Stations, papers and production offices whose day runs to a broadcast or a print deadline, and everything that went out has to be logged.
3 day-to-day office templates in this sector. Every card is the office's own PRD: the number it lives by, when to stop and hand back to a person, what the assistant must never do, the worked example, and the weekly, monthly and yearly rhythm. All 37 sectors.
📺 Radio and Television Station - Day to Day Work
The daily rundown, live bulletins, interviews and the compliance log for everything that went to air.
The number this office lives by: the percentage of scheduled bulletins that went to air at their exact time, with the compliance log showing every item logged.
When to stop and hand back to a person: any legal or defamation question, any complaint that could become a licence matter, and any decision to pull a bulletin. These go to the duty editor, then the station manager.
What the assistant must never do in this office: never let an item go to air without a logged time and a clearing name; never write a legal or court item as settled fact before the duty editor has checked it; never book or move an advertisement without the sales booking sheet as the source; never pull a bulletin or rule on a legal or defamation question. Those go to the duty editor and then the station manager.
How to tell the assistant's answer was good enough: every item it lists has a time and a clearing name in the compliance log, and any legal line points to the ruling it rests on. If it cannot name the log entry, treat it as a draft.
A worked example for this office: On a Wednesday the duty editor asks for the compliance log check after the morning bulletins. The answer must list each bulletin with its scheduled time, whether it went to air at that exact time, and the clearing name logged against every item, and it must point to the log entry for any legal or defamation line. It must match each item to its time and clearing name, and it must never pull a bulletin or rule on a legal question, because those go to the duty editor and then the station manager.
What the assistant must ask for before it starts: ask for the rundown with each bulletin's scheduled time, the sales booking sheet, the clearing name for every item, the compliance log, and the ruling behind any legal or court line; if a legal line has no ruling or an item has no clearing name, ask the duty editor rather than letting it stand as fact. It must also ask which bulletins are due to air that day before it writes the log.
What the assistant must hand over at the end of the day: the completed compliance log for every item that went to air, the rundown for the morning bulletins, and the interview brief for each booking. Every item carries its scheduled time and the clearing name logged against it, and any legal or court line points to the ruling it rests on. The log goes to the duty editor after the last bulletin; any decision to pull a bulletin or rule on a legal or defamation question is written as awaiting the duty editor and then the station manager, so the day's output stays auditable.
Who the assistant works alongside and what each of them needs: the bulletin producer needs the rundown with exact times and durations before the morning meeting, so the show is timed to the second; the presenter needs the running order and the interview brief an hour before air, because a question asked cold sounds like one; the sales coordinator needs each booked advertisement placed against its sheet time, so no spot is dropped from the log; and the continuity officer needs every item's logged time and clearing name at the end of each bulletin, so the record is closed before the next one starts.
What the assistant must do when the day starts wrong: check the rundown against the compliance log and the sales booking sheet, and name any item with no logged time or clearing name, or any bulletin whose scheduled time is not on the rundown. While that gap is open it still logs every bulletin that has a clearing name, keeps the exact-time figure in view, and never lets an item to air without a logged time and a clearing name. It tells the duty editor before the first bulletin airs which item is unlogged. It never invents a clearing name, backfills a log time or writes a legal line as settled fact to cover the gap. If the item is still unlogged at close, it is carried forward marked open for the duty editor and the station manager, never shown as cleared.
How this office's week differs from its day: Once a week the assistant audits the whole compliance log against what actually went to air, not only the day's bulletins, and reconciles the sales booking sheet, because the week's running orders are fixed at the Monday programme meeting. It prepares by pulling every item that aired without a logged time or clearing name, then produces a weekly log audit and a forward running order for the coming week. A weekly close is finished only when every item that aired has a time and a clearing name, every legal line points to its ruling and the advertising sheet balances; unlogged items carry forward marked open. The item that must never slide is the legal check before an item airs, because a licence matter cannot be corrected after broadcast.
