Having a well-designed and properly arranged production schedule template helps you manage tasks well, especially when producing films. This document helps you maintain a balance between all of the tasks that pertain to your production.
Contents
Production Schedule Templates
What is a production schedule for film?
Producing a film or a even a product usually involves the pulling together of a variety of factors that need to go into a specific order or events that might need to occur in relation to other tasks.
In general, it can be very difficult to monitor all of the things that must get accomplished without the semblance of a guide like a production schedule template. Having a production calendar template can make the task of organizing your schedule a lot less difficult, whether you’re putting together a large scale production or a small film project.
Production Calendar Templates
Why is a production schedule important?
Creating schedules in most film productions is a lot like assembling a puzzle together because it involves several different factors, each one with varying priorities that you all need to consider when planning your production. This is when you will need a production plan template.
First, you have to understand that film production is not merely a case of choosing a script then simply conducting the filming from start to end. By experience, it is rare that film production is ever scheduled chronologically. If it is, then it’s only ever done for creative purposes since this order isn’t very efficient.
Moreover, it is not economical. In essence, you need plenty of coordination when creating your production schedule template to ensure that you capture all of the footage required in the amount of time available. You also want to make sure to stick with your production budget.
What does a production schedule include?
You use a production schedule template to make sure that everything in the shooting would run smoothly and that you meet all of the budgetary and time goals. Each project varies as each has its own requirements and specifications. But there are a couple of basic elements present in all production schedules including:
- The lining of the script
- Breaking down the script into breakdown sheets
- Scouting for a location and securing it
- Gathering the crew you need
- Casting presenters or actors
- Organizing the equipment you need
- Acquiring all of the necessary permissions and licenses
- Creating the call sheet
- Creating the prop list
- Scheduling the special effects
Production Plan Templates
How do you create a production schedule?
A film production schedule template is the outline and framework of film production and is typically prepared during the pre-production stage by the first assistant director. It is in this stage of film production where you would gather all of the pre-production data you need to create a realistic schedule for the whole filming process.
There are also other instances where you can use this template. For instance, when planning an event, you may use an event production schedule template. When you work in a bakery and you have large orders to fill, you can use a bakery production schedule template.
For now, we will focus on creating this document for filming. But you can use the general steps presented here to guide you in creating different types of production schedules according to your own needs:
- Break down the script
You can serve both your organizational and creative purposes by breaking down the script. When you do this, you’re “tagging” the items in the script so that you can come up with a catalog of what you need. This gives you a context for when you’re looking for locations and calculating your budget. - Create the budget
It would be very difficult for you to plan a production budget if you don’t have an idea of how much you’re going to spend. After you have completed the script breakdown, you can use the broken-down script to determine what crew case, and equipment you need and how much each of these will cost. Should you end up going over your, you have to review it to find out where you can cut costs. - Decide the equipment to use
Since you’re done with the budget, the next step is to use this to determine what type of equipment you can afford. After you have determined what equipment to buy or rent along with the dates you will need them, you can monitor everything using an equipment management and tracking sheet. - Create a schedule based on the availability of your crew
Today, many outfits avail of software to make their jobs easier. An all-in-one software for media management allows you to define your project’s milestones, checkpoints, and stages. When you use this a software, you will gain a better understanding of how to create an outline of your schedule once you have all the information you need. - Go through your schedule
After you have accomplished the previous steps, a budget and an idea of everyone’s schedule, you should now consider going over your production schedule outline again to make sure you haven’t bypassed anything.
This means you have to keep reviewing. This way, when you start creating your shooting schedule, you can save a lot of valuable time as you won’t have to second-guess anything. - Create your production schedule
Finally, you are now ready to begin the process of writing your production schedule. The best way to start is by determining the number of pages you want to shoot each day.
For a typical production in the film industry, shooting up to 5 pages each day is the average but this depends on the intensity of each of the pages and the contents of each of the scenes. For instance, if the scene requires extensive stunts or lighting setups, then you need to make more time. - Create the call sheets and distribute them
Now will also be the time to come up with the call sheets for each production day. Since you already have an outline of who and what you need and where everything needs to be, the creation of a call sheet simply involves the transferring of information from your schedule to the call sheets.
Then you would include other important information like hospital information or weather forecasts to make sure that everyone has all of the information they need.
