How to ‘Make the Day’ – Staying on Schedule as a Director

As director, your obligation is not to get the shots you want.

The unpopular fact of the matter is that as the director, your film, your art… it’s not the be-all-end-all.

Your obligation is not to get the shots you want. Your highest obligation is to deliver on your promises.

Your obligation is to people first.

Of course there are exceptions. Sometimes, everyone understands you have to push a bit further, a bit harder than planned. But it should be reasonable and it should be the exception–not the rule.

As a director, your promises are many, and they are all important. Promises to your crew. Your cast. Your executive producer. Your team. The location owner. The list goes on.

I bring up the distinction between total loyalty to your film and ‘vision’ versus loyalty to those you work with for a reason.

Respecting those you work with requires that you wrap your shoot on time.

I may be saying it is simply the right thing to do, but finishing on schedule has many practical benefits.

Why you should finish on schedule

So what does finishing consistently on-time, as a director, do for you?

You gain the respect of those with whom you work. Finishing on time means showing the location owner, crew, cast, and everyone involved that you respect them, their time, and their value as a member of the production. You are not taking their time for granted, but are keenly aware that each hour they work for you could be spent elsewhere. When people are being paid, they are often obligated to you to an extent. However, they will still appreciate your care in using their time wisely. This is especially important for indie projects where people are being paid a flat rate or are volunteering. Then, every extra hour spent on set is an hour they aren’t sleeping or doing what they need to do.

You establish yourself as a credible professional. You set yourself above the competition by conducting yourself in a professional manner and running a tight ship. This will foster an environment of accountability where you meet your obligations and people understand they will be held to theirs. Word usually gets around about how people operate, and people of a higher stature may be more willing to work with you due to your reputation.

You build trust, as people can expect you to deliver on promises. People may be willing to go the extra mile for you. Why? Because people know that if you ask them to go above and beyond, its the exception and not the rule. They know you won’t take advantage of them. They know that if you are asking for them to commit to more during a shoot, then you must genuinely need them.

You foster good relationships. This is very similar to gaining people’s respect. Those involved in your production will be more likely to want to work with you in the future. Many filmmakers will not treat them like you do. You will stand apart if you end on time and deliver on promises. Over time, this will build good relationships with people and you will be able to better rely on them.

How to finish on schedule consistently: general tips

So, okay… finishing on time is important. But how do we do that? Often it’s not a simple matter to schedule a production and stick to that schedule. There are many fluctuating variables during both prep and production.

I know that many independent filmmakers have struggled with ending in a timely manner. Personally, I struggle to end on time with every production. With experience, I’ve learned how to end on schedule with some reliability.

I’ve also been on many projects that ran over their scheduled time–sometimes by a substantial amount. I know from a crew perspective (and from experience) how painful this can be. 4 hours past the original end-time, you start to wonder why you ever committed to the project in the first place.

Part of the issue is one of experience. Sometimes, you just don’t know (or have a crew member who knows) how long certain tasks or scenes take to execute. You may underestimate greatly. That comes with the territory and is part of the learning process.

I’ll provide some guidelines that will make up for that and help you to become a filmmaker known for being reliable and timely.

These are guidelines for staying on schedule in general. These aren’t specific to directors and are useful for any filmmaker to know.

Schedule every step of your shooting day. Don’t leave anything out or leave something to chance. ‘Oh, I’ll just figure that out on the day’. Bad idea. These small, unplanned things (meals, lighting changes, wardrobe changes, makeup, and much more) add up to a significant amount of time. If you don’t account for as much as possible, your entire day will be thrown off. It could add hours to your day.

Here’s an example of my recent shooting schedule. You don’t need to get fancy – if it works, it works.

Schedule more time for each scene than you think you’ll need. Never schedule exactly how long you think things will take. It will almost always take longer. Even if your estimate is perfect, there are many variables during a shoot and something is bound to go wrong (or not quite as planned). For example, if you think you need 4 hours for a scene, consider scheduling 5 hours.

Schedule even more time for things you’ve never done before. It’s better to be safe than sorry. You need to assume that things will turn out a bit different than you thought. You really have no way of knowing how a new technique or approach will work, so you need to account for trying a few times or having to modify your approach. These things take extra time.

For my recent shoot, we were using a rain rig, so I assumed we’d need an entire hour to reset the rig, change our lighting, and be ready to shoot. I hoped we could use less time and do extra shots, but worse case scenario, we’d be covered. (FYI, lots went wrong and we ended up needing that time!)