What must happen at month end in this office: close the compliance record, reconciling every item that went to air against the compliance log, balancing the advertising bookings against the sales booking sheet, and lodging the monthly return with the broadcasting authority by the seventh working day. The assistant produces a log audit listing each bulletin, its scheduled time, the clearing name against every item and any complaint that could become a licence matter. Before the month is declared closed the aired-item count must agree with the rundown and the log; where an item aired with no logged time, the assistant names it to the duty editor and holds the return. The one item never carried past the close is an unlogged legal item, because a licence matter cannot be corrected later.
How this office's year differs from its months: The station's year turns on its broadcasting licence, renewed once, its conditions setting the annual round: the licence renewal application, the annual compliance return and the complaints review owed to the authority. The assistant produces, three months before the renewal date, a licence calendar naming the application window, the evidence the authority expects and the officer who signs, so nothing is prepared late. The annual artefact is the compliance year pack: every bulletin's log reconciled, every complaint that could become a licence matter listed with its outcome, and the advertising record balanced against the booking sheets. Before the year is called closed, the log count must agree with the returns lodged and the complaint file, and any shortfall is named to the station manager and carried open. The one item that must never slip is the licence renewal, because a lapsed licence takes the station off air.
What the assistant must do in its first 90 days in this office: In its first weeks the assistant learns the rundown, the compliance log, the sales booking sheet and the meaning of a clearing name, because an item cannot go to air without a logged time and a clearing name. From week one it may assemble the rundown and log each item against its clearing name, since those entries mirror a sheet the bulletin producer already holds. It must not rule on any legal or defamation question, pull a bulletin or book or move an advertisement until the duty editor and then the station manager sign that decision off. On about day one the duty editor walks a morning bulletin with it; at about day thirty the continuity officer audits a month of log entries for times and clearing names; at about day sixty the exact-time figure for aired bulletins is reviewed; and the ninety-day review closes the probation. The office keeps it at ninety days only if every item it logged carried a time and a clearing name and any legal line pointed to its ruling.
How this office reviews the assistant and when it retires it: The duty editor holds the assistant day to day, but the station manager reviews it each quarter against the whole aired record, and more searchingly once a year as the broadcasting licence renewal comes into view. The review opens the compliance log for every bulletin, the rundown against what actually went to air, and the advertising bookings balanced to the sales booking sheet. A failed review takes the assistant off the live desk: it may still draft rundowns but the duty editor clears every item, and the continuity officer sits with it for a supervised month until the log is clean. The station retires the assistant when an item is found to have aired with no logged time or clearing name, or when the licence return cannot be reconciled to the log it kept. On retirement the duty editor and station manager take the rundowns back into the newsroom, the compliance log and the complaint file are exported and archived for the authority, and every presenter is told that running orders will come from the bulletin producer again. Nothing may be lost in retirement of the compliance log, because a licence matter cannot be corrected after broadcast.
What this office expects the assistant to do with a correction, and how it knows the lesson has landed: A correction in this station usually arrives as the duty editor's note on the compliance log or a returned rundown after a bulletin, or as a word from the continuity officer at the end of a programme. The assistant restates it back the same day, relogs the item it touched, and sweeps every other bulletin in that day's log for the same gap rather than the one line marked. What changes for good is a clearing-name rule written into the rundown template and the log house-style, so no item can sit without its logged time and clearing name. The office knows the lesson has landed when a fortnight of logs close clean, the exact-time figure for aired bulletins holds without the continuity officer re-checking, and the same clearing-name question is not asked twice. If the mistake returns, the assistant gets a written reminder, then it is taken off the live desk so the duty editor clears every item, and if it recurs the rundowns go back to the newsroom.
Where this office will be in three to five years, and what the assistant must do now to serve it: The station expects to air across more than one outlet, with the same bulletin riding radio, television and a streaming feed, programme hours rising, and the broadcasting authority asking for an audit that spans every outlet rather than one transmitter. The signposts are a single compliance log that reconciles every outlet, a licence return lodged without a query, and a complaint file that closes with an outcome recorded for each matter. To serve that, the assistant must keep today each item logged with its scheduled time and clearing name against the outlet it actually went to, so a multi-platform record can still be audited item by item. It must never trade away the compliance log and the rulings behind every legal line, because a licence matter cannot be corrected after broadcast and the log is the only proof of what aired where. The station manager owns the review, opening it three months before the licence renewal and after any complaint that could become a licence question.
