The front page: did we make the day?
The first thing a UPM, line producer, or studio executive reads on a production report is the scorecard. It tells them whether the company shot what the call sheet said it would, and how far along the whole script is.
Here's Day 12 of a 22-day feature. The script is 104 3/8 pages. The call sheet scheduled scenes 57, 58, 59, and 61 at INT. HOLLIS KITCHEN - NIGHT and EXT. HOLLIS BACKYARD - NIGHT, totaling 5 2/8 pages. Scene 61 (4/8 page) wasn't shot.
| Scheduled today | Shot today | Previously | Total to date | Remaining | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scenes | 57, 58, 59, 61 | 57, 58, 59 | 71 | 74 | 49 |
| Pages | 5 2/8 | 4 6/8 | 52 1/8 | 56 7/8 | 47 4/8 |
| Setups | 23 | 268 | 291 | ||
| Script time | 4:40 | 51:15 | 55:55 |
The page math is done in eighths, which is the part people get wrong at 10:00 PM. 52 1/8 is 417 eighths, and 4 6/8 is 38 eighths, so the total to date is 455 eighths, or 56 7/8 pages. The script is 835 eighths, so 835 minus 455 leaves 380 eighths, or 47 4/8 pages remaining. The page eighths entry explains the convention, and the page count calculator does the conversion.
Scene 61 goes in the notes with a reason and a plan: "Sc. 61 not shot. Lost 50 min when rain stopped exterior work at 11:10P. Sc. 61 moved to Day 14, cover set available." The line producer should be able to read that sentence and know whether the schedule is in trouble.
Below the scorecard, the front page carries the day's times: crew call, first shot, meal breaks, first shot after lunch, camera wrap, and last person out. For Day 12: crew call 3:00 PM, first shot 4:22 PM, first meal 9:00 PM to 9:30 PM, first shot after meal 9:51 PM, camera wrap 2:40 AM, last crew out 3:25 AM. It also lists the shooting location, the weather, and any company move with its departure and arrival times.
Where every number comes from
The 2nd AD assembles the report. Almost none of it should come from memory.
| DPR section | Source document |
|---|---|
| Scenes, pages, setups, script time, wild lines | Script supervisor's report |
| Media or film used, cards and rolls | Camera report and DIT log |
| Sound rolls or files | Sound report |
| Cast in, makeup, on set, meals, dismissed, travel | Exhibit G |
| Background counts and times | Signed background vouchers and the sign-in sheet |
| Crew in, meals, out | Crew sign-out sheet and time cards |
| Added equipment and people | Department heads, confirmed by the UPM |
| Safety meeting, incidents | 1st AD, set medic |
The cast section is the one that gets checked hardest. On a SAG-AFTRA show, the production sends the signed Production Time Reports (Exhibit G) to the union by the Friday of the week after each work week, and those times have to match what the production report says. The Exhibit G guide walks through that form.
The back pages
The back of the report is the detail behind the front page's totals:
- Cast times for every performer, with work status and any meal period violations or forced calls
- Background: how many worked, their call and wrap times, and any adjustments, such as a wet or smoke day
- Crew by department, with each person's call, meal, and out time
- Equipment added for the day (a second camera body, a condor, a water truck) and additional labor brought in
- Meal information: how many were fed, by whom, and at what times
- Picture vehicles and animals used
- Delays, with the cause and the minutes lost
- The safety meeting, and any accident, injury, or illness
A typical delay log reads like this:
| Time | Minutes | Cause |
|---|---|---|
| 4:05P to 4:22P | 17 | Company waited on picture car; driver sent to wrong address |
| 11:10P to 12:00A | 50 | Rain; moved to kitchen interiors |
| 1:15A to 1:28A | 13 | Camera B sensor fault; swapped body |
Write what happened, in plain language, with times. "Weather delay" is less useful than "rain stopped exterior work, moved to cover set," and "creative delay" helps no one when a completion guarantor asks why the film is two days behind. The daily production report template has all of these sections laid out.
Safety on the production report
The DPR is where the production records that it did the safety work it's supposed to do each day.
