Equipment checklist

What this is about

The checklist is written from the shot list, not from the shelf: every planned shot implies gear, and gear that no shot needs stays home. Grouping follows departments — camera, light, grip, sound, data — because that is how things get packed, carried and blamed. The quiet heroes of the list are the small rows: adapters, expendables, the charger belonging to the light that only works with its own. Ticked twice, at load-out and at return, the same list also closes the rental loop before missing items become invoices.

A template is the starting point, not the goal: once it has been filled in by hand twice, it is worth asking whether the document should come out of the plan instead.

What runs differently here

In planning terms, that means:

• Sections per department with a named owner each, because a list everyone owns is a list nobody checks
• A power block: batteries with charge state, chargers matched to their devices, extension runs and a distribution plan for the location
• Media and data rows: cards formatted and labeled, capacities against the expected shooting volume, plus the offload drives
• The small-parts rows — adapters, gaff, clamps, spare fuses, lens cloths — that end shooting days when missing
• A rental column with source, return date and condition notes, ticked on the way out and on the way back

Step by step

This order gets you there fastest:

1. Derive the list from the shot list: walk every setup and write down what it needs, including the rigging around it.
2. Group by department, assign each section an owner, and let the owners extend their own sections.
3. Charge and label all batteries the evening before, format and label the cards, and note both as done on the list.
4. Pack per department into marked cases and tick items off as they physically enter the vehicle, not from memory.
5. On location, keep the list with the gear so the pack-down runs against the same document.
6. At return, tick again, note damage while it is fresh, and report rental discrepancies the same day.

Common pitfalls

What most often goes wrong in practice:

• Ticking from memory in the warehouse and discovering the truth at the location
• No return check, so the rental house finds the missing follow-focus and bills it
• Packing by habit instead of by shot list — the gimbal rides along all week for zero planned shots

With TillyGen

Because every shot in TillyGen carries its equipment notes, the packing list falls out of the plan — what the setups need is already written down where the shots live.

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.