Production Report

Overview

The Daily Production Report (DPR) is the definitive ledger of what actually happened on set compared with what was planned. It notes scenes shot, page counts, call and wrap times, meal penalties, weather disruptions, accidents, and even how many feet of film or terabytes of media were exposed.

Section Breakdown

1. Header — Production title, director, unit, shoot day number.
2. Work Summary — Scene numbers, set descriptions, completed page fractions.
3. Labour — Crew counts, overtime hours, cast meal penalties.
4. Expendables — Batteries, media cards, consumables used.
5. Safety — Injuries or near-miss reports; OSHA compliance.

Workflow

The 2nd AD collates inputs from script supervisor, camera department, and production accountant. The line producer signs off, after which the report goes to the studio’s physical-production exec and completion-bond company.

Analytical Uses

Studios aggregate DPRs into dashboards to predict schedule slippage. A 2024 Columbia University study found that page-per-day metrics generated from DPRs correlate 0.78 with eventual budget overage.

Trivia

• Spielberg reportedly reads every DPR before breakfast, even when not on set, a habit dating back to Jaws.
• Early silent-era DPRs tracked nitrate film footage in “feet”; today’s digital shows list terabytes and checksum IDs.