How to Write a Call Sheet for a Live Event (With a Template You Can Copy)

A call sheet is the single document that tells every crew member where to be, when to be there, what they are doing and who to find when something goes wrong. On a live production it replaces about forty text messages. A good one is read once at 5 AM in a parking garage with no signal, so it has to answer every question on one page without scrolling or searching.

This is what belongs on it, in the order a crew member actually needs it, and a template you can copy.

What is a call sheet in live production?

A call sheet is a per-day schedule issued to a working crew that lists individual call times by person and department, the venue and dock details, the run of the day, the contacts on site, and the pay and break rules in force. It differs from a production schedule, which covers the whole project across multiple days, and from a shift roster, which lists who is booked without the operational detail.

In film the call sheet is a formal document with decades of convention behind it. In live events, corporate AV and staging it is looser, which is exactly why it goes wrong. Everyone builds their own in a word processor, nobody updates the copy the crew head is holding, and the version in someone's email from Tuesday is the one that gets followed on Saturday.

What goes on a live event call sheet?

In this order, because this is the order a technician needs it standing at a loading dock:

1. Header: what, where, when. Event name, day number if it is a multi-day project ("Day 2 of 4"), the date spelled out, the venue name and full street address, and the general crew call time in the venue's own local time with the timezone stated. A crew flying in from Los Angeles for a New York load-in should never have to work out which clock you meant.

2. Access and dock. Which dock, which door, which elevator, whether there is a security check-in, whether a badge or photo ID is required, parking instructions and whether parking is reimbursed. This is the section that saves the most phone calls. Put it above the crew list.

3. Individual call times by department. Not one time for everyone. Riggers at 05:00, electricians at 06:30, video at 08:00, graphics at 11:00. Each person's name, their role on this call, and their own call time. A technician should find their own name in under three seconds.

4. Run of day. Load-in, focus, soundcheck, doors, show, wrap, strike. Approximate is fine; absent is not. The crew makes better decisions about pacing when they can see the shape of the day.

5. Contacts. Production manager, crew head or steward, client contact, venue contact, with mobile numbers that are actually answered. One name should be clearly marked as the person to call first.

6. Pay and break rules in force. Overtime threshold, night premium window if one applies, meal break timing and whether it is paid. Printing this on the call sheet ends most timesheet disputes before they happen, because the rules were in everyone's hand before the first hour was worked.

7. Safety and dress. PPE requirements, blacks, closed-toe boots, harness and fall protection expectations, any venue-specific rules.

8. A blank In / Out / Initials column. Even with a digital clock-in, a paper column on the printed sheet is what the crew head uses when a phone dies. It costs nothing and it has saved many a payroll week.

Call sheet template

Copy this, replace the bracketed parts, keep the order.

[COMPANY NAME]                          CALL SHEET
[EVENT NAME]                            Day [2] of [4]
[Saturday, October 10, 2026]            [Eastern, EDT]

VENUE      [Venue name]
ADDRESS    [Street, City, State ZIP]
DOCK       [Dock 4, 11th Ave side. Freight elevator to Level 2.]
ACCESS     [Photo ID at security desk. Badges issued on site.]
PARKING    [Lot B, validated. Enter on 39th.]

GENERAL CREW CALL   [06:00]        WRAP (EST.)   [22:00]

-------------------------------------------------------------
CALL   NAME                ROLE                  DEPT
-------------------------------------------------------------
05:00  [Name]              Head Rigger           Rigging
05:00  [Name]              Rigger                Rigging
06:00  [Name]              Crew Head             Lighting
06:00  [Name]              Electrician           Lighting
06:30  [Name]              Stagehand             Staging
08:00  [Name]              Video Tech            Video
11:00  [Name]              Graphics Operator     Video
-------------------------------------------------------------

RUN OF DAY
06:00  Load-in begins, trucks 1 and 2
09:30  Rigging complete, lighting flies
13:00  Meal break (30 min, unpaid)
14:00  Focus
17:00  Soundcheck
19:00  Doors
20:00  Show
22:00  Wrap, strike call follows

CONTACTS
Production Manager   [Name]  [Mobile]   <- call first
Crew Head            [Name]  [Mobile]
Client               [Name]  [Mobile]
Venue Ops            [Name]  [Mobile]

PAY RULES IN FORCE
Overtime after 8 hours at 1.5x
Night premium 00:00 to 06:00
Unpaid meal break 30 min after 5 hours
Minimum call [4] hours

DRESS / PPE
Blacks, closed-toe boots. Hard hat and hi-vis during load-in.
Fall protection required above [height].

-------------------------------------------------------------
NAME                 IN        OUT       INITIALS
-------------------------------------------------------------
                     ____      ____      ____

How often should a call sheet be reissued?

Every time a call time, a venue detail or a name changes. That sounds obvious and it is the single hardest part of doing this by hand, which is why most companies simply do not. The crew head ends up holding version three while the coordinator is working from version five.

The practical fix is to stop treating the call sheet as a document and start treating it as a view of the schedule. If the call sheet is generated from the roster at the moment someone opens it, changing a call time in one place changes the sheet everywhere, and there is no version to be out of date. That is how Tinds handles it: the sheet is printed from live schedule data rather than typed into a separate file.

Common mistakes

• One call time for the whole crew. Riggers and graphics operators do not start together. A single time either wastes labor hours or starts a department late.
• No dock detail. The most expensive fifteen minutes of any load-in is thirty people standing on the wrong side of a building.
• Pay rules omitted. If the night premium window is not on the sheet, it becomes an argument on Monday.
• A phone number that goes to voicemail. Mark one contact as the first call and make sure that phone is on.
• Sending a PDF and then changing the schedule. See above. This is the one that actually costs money.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a call sheet and a production schedule?
A production schedule covers the whole project across all days and is usually built for the client and the production manager. A call sheet covers one day and is built for the working crew, with individual call times, dock access and contacts.

Who writes the call sheet?
Usually the production coordinator or scheduler, with input from department heads on staffing levels and call times. The person who owns the roster should own the sheet, because the two have to agree.

Should the call sheet include pay rates?
Individual rates, no. Rate information is between the company and the person. Pay rules that affect everyone, such as the overtime threshold, night premium window and meal break timing, yes. Those belong on the sheet because they govern the day for the whole crew.

Can a call sheet be digital only?
Mostly, and increasingly it is. Keep a printable version anyway. Docks have bad signal, phones die during a sixteen-hour day, and a crew head with a clipboard is still the fastest way to account for thirty people at once.

Related reading: How to stop crew no-shows on show day, Overtime, night premium and meal penalties for event crews, Live production crew glossary.