There are plenty of production scheduling options out there. You can get the templates from studios – but they’ll have a myriad of position call times that you’ll need to ignore. I doubt your janitorial staff needs to meet with security before going through the walk-through of how extras will be handled on a certain shooting day. You’re more likely to simply use the reports in Final Draft and create excel spreadsheets. We have these available as templates and it is suggested that you create a calendar for every event before shooting and a spreadsheet for every day of shooting.

Start two months before the first shoot date. Bring in all of the crew and make sure they all get to know each other. Hand out scripts to the head of each department which have capital letters on the top every page PROPS, COSTUMES, MAKE UP, and CONTINUITY. Go through the scripts and have the head of each department make lists on the pages of the production script. All will have scene numbers and you can assign each of the department heads to get you a list of everything they have and need for each scene. It’s important to do this as a group because you’ll be surprised at how many props and costumes can be hunted down just by pooling the resources of your department heads. We had half of the props accounted for by the time the first meeting broke. The props master of course had to collect them all and label them by scene, but it was a great start. The costume designer will take notes of all changes of costume and arrange meetings with every cast member in the next two weeks. By the end of the month, she should have everything in her possession (unless you have to rent certain items) and be ready to hang them separated by scene markers. Some of your cast will have to surrender some of their personal wardrobe to accomplish this, but it is in the best interest of the production to have everything on site well before the shooting begins. The UPM makes construction notes, and starts delegating construction projects. We had to build a plexiglass picture frame that had a drainage system in it. What I’m saying is that some things need to be built. You aren’t going to find that kind of thing lying around. Include make-up and hair and bring some fashion magazines that might help them understand how each person should look in each scene. They can cut out looks, and put them in the script. It will look a little odd, but it’s better to have a good idea of every aspect of production than it is to expect everything will come together and have no proof of that. It will keep the engine going on those days when you think there’s far too much to do. Look at work that others have already done and it will push the production forward.

That meeting breaks and the UPM calls the next day to go over the main points with each department head just so there are no miscommunications. This might sound like middle management bullshit, but wait until you’re expecting something and the people who are supposed to provide it claim it was never mentioned EVER. If people are not completely clear about what to do it’s a coin flip over whether it gets done. Underline every meeting with follow up calls. It’s not annoying if it’s only once a week.

The rehearsal schedule can start as early as two months before shooting or as late as one month before shooting. It depends on the director. We at DS films like to split the difference and have a 6 week rehearsal period. Three weeks for each film approximately. Don’t try to switch back and forth between characters in one rehearsal. It can lead to bleedover from one production to the next. The real novelty of this production style for actors is that it gives them the chance to create two different personas, and present them to an audience emphasizing the range and abilities of the actor. Playing a dramatic lead then a thriller villain is really quite an intriguing jump – and people who watch the finished product get to see the outcome right in front of them, back to back sometimes. It’s a powerful statement if an actor really invests in both roles. You can help him do that by rehearsing each film separately.

One technique our director used once everyone was comfortable with the blocking and the action of the scene, he’d give the actors sides to a new scene with all of the character names missing. The actors had to read the scene out loud and decide who was saying each line of dialog in the process. The actors started out by making tons of mistakes but by the end of rehearsals, they’d gotten accustomed to the different voices of each character and they barely needed character names even for added scenes or altered ones. This rehearsal method stressed the idea of understanding the unique way that every character expresses him or herself. Once the actor tuned in, it became easier to shift from one character to the next.

The director had everyone rehearse the feature we were shooting second – first. He wanted to go into the shooting of the first film with the momentum of three weeks of solid rehearsal on the project. He also chose to shoot the darker dramatic script first. I think that was the right choice, but I’m not sure if it’s a rule or just something that needs to be discovered in rehearsal. The darker themes might have been harder to digest at the end of a grueling shoot. But, if a director thinks that he needs that initial burst of energy to get their comedy off to the races, I don’t see why the decision should be set in stone.

Rehearsals were color coded and blocked off in two hour chunks. The director often would spend ten hours a day working with five different sets of actors overlapping some of them and having others come for only a short amount of time. The AD was often called in to watch a scene that the director had put on its feet while the director moved on to another group. Having two connected spaces for rehearsal is ideal. We used a music studio that belonged to a friend (shout Mark) and utilized the many rooms to keep things in motion. Some of the actors stayed well past their allotted time working scenes with their partner. This investment of time and creative energy is one of those things that many Youtube productions just don’t make time for. There are fantastic ideas out there and wonderfully talented people to realize them, but without practice many of these collaborations devolve into blind stabs at brilliance. One in a million lunges into the dark hits the heart of the mark. Spending the time to shape a performance before you hit the set is the best investment of time that you can possibly make. It speeds production, it helps continuity, it gives cast and crew a reason to believe that they can be good before they’ve seen it on the monitor.

