How-To

Sep 2026

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.

Sep 2026

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.

Sep 2026

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.

Sep 2026

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.

Sep 2026

Exhibit G: Tracking Cast Time and SAG-AFTRA Compliance

How to keep a SAG-AFTRA Exhibit G: every column on the form, a filled-in shoot day with meal penalty and turnaround math, deadlines, and the errors that become claims.

Sep 2026

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.

Sep 2026

Film Production Budget Template: How to Fill One In, Line by Line

How to fill in a film production budget template: set globals and fringes first, price each line as amount x units x rate, and avoid the errors that break totals.

Sep 2026

From Script to Call Sheet in Storiara: A Full Walkthrough

A step-by-step Storiara walkthrough from uploaded script to emailed call sheet: scenes, cast linked to characters, locations, the stripboard, and Callsheets.

Sep 2026

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.

Sep 2026

How Storiara Turns a Script Into a Stripboard, Step by Step

What happens in Storiara between uploading a script and building a stripboard: scene parsing, page eighths, breakdown fixes, production dates, and the manual board.

Sep 2026

How to Become a SAG-AFTRA Signatory for Your Indie Film

Becoming a SAG-AFTRA signatory is free but takes weeks. What the application asks for, which documents to prepare, the security deposit, and a timeline that works.

Sep 2026

How to Break Down a Script in Final Draft 13 Using Tags

Step by step: number scenes, turn on Tags Mode, tag props and cast, link items to characters, customize categories, and run Tags reports in Final Draft 13.

Sep 2026

How to Budget a Commercial Shoot: The AICP Bid, Worked Through

How to budget a commercial shoot on the AICP bid form: the questions to ask before bidding, a two-day bid priced section by section, talent P&H, markup, and weather days.

Sep 2026

How to Budget a Documentary: Trips, Edit Weeks, and Archival

How to budget a feature documentary: research, shoot trips priced with GSA per diem rates, edit weeks driven by the shooting ratio, archival licensing, and E&O insurance.

Sep 2026

How to Budget a Music Video: A One-Day Shoot, Line by Line

How to budget a music video from the label's all-in number: a one-day stage shoot priced in bid-form sections, with fringes, production fee, and cuts.

Sep 2026

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.

Sep 2026

How to Calculate Film Script Page Counts in Eighths

Measure each scene in eighths of a page, add eighths into whole pages, check totals against the script, and use page counts to plan a shooting day, with worked math.

Sep 2026

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.

Sep 2026

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.

Sep 2026

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.

Sep 2026

How to Manage Production Costs With a Daily Hot Cost Report

Build a daily hot cost from the production report, time cards, and Exhibit G, price the overages against the budget, and project the trend before the weekly cost report.

Sep 2026

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.

Sep 2026

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.

Sep 2026

How to Read a Film Call Sheet: A Guide for Cast and Crew

How to read a film call sheet: your call vs crew call, shooting call, status codes like SW and WF, the advance schedule, and what to do when a revised sheet arrives.

Sep 2026

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.

Sep 2026

How to Run a Shutdown Cost: Pricing a Hiatus vs a Full Stop

A shutdown cost prices what it takes to pause or abandon a film mid-production: sunk costs, weekly holding costs, restart costs, and wind-down, net of insurance.

Sep 2026

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.

Sep 2026

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.

Sep 2026

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.

Sep 2026

How to Write a Film Business Plan Investors Will Read

What goes in a film business plan, section by section: summary, project, team, market, production plan, distribution, finance plan, returns, and risks, with examples.

Sep 2026

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.

Sep 2026

Music Video Script Breakdown: From Treatment to Shoot Plan

How to break down a music video treatment: map the song by timecode, split performance and story setups, list looks, playback, and gear, then group setups into a day.

Sep 2026

Scene Numbering Rules for Shooting Scripts, With Edge Cases

Scene numbering rules for production: when to number, what gets a number, A-scenes, omitted scenes, intercuts, montages, merged scenes, and Final Draft settings.

Sep 2026

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.

Sep 2026

Script Breakdown Color Codes: The Chart and How to Mark a Script

The standard script breakdown color chart (red cast, orange stunts, green extras, purple props), the symbols for wardrobe and makeup, and how to mark a real scene.

Sep 2026

Script Breakdown Example: One Scene From Page to Finished Sheet

A worked script breakdown example: a 5/8 page scene marked element by element, measured in eighths, and turned into a finished breakdown sheet and department lists.

Sep 2026

Short Film Budget Breakdown: A $50,000 Short, Line by Line

A worked short film budget for a 12-page, 3-day shoot: cast, crew, gear, locations, post, payroll taxes, and contingency, with the math shown for every line.