A production manager hires a clapper-loader on Tuesday for a Thursday call-time. The boy turns up at 6 a.m. at the wrong gate, has no gate-pass, is not on the crew-list and is asked by the second assistant director to carry a dolly track. By lunch he does not know whom he reports to. At wrap he asks how much he will be paid and when. Nobody has the deal memo. He does not come back on Friday. The unit loses a pair of hands for a week.
Crews are built fast and let go fast, but the first thirty days of a shoot still decide who stays, who does good work and who is called again. This guide sets out a plan that fits a shoot's pace. It sits within the wider film and television production hub and uses the general onboarding process as its base.
Before call-time: the deal memo and the crew-list
Two documents need to exist before a new joiner reaches the set. The first is a one-page deal memo: role, department, day-rate or weekly-rate, overtime rule, meal-break, wrap-payment date, who approves hours, and whom to call. The second is an entry on the crew-list so the gate, the vanity-van allocation and the catering count all include the person.
Name, phone, department (camera / sound / art / costume / makeup / production / lights).
Role and reporting line: for example focus-puller to DOP.
Rate: day-rate or weekly-rate, with the length of a standard day.
Overtime rule after the standard day and who signs it.
Meal-break, craft-service and travel-day terms.
Wrap-payment date and the voucher method.
Confidentiality note on scripts, stills and dailies.
Signed by crew member and production manager, with date.Day one on set: a plan that takes forty minutes
- 1
Meet at the gate
A runner or production assistant collects the joiner at the gate with the gate-pass, so they never wait outside.
- 2
Read the call-sheet together
Call-time, location, scene list, cast, weather, nearest hospital, and the next day's pack-up call.
- 3
Introduce the line
Show the department head, the second AD, the production manager and the person who handles petty-cash and cash-advance.
- 4
Safety briefing
Fire exits, cable crossings, generator area, rigging-safety for lights, stunt zones, first-aid-kit and the medic.
- 5
Walk the base camp
Vanity-van, green-room, toilets, catering tent, drinking water and parking for the day.
Days two to seven: the working rhythm
By the second day, the joiner should know the daily rhythm: call-time, first shot, meal-break, wrap, pack-up. The department head should give one clear job and one clear goal for the first week. Confirm hours at the end of each shoot day on a short sign-off slip, not at the month end. Overtime is the most common argument in a crew, and it is cheaper to settle on the day.
- Hours slip signed by the second AD before wrap.
- Overtime noted in minutes with the reason.
- Cash-advance recorded in a voucher, repaid from wrap-payment.
- Travel-day and outstation allowance recorded the same day.
Weeks two to four: pay, check-ins and skills
Pay the first wrap-payment on the date written in the deal memo, whatever the producer's cash position. A late first payment teaches the crew what the company is like. In week two, the production manager has a five-minute check-in with each new joiner: what is unclear, what is missing, what slows them. In week three, the department head shares one thing to improve. In week four, the junior shadows a senior for one day on a job they will own next time.
For documentary and short-form work the same plan fits with a smaller crew. See how documentary producers handle onboarding and how film studios record attendance for examples of a short plan on a small unit.
Day thirty: who is called back
At the end of the first month, the production manager and head of department write two lines for each new joiner: what they did well, what to improve, and whether they would be called back. Keep the lines in a small crew database with phone, rate, department and availability. This is the quiet asset of a production house: the list of dependable people. Without it, each project starts from a stranger's recommendation.
What to set up this week
Draft the one-page deal memo and a half-page safety talk. Appoint a person on each unit to meet new joiners at the gate. Add the day-thirty note to your crew database. If you want help turning these into a production-wide routine, send us your requirements.
