What Is a Unit List? The Crew Contact Sheet Explained
A unit list is the contact sheet for a production: every department, every name, and the number that reaches them, carried behind the call sheet and in every glovebox on the show.
Also called: contact sheet · crew list · crew contact list
How it is ordered
By department, and within a department by seniority rather than alphabetically. Camera runs from the DP down through the operator, the first and second AC and the trainee, because the order tells a newcomer who to ask before it tells them who is called Adam.
Cast is listed by cast number, the same number the call sheet and the day out of days use, so the three documents agree about who number two is.
Why it is separate from the call sheet
The call sheet changes daily and lists who is called tomorrow. The unit list changes rarely and lists everyone on the show, including the people not working that day. Somebody needing the gaffer on a Sunday is not helped by Friday’s call sheet.