The rehearsal process should convince everyone that the scripts are pieces of rock solid art – but don’t buy into the bullshit. Under the surface, people are discovering things about your scripts that you won’t be able to predict. Some of the cast have questions in their heads. Get them out on the table and address them now. Wait until you’re on set to address these questions and you might not like the outcome. We had the writer pen another monologue for one of the leads because of something she said in rehearsal. The director backed the script, but then with some convincing, saw that the actor’s point really could lead to an interesting twist. Using the talents of those around you includes rehearsal. Don’t be afraid to change or add something. Don’t be afraid to let your actors use their own words (especially after you’ve gotten what you want from the scene). The factory-style of production puts so many limitations on what can and can’t be done. Break free of that paradigm and find ways to take risks that actually benefit the finished product. It’s our assertion that the people you cast are talented and might be stronger collaborators is they see the door is open to their ideas.

I know that anyone still reading this must be absolutely sick in the head devoted to making their film. I applaud you for that while wishing that I could confer our experience in more entertaining flourishes or insightful anecdotes. Know that when I say something that sounds painfully obvious to me it hurts, but at the same time I want everyone to gain a full understanding of what led our film company to put these methods into place.

I’ll talk more about the charts because I know that was one of the best organizers of the actual shoot.

Set up Excel with different columns for props, art direction, costumes, and the name of every actor who is going to be there that day. Color code the schedule with two hour blocks of time. In our case we went 11-9 and every two hours we had call times for actors. Actors were expected to show up thirty minutes before their “SET CALL TIME” to get into wardrobe and make up. You can use the pictures from costumes and the prop list from props to cut and paste all of the necessary items for each two hour block. Try to schedule people in long chunks of time and avoid the dreaded swing shift (scheduling an actor from 11-1 then from 7-9 that same night) it’s just common decency to treat everyone’s time like it matters. It does matter. Let’s face it, sometimes people are going to feel like their time was wasted. This happens on million dollar production days. The money just eases over any perceived slight. In low budget land, respect has to be treated like currency. This is a bit dangerous because if you give one person more respect on set, it’s like you’re paying them more. These people are actors and they can perceive a director’s inequity with the same keen senses that allow them to get into the minds of characters they play. Be considerate and organized.

We shot the first film, The Best Sex, in sequence for the most part. The build of the drama seemed to make it easier for us to follow this mold. This is not common. Usually you shoot out of sequence and build schedules around other details of production (it’s usually easier to schedule an entire day of “night” shooting if you’re in a studio because the lighting can stay the same through the entire day of the shoot). Our second film we shot out of sequence and other than a couple of arguments, or should I call them a new term that we coined on set “arguscussions” about whether or not a certain scene had been shot from a certain angle or not – we got the most of both experiences of scheduling. The first, I think, plays into the hands of a drama where characters experience big shifts. The slow burn of the entire set up weighs into the progression of the character and you can almost see the actors carrying it with them, layer upon layer as the shoot goes along. The second method is more efficient and it really puts the AD through the ringer. He or she has to keep detailed shot list records, but as long as everything gets done, it will save an entire day of production (in our case we finished almost two days sooner than we did on the first film even though the shooting scripts were pretty close in length).

Post the shooting schedule on the internet and get ready for at least one person to call that night with a huge problem. Change the schedule, post it, then repeat again and again until the first day of shooting.

Shooting schedule advice:

Schedule the night scenes at night. I know it’s kind of a “duh” thing, but the energy of a nighttime scene is a bit biological. Since you’re usually working with people with limited experience on a feature film set, it’s helpful to make things as natural as possible.

Schedule at least one full off day for your lead. Even if they are in practically every scene, find a way to shoot one day without them. As a director, you get tired, and you’re not expected to carry the story forward in a convincing way on every take. Our director would actually limit the number of takes for certain actors to keep them from losing momentum later in the day.

Realize you’re not going to please everyone with the way you schedule. You and the crew are there all day every day. Remind people from outset that there will be times when you will be running behind and that is in no way a personal issue. It’s a production issue and everyone should treat it as such.

Schedule your lunch hour with the AC and AD getting insert shots. It will help coverage and it’s nice to eat knowing that important work is getting done.