Crew Call vs Shooting Call: Film Call Times Explained
A call time is when a person is due on set, and a call sheet carries several of them. Crew call is when the unit arrives. Shooting call is when the camera is meant to be turning.
Also called: crew call · general crew call · shooting call · first shot
The times on a call sheet
Crew call is the general time the unit is due. Shooting call, sometimes written as first shot, is when the camera should be rolling, usually an hour or two later.
Departments get earlier times when they need them. Art and set dressing often precede the crew call by hours. Camera might be thirty minutes ahead to unload. Cast times get built backwards from hair, makeup and wardrobe, so an actor with a two-hour makeup call comes in before almost everybody.
Why they are staggered
Calling everyone at 7am for a 9am first shot pays fifty people to stand in a car park. Calling nobody early means the set is unlit when the actors walk in. Getting the staggering right is most of what an AD is doing when the call sheet takes an hour longer than expected.
What breaks it
Turnaround. Most agreements set a minimum rest between wrap and the next call, commonly ten or twelve hours. A late wrap on Tuesday moves Wednesday’s crew call whether the schedule can absorb it or not, and the schedule usually cannot.
