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

A Day Out of Days (DOOD) report is a grid that shows every principal cast member's status on every shoot day of the production. It is derived from the shooting schedule and becomes the definitive reference document for cast scheduling, payroll, and deal negotiations.

Every professional production with more than a handful of cast members needs one.

What a DOOD Report Looks Like

The DOOD is a matrix. Cast members run down the left column. Shoot days run across the top. Each cell contains a status code.

Here's a simplified example for a 10-day shoot:

Status codes:

• SW — Start/Work: First day the actor is on payroll and working
• W — Work: A working day
• WF — Work/Finish: Last day on payroll, working
• SWF — Start/Work/Finish: One-day engagement (hired, works, done)
• H — Hold: On payroll but not shooting
• T — Travel: Travel day (paid under most agreements)
• — — Not on payroll

Why the DOOD Matters

For payroll. The production accountant reads the DOOD to know exactly what to pay each actor each week. The SW code triggers the start of a weekly guarantee (most SAG-AFTRA agreements guarantee minimum weekly pay regardless of days worked). The WF code ends the guarantee. A Hold day means the actor is paid even though they're not on set.

For deal negotiations. A talent agent looking at a DOOD can quickly see how many weeks their client is on guarantee. If the schedule shows an actor starting on Day 2 and finishing on Day 12 (spanning 3 weeks), that's 3 weeks of guaranteed pay even if they only work 6 days. The scheduling decisions directly affect the deal's financial structure.

For budget. Every H (Hold) day is a cost with no on-screen return. Minimizing hold days for expensive cast members is one of the most impactful ways to reduce below-the-line costs. Rescheduling one expensive actor to eliminate 2 hold days might save $20,000.

For 1st AD planning. The 1st AD uses the DOOD to catch scheduling conflicts before production begins. If a cast member is scheduled to WF on Day 8 and the director wants to add a scene with them on Day 11, the DOOD makes that problem immediately visible.

How to Build a DOOD

Step 1: Have a Locked Shooting Schedule

You cannot build a DOOD until the shooting schedule is locked. Every scene must be placed on a specific shoot day with a specific cast list. If the schedule changes, the DOOD changes.

Step 2: List All Principal Cast

Create a row for every speaking cast member. Number them in order of appearance or narrative significance (Character 1 is typically the lead). Include:

• Character number
• Character name (as written in the script)
• Actor name (or TBD if not yet cast)

Step 3: Map Shoot Days Across the Top

Add a column for each shoot day. Number them sequentially (D1, D2, D3...) and optionally include calendar dates. If there are non-shooting days within the production schedule (weekends, travel days, prep days), include them as separate columns marked clearly.

Step 4: Fill In Each Cell

For each cast member, go scene by scene through the schedule and mark:

• The first day they appear → SW
• Each subsequent day they appear → W
• Any gap day between appearances where they must remain available → H
• The last day they appear → WF
• If they appear only once → SWF

A Hold day is any day between an actor's start and finish where they're not working but are under contract. Some actors' deals include "drop-and-pick-up" provisions that allow the production to release them and then restart them without continuous hold — useful for actors who appear early and late in the schedule but not in the middle.

Step 5: Calculate Totals

In the rightmost columns, add totals:

• Total W days
• Total H days
• Total days on payroll (W + H)
• Number of weeks on guarantee (round up to full weeks per the deal terms)

These numbers flow directly into the budget's cast cost calculation.

Hold Days and How to Minimize Them

Hold days are the enemy of an efficient budget. When you're paying a cast member $3,000/day and they have 3 hold days, that's $9,000 of cost with nothing on screen.

Strategies to reduce hold days:

Group scenes by cast member. Every time you can shoot all of a character's scenes in a contiguous block, you eliminate potential hold days. If Sarah appears in scenes 12, 47, and 89, and you can schedule those on Days 5, 6, and 7, she starts, works three days, and finishes. No holds.

Use drop-and-pick-up provisions. If a character appears in the first act and the third act but not the second, a drop-and-pick-up allows the actor to work Act 1 scenes, be released (not on payroll), and be picked up for Act 3 scenes. This avoids holding them through the middle of production. Whether this is possible depends on the actor's deal and availability.

Schedule expensive cast members last. If your most expensive actor appears primarily in scenes that could be shot at the end of production, schedule them late. Their Start day is later, their Finish day is later, and there's less schedule to hold them through.

Consolidate locations. If an actor's scenes are spread across 3 locations, and you can schedule all their work at Location A on Days 4-5, Location B on Days 7-8, and Location C on Day 10, you might create unavoidable holds. Can you reschedule Location B to Day 6? That removes a hold day.

DOOD for Non-Union Productions

The DOOD is just as important on non-union productions, even though the payroll calculation is simpler (no weekly guarantees, no union fringe rates). The DOOD still answers:

• When does each actor need to be available?
• How many days is each actor working?
• Are there any scheduling conflicts?

On non-union productions, agreements often don't include weekly guarantees — actors are paid a flat rate per day worked. In that case, hold days are typically unpaid (or negotiated specifically). The DOOD still tracks them, but they may not cost money.

DOOD for Extras and Day Players

The DOOD primarily tracks principal cast. Day players (actors with smaller featured roles) may appear on the DOOD with SWF codes across the board — they're hired for one day and that's it.

Background performers (extras) are typically not tracked on the DOOD. They're managed through a separate extras casting system and tracked in the call sheet and production report.

Keeping the DOOD Current

The DOOD is not a one-time document. Every time the schedule changes, the DOOD must be updated. Even a one-day schedule shift can change SW/WF codes, add hold days, or eliminate them.

Version control is essential. Date-stamp every DOOD and communicate changes to the production accountant and relevant agents immediately. An actor's agent who is negotiating a deal based on a 3-week guarantee needs to know immediately if a schedule change reduces it to 2 weeks.

Generating a DOOD Automatically

Building a DOOD manually from a shooting schedule is error-prone. One missed scene or transposed day number can produce incorrect hold day calculations and result in payroll errors.

Production scheduling software — including Storiara — generates the DOOD automatically from the shooting schedule. When you lock the schedule, the DOOD populates in real time. When the schedule changes, the DOOD updates.

This eliminates manual transcription errors and ensures the document your production accountant and agents are working from reflects the actual current schedule.

Build your production schedule and generate a DOOD automatically with Storiara