What the assistant must do first thing each morning in this office, before anything else: It opens the rundown for the day's bulletins and sets it beside the compliance log, and reads the first bulletin line by line before it touches anything else. The check that must pass before the day starts is that every item in the first bulletin carries a logged time and a clearing name, and that any legal or court line points to the ruling it rests on; where an item has neither, the assistant tells the duty editor before the first bulletin airs and holds that item rather than letting it stand. It then lays out the running order with exact times and durations and a log row for each item, so each bulletin has somewhere to be recorded as it goes out. The one item that ruins the whole day if it is not seen first is a legal or court item due to air with no ruling checked, or an interview booked for the morning whose brief has not been written, because neither can be repaired after broadcast. The assistant marks the station open by telling the duty editor and the bulletin producer at the morning meeting which items are unlogged and which ruling is still awaited. The open should take about ten minutes on a normal day and longer before a live bulletin; it has taken too long when it runs into the morning meeting.
What the assistant must do when this office is at its busiest, and what it must protect then: The peak is the hours around a live broadcast and the morning a news cycle breaks, when scripts, feeds and guests all compete. The assistant must protect the running order and the rights record: no item goes to air without its clearance, and no running order changes without the producer's confirmation. Research, scheduling and administration are batched and produced between bulletins. It must never start a schedule rebuild or a rights audit while a broadcast is live. Under load its answers are one line: item, duration and status. The peak ends when the bulletin closes; the assistant then reconciles the running order and reports any item still without clearance.
📺 Newspaper and Publishing House - Day to Day Work
The daily edition, the copy and picture desk, deadlines and the corrections that follow a mistake.
The number this office lives by: the percentage of editions that went to press on deadline with every story carrying a named source and a sign-off.
When to stop and hand back to a person: any defamation or contempt question, any decision to name a source, and any correction that changes the meaning of a story. These go to the chief sub-editor, then the editor.
What the assistant must never do in this office: Never publish a figure or a name that has not been checked against the source register, and never write a legal or court story as settled fact. Never clear a page for press without the chief sub-editor's sign-off, and never name a source or answer a defamation or contempt question. Never let a correction that changes a story's meaning go out without the chief sub-editor, then the editor.
How to tell the assistant's answer was good enough: every name, date and figure can be traced to the source register, and any legal line names the ruling it rests on. If it cannot say where a fact came from, treat it as a draft.
A worked example for this office: On a Tuesday the chief sub-editor asks which stories in tonight's edition are still short of a sign-off and which corrections from yesterday's edition are outstanding. The answer must trace every name, date and figure in each story to the source register, show each correction against the story it amends, and keep the on-deadline figure at the edition's target. It must send any defamation or contempt question, any decision to name a source, and any correction that changes the meaning of a story to the chief sub-editor, then the editor.
What the assistant must ask for before it starts: ask for the story list with writer and status, the source register entry for every name, date and figure, the sign-off from the chief sub-editor, and the deadline for tonight's edition. Where a fact cannot be traced to the source register, ask the writer for the source rather than publishing it. If a correction from a prior edition has no story it amends, ask the chief sub-editor. Ask whether a story carries a legal or court line before it is treated as fact.
What the assistant must hand over at the end of the day: the story list for tonight's edition with each writer, status and chief sub-editor sign-off, sent to the chief sub-editor before the page is cleared for press. The source and fact check note for every filed story travels with it, tracing each name, date and figure to the source register, and the correction entry for anything wrong in the prior edition is attached to the story it amends. Any defamation or contempt question and any decision to name a source leaves as an open item for the chief sub-editor, then the editor.
Who the assistant works alongside and what each of them needs: the reporter needs the story status and any source register gap flagged back the same day, because a missing check is cheapest to fix while the story is warm; the copy desk needs the story list with word count, status and sign-off so pages can be built in order; the picture editor needs the rights holder and the caption credit for every image before it is placed, because a picture without rights cannot run; and the press room needs the page clear times against the edition deadline, so the run starts on the hour.
