Filling in the fields
Start with the script length in pages. The field takes eighths, so 96 4/8 works, as does 96. If you only know scene lengths, add them up first with the page count calculator.
Pick a production type to load a pace. The presets are:
| Preset | Pages per day |
|---|---|
| Student or micro-budget short | 5 |
| Independent feature | 4 |
| Studio feature with large setups | 2 1/2 |
| One-hour TV drama | 7 |
| Vertical series (short episodes) | 10 |
These are starting assumptions written into the tool, not measured industry averages. Typing your own number in the pages per day field switches the dropdown to Custom.
Then enter the pages that play at night (INT and EXT night combined), the number of company moves you expect, and a contingency percentage. The tool has four results: the rounded estimate, days at base pace, days added for moves and nights, and days added for contingency.
The formula
- Base days = script pages ÷ pages per day
- Move days = company moves × 0.25
- Night days = (night pages ÷ pages per day) × 0.2
- Subtotal = base + move days + night days
- Contingency = subtotal × contingency %
- Estimate = subtotal + contingency, rounded up to a whole day
Worked example at the default settings
The tool opens on a 96-page independent feature with 18 night pages, 3 company moves, and 10% contingency.
- Base: 96 ÷ 4 = 24.0 days
- Moves: 3 × 0.25 = 0.75 days
- Nights: 18 ÷ 4 = 4.5 days of night work, and 4.5 × 0.2 = 0.9 extra days
- Moves and nights together: 1.65, which the tool displays as +1.6
- Subtotal: 24 + 0.75 + 0.9 = 25.65
- Contingency: 25.65 × 10% = 2.565, displayed as +2.6
- Total: 28.215, rounded up to 29 shoot days
Twenty-nine days on a 96-page script is about 3.3 pages a day in practice, slower than the preset. That gap is what the extra fields are for. If your producer says you have 24 days, the result cards show what you would be giving up: no contingency, no time for the moves, and night work at day pace.
Choosing a pace you can defend
Pages per day is the input that moves the answer most, and it's the one people guess. A few things push it down: lots of coverage per scene, stunts and special effects, children with limited hours, animals, crowd scenes with background actors, and dialogue scenes with many speaking parts. Things that push it up are single-location stretches, handheld coverage, and scenes that are mostly transitions (a car pulling in, a character crossing the street).
If the director has shot before, ask what they averaged. Otherwise take the preset, run the estimate, and then read how many script pages can you shoot in a day before you commit to a number in a budget.
Where the estimate breaks down
- The quarter day per move is fixed. A move across a parking lot costs less. A move across town with a lighting prelight costs more. Adjust by entering more or fewer moves.
- All night pages get the same 20% penalty. The tool doesn't distinguish a night interior on a blacked-out stage from a night exterior in winter.
- It doesn't know how many locations or cast you have, so it can't see that a day performer in three scenes spread across the script will force the order.
- Night pages aren't checked against the total. If you enter more night pages than the script has, the tool will still add time for them.
- Contingency accepts up to 50% in the field. Most planning lands well below that.
- It doesn't produce days per week, prep weeks, or calendar dates. Divide by five or six for weeks.
After the estimate
The estimate feeds a first budget pass (see the film budget estimator) and a prep calendar. Once the script is broken down, the 1st AD boards every scene and the real number comes off the stripboard. The shooting schedule template is the next document, and the first assistant director page covers who owns it.