What to Send a Client Before a Shoot Day
Most of the client emails we used to send before a shoot day were written under pressure, from memory, at odd hours - which is exactly how things get left out. A parking note. The name of who they're meeting. Whether they actually confirmed or just went quiet in a way we decided to read as a yes. Here's the list we settled on, and what it's actually for.
Why this email matters more than it seems
It's not a formality. It's the last thing standing between a smooth arrival and a client stood on the wrong side of a building at 8:58am, phoning you while you're rigging. It's also the thing that makes you look like a crew who's done this before, which matters more for the next booking than almost anything you do on the day itself.
1. The schedule - but the client version
Not your run of day. Yours has rigging buffers, lens changes and the note about the tricky access round the back. Theirs needs: when they should arrive (not your crew call time - that's usually earlier), roughly when they're needed on camera or in shot if at all, and when the day wraps. Three or four lines, not a spreadsheet.
2. Location, with directions that actually work
A postcode a satnav will accept, plus one line for the bit satnavs get wrong - which door, which buzzer, where to park. If it's a location the client hasn't been to, assume they'll arrive with no idea and write for that person.
3. Who they're meeting
A name and a mobile number for whoever's greeting them, ideally not the same person who's also meant to be rigging lights at that exact moment. Nothing rattles a client faster than turning up to a locked door with nobody expecting them.
4. What you still need from them
Briefs, logos, product, talent releases, purchase orders - whatever's outstanding, name it explicitly with a date. Vague requests get vague responses; "send us your logo files by Wednesday" gets a reply, "let us know if there's anything you need from us" gets silence.
5. Confirmation, not silence
Ask for an actual yes. A read receipt is not a confirmation, and neither is a client who liked your WhatsApp message three days ago. If you can, make confirming a single click rather than a reply they have to compose - it's the difference between a confirmed diary and one you're still guessing at the night before.
What not to include
Crew mobile numbers, your kit list, internal shot priorities, anything you'd wince at the client reading back to you. This is where copying your working call sheet and deleting a few lines goes wrong under deadline - it's easy to miss one. The client version should be a different, simpler document from the start, not an edited copy of the real one.
The lazy version
We used to send this as a hand-written email every time, which meant every shoot cost an extra twenty minutes of remembering what we'd forgotten last time. Cinella replaces the email with a branded client portal - a private link with their clean schedule, the location and directions, who they're meeting, and a one-tap confirm. They can upload their brief, logo and PO straight into it, and you get notified the second they confirm instead of chasing a reply. Change a call time and their version updates itself; nothing to re-send.
Whichever way you do it - email or portal - the test is the same: could your client get to the right door, at the right time, and know who to ask for, without texting you first? If yes, you've sent the right thing. Cinella is £12/month during launch (rising to £15 for new subscribers afterwards; your rate stays £12 for as long as you stay subscribed), with a 14-day free trial.