Filmmaking Craft / Business & Media
Shot list template and call sheet template for documentary shoots
A copyable shot list template and call sheet template for documentary days, with a worked example and why a documentary list plans coverage, not a script. Some links here are affiliate links.
In this piece (7 parts)
Every documentary shoot day costs money whether or not the camera rolls, and two plain documents decide how much of that day ends up on the timeline. One is the shot list. The other is the call sheet. Below you will find a shot list template and a call sheet template to copy into a spreadsheet tonight, a filled-in example of each, and some notes on why the documentary versions look different from the ones in fiction textbooks.
I come at this from the budget side. When I read a production plan, the line I study hardest is the number of shoot days, because days are where small budgets bleed: crew fees, rentals, travel, meals, and a contributor's time away from work. A good shot list makes each day count. A good call sheet gets everyone to the right door at the right time with the batteries charged.
How a documentary shot list differs from fiction
In fiction the shot list follows a script. The scene already exists on the page, the director breaks it into setups, and the list says which angles will cover which lines. Nothing happens unless someone stages it.
A documentary shot list cannot work that way, because the scene has not happened yet and may never happen the way you pictured it. So the list is a record of intentions and coverage. It names what you hope to see, what the edit will need whatever happens, and what you would kick yourself for missing. It is organized by sequence or situation (the shop opening, the council meeting, the drive home) rather than by numbered script scene, and it leaves room for the moment nobody planned that turns out to be the film.
I sort every line into one of three kinds:
- Musts: shots the edit cannot do without. An establishing view of each place, the faces of the people in the scene, a clean exit so the sequence can end.
- Coverage: details, hands, inserts and cutaways that let an editor compress twenty minutes of life into ninety seconds. Editors ask for these more than for anything else, and they are the first thing a tired crew skips.
- Hopes: the thing you think might happen. The first customer, the phone call, the argument at the counter. Write them down so the camera is ready, and never build the schedule around them.
Most of those lines come out of research. The archive search, the pre-interview, the walk round the location with a notebook at the hour you plan to film: that is where you learn which details carry meaning. Our craft guide to background research covers the groundwork. The shot list is where it turns into pictures.
A shot list template you can copy
Copy the header row into a spreadsheet and keep the columns in this order. The rows under it are a shot list example for one invented sequence, a neighbourhood bakery opening before dawn, so you can see how much (and how little) goes in each cell.
| Sequence | Shot | Size and angle | Movement | Subject or action | Sound | Notes | Done |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Bakery opens | 1.1 | Wide, eye level, from across the street | Static, tripod | Shopfront dark, then lights come on | Sync, street ambience | Must. In position before the lights | |
| 1 Bakery opens | 1.2 | Medium, over the shoulder | Handheld | Baker turns the key, switches on the ovens | Sync | Must. Follow, do not direct | |
| 1 Bakery opens | 1.3 | Close-up, high angle | Static | Hands shaping dough on the bench | Sync | Coverage. Several minutes, two lenses | |
| 1 Bakery opens | 1.4 | Extreme close-up | Slow push or static | Oven door, steam, first tray out | Sync | Coverage. Watch for lens fog | |
| 1 Bakery opens | 1.5 | Wide, low angle from behind the counter | Static | First customer comes in | Sync | Hope. Release form ready at the till | |
| 1 Bakery opens | 1.6 | Any | None | Room tone with ovens running | Wild track | Must. One minute, everyone still | |
| 2 Delivery run | 2.1 | Medium, from the passenger seat | Rigged, locked off | Driver loads the van and sets off | Sync, lav on driver | Must. Nobody operates a camera while driving | |
| 2 Delivery run | 2.2 | Wide | Static | Van pulls away down the lane | Sync | Coverage. Exit shot for the sequence |
Leave the Done column empty until the end of the day. Then tick what you have, and carry everything unticked onto the next day's list.
Reading the shot list example
Shot numbers follow the sequence: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3. They will not match the order of shooting and they will certainly not match the edit. They exist so the camera operator can say "we have 1.3, still need 1.5" in a few words while the baker is reaching for a tray.
Size and angle should use the shorthand the whole crew already shares: wide, medium, close-up, extreme close-up, high, low, eye level, over the shoulder. If your crew mixes terms, our field glossary of camera angles and shot types is a good thing to send round before the shoot. Movement is short too: static, handheld, pan, tilt, push, gimbal.
The sound column matters more in documentary than in fiction, because the recordist is often working alone and needs to know where to be. Sync means sound recorded with the picture. A wild track is sound recorded without picture, and room tone is a minute of a space with nobody talking, which editors use to smooth every cut in that room. Put room tone on the list as a line of its own, or it will not happen.