The safety meeting
The 1st AD holds a safety meeting at the start of the day and again before any stunt, effect, or unusual hazard. The production report records the time and the topic: "6:05P safety meeting, 1st AD, re: wet surfaces in backyard, rain towers, night driving." If a stunt coordinator or special effects supervisor ran a specific briefing, note that too. The safety meeting entry covers what a good one includes.
In studio productions, many of those meetings reference Safety Bulletins from the Industry-Wide Labor-Management Safety Committee, which is made up of guild, union, and management representatives. The bulletins cover topics like firearms and blank ammunition, long or successive takes, severe weather, and working on and around gimbals. The committee says plainly that they're recommended guidelines and not binding laws. Productions still attach the relevant safety bulletin to the call sheet and note it on the production report, because after an accident everyone will ask whether it was followed.
Accidents, injuries, and illness
Every incident goes on the report, even a small cut treated by the set medic. Record the time, where it happened, who was hurt, what they were doing, what treatment was given, whether they went to a clinic or hospital, whether they returned to work, and who was notified (UPM, production office, insurance broker).
The legal reporting obligations run alongside that note:
- In California, the Division of Workers' Compensation says an employer must give or mail an injured employee a claim form within one working day of learning about the injury, and must authorize appropriate medical treatment within one day of the claim form being filed.
- Federal OSHA requires employers to report a work-related fatality within 8 hours, and an in-patient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye within 24 hours. States with their own OSHA plans can set different rules, so check yours.
- California employers also need a written Injury and Illness Prevention Program under Title 8, Section 3203, and must keep records of safety inspections and training for at least one year (smaller employers have some exceptions).
An insurer or investigator will read the DPR's incident note early, so write it with enough detail to stand on its own. "Grip injured hand" is not enough. "2:12A, Key grip Tom Reyes cut left palm on rigging hardware while striking backyard rain tower; cleaned and bandaged by set medic; returned to work 2:30A; UPM notified 2:20A" is what you want.
Signing and sending it
The 2nd AD drafts the report during the day and finishes it after wrap. The 1st AD reviews the scene and timing information, and the UPM reviews the whole thing and signs it. The signature means the UPM agrees it's an accurate account of the day, so the UPM should question anything that doesn't add up before signing.
The signed report goes to the production office, accounting, the line producer, and the studio or financier, usually the next morning. Accounting uses it to check payroll and build hot costs, the quick daily estimate of whether the day ran over budget. The production keeps the signed originals with the Exhibit Gs and time cards.
Why accuracy matters
Production reports get read long after the shoot, by people who weren't there.
Payroll uses them to pay overtime, meal penalties, and forced calls. When a performer's union files a claim six months later, the union compares the production report with Exhibit G. When the times agree and are signed, the claim is simple to resolve either way. When they disagree, the production has undercut its own records.
Insurers use them for claims. A weather day, an equipment failure, or a sick actor may be covered, and the production report is the first evidence that the loss happened and what it cost in time.
Completion guarantors and financiers use them to track progress against the schedule. A film that is consistently shooting 4 6/8 pages against a scheduled 5 2/8 is falling behind, and the running "remaining" column shows it before the cost report does.
And lawyers use them. Accidents, disputes with location owners, and wage claims all come back to what the production wrote down the night it happened.
Mistakes that come back later
- Filling in times from the call sheet instead of what happened
- Rounding a meal time so a meal penalty disappears
- Forgetting to carry the "previously" column forward, so every total after that day is wrong
- Counting background from the call sheet instead of the signed vouchers
- Leaving the incident section blank because "it was nothing"
- Signing the report before comparing it with Exhibit G
At the end of the shoot, the running totals from the last production report feed the wrap report, which summarizes the whole shoot for the studio and the bond company. The daily production report glossary entry has a short definition to share with a new 2nd AD.
Where Storiara fits
Storiara doesn't generate production reports. It builds each day's call sheet from the schedule, with scene page counts in eighths, cast, crew, and location details, and sends it by email or shareable link. That call sheet is the plan the 2nd AD compares against when filling in the "scheduled" column of the DPR.