VIDEO PRODUCTION CHECKLIST
Three phases,
one board.
What has to be true before you shoot, what happens on the day, and what post needs handed to it. Including the handoffs, which is where the expensive mistakes actually live.
Free plan coming late 2026
Works in your browser
No account needed to view
Used by creative professionals at:
Artlist
Pixar
Nike
Red Bull
The North Face
Porsche
Start from a ready-made template
Pick a board to see what you can build, then let AI fill it in. Every template is a real, editable starting point on the same infinite canvas.
Pre-Production
Pull the brief, script, shot list, and moodboard into one pre-production hub so the whole shoot is planned in one place.
What goes on a video production checklist?
A video production checklist covers three phases that fail in completely different ways. Pre-production is where almost every solvable problem lives: the brief agreed, the script locked, the shot list built, the location confirmed and recced, the crew booked, the kit checked, the schedule realistic, and the paperwork cleared. Shoot day is about execution and time, and its checklist is short but unforgiving. Post is where you discover what pre-production and the shoot did not do for you, which is why a good checklist treats post's requirements as items on the shoot day list rather than as post's problem.
The failures cluster at the seams between phases, and they are the ones a phase-by-phase list cannot catch. Room tone nobody recorded, which is a thirty second job on set and an unfixable one afterwards. B-roll that seemed sufficient in the moment and turns out to be four shots short of covering an edit. An interview shot against a background the brand cannot use. No slate and no synced audio reference, so the assistant editor spends a day on something that costs ten seconds. None of these are mistakes of skill; they are consequences of the shoot day list being written by people thinking about the shoot day.
The second structural problem is that most production checklists are written for a scale that does not match the job. Feature film checklists assume departments. Corporate and branded video is frequently two or three people covering every role, which changes what is at risk: not coordination between departments but the items nobody has any department for, chiefly the audio backup, the client approval before the crew wraps, and the file handoff that determines whether post starts on Monday or on Thursday.
Storyflow is an AI-native infinite canvas, and it puts the three phases side by side with the handoffs drawn between them. Describe the shoot and the AI produces a checklist for a production of that shape and scale. Then the useful step: draw a line from each post-production requirement back to the shoot day item that produces it. The shot list, the schedule, and the call sheet already live on this canvas, so the checklist sits next to the plan it is checking rather than in a separate document.
HOW IT WORKS
From a shoot date to a checklist that covers post as well.
No production suite to set up. Three phases and the lines between them.
01
Open a canvas
Sign up in seconds. No download. Your infinite production canvas opens in the browser.
02
Describe the shoot
Type what you are making, the crew size, the locations, and the deliverables. The AI produces a checklist scaled to that production rather than to a feature film.
03
Draw what post depends on
Connect each post requirement back to the shoot day item that produces it. Room tone, B-roll coverage, slates, and backup audio stop being things somebody hopefully remembered.
04
Work the board on the day
Open it on a phone on set, share a view-only link with the client, or export it as a PDF for the crew who prefer paper.
Pre-production, shoot day, post, and the seams.
The checklist next to the shot list and schedule it is checking.
AI scales the list to your production
A checklist for this shoot, not for a feature
Describe the crew size, the locations, and the deliverables and the AI produces a list at the right scale. A two person interview shoot and a three day commercial need different lists, and most templates only offer one.
See the pre-production checklist →
Post requirements traced back to shoot day items
Catch what only the edit will notice
Room tone, backup audio, slates, and enough B-roll to cover a cut. Each is a thirty second job on set and impossible afterwards, and each is missing from most shoot day lists.
Explore the post production workflow →
The shot list and schedule on the same canvas
Check the plan against the plan
The checklist sits beside the shot list, the schedule, and the call sheet rather than in another file, so an item like the schedule is realistic can actually be tested rather than ticked.
See the shot list generator →
Usable on a phone on set
A board you can open with one hand
The checklist is only worth having if it is open on the day. It runs in a browser on a phone, so the wrap check happens before the crew leaves rather than after.
Try the video production workflow board →Unlimited boards. No object cap.
Open a canvas, describe the shoot, and let AI produce the list. Storyflow is paid-only during early access, with plans from $7.99 a month billed annually, and a Free plan launches before the end of 2026.
Unlimited production boards on an infinite canvas
Basic AI usage to generate a checklist scaled to the shoot
Starter templates for shot lists, schedules, and pre-production
Share view-only links with clients and crew, no account required
THE THREE PHASES
Each phase fails differently, so each needs a different list.
Pre-production fails through omission, the shoot fails through time, and post fails because of something nobody did on the day.
Where every solvable problem lives
Pre-production
Brief, script, and approval: What this video is for, who it is aimed at, what it has to achieve, and who signs it off. A shoot that starts with an unapproved script is a shoot that will be reshot or re-edited, and the second one costs more.
Shot list and schedule: Every setup, with framing and lens, timed against the day. The most common pre-production failure is a schedule with no contingency, and the second is a shot list that omits the coverage the edit will need.
