Free Shooting Schedule Template (Google Sheets + PDF)
A shooting schedule tells your cast and crew what you’re shooting, where and on which day. Get it wrong and you pay for it in overtime, extra location fees and actors sitting in a holding area. This free shooting schedule template gives you a Google Sheet that colors its own strips and adds up your pages, plus a fillable PDF in US Letter and A4. There’s also a filled-in example for a short film, so you can see how the days come together.
TL;DR: Group by Location, Count in Eighths
Break your script into scenes, measure each one in eighths of a page, then group the scenes by location. Put day scenes before night scenes, keep each actor’s days to a minimum and leave a spare day for weather. Copy the Google Sheet and it does the page math for you.
Download the Free Shooting Schedule Template
Copy the Google Sheet to plan and move scenes around, or grab the fillable PDF in your paper size. The example shows it filled in for a short film.
What Is a Shooting Schedule?
A shooting schedule is the day-by-day plan for a film shoot. It lists which scenes you shoot on each day, in what order, at which location and with which cast.
- Who makes it: the 1st assistant director, working with the director and producer. See our list of film crew positions for who does what
- When: in pre-production, after the script breakdown and before the call sheets. Our guide to the stages of film production shows where it fits
- What it feeds: every call sheet comes straight from the shooting schedule
- Other names: production schedule, film production schedule or stripboard
The name “stripboard” comes from the days of physical boards. Each scene was a colored cardboard strip, and ADs moved the strips around until the days worked. The colors still do the same job today, in software and in this template. A one-line schedule is the same plan cut down to one line per scene, so it fits on a page or two.
What’s in the Shooting Schedule Template
Two wide pages in the PDF, four shoot days in all. The Google Sheet has room for 40 scenes.
- Project header: title, director, 1st AD, producer, schedule version, first shoot day, total days and script pages
- Day blocks: day number, date, location, call time and wrap time
- Scene strips: scene number, INT or EXT, day or night, set and description, pages, cast, estimated time and notes
- Strip colors: INT day white, EXT day yellow, INT night blue, EXT night green
- End of day totals: pages and estimated hours for each day
- Cast key: eight numbered slots, so the cast column stays short
- Google Sheet extras: strips color themselves when you pick INT or EXT and D or N, and a second tab adds up scenes, pages and hours for each day
Shooting Schedule Example: Dead Air
Here’s the template filled in for Dead Air, a made-up 13-page short about a late-night radio host and a caller who knows where she lives. It has 11 scenes across three locations, shot in three days with a fourth day held in reserve.
- Days first, then nights. Day 1 wraps at 5:30 PM, so the crew can come back for a 5:00 PM call on Day 2 and start the nights. Flip that order and a 4:00 AM wrap runs straight into a 5:30 AM call.
- Group by location, not script order. Scenes 1 and 10 both happen in Nora’s apartment, so they share Day 1 even though they sit at opposite ends of the script.
- Chase the light first. Scene 11 is a dawn exterior. It goes first on Day 1, before the sun gets high.
- Cheat night where you can. Scene 10 is a night scene, but it’s shot on the day shoot with the windows blacked out. That saves a whole extra night.
- Keep cast days low. Walt (cast 4) is in two scenes. Both land on Day 3, so you book him once.
- Leave a reserve day. Day 3 has the parking lot exteriors. If it rains, Day 4 covers it.
The second page holds Day 3, the reserve day, the cast key and the notes.
Start with your hardest day.
Find the scene that needs the most people, the best weather or the rarest location, and lock its day first.
Everything else is easier to move around it.
How to Make a Shooting Schedule
- Break down the script. Go scene by scene and note the cast, location, props, wardrobe and anything special, like stunts or a car.
- Measure every scene in eighths. Each script page splits into eight parts, about an inch each. A half-page scene is 4/8. A page and a quarter is 1 2/8.
- Make one strip per scene. Scene number, INT or EXT, day or night, a short description, pages and cast numbers.
- Group the strips by location. Every company move between locations costs you shooting time.
- Order each location. Put day scenes before night scenes, and group scenes with the same actors.
- Split into days. Use the page targets below, then add up the estimated hours for each day.
- Check turnaround and cast days. Leave enough rest between wrap and the next call, and book each actor for as few days as you can.
- Share it and keep it current. Put the version and date on every copy. The call sheet for each day comes from this schedule.
For the shots inside each scene, pair this with our shot list template.
How Many Pages Can You Shoot in a Day?
There’s no fixed number. It depends on your crew, your coverage and how complex the scene is. These ranges are a place to start.
| Type of scene or shoot | Pages per day |
|---|---|
| Complex or visual scenes, like action, stunts or VFX | 1 to 3 |
| Dialogue-driven film or short | 3 to 5 |
| Contained, simple scenes with little coverage | 5 or more |
| TV drama | 7 to 8 |
The film ranges come from Jungle Software and the TV figure from Filmustage. In the Dead Air example, Day 2 is 6 4/8 pages. That works because it’s four dialogue scenes on one set with one lighting setup.
Here’s a quick sanity check for your schedule.
Look for your heaviest page day and your heaviest hours day.
If they’re the same day, move a scene.
Planning the money side too? Our breakdown of how much it costs to make a movie shows where the shoot days go in a budget. To build your own, start with our free film budget template.
Track each day against this schedule with a daily production report. It shows by Day 2 if you’re slipping.
FAQs About Shooting Schedule Templates
Can I Use This Template for a Music Video or a Commercial?
Yes. Treat each setup or song section as a strip, and use one day block per shoot day. Most music videos and commercials fit in one or two blocks.
What Is a Day Out of Days?
A day out of days is a report built from the shooting schedule. It shows every actor’s work, hold and travel days across the whole shoot, so the producer can book and pay cast. The status codes on our call sheet template come from it.
Should I Build the Schedule in Google Sheets or the PDF?
Use the Google Sheet while you’re planning, because strips move easily and the day totals update. Print or share the PDF once the schedule is locked, so everyone reads the same version.
The Final Cut on the Shooting Schedule Template
A shooting schedule template turns a script into shoot days your crew can follow.
Copy the Google Sheet, break down your script and group your scenes by location.
Then check your turnaround, lock your hardest day first and send the schedule out with a version date on it.
Jay Neill
Jay Neill is the founder and managing editor of iFILMthings and believes everyone should have access to the film resources they need to plan their filmmaking project, which is why he’s dedicated iFILMthings to helping all filmmakers.