A shooting schedule template
the AI fills from your script.

A shooting schedule, or shooting plan, is the script reordered into the days it will be shot, grouped for efficiency rather than story order: every scene at one location together, an actor's scenes clustered, day exteriors in daylight. Each day lists its scenes with number, interior or exterior, day or night, location, cast and pages in eighths, plus a page total. It is built from the script breakdown, and each day's call sheet is built from it.

Seven per scene: scene number, INT or EXT, day or night, set and location, a one-line description, cast by number, and length in pages and eighths. Each day opens with its shoot day number and date and closes with a day break carrying the page total. Add a column only when a department needs it, such as stunts, vehicles or special equipment. In Storyflow each scene is a strip carrying these fields, grouped under a wall per shoot day.

One day from a six day shoot: Scene 14, INT diner, day, cast 1 and 3, 1 4/8 pages. Scene 15, INT diner, day, cast 1, 3/8. Scene 31, INT diner, night, windows blacked out, cast 1 and 2, 2 pages. Company move, one hour. Scene 7, EXT car park, day, cast 2, 6/8. End of day 2 of 6: 4 5/8 pages. The diner is shot out before the move, and its night scene is shot behind blackout.

Not from Storyflow yet. It is paid-only during early access, with plans from $7.99 a month billed annually ($9.99 monthly). A free plan launches before the end of 2026, and anyone a paid member invites to a board joins free. For a free option today, a spreadsheet with a row per scene and a total per day works for a short film; it just cannot fill itself from the script.

Break the script down first: scene numbers, INT or EXT, day or night, location, cast and pages. Group scenes so each location is shot out before the unit moves, then cluster each actor's scenes, then place exteriors against the light. Split the result into days of similar page counts, check turnaround between days, and add company moves and meal breaks. In Storyflow the AI does the first grouping from the script and you make the calls.

The shooting schedule covers the whole shoot: every scene in every day, in shooting order, for the producer, first AD and department heads to plan against. A call sheet covers one day for everyone on it: call times, the day's scenes, cast pickups, crew calls, locations, parking and the nearest hospital, usually sent the evening before. The call sheet is built from the schedule, which is why Storyflow's AI drafts it from the schedule on the board.

Schedule around access rather than pages. List every contributor, location and event with the dates each is available, then build days around the fixed ones: an interview that can only happen on Tuesday anchors Tuesday. Fill the gaps with b-roll and travel, and keep a list of pickups for when access changes. In Storyflow the schedule sits beside the research and interview questions on one board, and a day is regrouped by dragging its cards.

Yes, as a draft. Attach the script as a PDF, Final Draft or Fountain file and the AI builds a scene index from it, asks how many shoot days you have and whether to group by location or keep script order, then lays out a wall per day with a strip per scene and a page total, naming any day that came out heavy. It does not know your actors' availability or a location's hours until you tell it.

Yes. Share a view-only link and the first AD, producer and department heads open the schedule in a browser with no account; they see the latest version when they open or reload it. Commenting on a strip needs a sign-in. Invited collaborators edit the board in real time on any paid plan, and anyone a paid member invites joins free. For a printed copy, export the whole board as a PDF.

Celtx is a screenwriting and production suite: write the script in it, tag the breakdown, and the stripboard fills from the script, with call sheets sent from Celtx. Storyflow takes a script written anywhere, as a PDF, Final Draft or Fountain file, and puts the breakdown, the shooting schedule, the shot list and the references on one board the crew opens by link. Choose Celtx if you write in it, Storyflow if the plan needs to be seen whole.

On a union feature or an episodic series. Movie Magic Scheduling is the long-standing standard there, with a day out of days, conflict detection and schedules for several units shooting on the same day, and studios often expect its files. Storyflow has none of those three. It suits indie features, shorts, commercials and documentaries, where the schedule has to be drafted quickly and read by everyone on one board.