Call Sheet Parking and Directions: How 1st ADs Get Every Crew Member to Set on Time

The parking and directions block should give every crew member three answers before they leave home: where to park, where to check in, and how long it takes to get from the car to set. A set address alone does not do that job, because on most shoots the set, parking, and basecamp are three different places. When those answers are clear, people arrive on time, and the 1st AD spends the morning running the day instead of answering where do I park texts.

Why does a street address alone fail crew on arrival?

A set address points a navigation app at the camera position, not at the place crew may leave a car. On a downtown commercial, a school, or a rural property, legal parking may be blocks away, in a garage with a specific entrance, or in a lot that only opens with a gate code. If the sheet only lists the set, arrivals will each solve the problem differently, and half will be wrong.

The cost is real time. A crew member who parks in the wrong lot loses the walk back, the shuttle wait, and the check in, and a staggered morning can easily slip 20 minutes before the first shot. On a day where a typical dialogue driven indie film shoots about 5 pages, that puts the schedule under pressure before lunch. The fix is simple: spell out the arrival route the same way you spell out the shooting order.

What should the parking block on your call sheet include?

Treat parking as its own location, with its own address and notes, even when it sits next to set. If they share an address, say so plainly. A complete block answers these questions:

• Parking address, separate from the set address, with a map link.
• Which entrance and level to use, and any gate or badge step safe to share.
• Where cast parks versus crew, and where trucks and vendors unload.
• How long the walk or shuttle ride to basecamp takes, and how often the shuttle runs.
• What will get a car ticketed or towed, such as street cleaning or a lot that closes early.
• Where to go after parking: basecamp, the AD trailer, makeup, or holding.

Keep personal numbers and gate codes off any wide version, and route sensitive access details through department heads. The goal is a sheet a day player can follow cold, without calling production from the curb.

How do you write directions people can actually follow?

Write directions in the order a driver experiences them, not in the order the scout wrote them down. Start with the turn off the main road, name the landmark, then the entrance, then the lot, then the walk. One instruction per line reads better on a phone at 5 a.m. than a dense paragraph.

Name the exceptions: if the navigation app sends drivers to the back gate, give the correct entrance first, and if the lot entrance changes after 7 p.m., put that on the night sheet.

How do you handle split parking, shuttles, and company moves?

Split days need a movement plan, not just a parking note. List each location with its own parking address, and state who moves, when, and how. If grip and electric pre rig at the second location while the main unit finishes at the first, call that out separately so nobody follows the main unit and arrives at a locked building.

For shuttles, give the pickup point, the frequency, and the last run time, and add a buffer to every call time that depends on one. A shuttle that runs every 5 minutes still costs the wait plus the ride. When the company moves midday, repeat the new parking address in the move note itself.

What about cast, vendors, and day players?

Cast, vendors, and day players each need a different arrival story. Cast usually report to holding, makeup, or wardrobe before set, so their note should name that first stop and a drop off point outside the crew lot. Vendors need a load in address, a contact name, and a time window, not a crew call time they will misread.

Day players deserve the most complete version, because they have no muscle memory for your production. Give them the parking address, the check in point, the person to ask for, and the walk time to set, all in one place.

A five minute arrival checklist for the 1st AD

Before the sheet goes out, read the arrival block as if you have never been to the location. Confirm the parking address, the entrance drivers will use, and the walk or shuttle time. Check that cast, crew, and vendors each have a distinct first stop, that the move note repeats the new parking address, and that the nearest hospital is listed.

Easy Call Sheets builds a professional call sheet in about 2 minutes, and each person confirms or declines with one tap and no account. Free covers unlimited productions with 2 email sends a month, and Pro at $9 a month adds unlimited sends, shareable links, weather forecasts, and SMS reminders. If the day also needs a polished video deliverable, Envy Creative handles commercial video production.

Frequently asked questions

Should crew parking and set share one address on the call sheet?

Only if they truly share one lot and one entrance. Otherwise list them as two addresses, because a shared line is how half the crew ends up parked at set and the other half at a lot three blocks away.

How early should call times account for parking and shuttles?

Add the walk or shuttle ride plus a buffer to the time a person must be ready, not to the lot arrival time. If the ride takes 10 minutes, a 7 a.m. ready time means a 6:45 a.m. lot arrival.

What if the location changes after the call sheet goes out?

Revise and resend with one click, and put the new parking address in the revision note itself, not just in the updated block. People read the change note first, so the corrected plan must live there. Remember that a full meal must be served no more than 6 hours from the general crew call.

Good arrival notes are invisible when they work. Nobody praises a parking block, they just show up, check in, and get to work. That quiet morning is earned the night before, one clear address at a time.