Dolphin Talent’s Acting + Industry Guide

Movie Scheduling

Most people know that when shooting a movie, the scenes are shot out-of-order to help save time and money.  It is the role of the person doing the scheduling to determine which scenes to shoot on which day.  However, there is a lot of time spent creating the schedule to dictate when the actors should arrive on set, when production begins and also to help create the budget. 

Here is a brief list of some of the steps involved in scheduling a film:

1. Read through the script and highlight particular elements of the script that will need to be prepared for each scene.  Some of these elements will include: cast members, background actors, props, vehicles, wardrobe, set dressing, art department, sound, camera, visual effects, etc.  You will want to designate a different color for each element, and then go through and highlight each element.
2. Once everything has been highlighted, you will begin with the first page and enter each scene into a separate page in the scheduling program.  Movie Magic is one program that has both a scheduling and budget version.
3. The default template will already be set up for you, so you will just have to enter the appropriate information into each category.  Each sheet will get a scene number, and you can designate each new scene based on the capital letter that clarifies each time the location changes in the script.  As a general rule, each time the location changes it will be a new scene.
4. It is important that you indicate whether it is day or night and then choose how much of the page the scene takes up.  Scripts are broken down into eighths of a page, so you can just guess about how long you think that scene is on the page. 
5. Then you will need to provide a short synopsis of what transpires in the scene and indicate which pages of the script you are referencing.
6. Next determine which day it is in the script or the fictious world created by the movie and also the location.  The location will be slightly more general than the set.  For example, Danny’s house could be a location and Danny’s bedroom could be the set.
7. You will then proceed to continue filling in each field and entering all the elements you highlighted in the script.

These are the first basic steps to highlight the script and enter the information, but the fun scheduling part is what comes next.  It is with the strip board that you will determine which scenes are shot when.

-Jenn