Building the Shot List

A shot list is just a table, and you can build a perfectly good one in a spreadsheet, a notes app, or on paper. The magic isn't the software — it's the discipline of turning your coverage decisions into clean, numbered rows that anyone can read on set. This chapter is the practical build: what columns to include, how to number your shots, how to order them, and how to keep the whole thing lean enough that you'll actually use it. Here's a working shot list for the scene we covered last chapter:

Six rows, six columns. Number, size, angle/move, description, lens, priority (green = must-have, amber = nice-to-have). Everything a crew needs to shoot the scene, nothing they don't.

The columns that matter

Start lean and add only what your shoot actually uses. A solid default set:

• Shot number — the unique ID for each setup. Non-negotiable; everything references it.
• Size — WS, MS, CU, and so on, from Chapter 3.
• Angle / movement — eye level, low, push in, from Chapter 4. Combine them here.
• Description — one plain-language line: what the shot covers and any key action.
• Lens (optional) — starts your gear plan and keeps the look consistent.
• Priority (optional but powerful) — must-have vs. nice-to-have, so you know what to protect when time runs short (Chapter 9).

Bigger productions add columns for location, cast, equipment, estimated time, sound notes, or storyboard reference. Add those only if you'll use them — an over-built shot list with ten columns you never fill is just friction. The best shot list is the simplest one that still answers "what am I shooting, and does it matter?"

A numbering system that survives contact

Numbering is the unglamorous detail that saves you on set. The standard convention: the number is the scene, the letter is the shot. Scene 42's shots are 42A, 42B, 42C, and so on. This does two vital things — it ties every shot back to the script, and it lets you insert a new shot without renumbering everything. Think of a new angle mid-shoot? It's 42G. Need one between B and C? It's 42BB. Your slate, your shot list, and your editor's bins all speak the same code. Never number shots 1, 2, 3 straight through a film — the first time you insert or cut one, the whole system collapses.

Order it for shooting, not for story

Here's a subtlety that trips up beginners: the order you list shots (story order, A/B/C as they play) is not necessarily the order you'll shoot them. Build the list in a logical story order so it's easy to read and check for coverage — but know that on set you'll regroup these into shooting order, batching every shot from one camera position together regardless of where it falls in the scene. That regrouping is scheduling, and it's Chapter 10. For now, list in an order that makes the coverage easy to verify: master first, then singles, then the tighter and supplementary shots.

What to build it in

Use whatever you'll actually maintain:

• A spreadsheet (Sheets/Excel) is the sweet spot for most indies — sortable, shareable, easy to regroup into a schedule later.
• Dedicated apps (shot-list and pre-production tools) add storyboard thumbnails and one-click scheduling; nice, not necessary.
• Paper or a notes app is completely fine for a short scene or a run-and-gun day — a list that exists beats a perfect one you didn't make.

Whatever the format, the goal is the same: a clean, numbered, shareable list your DP and AD can read at a glance. Print a copy for set even if you built it digitally — phones die, and paper doesn't need a signal.

You can now build a clean shot list from your coverage plan. But a list on paper still has to survive the physical reality of actors moving through a space — so next we connect the list to blocking and the camera, where staging decisions and lens choices lock your shots into the room.