Spencer Kaufman
Revenue & Strategy Lead
Revenue and strategy expert growing Storiara's market presence and building partnerships with filmmakers and studios worldwide.
Articles & Insights
Sharing knowledge on film production and tech.
Advance Call Sheets: When to Send Them and What Goes On Them
What an advance call sheet is, when a standalone advance is worth sending, how departments use it, and how to handle changes between the advance and the final sheet.
Block Shooting vs Cross-Boarding: How to Choose for a Series
Block shooting groups episodes into blocks; cross-boarding mixes their scenes on one board. A worked 6-episode example shows location visits, cast days, and risks.
Call Sheet Abbreviations: What SW, NDB, W/N, and BG Mean
A plain glossary of call sheet abbreviations: cast status codes like SW and WF, time terms like NDB and W/N, scene shorthand, background, departments, and logistics.
Film Call Sheet Example, Annotated Section by Section
A filled-in film call sheet for one shoot day, annotated block by block: why the call is 10:00 AM, how cast times were worked back, and what each note prevents.
Company Moves on a Film Shoot: Planning, Timing, and Cost
How to time a company move minute by minute, price it against camera hours, decide when to keep or remove it from the board, and put it on the call sheet.
Cover Sets and Weather Cover: How to Plan for Bad Weather Days
Build a weather cover plan for exterior days: pick and rank cover sets, price the holds, set decision deadlines, and re-board the pages a rain day costs you.
Crew Deal Memos: What Goes in Them and How to Negotiate Terms
What a crew deal memo should cover, how the rate basis changes real pay, which terms are worth negotiating, and the clauses that start arguments at the first payroll.
Daily Production Report: What Goes In It and Why It Matters
What goes in a daily production report: page and scene counts with the math, cast and crew times, delays, safety meetings, incidents, and who signs it.
Digital Call Sheets vs PDF: Which Works Better on Set
Digital call sheet links and PDF call sheets compared on revisions, dead zones, privacy, printing, and record keeping, with a late-night revision example for each.
How to Build a Documentary Shooting Schedule (With an Example)
A documentary schedule is built from subjects, events, and light, not script pages. See a six-week example with interview days, verité, b-roll, and holds.
Exhibit G Walkthrough: Filling In the SAG-AFTRA Time Report
A column-by-column walkthrough of the SAG-AFTRA Exhibit G production time report, with a filled-in shoot day and the meal, rest, and signature checks to run before wrap.
Film Crew Day Rates: Union Minimums and Setting Non-Union Pay
Union minimum day rates for film crew by position and region, converted to 12-hour days, plus how to set and budget non-union rates without getting the overtime wrong.
Film Crew Time Cards: How to Fill Them In and Get Paid Right
How film crew time cards work: what to record each day, who signs, how payroll turns hours into overtime and meal premiums, and a worked California week for a PA.
Atlanta Film Permits: City Fees, Closures, and Notification
How City of Atlanta film permits work: FilmApp, the $100 application and $300 monthly permit fees, closure lead times, $1M insurance, and three-block notice.
Chicago Film Permits: Chicago Film Office Fees and Lead Times
How Chicago film permits work: $250 per day per location, four to ten business days of review, $1M insurance naming the City, 48-hour leaflets, and police rates.
Filming Permission in London: Film London and Borough Rules
How filming permission works in London: Borough Film Services, small crew rules, Notices of No Objection, £2M liability cover, lead times, and 2026 borough fees.
Film Permits in Los Angeles: FilmLA Fees, Deadlines, Insurance
How to get a City of Los Angeles film permit through FilmLA: the $931 application fee, the three-business-day deadline, $1M insurance, posting, and the Low Impact tier.
NYC Film Permits: MOME Rules, the $500 Fee, and Insurance
How New York City film permits work: when MOME requires one, the $500 fee per 14-day period, $1M insurance filed 48 hours ahead, deadlines, and resident notice.
Film Production Paperwork Guide: Every Form, Phase by Phase
Every piece of film production paperwork a student or indie shoot needs, from rights and releases to call sheets, production reports, and delivery, with who signs what.
Filming in Public Without a Permit: What the Rules Actually Say
When you can film in public without a permit in NYC, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, London, and US national parks, what triggers a permit, and the risks.
Filming Location Rental Cost: What You Pay Beyond the Day Rate
What filming locations cost: how private owners price prep, shoot, and hold days, published public location fees in LA, NYC, and London, and the hidden lines.
Free Film Production Software for Students: What Each Tier Gets
Free and student tiers of StudioBinder, Celtx, Filmustage, WriterDuet, Fade In, Trelby, DaVinci Resolve, Storiara, and more, checked on each product's own site.
How Many Script Pages Can You Shoot in a Day on a Film Set?
Pages per day depends on setups, not page length. Work out your average, then test each day against setups, minutes per setup, and the camera hours you have.
How to Hire a Film Crew: A Line Producer's Order of Operations
Hire a film crew in the right order: department heads first, union status decided early, crew found through rosters and referrals, and paperwork signed before day one.
How to Make a Call Sheet in Google Sheets (With Formulas)
Build a film call sheet in Google Sheets: the tab layout, FILTER and XLOOKUP formulas that pull scenes and cast by day, page totals in eighths, and a rest check.
