How to plan a vertical drama shoot broke ASHFORD HEIR, a fictional 60-episode series of 97 4/8 pages, into eight shoot days by set and page count. This post takes those eight days and turns them into a schedule: a calendar, a stripboard, and one day built hour by hour. The same series is used in both posts so the numbers match.
The eight days on a calendar
| Week | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prep 1 | Final scripts locked | Tech scout: penthouse, tower | Tech scout: clinic, bistro, estate | Wardrobe fittings: Clara, Julian | Table read, episodes 1 to 30 |
| Prep 2 | Fittings: supporting cast | Table read, episodes 31 to 60 | Camera tests in 9:16 | Production meeting | Rehearsal: wedding stunt |
| Shoot 1 | Day 1 Penthouse | Day 2 Penthouse (balcony night) | Day 3 Vance Tower | Day 4 Vance Tower | Day 5 Clinic |
| Shoot 2 | Day 6 Bistro and street | Day 7 Estate | Day 8 Estate wedding | Wrap and returns |
Two prep weeks is this series' plan. What sets prep length on any series is the number of locations to lock, the number of fittings (Clara alone has 11 looks), and whether the network or platform needs to approve cast.
A few scheduling choices are visible in the calendar. The two penthouse days are adjacent, and so are the two tower days and the two estate days. The wedding, with background and a stunt, is last, when the crew knows the series and the estate is already set up. And there's a weekend between Day 5 and Day 6.
That weekend has a rule behind it. SAG-AFTRA's theatrical rest period summary gives performers a weekly rest of 56 hours, which can drop to 54 hours if the first call of the new workweek is no earlier than 6:00 AM. If Clara is dismissed at 7:30 PM on Friday after Day 5, 56 hours later is 3:30 AM Monday, so a normal Monday call is fine. The agreement your series is under sets the actual numbers, so confirm them. SAG-AFTRA says verticals made by AMPTP member companies fall under the Made for New Media Sideletter, which doesn't include all of the usual contract terms, and independent producers have a separate verticals contract.
Day 2 has a night exterior on the balcony and wraps late. Day 3 at the tower gets a later call to protect the cast's daily rest. The turnaround calculator handles that check.
Day 1 on the stripboard
Each strip is one scene, labeled with its episode and scene number. Use the usual colors so anyone from a feature can read it at a glance: white for interior day, yellow for exterior day, blue for interior night, green for exterior night. A banner strip ends each day with its page total. Stripboard colors explained has the full scheme.
Here's Day 1 as a one-line, grouped into blocks:
DAY 1 PENTHOUSE (living room, kitchen) 13 2/8 pgs
1.01 1.02 2.01 3.04 INT LIVING RM D1 Clara look 1 2 6/8
9.02 12.01 12.03 17.02 INT LIVING RM D5 Clara look 4 2 2/8
17.03 22.01 INT KITCHEN D5 Clara look 4 1 1/8
LUNCH
31.02 31.03 38.01 38.04 44.02 INT KITCHEN D9 Clara look 7 3 1/8
44.05 52.01 52.02 52.04 INT LIVING RM N12 Clara look 9 2 2/8
58.01 58.03 59.02 60.02 60.05 INT LIVING RM D14 Clara look 11 1 6/8
END DAY 1 24 scenes 14 episodes 13 2/8
Check the page total in eighths: 22 + 18 + 9 + 25 + 18 + 14 = 106, and 106 eighths is 13 2/8 pages. The scene count is 4 + 4 + 2 + 5 + 4 + 5 = 24, matching the day plan.
Why the strips are in that order
The episode order jumps around: 1, 9, 17, 31, 44, 58. Nobody on set cares, because the order was built from three other things.
The set comes first. Living room, then a short move to the kitchen, lunch, kitchen again, then back to the living room for the rest. The kitchen shares a wall with the living room, so the move is minutes, but it's still a relight, so each room gets its scenes in one or two runs.
Clara's looks come second. There are five looks on Day 1 (1, 4, 7, 9, and 11) in story order, so wardrobe and hair make four changes, each placed at a natural break. Look 4 spans the move from living room to kitchen, so the kitchen block starts with no change. Put look 9 before look 7 and you've added a change and a relight.
