What matters in practice
A shooting schedule does not follow the order of the film. It follows the order of locations and daylight. What runs as the opening shot may well be filmed on the second afternoon. That reshuffling is the real substance of planning: everything happening in one place happens in one block, because every move costs time nobody ever sees on screen.
What drives the scale
- The number of locations and the distance between them. Two sites in the same district are a different proposition from two sites an hour apart. One move easily swallows half a morning.
- How many people speak on camera. Every interview means setting up, sound, a quiet room and time for the person to settle.
- Whether stills are being shot the same day. Possible, but never simultaneously.
- Daylight and season. In November an exterior shoot is over by half four. In June it is not.
What must be cleared beforehand
On someone else’s premises the shoot depends on permissions the production company cannot grant itself: access from the site owner, the safety briefing for external contractors, agreement with the site manager, and for aerial work the permit situation plus the consent of everyone on the ground. Add to that written consent from anyone recognisable on camera. These things need lead time: realistically two to three weeks, not two to three days.
The buffer that is always missing
A fallback date for bad weather is rarely planned in and almost always needed. It is hard to recover later, because by then the weather is no longer the problem. The diaries of the people on camera are. Reserving it during the initial scheduling costs nothing. Hunting for it afterwards costs weeks.