How should film and television production plan cover for absence so work does not stop?

A first assistant director on a daily serial woke to a message at 4.45 am. The key hair stylist had a fever and could not come. The artist's look for the day was a bridal scene with a complex braid. The unit call was at seven. Nobody else on the floor could do the style. The day moved by three hours, the edit room waited, and the channel delivery slipped by half a day.

The question is how a production plans for a missing person so work does not stop. The short answer is to plan by role. A producer who knows the second choice for each key role, and has already told that person, can usually save the day. This post covers sets, edit rooms and offices in the film and television hub, with a method you can adopt in a week.

• Cannot start without them. Director, DOP, sound recordist, lead artists, first AD. A gap here stops the day unless a named substitute is ready.
• Slows the day. Gaffer, focus puller, makeup, costume, art director, continuity. The day runs but loses scenes.
• Absorbed on the day. Spot boys, runners, extra lighting hands, drivers. Cover comes from the pool or from a neighbouring department.
• Back office. Production accountant, coordinator, post supervisor. A gap here causes delays in payments, permissions and deliveries.

Tag every name on your project sheet with one of these four labels. It takes half an hour with the unit production manager and tells you where to spend effort.

1. 1

   Name a second for each stopper role

   The DOP's second is the camera operator or an agreed substitute from the bench. Ask them in advance whether they are free on the dates.

2. 2

   Keep a cover shot list

   For key artist absence, the first AD lists scenes that can be shot without that artist, so the unit can switch the day.

3. 3

   Hold a floating pair

   One spare lighting hand and one spare runner per unit, shared across departments, to fill short gaps.

4. 4

   Write the call-time rule

   If a person has not reported fifteen minutes after call, the department head phones the second. Write the rule on the call sheet.

5. 5

   Record it

   Mark absence and substitute on the daily progress report so rates, credits and payments match what happened.

Editors, colourists and VFX artists hold work in progress that sits on their drives. Use a project folder structure and a file naming rule so a colleague can pick up from the last saved version. Ask each editor to leave a one-page hand-off note at the end of each week: what is locked, what is pending, which notes from the director are open. Production accounts need the same: the petty cash register, vendor payments due and permission letters should be readable by a second person.

A small shared calendar for leave in the permanent core helps too. Ask people to log planned leave two weeks ahead, particularly in the weeks before delivery. Where leave is requested late, the producer decides whether the date can be moved, using the attendance and leave process as a shared reference.

ROLE: DOP; SECOND: camera operator Ravi; INFORMED: yes; LATEST DECISION TIME: 5 am.
ROLE: sound recordist; SECOND: boom operator promoted for the day; INFORMED: yes.
ROLE: key makeup; SECOND: hair assistant plus artist's own stylist; INFORMED: no, ask today.
ROLE: first AD; SECOND: second AD with the call sheet in hand; INFORMED: yes.
FLOATERS: one lighting hand, one runner, one driver on standby until nine.

Names here are placeholders. The column that matters is INFORMED. A second who learns about the role at 6 am is a rescue. A second who agreed last week is a plan.

• Night-to-day turnarounds without a proper break, which bring on illness and mistakes.
• Six-day weeks that run for months with no rest day, the main driver of absences in the second year of a serial.
• Late pack-up with no transport home for juniors.
• Unclear leave rules for daily-wage crew, who then come to work unwell or disappear without a word.

Write one page on how daily-wage crew inform the unit if they cannot attend, and what happens to their pay for that day. Keep it consistent across units. Compare how the documentary producers' attendance process handles long location trips, where absence is harder to cover.

Take the call sheet of your next shoot. Tag each role by damage. Name a second for the stoppers. Brief the second, and add them to the bench described in our post on how crews are built and dispersed. If you want help designing the routine for several units, tell us what you need.