Light comes third. Block five is a night scene in a living room with floor-to-ceiling windows. Grips black out the windows while the company shoots the kitchen after lunch. Shooting the night block last would be tempting, but the day scenes in look 11 need the real daylight through those windows, so the night block goes before them and the blackout comes down afterward.
Day 1 hour by hour
| Time | What | Pages | Running total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7:00 AM | Crew call. Clara in hair and makeup, look 1 | ||
| 8:00 AM | Block 1: 1.01, 1.02, 2.01, 3.04 | 2 6/8 | 2 6/8 |
| 10:00 AM | Clara to look 4 (15 min) | ||
| 10:15 AM | Block 2: 9.02, 12.01, 12.03, 17.02 | 2 2/8 | 5 |
| 12:15 PM | Move to kitchen. Block 3: 17.03, 22.01 | 1 1/8 | 6 1/8 |
| 12:45 PM | Lunch. Clara to look 7. Grips black out living room | ||
| 1:15 PM | Block 4: 31.02, 31.03, 38.01, 38.04, 44.02 | 3 1/8 | 9 2/8 |
| 3:15 PM | Clara to look 9, back to living room | ||
| 3:30 PM | Block 5 (night): 44.05, 52.01, 52.02, 52.04 | 2 2/8 | 11 4/8 |
| 5:15 PM | Blackout down, Clara to look 11 | ||
| 5:30 PM | Block 6: 58.01, 58.03, 59.02, 60.02, 60.05 | 1 6/8 | 13 2/8 |
| 6:45 PM | Camera wrap |
Lunch at 12:45 PM is within six hours of the 7:00 AM crew call, and Clara's call is also 7:00 AM, so it works for her too. Any performer called earlier than crew needs a separate check, since SAG-AFTRA measures the first meal from the performer's own first call.
The running total column is what the 1st AD watches. At 1:15 PM the company should be at 6 1/8 pages. If it's at 4 6/8, the afternoon has to change, and the 1st AD has a plan for that.
When the day comes up short
Say Day 1 wraps at 6:45 PM with block 6 only half done: 58.01 and 58.03 shot, 59.02, 60.02, and 60.05 not. Those three scenes are 8 eighths, one page. Because Day 2 is also at the penthouse, they move to the top of Day 2 with no return trip, and Day 2 becomes 12 6/8 pages. That's why same-location days sit next to each other.
The reverse case matters too. If Day 2 finishes early, pull scenes forward from Day 3 only if they're in a location you can reach. On a vertical series, a spare hour is often better spent on pickups or social content from the same set.
Tracking when each episode can be cut
Every episode is spread across several days. The editor can't cut episode 12 until its last scene is shot. Keep a small table in the production office and send it to post each night.
| Episode | Shoot days | Complete after |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Day 1, Day 6 | Day 6 |
| 12 | Day 1, Day 3 | Day 3 |
| 17 | Day 1, Day 4 | Day 4 |
| 31 | Day 1, Day 5 | Day 5 |
| 44 | Day 1, Day 2, Day 7 | Day 7 |
| 60 | Day 1, Day 8 | Day 8 |
Build the full version from the schedule by listing each episode's last shoot day. On ASHFORD HEIR, episodes that are completed early in the week can be assembled while the shoot continues, which gives post a head start and catches a missing shot while the set still exists. If you find a gap in episode 12 after Day 3, the tower is still available on Day 4.
Keep the paperwork in step
Every change to the day plan has to reach the shooting schedule, the stripboard, the day out of days, and the call sheet. With 24 scenes a day, that's a lot of strips to keep aligned, so update the schedule first and regenerate the rest from it. The call sheet for a day like this has its own problems, covered in vertical video call sheets.
Scheduling it in Storiara
In Storiara, you set the shoot dates (a start and end or individual dates) and each day's start and end time, then drag scenes and day breaks on the stripboard. Scenes are placed in quarter-day steps and individual shots in minutes, and the schedule flags a day that runs past its maximum length. A side panel shows cast, crew, location, and prop availability for each part of the day, for reference rather than as an automatic check. The schedule and the Day Out of Days can both be printed.