The tracker above is the SALT FLATS pre-production checklist as it stood on Tuesday, September 29, six days before Day 1. Most of it is done. Two items are late, and both have a direct effect on shoot days, which is what a checklist with owners and dates is supposed to make obvious.
If you need the full list of what goes into prep, start with the indie film pre-production checklist. That post covers every area of prep. This template is the working version: fewer words per task, and a name and a date on every line.
How the template is organized
Tasks are grouped by prep week instead of by department. A department list tells you everything locations has to do. A week list tells you what has to be finished by Friday. In the last three weeks before shooting, the second question matters more.
Each row has five columns. Task is written so that "done" is unambiguous: "Ruiz House and salvage yard agreements signed" instead of "locations". Owner is one person, with their role. Due is a date from the production calendar. Status uses four values: Done, In progress, Not started, and Late. Notes is where you say what an item is waiting on, or what's waiting on it.
How to set it up for your film
- Put Day 1 in the header. Every due date is counted back from it.
- Copy the prep weeks from your production calendar and create one section per week, plus a section for work before prep and one for the day before Day 1.
- Add the tasks from the blog checklist that apply to your film, and delete the ones that don't. SALT FLATS has no minors, no animals, and no VFX shots to plan on set, so none of those rows exist.
- Add tasks your film has that a generic list won't: picture vehicles, the stunt review for Scene 39, the county road permit for the driving day.
- Assign exactly one owner per task. If two people share a task, split it into two tasks.
- Set due dates from dependencies. The tech scout needs every location signed, so the agreements are due before 9/30. The budget needs the schedule and DOOD, so it's due after 9/23.
- Write the dependency in Notes whenever a task blocks another one.
- Review the list weekly in prep and daily in the last week. Update statuses before the meeting, not during it.
- Mark anything past its due date and not done as Late, and write in Notes what's being done about it.
Reading the SALT FLATS list on 9/29
The two late items are the ones that would be discussed first at the prep meeting.
The orchard road agreement is late, and the tech scout on 9/30 depends on it. Day 12 is the orchard night, so there's time to shoot it even if the agreement comes in a week later, but the tech scout can't bring department heads onto the property without it. The location manager either gets a signature on Tuesday or schedules a separate orchard visit later in the week.
Earl's deal memo is late because it's with the agent. Ray Oberst doesn't work until Day 7, so this won't stop the shoot. It still needs to be done before Earl works, and his day out of days dates (SW Day 7, WF Day 8) should be in the memo.
The county road permit is in progress with an application on file. It's for Day 8, the tow rig day, so the notes should get a follow-up date if it isn't approved by the production meeting.
"Nearest ER confirmed for every location" is not started and due Friday. It's easy to leave until the last minute, and it goes on every call sheet. The salt flats ranch is the one to check first, because it's the farthest from town.
Mistakes that make a checklist useless
Tasks without owners. "Get permits" with no name on it is everyone's job, which means nobody does it.
Status that nobody updates. If the list says "Not started" for things everyone knows are done, people stop reading it. The coordinator should update it before each meeting.
Everything due "before Day 1". That date has no information. A breakdown due 9/16 and a call sheet due 10/4 are very different kinds of work.
No dependencies. The late orchard agreement looks like a small problem until the Notes column says the tech scout depends on it.
Checking tasks off when they're "basically done". A deal memo that's agreed but not signed isn't done. Use In progress.
Documents this checklist points to
Most rows end in a document. The breakdown rows produce script breakdown sheets. The casting and crew rows produce the crew deal memo and cast deal memo. The location rows produce signed agreements and location release forms. The schedule rows produce the stripboard, one-line, and DOOD, and the last row is the first call sheet.
In Storiara
Several rows on this list come from the script in Storiara: scenes with page counts in eighths, breakdown elements, the schedule, the DOOD, and call sheets. The Locations module holds each location's address, photos, parking map, and availability dates, but signed agreements are tracked on a list like this one. See the locations feature page.