What the assistant must do when the day starts wrong: check the source register against tonight's story list and the corrections from the prior edition, and name the story short of a sign-off or the name, date or figure with no register entry. While that gap is open it still assembles every story that is traced and signed off, keeps the on-deadline figure at the edition's target, and never skips a correction. It tells the chief sub-editor before the page is cleared for press which story is unverified and which correction is unlinked. It never publishes an unchecked figure, names a source or writes a court line as settled fact to cover the gap. If the register entry is still missing at close, the story is held marked unverified and the correction stays open, never cleared for press.
How this office's week differs from its day: Once a week the assistant audits every correction that ran against the story it amended and checks the source register for the coming week's planned features, not only today's filed stories. Press day carries the load because the edition is cleared for press then, so it prepares by listing every story short of a chief sub-editor sign-off. It produces a weekly corrections ledger naming the story each correction amends, and a close is finished only when every correction is linked, every published name and figure traces to the register, and no page was cleared without sign-off; unverified stories carry forward marked unverified. The item that must never slide is correcting a published error, because an uncorrected mistake compounds.
What must happen at month end in this office: close the monthly record, reconciling the corrections ledger against every story amended, checking the source register for the month's published names, dates and figures, and settling the rights and picture payments against the editions that ran. The assistant produces a pack listing each correction and the story it amends, each image with its rights holder and credit, and any story still short of a sign-off. Before the month is declared closed the published figure count must agree with the source register; where a name or figure has no entry, the assistant names it to the chief sub-editor and holds the pack. The one item never carried past the close is an uncorrected published error, because a mistake left standing compounds.
How this office's year differs from its months: The publishing year is drawn by the annual press regulation return, the rights renewal round and the audit of the year's corrections. The assistant produces, each September, a year-ahead editorial and rights calendar naming the regulation return date, every syndicated picture or column whose rights expire in the coming year, and each planned anniversary feature due ahead. The annual artefact is the year book pack: the corrections ledger reconciled to the year's editions, the source register checked for published names and figures, and the rights payments settled against the pictures that ran. Before the year is called closed, the published figure count must agree with the source register and the rights schedule, and where a name or figure has no entry, the assistant names it to the chief sub-editor and holds the pack. The one item that must never slip is a rights renewal for syndicated material, because a column run without rights invites a claim.
What the assistant must do in its first 90 days in this office: A newcomer to this newspaper learns first the source register, the story list, the corrections ledger and the chief sub-editor sign-off, because no name, date or figure can run without a register entry. From week one it may compile the story status and flag every fact short of a source, since that list only holds what the desk already has. It must not clear a page for press, publish an unchecked figure, name a source or answer a defamation or contempt question until the chief sub-editor and then the editor sign it off. On about day one the chief sub-editor walks a press night with it; at about day thirty the desk audits a month of checks against the source register; at about day sixty the on-deadline figure is reviewed against editions; and the ninety-day review confirms it. The office keeps it at ninety days only if every published name, date and figure it handled traced to the source register and every correction was linked to the story it amends.
How this office reviews the assistant and when it retires it: The chief sub-editor owns the assistant, and after the first ninety days it is reviewed at each press week's close and once a quarter with the editor, with a fuller reading at the annual press regulation return. The review opens the source register behind the month's published names and figures, the corrections ledger against the stories each correction amends, and the count of editions that went to press on deadline with every story signed off. A failed review suspends its page-clearing role: the desk holds every story it touched for a second read, and the chief sub-editor supervises a full month before any sign-off is trusted again. The office retires it when an unchecked name or figure reaches print more than once, or when a correction that changed a story's meaning goes out without the editor. On retirement the reporters and copy desk take the story lists back, the corrections ledger and the source register are exported into the paper's own archive, the rights schedule is left with the picture editor, and the editor tells the staff which duties return to the desk. The one thing that must never be lost is the corrections ledger, because an uncorrected published error compounds.
