Free template

Free call sheet template (PDF & Excel)

A call sheet is the one document every person on set reads every day, and a bad one costs real money: a missed pickup time, a van at the wrong address, a cast member in the makeup chair an hour late. This free template is the standard one-page format used on professional shoots — the same layout assistant directors have refined for decades.

Download it as a printable PDF to fill in by hand, or as an Excel spreadsheet to duplicate per shoot day. Both include an example row so every field is unambiguous.

Call sheet template (PDF)Call sheet template (Excel)

Free for any production, commercial or personal. No signup required.

What a professional call sheet must include

  • •Header — production name, shoot date, and day X of Y so nobody confuses versions.
  • •General crew call — the default on-set time; individual departments deviate from it below.
  • •Key contacts — director, producer, 1st AD, and a production phone answered during prep hours.
  • •Location block — address, parking instructions, and the nearest hospital with its address. The hospital line is not optional; on a real set it is a safety requirement.
  • •Weather and light — forecast high/low, conditions, sunrise and sunset. Exteriors live and die by this row.
  • •Schedule — the day's scenes in shooting order with set description, INT/EXT, DAY/NIGHT, page count in eighths, and the cast numbers in each scene.
  • •Cast calls — each actor keyed by cast number with status (W = work, SW = start work, H = hold), pickup, makeup, and on-set times.
  • •Crew calls by department — only departments that differ from general crew call need individual times.

The mistakes that get call sheets ignored

  • •Sending it late. A call sheet that arrives after midnight gets read after the crew has already planned their morning. Aim for wrap the night before, worst case before dinner.
  • •Burying the change. If the location moved or the call jumped an hour, say so at the top, not in a footnote.
  • •No confirmation loop. If you cannot see who has opened the sheet, you find out on the morning of the shoot. (This is exactly why Production Slate tracks per-recipient read receipts.)
  • •Stale hospital and weather rows copied from yesterday. Wrong safety information is worse than none.

Template vs generator: when to graduate

A spreadsheet template works for a two-day short with a ten-person crew. It starts to fail when the schedule changes daily and the same information lives in five documents: the stripboard, the cast list, the location sheet, the crew list, and the call sheet all disagree by day three.

Production Slate generates the call sheet from data you already entered — the schedule fills the scene table, crew and cast fill the call tables, and the location fills in weather, sun times, and the nearest hospital automatically. Sending is built in, with a per-recipient delivery board and no-login confirmation links. The free plan includes call sheet sending for 10 recipients per send.

How to fill out a call sheet

  1. 1Fill the header: production name, shoot date, and day X of Y.
  2. 2Set the general crew call time, first-shot target, and estimated wrap.
  3. 3Complete the location block: address, parking, weather, sunrise/sunset, and nearest hospital.
  4. 4List the scenes in shooting order with pages in eighths and the cast numbers in each.
  5. 5Give each cast member pickup, makeup, and on-set times keyed to their cast number.
  6. 6Add department call times that differ from general crew call.
  7. 7Distribute the night before and confirm receipt with every department head.

Common questions

What is a call sheet?

A call sheet is the daily schedule document for a film shoot. It tells every cast and crew member where to be, when to arrive, what scenes are shooting, and the safety information for the day — weather and the nearest hospital.

Who makes the call sheet?

Traditionally the 2nd assistant director drafts it from the stripboard and the 1st AD approves it. On small productions, the producer or production manager usually does it.

When should call sheets go out?

The evening before the shoot day — ideally right after wrap, when tomorrow’s schedule is confirmed. Same-day call sheets are an emergency measure, not a workflow.

Is this template really free?

Yes — both the PDF and Excel versions are free to download and use on any production, commercial or personal, no signup required.

Or skip the copy-paste: Production Slate builds tomorrow’s call sheet from your schedule automatically — weather, hospital, and read receipts included.

Start FreeSee the Call Sheets feature →

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