Notes carry the must, coverage or hope label, plus anything about safety, permission or lenses. Keep each note short enough to read at arm's length on a clipboard.
Interviews deserve their own list. An interview day is planned in setups rather than shots: the main frame, a second angle if you have a second camera, cutaways of hands and the room, the walk in and the walk out. Lighting, sound and the chair itself are covered in Shooting documentary interviews, and that piece pairs well with this one.
What is a call sheet
A call sheet is the one-page plan for a single shoot day: who is needed, when and where, what happens in what order, and what to do if something goes wrong. It goes out the evening before to everyone working that day. Fiction call sheets for large crews can run to several pages. A documentary crew of two to four needs one page, and it needs that page more than a big crew does, because nobody is back at a production office to answer the phone.
The call sheet is also where money hides. Parking you did not arrange becomes a ticket. A late call for sound becomes an extra hour on the invoice. A missing release form becomes a scene the broadcaster's lawyers will not clear.
A call sheet template
Copy this into a document or spreadsheet and fill in the third column for each day. The middle column is guidance, so delete it once your crew knows the format.
| Line | What to write | Fill in |
|---|---|---|
| Production | Working title, and the producer as the contact for questions | |
| Shoot day | Day number of the total, and the date | |
| General call | Time the whole crew starts at the first location | |
| Individual calls | One time per role where they differ, for example sound arriving early to listen to the room | |
| Contributor call | When and where the people being filmed are expected, and who meets them | |
| Location 1 | Full address, which entrance, floor or unit | |
| Parking and load-in | Where vehicles go, loading door, permits, who pays | |
| Location 2 | As above, with travel time from location 1 | |
| Nearest hospital | Emergency department name, address, phone, driving time | |
| Crew and contacts | Roles only on the shared copy: director, producer, camera, sound, driver, location contact, each with a phone number | |
| Weather | Forecast, sunrise and sunset times, a wet-weather plan | |
| Safety notes | Hazards on site: traffic, ladders, cold, heat, hot ovens; who carries the first aid kit | |
| Releases | Which forms are needed, how many printed, who collects and stores them | |
| Meals | Times and places, dietary notes | |
| Wrap | Expected wrap time, and where the cards and drives go afterwards |
Under it goes the schedule. Keep it to times, actions, places and roles:
| Time | What | Where | Who |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5:15 | Crew call, unload, set the exterior | Rear lane, then across the street | All |
| 5:40 | Exterior wide, lights on | Across the street | Camera, sound |
| 6:00 | Opening routine, ovens, dough | Inside the bakery | Camera, sound, director |
| 7:30 | Room tone, first customers | Counter | All |
| 8:30 | Break, offload cards | Van | Camera |
| 9:00 | Delivery run | Van, delivery route | Camera, sound, driver |
Habits that make both documents work
- Send the call sheet the evening before and ask for a one-word reply. A reply is the only proof someone read it.
- Keep contributors' details off the shared copy. Home addresses and personal phone numbers of the people you film go to the producer and whoever collects them, not to a group chat.
- Fill in the hospital line yourself, with a driving time you have checked. It takes five minutes and nobody will do it on the day.
- Treat release forms as a call sheet line with a name beside it. If nobody owns the job, the forms stay in the folder.
- Re-sort the shot list every night. Ticked lines drop off, unticked musts move to the top of tomorrow, and hopes that keep slipping become a conversation about whether you need another day, which is a budget conversation and better had early.
- Plan the last line before the first. Where the media goes at wrap, and how much of it there will be, decides how many cards and drives travel with you. The calculators in the Kit Room, file size and timecode especially, answer that in a minute.
Questions
What is a call sheet?
A call sheet is a one-page plan for a single shoot day, sent to everyone working that day, usually the evening before. It lists call times, locations with parking, the crew by role with phone numbers, the day's schedule, the weather, safety notes, the nearest hospital and which release forms are needed.
What should a documentary shot list include?
For each sequence: the shots the edit must have, the coverage editors will need (details, cutaways, room tone), and the moments you hope for. Each line gets a size and angle, movement, subject or action, sound and notes, plus a column to tick when the shot is done.
Do I need a shot list for a documentary interview?
Yes, but a short one written as setups: the main frame, a second angle if there is a second camera, cutaways, and the arrival and departure. It stops you from leaving with a strong interview and nothing to cut away to.
How far ahead should the call sheet go out?
The evening before is the usual habit, with a draft earlier in the week if locations or contributors are still being confirmed. Send an updated copy the moment anything changes, and say clearly what changed at the top.