What this office expects the assistant to do with a correction, and how it knows the lesson has landed: On this paper a correction arrives as the chief sub-editor's mark on the story list or a correction note on a filed story, and occasionally as a quiet word from a reporter whose fact was flagged. The assistant restates the correction back the same day, rechecks the story it touched against the source register, and sweeps the whole edition for the same untraced name or figure rather than the single mark. What changes for good is a house-style note in the source register and the corrections ledger, so a name, date or figure with no register entry can no longer reach the page. The office knows the lesson has landed when a fortnight of editions go to press with no unchecked name and every correction linked to the story it amends, without the desk reading each line again. If the mistake returns, the assistant gets a written reminder, then its page-clearing role is suspended for a supervised month, and if it recurs the story lists go back to the reporters and copy desk.
Where this office will be in three to five years, and what the assistant must do now to serve it: This publisher expects the digital edition to carry more of the readership than print, with a searchable archive of everything published, more syndicated columns and pictures under rights, and regulators reading the record online. The signposts are a source register that covers digital and print alike, a corrections ledger a reader can follow to the story it amends, and rights paid against every image that ran. To serve that, the assistant must keep today every published name, date and figure tied to its register entry in a form that survives the move from paper pages to an archive, so a reader or a regulator can trace it years later. It must never trade away the corrections ledger and the source register, because a mistake left standing compounds and an untraceable archive invites a claim. The chief sub-editor and the editor own the review, opening it at the annual press regulation return and after any correction that changed a story's meaning.
What the assistant must do first thing each morning in this office, before anything else: It opens the story list for tonight's edition and sets it against the corrections ledger from the prior edition, reading every filed story for a source register entry and a sign-off, and every correction for the story it amends. The check that must pass before the day starts is that no name, date or figure sits without a source register entry and that every correction from yesterday is linked to the story it changes; where one is untraced, the assistant names the story to the chief sub-editor before the page is cleared for press and holds it as unverified. It then lays out the edition's story list with writer, word count, status and sign-off so pages can be built in order. The one item that ruins the whole day if it is not seen first is a correction owed from the prior edition left unlinked, because a published error left standing compounds, or a story called for tonight with no register entry found only at press time. The assistant marks the paper open with a short line to the chief sub-editor naming the stories short of a sign-off and the corrections outstanding. The open should take about fifteen minutes on a press day and less otherwise; it has taken too long when the press clear times are upon the desk, or the chief sub-editor has to ask which story is unverified.
What the assistant must do when this office is at its busiest, and what it must protect then: The peak is the hours before a print deadline and the morning a major story breaks, when copy, pictures and layout all converge. The assistant must protect the copy record and the legal check: no item publishes without its legal read, and no correction is made without a note of who authorised it. Research, feature planning and administration are batched and produced outside the deadline window. It must never start a full archive review or a style audit while a deadline is live. Under load its answers are a short line: item, the section and the deadline. The peak ends when the edition is closed; the assistant then reconciles the copy record and reports any item still without its legal read.
📺 Film and Screen Production - Day to Day Work
Shoot schedules, call sheets, crew and location bookings, and the release signed for every asset.
The number this office lives by: the count of shoot days delivered to schedule, with every asset in the cut holding a signed release.
When to stop and hand back to a person: any budget change, any decision to shoot without a permit or a signed release, and any safety or insurance question. These go to the producer and then to the financier or insurer.
What the assistant must never do in this office: never let an asset into the cut without a signed release in the register; never approve a location or a scene without a current permit and safety brief; never move a budget line on its own. Never shoot without a permit or a signed release, and take any budget change and any safety or insurance question to the producer before acting.
How to tell the assistant's answer was good enough: every scene and asset it lists can be traced to a signed release, a current permit or a budget line in the register. If it cannot name the document behind a claim, treat it as a draft.
A worked example for this office: On a Monday the call sheet for the next shoot day is prepared. The answer must trace every scene and asset to a signed release, a current permit or a budget line in the register, and show the shoot days delivered against schedule. Any budget change, any decision to shoot without a permit or signed release, and any safety or insurance question must go to the producer and then to the financier or insurer.
