The Art of Production Scheduling

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Garrett Sammons Garrett is the Creative Director at Nice Shirt Media and part-time film professor. With a primary focus on commercial cinematography, he also creates narrative and documentary films.

Written by Garrett Sammons

Every filmmaker has experienced that dreaded moment: it's 9 PM, your team is exhausted, morale is plummeting, and you're frantically relighting a scene that should have wrapped hours ago. The talent is giving diminished performances, the crew efficiency has bottomed out, and everyone faces an early call time the next morning. This all-too-common scenario isn't just frustrating-it actively damages your production quality and team relationships. The culprit? Inadequate production scheduling.

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Let's explore how strategic production scheduling can transform your filmmaking process and help you avoid the late-night scrambles that compromise your project's quality.

Building Your Shot List Foundation Before any lights are set up or cameras roll, successful productions begin with a comprehensive shot list that organizes every technical element you'll need to capture. This document becomes the foundation for your entire production schedule, allowing you to efficiently group shots and minimize costly setup changes.

The most effective shot lists capture both creative and technical details, organizing information from your script's scene headers alongside technical specifications that will guide your camera department. Start by documenting the basics from your scene headers:

Location specifics (the exact setting like Haunted Mansion or Edmund's Bedroom )

Time of day (typically day or night, though more specific designations may occasionally be necessary)

These fundamental elements provide the initial organizing framework for your production schedule. From here, add the technical specifications that your camera department needs:

Shot size (from extreme close-up to extreme wide shot)

Lens selection (wide, normal, or long lenses-or specific focal lengths if known)

Camera angle (eye level, high angle, low angle, overhead, Dutch angle, etc.)

Camera movement (static, pan, tilt, dolly, track, etc.)

Equipment requirements (tripod, dolly, slider, gimbal, etc.)

Subject information (which characters appear in each shot)

The final essential component is your description of action-what's actually happening in frame. This isn't about what happened before or will happen after, but specifically what the camera sees in this exact shot. This detailed preparation allows your entire team to visualize the technical requirements before arriving on set.

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How to order shots One of the most common misconceptions in filmmaking is that shots should be filmed in chronological order. In reality, professional productions almost never shoot sequentially-instead, they organize shooting days around efficiency factors that minimize setup changes and maximize productive time.

Professional shot ordering follows a clear hierarchy of priorities:

1. Location Grouping The primary organizing principle for any production schedule is location. When you're in a specific setting, you should shoot everything possible in that location before moving on. Every loca

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