Scheduling

Sep 2026

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.

Sep 2026

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.

Sep 2026

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.

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

Day Out of Days Template: How to Build a DOOD for Your Film

Build a day out of days (DOOD) from your shooting schedule: what SW, W, H, WF, SWF, T, D, and PU mean, how to fill each cell, total paid days, and cut holds.

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 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 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 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.

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 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

Meal Penalties Explained: Union Rates, Non-Union Rules, and Math

How meal penalties work for IATSE crew, SAG-AFTRA actors, and non-union crew in California, with current rates, grace and NDB rules, and a worked example for a full day.

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

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

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.

Sep 2026

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.

Sep 2026

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.

Sep 2026

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.

Sep 2026

Storiara for First Assistant Directors: What It Does in Prep

What a 1st AD can hand to Storiara and what stays manual: the scene list and eighths, a drag-and-drop stripboard, Day-Out-Of-Days, call sheets, and the limits.

Sep 2026

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.

Sep 2026

Turnaround Rules Compared: SAG-AFTRA, IATSE, DGA, and Minors

Turnaround rules side by side for actors, IATSE crew, DGA assistant directors, and minors, with weekend rest, penalties for short turnaround, and worked call times.

Sep 2026

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.

Sep 2026

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.

Sep 2026

Working With Minors on Set: Permits, Hours, and Studio Teachers

Child actor rules come from state law, not federal. Compare California and New York hours by age, permits, studio teachers, trust accounts, and SAG-AFTRA's minor terms.