 | Testimonial 1 | 25 min |
| 11:10 | Testimonial 2 | 25 min |
| 11:35 | Testimonial 3 | 25 min |
| 12:00 | Lunch | 60 min |
| 13:00 | B-roll: office floor and lobby | 90 min |
| 14:30 | Wrap and load out | 30 min |
| 15:00 | Out |
| Who | Call | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Producer, camera, light, sound | 07:30 | Loading dock on Pier Lane |
| Makeup artist | 08:30 | Sets up in room 4B |
| Helen Park, CEO | 09:00 | Makeup, then interview |
| Laura Chen, client marketing | 09:15 | Watches on the monitor |
| Sam, sales | 10:30 | Testimonial 1 |
| Priya, support | 10:55 | Testimonial 2 |
| Marco, engineering | 11:20 | Testimonial 3 |
- Location: Northwind, 120 Harbor Street, 4th floor. Vans unload at the dock on Pier Lane, then park in the visitor garage, level -1. Daniel at security has the badges.
- Contacts: Ana, producer, (212) 555-0142. Laura, client, (212) 555-0187. Daniel, security, (212) 555-0110.
- Wear and bring: a second shirt for the CEO, solid colors for testimonials, black for the crew. Laura brings product samples for the B-roll.
- Weather: interior shoot, rain until 10:00, so the cases need covers at the dock.
- Nearest hospital: Harbor General, 2 Bay Avenue, 6 minutes by car.
- Notes: the kitchen next to the interview room is closed to staff from 09:30 to 12:00.
Testimonials are called 15 minutes before their slot, enough for a mic and a quick hello, and the makeup artist half an hour before the CEO.
When to send it, and to whom
Send it the afternoon before, once the room is booked, everyone on camera has confirmed and the schedule is final. A sheet sent in the morning and corrected at night means half the crew reads the old version.
For a 6 a.m. start or a shoot in another city, send it two days ahead and a reminder the day before.
It goes to everyone named on it, asking them to reply that they got it. Whoever doesn’t reply is the person to call. The client’s contact gets it too, with a line on what they need to do on the day, like signing in the crew or being free at 9:15.
When the day changes
Something will move. The CEO’s 9:00 becomes 9:40, or a testimonial cancels at breakfast. Decide in advance who owns the call sheet on the day, usually the producer.
If a change only affects the block that’s running, tell the people in the room and carry on. If it moves someone’s call time, call or text that person and wait for an answer, since nobody rereads a call sheet once they’re on the train.
Then update the sheet, with the time of the change at the top (“Updated 08:20: testimonials start at 11:15”), so anyone who opens it later sees the current day.
The client prefers one message with the new times over a stream of small corrections. If the morning ran 25 minutes late, say so at the break, together with what you’ll trim to finish on time.
How this works in RecReview
RecReview has no separate call sheet and no PDF to print. The production plan does the job on a link. Its header has the date, start time, location and crew.
Locations saved in the workspace settings can carry an address, which the plan header links to Google Maps.
Each block takes its time from the start of the day and the blocks before it: Team Arrival, Talent Arrival, breaks, Setup Change, Wrap and one block per video. With Talent Arrival right after it, the Team Arrival block’s length sets the talent’s call.
Video blocks have a Talent column for who’s on camera, and any block can carry a note.
The share link opens without a login and can have a password, and generating a new link cuts off the old one. The shared page shows the date, the start, the location’s name and every block with its time, talent and note.
It updates live, so when a block changes in the plan or is ticked off on set, the times after it move on every phone with the page open.
Plan notes and the notes saved with a location don’t show on the shared page, and neither does the address, only the location’s name.
The address, parking, phone numbers, weather and nearest hospital go in the note on the first block, since there are no fields for them, and a password is worth setting once numbers are on it.
Send to Client emails the plan with the date, start time, location and link, plus a message of your own, to the client’s primary contacts or anyone you add. The plan also appears in the client’s portal under Recordings.
With Google Calendar connected, the plan becomes an event from the start to the planned end of the day, with a Meet link, the crew already selected and the client’s primary contacts selected by default. A freelancer outside the workspace can be added by email.
