Prioritizing Your Shots
Here's the truth no one tells beginners: you will almost never get every shot on your list. The day is always shorter than the plan. The filmmakers who thrive aren't the ones who shoot everything — they're the ones who know, before the day, exactly which shots they cannot leave without.
Every shoot day is a race between your shot list and the clock, and the clock usually wins. Setups take longer than you think, an actor needs another take, the light changes, a location runs out of time. So the real skill of shot-listing isn't just building a complete list — it's knowing which shots on it are load-bearing and which are luxuries. When you're behind (and you will be), you don't want to be making that call in a panic. You want to have made it already, in the calm of prep, marked right there on your list.
Three tiers: A, B, C
The cleanest way to prioritize is to sort every shot into three tiers before the day. That priority column from Chapter 6 is where this lives:
Must-have — the scene dies without it
The shots that are the scene: the master (so you have the whole thing), the key coverage on each character, the one shot the moment turns on. If you get only these, the scene still cuts and works. Protect these above everything.
Should-have — makes it better
The shots that add polish and editing flexibility: extra reactions, the nice OTS, a cutaway, an insert. Get them if the day allows. Losing one hurts a little, not fatally.
Nice-to-have — the bonus
The stylish extra: the fancy move, the beauty shot, the "if there's time" idea. First to be cut, and the scene never misses it. Never let a C shot cost you an A.
Mark every shot A, B, or C in prep. Then on set you shoot all your A's first, add B's as time allows, and treat C's as pure bonus — and you'll never accidentally trade an essential shot for a pretty one.
Shoot your A-list first
The discipline that follows is simple and life-saving: get all your must-haves in the can before you touch a single nice-to-have. It's tempting to start with the exciting crane move or the gorgeous insert — but if that eats your morning and the scene falls apart in the afternoon, you've traded an essential for a luxury. Bank the A-shots for every scene first, so that no matter what disaster strikes, you leave with a film that cuts together. Then, and only then, spend your remaining time climbing into the B's and C's. A day where you got every A and no C's is a success. A day where you got a beautiful C and missed an A is a wound you'll feel in the edit forever.
The overshoot trap
The opposite failure is just as deadly and far more seductive: overshooting. This is the director who wants "just one more angle" on every setup, chases coverage they'll never use, and shoots the easy first scene into the ground — then runs out of day and has to rush or abandon the hard scenes later. Overshooting doesn't feel like a mistake in the moment; it feels like being thorough. But footage you don't have time to shoot properly later is the real cost of footage you over-shot earlier. The cure is exactly the prioritized list: it gives you permission to say "that's enough, we have our A's and B's, move on" — the hardest and most important words on a set.
How to decide what's an A
When you're unsure what tier a shot belongs to, a few honest questions sort it fast:
- Can the scene cut together without it? If no, it's an A. If the scene survives its loss, it's a B or C.
- Does the story turn on this shot? The reaction that reveals the twist, the insert that shows the clue — story-critical shots are always A's.
- Is it my safety? The master is almost always an A, because it's the shot that saves you when you lose the others.
- Am I keeping it because it's important, or because it's cool? "Cool" is a C tell. Importance earns an A; style earns a C.
- Could I fake or fix this later? A shot you can pick up another day, or cover with a cutaway, drops in priority.
Do this honestly and most scenes resolve to two or three real A's, a handful of B's, and a couple of C's. That clarity is what lets you move fast and calm on the day — you're not deciding what matters under pressure, you're just executing a ranking you already trust.
The worst day of my directing life was a location we had for exactly four hours. I fell in love with a complicated opening shot and burned ninety minutes on it — a gorgeous C-list move. Then I looked up and realized I hadn't shot a single piece of the actual scene, the A-list coverage the whole location existed for. We rushed the rest and I lost a key reaction I still miss. Now every shot on my list wears a letter, and the rule is absolute: A's first, always, no exceptions. The beautiful shot is only beautiful if the scene around it exists. Prioritize like the clock is your enemy, because it is. — WR
A prioritized shot list is what turns a plan into something that survives a real, imperfect day. It's also the input to the last planning step: taking your list and shaping it into an actual shooting schedule, so you know not just what matters, but in what order to shoot it. That's next.
Turn your shot list into visuals — sketch each shot's framing so your crew sees the plan, not just reads it. The fastest way to walk a scene before you ever roll.