How to Plan a Student Film in 30 Days: A Day-by-Day Plan
A 30-day pre-production plan for a student short: script lock, breakdown, budget, locations and permits, casting, crew, schedule, tech scout, and call sheets, in order.
How to Plan a Vertical Drama Shoot, From Script to Shoot Days
Plan a vertical drama shoot: number 60 episodes for production, count pages, group scenes by set, pick a page rate, and break the series into shoot days.
How to Read a Stripboard: A Line-by-Line Guide for Crew
Learn to read a stripboard you've been handed: the cast ID header, every field on a strip, day break totals, and what two days of strips tell each department.
How to Schedule a Short Film in One Weekend (With Call Times)
A worked two-day schedule for an 11 4/8-page short: splitting pages, sunset timing, turnaround between Saturday night and Sunday, and full call times.
How to Schedule Around Child Actors: California and New York Rules
Schedule minors inside California and New York limits on hours, school, rest, and time of day, with a worked school-day schedule for a 10-year-old actor.
How to Set Call Times for a Film Shoot, Worked Back From Sunrise
How ADs set call times: start from the first shot, back out setup and makeup, then check rest periods and meal timing. Worked example for a dawn exterior.
Location Release Forms: Who Signs, What to Negotiate, What Fails
How film location release forms work in practice: who has authority to sign, the terms owners push back on, tricky rentals and businesses, and how releases fail.
Location Scouting Checklist: What to Check Before You Say Yes
A location scouting checklist for film: script prep, sound, sun path, power, parking and base camp, load-in, permits, and the photos to take so nobody rescouts.
Movie Magic Scheduling Tutorial: Build Your First Stripboard
Step-by-step Movie Magic Scheduling 10 tutorial: import a script, fill breakdown sheets, arrange strips, add day breaks and banners, and print a one-liner and DOOD.
Scheduling Night Shoots: Turnaround, Call Times, and the Flip
Plan a week of night shoots with real call-time math: the dark window, rest periods, how calls drift, flipping back to days, and why Monday gets pushed late.
Shooting Schedule Example: A Complete 5-Day Short Film Schedule
A complete shooting schedule example for a 24 4/8-page short film: the full one-liner, a long-form day with elements, call times, and the cast day out of days.
Shooting Schedule Mistakes That Cost Days, and How to Catch Them
Twelve common shooting schedule mistakes, from filling days by page count to turnaround math off camera wrap, each with a worked example and the check that catches it.
Short-Form Series Budget: How to Budget a Vertical Series
How to budget a short-form or vertical series: which costs follow shoot days and which follow episodes, a quantity worksheet for a 60-episode shoot, and per-minute math.
Stripboard Colors Explained: What Each Strip Color Means
Stripboard colors follow INT/EXT and day/night: white, yellow, blue, green. How to color dawn, dusk, car and tented scenes, and what a week of colors tells you.
Thesis Film Pre-Production Checklist, Week by Week
A week-by-week pre-production checklist for a thesis film: approvals, script lock, budget, casting, crew, locations, student permits, insurance, safety, and paperwork.
Vertical Series Production Schedule: Building the Shoot Days
How to schedule a vertical series: a two-week shoot calendar, one 24-scene day built hour by hour, strip order by wardrobe look, and when each episode is ready to cut.
Vertical Video Call Sheets: Adapting the Format for Series
How to write call sheets for vertical video and micro-drama shoots: episode and scene numbers, wardrobe looks per block, frame notes, BTS rules, and a phone-first layout.
What Is a One-Line Schedule? How to Make and Read a One-Liner
A one-line schedule gives each scene one line under its shoot day. See a full week of a one-liner, how to write the lines, and how departments read it.
Wrap Report Guide: Closing Out a Film Production Step by Step
How to write a production wrap report: final schedule and page numbers against plan, department returns, loss and damage, owed shots for post, and the paperwork archive.
How to Fill Out a Script Breakdown Sheet, Field by Field
Fill out a script breakdown sheet field by field: the scene header, page count, script day, synopsis, and each element box, with a worked example scene start to finish.
How to Number a Film Script for Production (A and B Scenes)
How to number scenes in a shooting script: when to do it, which headings get numbers, how to add A and B scenes, mark OMITTED, and lock pages once prep starts.
Shooting in Australia: Producer Offset vs Location Offset
Australia's Location Offset pays 30% of QAPE from A$20m, the PDV Offset 30% from A$500,000, and the Producer Offset 40% for Australian features. You get one.
Why Productions Shoot Overseas: Film Tax Incentives and Real Costs
US productions shoot abroad when the UK's 34% AVEC or Canada's stacked credits beat a US state after travel, housing, visas, and payroll costs. Here is the math.
Shooting Schedule Template: How to Lay Out Each Shoot Day
How to format a shooting schedule template: the day header, scene rows, element lines, end-of-day strip, and totals, with a filled-in example day and a free download.
How to Make a Film Call Sheet, Section by Section
How a 2nd AD makes a film call sheet: what to put in each section, how to work out cast calls backward from set time, who signs off, and how to send it and revise it.
Shooting Schedule: What It Is and How to Build One
A shooting schedule puts every scene of a film into shoot days in the order they'll be filmed. Here's how a 1st AD builds one from the breakdown, step by step.
Best Film and TV Scheduling Software, Reviewed (2026)
We compared 10 film scheduling tools on stripboards, Day Out of Days reports, script import, and verified September 2026 prices, from Storiara to Movie Magic.