Build an equipment list

What this is about

Lists built from memory collapse under exactly the items nobody thinks about — adapters, expendables, the second charger, the boring half of every pair. A list built by department against the shotlist catches these, because each department walks its own shots and asks what every setup physically requires. The second half of the discipline is logistics: cases, vehicle space, a pickup slot at the rental house the day before, and a return day someone actually owns — because gear that comes back late quietly bills a second week.

The order matters more than the tools. Skip a step and you usually notice two steps later — by which point the fix costs several times as much.

What runs differently here

In planning terms, that means:

• The unit of the list is the setup, not the gadget: every planned setup interrogates the list with its physical needs.
• Expendables and adapters are list items, never assumptions — tape, gels, batteries and cable ties stop expensive setups when absent.
• Backups are planned for single points of failure, not for everything: the only recorder, the only charger, the look-defining lens.
• The list has one owner and two ticking moments: load-out and wrap — most losses happen at the edges of the day.

Step by step

This order gets you there fastest:

1. Walk the shotlist department by department — camera, support, grip, electric, sound, art — and list what each setup physically needs, including the boring half of every pair.
2. Add the power plan as its own section: distribution, extensions, adapters for the location's sockets, and a written answer to 'what if the circuit trips'.
3. List expendables explicitly — tape, gels, diffusion, batteries, cable ties — the cheap items whose absence stops expensive setups.
4. Mark single points of failure and back them up deliberately: the only recorder, the only charger, the one lens the film's look depends on.
5. Check the list against vehicles and cases: what does not fit does not come, and that discovery belongs in prep, not at the curb at 06:00.
6. Schedule rental pickup for the day before and verify contents at the counter against the list; missing items are a conversation there and a crisis on set.
7. Label cases by department and load order, and give the list one owner who ticks it at load-out and again at wrap.

Common pitfalls

What most often goes wrong in practice:

• Lists organized by excitement — camera complete, grip vague, expendables absent.
• No return logistics, so the rental quietly bills a second week.
• Nobody ticks at wrap, and the missing lens surfaces at the next shoot.

With TillyGen

TillyGen derives equipment needs from the shotlist it generates — planned movement, light and sound per setup become a checkable list instead of a memory exercise.

Change one constraint and the consequences travel through the whole plan: affected shots are flagged, the call sheet is regenerated, and nobody keeps working from yesterday's version.