Call sheet examples. Three real shoot days.
Three complete call sheets, filled in and shown in full: a single-location short film day, a feature day with a company move over lunch, and an overnight exterior. Each one explains why the call times fall where they do, and each can be downloaded as a PDF or opened in the free generator and edited into your own.
Want a blank one to fill in? The free call sheet generator builds your own sheet in the browser and fills in the weather and sunrise times for you.
Short film, single location
A five-day student-adjacent short shooting entirely in one flat. Small unit, one location, no company move.
Why this sheet reads the way it does
- The general crew call is 08:00 and the first shot is 09:30. That 90 minute gap is not padding: it is breakfast, unload, and lighting the first setup. A sheet that calls crew and first shot at the same time is the single most common mistake on a first call sheet.
- Camera and lighting (DoP, gaffer) are called 30 minutes before general call because they start rigging before anyone else needs the room.
- Cast are called later than crew and staggered by when they are needed: Ruth at 09:00 for the morning scenes, Toby at 12:30 because he does not appear until scene 8 after lunch. Calling all cast at general call is how a low-budget shoot burns goodwill.
- Lunch is exactly six hours after crew call. Most agreements require a break within six hours, and going over is where meal penalties start.
| Time | Description | Scene |
|---|---|---|
| 8:00 AM | Crew call, breakfast at unit base | |
| 8:30 AM | Rig and light kitchen | |
| 9:30 AM | Ruth makes tea, watches the street | 5 |
| 11:15 AM | Phone call from the hospital | 6 |
| 12:30 PM | Relight for hallway | |
| 2:00 PM | Lunch | |
| 3:00 PM | Toby arrives at the door, argument | 8 |
| 5:00 PM | Ruth alone, final beat | 9 |
| 7:00 PM | Wrap, load out to unit base |
| Name | Role | Call | Phone | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ruth Adeyemi | Ruth | 9:00 AM | +44 7700 900412 | ruth.a@example.com |
| Toby Nkemelu | Toby | 12:30 PM | +44 7700 900518 | toby.n@example.com |
| Name | Role | Call | Phone | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nadia Rehman | 1st AD | 8:00 AM | +44 7700 900311 | nadia@paleharbour.example |
| Iwona Baran | Director of Photography | 7:30 AM | +44 7700 900622 | iwona@example.com |
| Dev Chaudhary | Gaffer | 7:30 AM | +44 7700 900733 | dev@example.com |
| Marta Silva | Sound Recordist | 8:00 AM | +44 7700 900844 | marta@example.com |
| Joe Hartley | Production Designer | 7:30 AM | +44 7700 900955 | joe@example.com |
Feature day with a company move
An indie feature shooting a cafe interior in the morning and a car park exterior after lunch. One company move, larger unit.
Why this sheet reads the way it does
- The move is scheduled over lunch, which is the standard trick: the unit is stopped and fed anyway, so the travel time costs the schedule almost nothing. Note the move appears as its own line in the schedule, with a time, rather than being left implied.
- Both locations are listed with their own addresses and access notes. When a sheet has more than one location, the schedule lines have to make clear which one each block happens at, or half the crew drive to the wrong one.
- Background artists are called at 10:30, an hour before they are in shot, for costume and a walk-through. Calling background at the same time as the scene is how a morning gets lost.
- Estimated wrap is 19:30 against an 07:00 call: a twelve and a half hour day including lunch. Anything longer needs a turnaround check against tomorrow call time before this sheet goes out.
| Time | Description | Scene |
|---|---|---|
| 7:00 AM | Crew call at location 1, breakfast | |
| 8:15 AM | Marek waits, orders a second coffee | 34 |
| 10:00 AM | Elin arrives, the offer | 35 |
| 11:30 AM | Argument, Elin leaves (background in shot) | 36 |
| 12:45 PM | Lunch, then COMPANY MOVE to location 2 | |
| 2:30 PM | Crew call location 2, rig level 6 | |
| 3:30 PM | Marek finds the car, exterior wide | 41 |
| 5:15 PM | The handover, two-shot and singles | 42 |
| 7:30 PM | Wrap and load out |
| Name | Role | Call | Phone | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marek Dolinski | Marek | 7:30 AM | +44 7700 901231 | marek.d@example.com |
| Elin Vargas | Elin | 9:15 AM | +44 7700 901342 | elin.v@example.com |
| Background artists (x6) | Cafe customers | 10:30 AM | via Casting Collective | bookings@castingcollective.example |
| Name | Role | Call | Phone | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tom Beresford | 1st AD | 6:45 AM | +44 7700 901453 | tom@brickyard.example |
| Hana Ito | Director of Photography | 6:30 AM | +44 7700 901564 | hana@example.com |
| Callum Reid | Gaffer | 6:30 AM | +44 7700 901675 | callum@example.com |
| Sofia Marchetti | Sound Recordist | 7:00 AM | +44 7700 901786 | sofia@example.com |
| Ade Balogun | Location Manager | 6:00 AM | +44 7700 901897 | ade@example.com |
| Kirsty Lowe | Costume Supervisor | 6:45 AM | +44 7700 901908 | kirsty@example.com |
Night exterior
A commercial shooting a wet-down street exterior overnight. Call is in the evening and wrap is the following morning.