Schedule more time for the entire shoot than you think you will need (if possible). This is especially important for short days, like half-day pickup shoots and other times when you think it will ‘only take 2 or 3 hours’. It’s always better to underpromise and underdeliver. If you think your shoot will only take 2 hours, assume 3 hours for some flexibility in case something goes wrong, and then tell your cast and crew it will take 4 hours. If you end up taking 4 hours for some reason, people will be more okay with it. They will be mentally prepared for 4 hours since that is what they committed to. You aren’t asking them to extend their commitment. If you manage to finish in 2 hours… great! Everyone is happy they wrapped early and you will look good.

There are many factors to consider when creating a solid schedule and accounting for the unknown. The above wasn’t an exhaustive list of how to schedule your film. If you would like more tips on scheduling, feel free to reach out to me. I’m happy to share what I know.

How to finish on schedule consistently: for directors

Like the above general scheduling tips, this list is by no means extensive. There are many facets to finishing on time, but here are a few.

Be willing to drop shots from the plan that you don’t absolutely need. As a director, you need to know what you need in order to ‘make the day’. Sometimes the pressures of time or practicality will call for you to drop shots from your list. You have to understand what you can afford to go without and be willing to not get it. Sometimes it is possible to combine 2 shots into 1. This is another good way to save time. If you are unwilling to drop shots from your plan and time is running short, you will inevitably run over-schedule in an effort to get the shots you don’t have time for, but decided to get anyway.

Discipline yourself into doing the important shots first. Whenever possible, get the key building blocks of your scene out of the way first. If you get the fun, cool, or interesting shots you want first, you could put yourself in a bind. What if you find that you didn’t schedule enough time for a scene? Now you have all the ancillary shots, since you did them first. But you don’t have the meat of the scene. Unfortunately, you can’t make the scene come together without the most important shots – which you scheduled last. You now have to go over-time in order to get those shots, or the shoot will be a failure.

Discipline yourself to not do shots you really ‘want’ but don’t ‘need’ (unless you really have extra time). In line with scheduling important shots first, you must discipline yourself to focus on what’s important above all else. Until you’ve finished the shots you know you need, don’t fall into the temptation of grabbing shots that you are itching to get. Finish the important stuff! Then, you will know with certainty how much time you have available. You can get whatever you want with the time left, then move on.

Be decisive and know what you want before you step on set. You will save a lot of time by knowing what you want. If you make a decision, your crew will begin to act on that decision. If you then backtrack or change your mind, your crew will have to undo that work. This will incur frustration from the crew if this happens over and over. However, it will also waste a lot of time. Sure, sometimes an adjustment or change (or two) is required, but if it’s because you have almost no idea what you want, then that’s a good sign you need to spend more time in prep.

Communicate effectively. Communicating ineffectively causes problems similar to being indecisive. If you ask your crew to do something, but your intent isn’t understood, your crew will act on what they thought you meant. When you have to try and communicate the same thing again, they will have to backtrack and adjust any work they’ve already completed. Miscommunication can happen for many reasons. Sometimes people aren’t listening very well, but if the cause is that your communication wasn’t very clear, consider working on your verbal communication skills.

Facilitate effective communication within your team. As important as your direct communication with your team is the communication between crew members. On my recent shoot, I noticed that my camera team had adjusted position and lenses to be ready for the next shot, but my cinematographer had not communicated with my gaffer the exact extent of the new setup. The gaffer didn’t understand exactly what we were doing – he thought our frame was different. This affected how he lit the scene (which wasn’t what we needed). I noticed the miscommunication and pointed out to my cinematographer what was happening. He understood right away and made sure to communicate with the gaffer going forward. It wasn’t anything personal and I have good relationships with my teammates, so they understood I was just watching their back (not stepping on their toes or micro-managing).

Finishing your shoot on schedule

Why you should finish on schedule:

1. You gain the respect of those with whom you work.
2. You establish yourself as a credible professional.
3. You build trust, as people can expect you to deliver on promises.
4. You foster good relationships.

How to finish on schedule consistently – general tips

1. Schedule every step of your shooting day.
2. Schedule more time for each scene than you think you’ll need.
3. Schedule even more time for things you’ve never done before.
4. Schedule more time for the entire shoot than you think you will need (if possible).

How to finish on schedule consistently – for directors

1. Be willing to drop shots from the plan that you don’t absolutely need.
2. Discipline yourself into doing the important shots first.
3. Discipline yourself to not do shots you really ‘want’ but don’t ‘need.
4. Be decisive and know what you want before you step on set.
5. Communicate effectively.
6. Facilitate effective communication within your team.

We all struggle with staying on schedule. It’s tough – production is tough. There are many moving parts.

All you can do is give it your best effort – so get out there and make something great (and in a timely manner).