The SHORT! Guide to Producing

Chapter 11Production Paperwork

Before You Roll: The Final Details

If you refer back to the timeline for preproduction laid out way back in Chapter 2, you’ll note that all the preparations are supposed to be completed by the start of the tenth and final week of preproduction. By that point, you will have drawn up contact sheets for the crew and secured all location contracts, and the director will have finished all the storyboards and shooting diagrams. If we follow this blueprint, just about the only things going on in the week leading up to the start of the shoot will be rehearsals, equipment pick-ups and some production paperwork. Of course, things never go entirely according to plan. A crew member falls ill, a catering deal falls through, ...