Why this sheet reads the way it does
- The call time is 17:00 and wrap is 03:30, so this sheet covers two calendar dates. Say so explicitly in the notes: an ambiguous night call sheet is how somebody turns up twelve hours out.
- Sunset drives the schedule, not the clock. Rigging and rehearsal happen in the light, and the first shot is deliberately after last light rather than at it, because a wet-down street does not read as night at dusk.
- Second meal at 22:30. On a night shoot the break falls six hours after call as usual, but crews call it second meal and it is often the difference between a clean wrap and an overtime argument.
- Turnaround is on the sheet. With an 03:30 wrap, the earliest legal call the following day is on the sheet in writing so nobody has to work it out at 3am.
| Time | Description | Scene |
|---|---|---|
| 5:00 PM | Crew call, rig while there is light | |
| 6:30 PM | Blocking and rehearsal with stand-ins | |
| 8:00 PM | Wet-down begins, final lighting check | |
| 8:45 PM | Hero walks the empty street, crane | 2A |
| 10:30 PM | Second meal | |
| 11:15 PM | Car passes, reflection in the window | 2B |
| 1:00 AM | Product close-ups and inserts | 3 |
| 2:30 AM | Pick-ups and safety takes | 2A, 2B |
| 3:30 AM | Wrap, de-rig, street reopen by 04:00 |
| Name | Role | Call | Phone | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yusuf Karim | Hero | 6:00 PM | +44 7700 902321 | yusuf.k@example.com |
| Bea Lindholm | Stand-in / double | 5:30 PM | +44 7700 902432 | bea.l@example.com |
| Name | Role | Call | Phone | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greg Mullan | 1st AD | 4:30 PM | +44 7700 902210 | greg@secondunit.example |
| Lena Fischer | Director of Photography | 4:00 PM | +44 7700 902543 | lena@example.com |
| Ruaridh Byrne | Gaffer | 3:30 PM | +44 7700 902654 | ruaridh@example.com |
| Ines Duarte | Key Grip | 3:30 PM | +44 7700 902765 | ines@example.com |
| Owen Pryce | Sound Recordist | 5:00 PM | +44 7700 902876 | owen@example.com |
| Dani Novak | Standby Special FX (wet-down) | 6:00 PM | +44 7700 902987 | dani@example.com |
About these examples
The productions, people, addresses and phone numbers are invented. The practice they illustrate is not: the gap between crew call and first shot, staggered cast calls, a meal break within six hours, a company move scheduled over lunch, and turnaround stated in writing on a night sheet are all standard on a working set.
Every sheet here was made with the same free generator on this site, and each one is rendered by the same component that draws the live preview inside the tool. Download one and you get the exact PDF the tool produces.
Quick answers
What does a call sheet look like?
A call sheet is one page, laid out so a crew member can find their own call time in a couple of seconds. The header carries the production name, the date and the day number; a band underneath gives the general crew call and estimated wrap; then locations and the production contact, the running schedule of the day, and cast and crew tables with individual call times. Safety information, weather and sunrise or sunset times sit alongside. The three examples on this page show that layout filled in for three different kinds of shoot day.
Can I use these call sheet examples for my own production?
Yes. Open any of them in the generator, replace the names, times and locations with yours, and download your own PDF. They are there to be taken apart. The productions, people and phone numbers in them are invented.
How far in advance should a call sheet go out?
The night before, and no later than wrap on the preceding day. Cast and crew need it to plan travel, and anyone whose call time is earlier than general call needs to know before they go to bed. Changes after it has gone out are issued as a revised sheet with the version marked, not as a message that quietly contradicts the original.
What is the difference between a call sheet and a shooting schedule?
The shooting schedule covers the whole production: every scene, arranged into every shoot day. A call sheet covers one day, and is generated from the schedule once that day is fixed. The schedule answers when a scene gets shot; the call sheet answers where to be tomorrow morning and at what time.
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