Most shoot days that go wrong were lost earlier in the week. The presenter rehearsed the script from Monday, not the one the client rewrote on Wednesday, and the meeting room turns out to be booked only until eleven.
Both were easy to check, but nobody wrote the answers down where the crew would see them at seven in the morning.
This checklist splits pre-production into six blocks. The table is the short version, and the sections below cover what to confirm in each block and where the answer gets written down.
It starts once the brief and the script exist, and with a new client many of these questions also belong in the kickoff call.
| Block | Done when | Written down in |
|---|---|---|
| Script | A named person approved a numbered version in writing | Script header and approval email |
| Location | Someone has seen it and checked access, power and noise | One location note, with photos |
| People on camera | Releases signed, names confirmed by the client | Talent list and release folder |
| Crew and gear | Everyone has a call time, the kit has backups | Day plan and kit list |
| Day plan | Every block has a time, buffers included | One shared plan |
| Deliverables | The client agreed the list of files | Deliverables list |
In short
- Get the script approved in writing by one named person, with the version number and date in its header.
- Have someone from the crew see the location, and keep one location note with access, power, noise and photos.
- Collect signed releases and client-confirmed names and titles before the shoot.
- Put call times, buffers and who brings what in one shared day plan.
- Agree the list of deliverables with the client before the shoot, because vertical cuts and other languages change how you shoot.
Script approved, by a name and in writing
- The version going to set has a number and a date in its header, and it’s the only one the crew and the presenter can open.
- One named person on the client side approved that version somewhere that leaves a record, like email. A thumbs up from a coordinator doesn’t count if the CEO hasn’t read it.
- The client confirmed the on-screen text as a separate list of names, job titles, figures and product names (why that list matters).
- The presenter has read the final version out loud at least once.
- Interview guests got the topics, not the exact questions (preparing a testimonial interview).
Put the approver’s name and the date next to the version number in the script header, and file the email with the project. When someone on set asks to “just change this line”, the header tells you whether that needs another approval.
Location: permits, power, parking and noise
Someone from the crew should have stood in the space, or at least walked it on a video call with the client holding a phone. The photos on the client’s website show the lobby on its best day.
- Written permission from whoever controls the space, with the hours you can use it. Streets and parks often need a city permit, so ask the local film office early.
- A contact on site who has the keys and answers the phone at 7 a.m.
- Power: where the outlets are, which ones share a breaker and how far the cable runs.
- Parking and loading: where the van stops and who books the service elevator.
- Noise: air conditioning, elevators, building work next door. Check at the hour you’ll shoot, since a school playground is quiet until break time.
- Which way the windows face, and when the sun comes in.
- A scout photo of each setup from where the camera will stand, plus one of the entrance.
All of it goes in one location note with the address, the contact’s number and the photos, and that note gets reused the next time you shoot there. Camera, light and sound for an office interview are in our talking head setup guide.
People on camera
- A signed release from everyone who appears, covering image, voice and name, and saying where the video will run. Use the client’s template or one from a lawyer. Nothing here is legal advice.
- Names and job titles written by the client, not copied from a call.
- Wardrobe notes sent two days ahead: solid colors, no fine stripes or small checks (they shimmer on camera), no other brand’s logo, and a second option in the bag.
- Who needs makeup, who wears glasses and who has a hard stop at eleven.
- A phone number for each person, for the morning of the shoot.
Keep the talent list and the scanned releases with the video they belong to, not in the producer’s inbox, so they turn up when the client’s legal team asks a year later.
Crew and gear
- A call time for each person. The gaffer arrives before the presenter, and the sound recordist before the first mic check.
- One person who decides on set when the day slips.
- A kit list checked against the location: batteries if there’s no outlet near the set, flags or diffusion if a window lights the room.
- A backup for anything that stops the day, like a second microphone and a spare monitor cable.
- Batteries charged and labeled the night before, chargers packed.
- Cards formatted in the camera, enough for the day plus one, and two drives to copy each card to before it goes back in a camera.
Call times belong in the day plan, not in an email thread, because the plan is what the crew opens in the morning.
The day plan: blocks, buffers, who brings what
The day plan turns everything above into times. Build it from blocks (crew arrival, talent arrival, each video, setup changes, meals, wrap) and give each one a start time.
Estimating a video from its script, and why recording takes two to four times the final length, is in how to build a shooting schedule.
- A planned end at least half an hour before the real limit of the location.
- A buffer after anything that depends on someone outside the crew, like the CEO’s slot.
- Who brings what: product samples, building badges, the prompter tablet, lunch.
- The address, the plan link and a video call link for anyone watching remotely, sent the day before to crew, talent and client.
Deliverables agreed before the shoot
This block gets left for later more than any other, and it changes how you shoot. A vertical cut needs subjects framed for a 9:16 crop. A Spanish version may need the presenter to record a second pass.
- Every file, with length, aspect ratio, subtitles and language, agreed with the client in writing.
- Which cuts get their own rounds of approval.
- The shots the verticals depend on, marked on the shot list.
- Any photos expected from the day, like headshots, and how many.
Our deliverables list post has a table to start from.
How this works in RecReview
In RecReview the shoot day is a production plan and each deliverable is a task. Paste list in the plan turns a list of titles into one task per line, with the plan’s client and project, and adds each as a video block.
A Gallery block adds a photo delivery, like headshots taken on the day. Team Arrival, Talent Arrival, breaks, Setup Change and Wrap blocks fill in the day, each with a default length you can change, and each video’s recording time comes from its script and the pace you set.
The script lives on the video’s task, in numbered versions. Sending it to the client from the task emails them a link, shows it in their portal and marks that version as sent, and the task’s activity log records who sent it and when.
There’s no approve button for scripts, so the client’s written OK still arrives by email. On the day, the teleprompter can pull the task’s latest script, keeping only the spoken lines, or you type the text in.
Locations saved in the workspace settings carry an address, which the plan header links to Google Maps. The Talent column on each video block holds who’s on camera, and signed releases can go on that video’s task as attachments (PDF or image, up to 50 MB).
A note on any block, like “bring the product samples” on the crew arrival, shows on the shared plan.
The share link opens without a login, can have a password and updates live as blocks are ticked off. Send to Client emails the plan with the date, start time, location and that link, and the client’s portal lists it under Recordings.
With Google Calendar connected, the plan becomes an event with a Meet link, the crew and the client’s main contact already selected as guests.
