How to Make a Call Sheet (with a Free Template)

A call sheet is one page that answers every question a crew member has the night before a shoot: where do I go, when do I arrive, what are we shooting, and what do I do if something goes wrong.

What a professional call sheet contains

• Header — production title, shoot day X of Y, date, and the day's general crew call.
• Scene table — which scenes shoot today, in order, with cast numbers and page counts. If you keep a shot list, the scenes should come straight from it, not be retyped.
• Cast calls — each actor's pickup, makeup, and on-set times. Actors' times differ from crew call; listing them separately prevents the most common morning chaos.
• Sunrise / sunset — exterior days live and die by light. Print the times.
• Safety notes and nearest hospital — the mark of a production that takes itself seriously.
• Tomorrow's preview — a two-line advance for the next day saves an entire round of messages.

The three-minute version

Retyping this into a spreadsheet every day is how call sheets die. CREA's free call sheet tool pulls scenes from your shot list, computes sunrise and sunset from the shoot date, keeps cast calls in their own section, and exports a clean PDF you can drop into the group chat. Free, in English, Japanese, and Chinese.

Start with one project title — the rest fills itself in as you plan.