The Anatomy of a Call Sheet
In this video, 1st AD Alex Stein walks us through the essential sections located on a professional call sheet. Everything that Alex covers can be created with StudioBinder's Call Sheet Builder.
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hey guys it’s Alex Stein from StudioBinder
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and this time we’ll be talking in
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a general sense about the anatomy of a
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call sheet what should be on its what it
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actually does why you need one every
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single call sheet needs to have
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obviously number one the name of the
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production of the name of the production
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it’s got to have the date of the shoot
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and then it needs to have what day of
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the shoot you’re on also on the top of
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the call she’s going to be the major
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contact info like who’s the director
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who’s the producer who’s the upm the
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production coordinator the assistant
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directors all of that will be on the top
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part of the call sheet so that if you do
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have a question and you do need to talk
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to somebody this is who you should be
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calling somewhere up there is going to
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be the weather you have you know sunrise
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sunset the temperature whether or not
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it’s supposed to rain if there’s notes
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about parking there’s usually a place
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where you can have that in there like
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okay locations here but you actually
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depart over there next to that there’s
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usually a section that says location
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this will tell you where you’re going it
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will be the address of the location if
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there’s more than one location they’ll
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be numbers you’ll say location one
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location to location three it all has
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their own little address and then
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there’s an area that gets used for a lot
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of various things it can either be four
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special props that need to happen if
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you’re doing a stunt or an effect or
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there’s just general notes for the
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production as a whole like they’re going
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to be places you shoot and we’re smoking
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is absolutely not allowed you need to
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know things like it’s a closed set you
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know nobody can just wander in and visit
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or drop off your keys any of that stuff
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it’s a closed set that means the closed
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set you also need to make that kind of
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stuff very prominent the next biggest
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chunk that you’re going to get is going
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to be what you’re actually doing for the
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day whether it’s a commercial or a
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feature or whatever there’s going to be
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a little breakdown it’s going to tell
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you a description of the scene if it’s a
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day or a night shot how long it is in
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the page count which gives you a good
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guess of how long it’s going to take to
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film it and who’s actually in it you
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know which talent are in it do you need
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special props or whatever all that will
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be contained in this one little strip of
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a description and you’ll have a whole
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bunch of those two stacked up and then
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at the bottom of that we add up the
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pages so you know the total page count
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for the day there’s also going to be
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based on the production if you’re doing
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multiple meals or
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meals at different locations all that
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information gets contained on there
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it’ll tell you what time Neil is going
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to be because meal is six hours from
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general crew call always after we do all
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the scene breakdown there will be a
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little section for the talent that’s
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coming into the day they all have their
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own individual numbers usually and then
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it will have their real name and their
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character name and then it will say what
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time they’re supposed to come to set and
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if they have any specific notes like go
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to location one go to location to
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that’ll all be in their local section
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below them there’s usually one for
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background talent if you have any they
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get their own little specific area for
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that also on the top of your call sheet
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and it should be very obvious and this
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is something that always has to be there
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regardless of what you’re doing you have
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to know where the nearest hospital is
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even if you have multiple locations if
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you have to put multiple hospitals on
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there because your locations are very
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far apart you have to do it and it has
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to be the nearest hospital with an
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emergency center it cannot just be the
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local clinic it can’t be the oncology
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ward it has to be a full-on hospital
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with an emergency center because the
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only reason you’re going to be looking
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this up is because you have an emergency
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something else they can go in the notes
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of your call sheet is the walkie Channel
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they vary by production yo who’s using
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what and it’s always a good idea to have
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it on there somewhere it’s also
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something that people who maybe aren’t
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very comfortable yet with their walking
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they haven’t had a lot of experience
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they can reference it and they know I
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have to go to this channel to talk to
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these people
Create & send call sheets easier. Track views and RSVP’s instantly.
Create call sheets like a pro. Send via email or text. Track the views and RSVP's in a snap.
Create & send call sheets easier. Track views and RSVP’s instantly.
Create call sheets like a pro. Send via email or text. Track the views and RSVP's in a snap.