Location, kit, and crew: Recced rather than described, with power, sound, light at the actual time of day, and parking confirmed. Kit checked and charged, cards formatted, backups packed, and every role assigned to a named person.
Paperwork and permissions: Releases, permits, insurance, and client sign-off. This is the group that fails silently, which is why it belongs on the list rather than in someone's memory.
Short, unforgiving, and mostly about time
Shoot day
The first hour: Sound checked before picture, exposure and white balance set, cards formatted, timecode or a slate agreed, and the first setup lit while everyone still has energy for it.
During: Check each setup against the shot list rather than against your memory of it, back up cards at every break rather than at wrap, and watch the schedule honestly. The setup you drop at four is the one the edit will want.
The things post will need: Room tone at every location, a backup audio source, wide safety takes, and more B-roll than feels necessary. Thirty seconds each, unfixable later.
Before anyone leaves: Client approval on anything that cannot be reshot, a check that the shot list is actually complete, and both copies of the footage verified as readable rather than merely copied.
Where you find out what the shoot did not do
Post-production
The handoff: Footage backed up in two places and verified, a naming convention that survives contact with a second person, notes from the day attached, and the selects marked while the shoot is still fresh.
Edit and review: A rough cut for structure before anyone colours or mixes, a defined number of review rounds, and feedback collected in one place rather than as timecodes in three email threads.
Finish and deliver: Colour, sound mix, graphics, captions, and an export per platform with the right aspect ratios and specifications. The deliverables list belongs in pre-production, since it determines how you frame.
Archive: Project files, source footage, and the paperwork stored where someone can find them in two years when a recut is requested.
AI that reads the whole board as context
Ask what this shoot is missing
Generate at the right scale: A checklist written for a feature is worse than useless on a two person shoot, because nobody reads a list that is ninety percent irrelevant. Describe the actual production and get a list sized to it.
Find the coverage gap: Ask whether the shot list will cut, which post item has no shoot day item behind it, or what an interview setup usually needs that is not on the board.
It proposes, you decide: Storyflow structures and suggests. Whether you can afford the contingency in the schedule is a producer's judgment, not a model's.
Re-generate as the job changes: Add a location or a deliverable and ask what that adds. Items you have owned and checked stay where they are.
Explore templates for your project
Every template opens as a real, editable board on the infinite canvas. Pick the closest fit and make it your own.
Pre-Production
Pull the brief, script, shot list, and moodboard into one pre-production hub so the whole shoot is planned in one place.
HOW WE COMPARE
Storyflow vs StudioBinder, Notion, and a printed template.
Each is good at part of this: StudioBinder is a full production suite with breakdowns and call sheets, Notion is strong as a repeatable database template, and a printed sheet is the most reliable thing on a set with no signal. Here is where they differ.
Storyflow
Recommended
All three phases readable as one picture
AI scales the checklist to the production
Post requirements linked to shoot day items
Checklist beside the shot list and schedule
View-only links for clients with no account
Stripboard scheduling and budgeting
StudioBinder
All three phases readable as one picture
AI scales the checklist to the production
Post requirements linked to shoot day items
Checklist beside the shot list and schedule
View-only links for clients with no account
Stripboard scheduling and budgeting
Notion
All three phases readable as one picture
AI scales the checklist to the production
Post requirements linked to shoot day items
Checklist beside the shot list and schedule
View-only links for clients with no account
Stripboard scheduling and budgeting
A printed template
All three phases readable as one picture
AI scales the checklist to the production
Post requirements linked to shoot day items
Checklist beside the shot list and schedule
View-only links for clients with no account
Stripboard scheduling and budgeting
What creators are saying
Join early creators getting structured workspaces and AI that remembers their projects
“Storyflow has sped up my workflow by at least 3x, which means more flow state and more projects I can actually ship. It truly changed the way me and my team create.”
Reilin Joey
Director & YouTuber
“One prompt gets me a structured board. But the tactics are my favorite. I run my YouTube scripts through them and my intros and retention got better. It's amazing.”
Justkay
YouTuber & Freelance Filmmaker
“I used to juggle five apps to plan a project. Now I describe what I am making and get boards, lists, and a schedule. All in one place.”
George
@fernwehchronicles
Video production checklist questions, answered.
What each phase needs, what small crews miss, and where lists go wrong.
Pre-production, production, and post-production, and they fail in different ways which is why one list for all three does not work well. Pre-production covers everything decided before a camera is switched on: the brief, the script, the shot list, the location recce, crew and kit, the schedule, the budget, and the paperwork. Production is the shoot itself, which is mostly a time management problem executed under pressure. Post-production covers the ingest, the edit, colour, sound, graphics, captions, delivery, and archive. The useful insight for small crews is that post-production's problems are almost always created on the shoot day, so the shoot day checklist should be partly written by whoever will do the edit.
Catch it on the day, not in the edit.
Open a canvas, describe the shoot, and let AI produce a list scaled to it. No download.