Shooting schedule software for film and video production

1. List everything that gets shot

The basis is the shot list or the script breakdown. For every shot you need at least the location, interior or exterior, day or night, cast and special requirements such as a drone, a crane, children or animals. Whatever is missing here will surface on the shoot day instead.

2. Group by location

You almost never shoot in story order. Group everything that plays at the same location, because every move costs a wrap, a drive and a set-up. If a move can’t be avoided, plan it as a block of its own with a realistic drive time.

3. Lock the fixed points first

• Light: exteriors belong in the window between sunrise and sunset, mood shots in the golden hour.
• Availability: cast with only a few days, locations with a limited permit and rented gear decide which day gets what.
• Breaks and rest periods: in Germany, the Working Hours Act requires a 30-minute break after more than six hours of work and 45 minutes after more than nine. Plan them as a block, not as a hope.

4. Estimate time per setup

You plan time on set, not the length of the shot in the film. A two-second product shot with a lighting change can take an hour. Allow reset time for every lighting or camera change and leave some air at the end of the day.

5. Order the day

Start with what needs the most focus or the best light. Don’t keep cast who are only needed briefly on set all day, and schedule makeup and wardrobe before the first shot that person appears in.

6. Build in plan B and buffer

For exterior shoots, define a cover set or a backup day and mark which shots can be dropped if needed. A schedule without buffer is a wish list.

7. Publish it and keep it current

The finished day turns into the call sheet. When something changes, the change has to land in the plan and on the call sheet. This is exactly where spreadsheets and separate documents most often drift apart.

Stripboard or block plan?

A stripboard is the classic form of the shooting schedule: one coloured strip per scene, sorted into shoot days, with the colour showing interior or exterior and day or night. For long features with many scenes it is strong. Commercials and brand films tend to think in shots and clock times instead. That’s why TillyBoard plans each day as a sequence of blocks with time slots, and exports the plan as CSV if you want to keep working on it in stripboard software.

Tip: want to practise with a shooting schedule template first? The template below shows the columns every schedule needs. As soon as there’s more than one shoot day, software saves you the recalculating.