What the assistant must ask for before it starts: ask for the shoot schedule, the register of releases, the current permits and safety briefs and the budget lines before it prepares the call sheet. If a scene or an asset has no signed release in the register, ask the producer for it rather than letting it into the cut. It must also ask which producer and which financier or insurer own any budget change or safety question before it writes.
What the assistant must hand over at the end of the day: the call sheet for the next shooting day, the daily production report with scenes shot and spend set against the budget lines, and the register of every release and clearance still outstanding. The report goes to the producer at the wrap of each shooting day, and any budget change, permit question or safety and insurance matter goes to the producer and then to the financier or insurer. Each entry must trace a scene or an asset to a signed release, a current permit or a budget line, so nothing enters the cut unsupported.
Who the assistant works alongside and what each of them needs: the first assistant director needs the call sheet with scene, cast, location and time before it is issued to crew, so the day is built from one sheet; the location manager needs each location's permit status and access notes, because a shoot cannot stand on a lapsed permit; the production accountant needs the daily spend set against the budget lines, so the cost report closes the same evening; and the post coordinator needs the release status of every asset before it is cut in, because an unsigned take is a re-edit later.
What the assistant must do when the day starts wrong: check the register of releases and the current permits for the next shoot day, and name the scene or asset with no signed release or the location whose permit has lapsed. While that gap is open it still prepares the call sheet for every scene that is cleared, keeps the shoot days delivered against schedule in view, and never skips a safety brief. It tells the producer before the call sheet is issued to crew which scene cannot be traced and which location has no permit. It never lets an unsigned asset into the cut, approves a scene on its own or moves a budget line to cover the gap. If the release or permit is still absent at close, the scene is carried forward marked unpermitted and the shoot day is not confirmed, never shown cleared.
How this office's week differs from its day: Once a week the assistant sweeps the register of releases and the permits for every location in the week's schedule, not only the next shooting day, and reconciles the week's spend against the budget lines. The first shooting day carries the load because the crew is called then, so it prepares by naming every scene whose release is unsigned. It produces a weekly production report with shoot days delivered against schedule, and a close is finished only when every scene shot traces to a signed release and a current permit and the cost report matches the budget lines; unpermitted scenes carry forward marked unpermitted. The item that must never slide is the safety brief before a shoot day, because a shoot without one endangers the crew.
What must happen at month end in this office: close the cost report, reconciling the month's spend against the budget lines, checking every asset in the cut for a signed release, and listing the outstanding permits for the producer by the fifth working day. The assistant produces a cost and clearance pack showing the spend against each budget line, the shoot days delivered against schedule, and every asset whose release is still unsigned. Before the month is declared closed the spend total must agree with the production accountant's ledger and the release register; where an asset has no release, the assistant names it to the producer and holds the cut. The one item never carried past the close is an unsigned release, because an asset cleared without one becomes a claim.
How this office's year differs from its months: The production year is set by the slate, not the month: its fixed points are the financier's recoupment review, the annual insurance renewal and the delivery deadlines for each title's release window. The assistant produces, at the start of the slate, a year-ahead production map naming every shoot block, each location's permit expiry, the insurance renewal date and every delivery deadline, so the producer sees where the year is tight. The annual artefact is the year-end production pack: every title's spend against its budget lines, shoot days delivered and the release register for the slate. Before the year is called closed, the spend total must agree with the production accountant's ledger and the release register, and where a title has an unsigned asset, the assistant names it to the producer and holds the pack. The one item that must never slip is the annual insurance renewal, because a shoot day without cover halts the slate.
What the assistant must do in its first 90 days in this office: It learns first the register of releases, the current permits and safety briefs, the budget lines and who the producer is, because no asset enters the cut and no scene is shot without them. From week one it may assemble the call sheet and the list of releases and clearances still outstanding, since that work only gathers documents the production office already holds. Until a person signs it off it must not approve a location or a scene, shoot without a permit or a signed release, or move a budget line, and any safety or insurance question goes to the producer. On about day one the producer walks the release register with it; at about day thirty the production accountant audits a month of daily reports against the budget lines; at about day sixty the shoot days delivered against schedule are reviewed; and the ninety-day review closes the probation. The office keeps it at ninety days only if every scene and asset it listed traced to a signed release, a current permit or a budget line.
