How many shoot days?

Less than you'd think depends on the budget. The UK independent features we've scheduled, from under £2m to around £15m, all shot between three and four pages a day, mostly over five-week shoots of 24 to 29 days. Micro-budget films push past four; bigger films buy more coverage and set-ups rather than shooting much slower. The calculator starts from those real averages and slows down a little for each thing that eats time on set.

Children (UK law limits their hours on set), night shoots, stunts and action, period settings, visual effects plates, animals and vehicles, water work, and lots of company moves between locations. A contained, dialogue-driven script set in a few locations goes faster.

The production office usually starts at least four weeks before the shoot, and longer for bigger shoots. Heads of department come on in stages: the production designer and location manager earliest, most of the crew in the last two or three weeks.

Longer than most people plan for. On the UK features we've run, picture lock came about 13 weeks after wrap, and the first master delivery 26 to 33 weeks after wrap: six to eight months. Heavy visual effects, a big score or a Christmas break push it out further. The editor normally starts assembling during the shoot.

No. It's a rule of thumb for planning and financing. A real schedule comes from breaking the script down scene by scene: cast availability, locations, day and night, and turnaround all change the number.