Shooting Schedule Estimator
Whether the day you just built survives contact with lunch, moves and the second unit. The calculator above takes setups, average setup minutes, moves and meal break and returns wrap time, overtime risk and recommended call time — computed in your browser, with no sign-up and nothing leaving your device.
Shooting Schedule Estimator
- Shooting time
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- Wrap (planned)
- —
- Day length
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- Sunset
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EXT setups after sunset get flagged. 30 min rig time after call and before wrap are included.
What the number actually depends on
A meal break is legally 30 to 60 minutes but costs 75 to 90 minutes of shooting once the crew resets.
Schedules that run past hour 11 have roughly double the error rate in continuity notes.
The gap between a number that goes into a quote and one that holds on the day is rarely the formula — it is whether the constraints were entered honestly. That is why the inputs are spelled out below.
Common mistakes
The places where the arithmetic is right and the day still falls over:
- Scheduling the most complex setup after lunch
- Putting the exterior at the end of a day in November
In day-to-day production
Camera wrap is 30 to 45 minutes before crew wrap — the last setup must end earlier than the plan says.
The number belongs in production planning — the point where a decision is still free to change. Working it out on the shoot day is no longer calculating; it is finding out.
In TillyGen this is not a separate step: the result sits inside the plan itself, alongside the shot list, schedule and call sheet. Change a constraint and the dependent values move with it — the affected parts of the plan are flagged rather than quietly left behind.
Frequently asked
How accurate is the Shooting Schedule Estimator?
The maths is exact; the inputs rarely are. Treat the result as a solid floor and add your buffer deliberately rather than smuggling it into the inputs — a flattered input hides the buffer from everyone who plans with it later.
Is the calculator free?
No. It runs entirely in your browser, with no sign-up and nothing transmitted. There is no usage limit and no account.
Where does this fit in production planning?
In production planning. There it is a basis for deciding; later it is only a finding.
Can I export the result?
The calculator itself only displays the value. In TillyGen it lands directly in the shot list, schedule and call sheet, and goes out as PDF, CSV or through the API to everyone working from it.
What does the calculator return?
Wrap time, overtime risk and recommended call time. The first value is the one you carry into the plan; the rest show how sensitively it reacts to the inputs.
What should I watch for in the result?
Mainly this: scheduling the most complex setup after lunch. That is the mistake that most often turns a correctly calculated number into one that does not hold.