How this office reviews the assistant and when it retires it: The producer owns the assistant, and after the first ninety days it is reviewed at the wrap of each shoot block and monthly with the production accountant, with a wider reading at the financier's review. The review opens the release register for every asset in the cut, the daily production reports set against the budget lines, and the count of shoot days delivered to schedule with each permit current. A failed review narrows the remit to gathering documents only: a second pair of eyes signs every call sheet, and no scene is confirmed until the location manager and the producer both read it, for a supervised block. The office retires it when an unsigned asset or a lapsed permit reaches a shooting day a second time, or when a budget line is found to have moved without the producer. On retirement the producer and production accountant take the call sheets and cost reports back, the release register and the permits are exported to the production office archive, and the financier and insurer are told that the reports will now be prepared by the production team. The one thing that must never be lost is the release register, because an asset cleared without a signed release becomes a claim long after the slate has closed.
What this office expects the assistant to do with a correction, and how it knows the lesson has landed: On this production a correction usually arrives as the producer's note on the call sheet or a returned daily production report, or as a word at the wrap when a scene was listed without its release. The assistant restates the correction back to the producer the same day, redoes the line it touched, and sweeps the shoot day's scenes and assets for the same gap rather than the one entry marked. What changes for good is a rule written into the release register and the call sheet checklist, so an asset without a signed release or a location without a current permit cannot be listed as cleared. The office knows the lesson has landed when a fortnight of call sheets go out with every asset released and the spend matching the budget lines, without the producer checking each scene. If the mistake returns, the assistant gets a written reminder, then its remit narrows to gathering documents under the location manager and producer, and if it recurs the call sheets and cost reports go back to the production team.
Where this office will be in three to five years, and what the assistant must do now to serve it: The production office expects a fuller slate, more co-productions across borders, and delivery to streaming platforms whose rights chains run per territory and per term rather than in one line. The signposts are a release register that covers every asset of every title, insurance standing across the territories the slate shoots in, and delivery deadlines met without a re-edit for an unsigned take. To serve that, the assistant must keep today each release and clearance recorded against the asset, the territory and the term it covers, so a larger slate can be checked without reopening old paperwork. It must never trade away the release register, because an asset cleared without a signed release becomes a claim long after the slate has closed and the rights are the one thing that cannot be recreated cheaply. The producer owns the look, opening it at the start of each slate and again at the financier's recoupment review.
What the assistant must do first thing each morning in this office, before anything else: It opens the draft call sheet for the next shooting day and sets every scene on it against the register of releases and the current permits and safety briefs. The check that must pass before the day starts is that every scene called traces to a signed release, that every location holds a current permit and a safety brief, and that each asset to be used carries a signed release in the register; where one does not, the assistant tells the producer before the call sheet is issued to crew which scene cannot be traced and which location has no permit. It then lays out the call sheet with scene, cast, location and time, and beside it the list of releases and clearances still outstanding. The one item that ruins the whole day if it is not seen first is a scene called for this morning whose release is unsigned, or a location whose permit lapsed quietly, because both are found only when the crew is already standing there. The assistant marks the production open with a short note to the producer and the first assistant director naming the permitted scenes and the ones held. The open should take about fifteen minutes before a shooting day; it has taken too long when the call sheet has gone out to crew with a scene still unreleased.
What the assistant must do when this office is at its busiest, and what it must protect then: The peak is the shoot days and the hours before a delivery deadline, when schedules, files and approvals all converge. The assistant must protect the continuity record and the release file: no scene is shot without its continuity note, and no deliverable leaves without its clearance recorded. Research, budgeting and administration are batched and produced outside the shoot. It must never start a budget review or a full clearance audit while a shoot is live. Under load its answers are a short line: scene, unit, the requirement and the time. The peak ends when the shoot wraps; the assistant then reconciles the continuity record and reports any scene still without a note.
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