how many pages to schedule for a day?

I've read that Hollywood blockbusters do, on average, 1-2 pages per day.

Indie/no-budget films like yours maybe do 5-7 pages per day. I shot a 30 page script in 2.5 days once.

Sounds like you have easy setup. Two people sitting, one wide shot of entire dialog, then two over the shoulders. Maybe two closeups also.

As other poster said, make a shot list. The list should include the location, camera and light setup, actors and props. Then you can do multiple scenes from the same setup at the same time.

Limit your setups if it doesn't impact your story. Example, you had one scene set in the kitchen but it's fine if it takes place in living room.

Don't cut back on the number of takes! Get coverage. Get the performances you need!
 
You should really be looking at the number of setups per day, not the number of pages. That taken into account with the shooting style of the film will give you a number of setups per day that is reasonable.
 
Number of setups is really important with no/low-budget indie work -- do as many setups as you must, but be creative where you can -- if you can shoot a wide and a close-up with the camera not being moved too much, lighting not changed too much -- go for it, try to save as much time there as you can, but don't compromise and get ugly shots -- you are better off with fewer, but better looking shots than lots of so-so ones. This is all to say that you should spend your time getting the best performances you possibly can, worry about those more than how many and/or how cool the shots are -- the less time you take setting up shots, the more time you'll have to get the performance right.

Milk it, milk it hard, if you're not sure about a take, do another...then another...that's where indies fail most of the time, I can't think of an indie film that had great acting but looked so bad that it took me out of the moment, whereas I've seen good-looking indie film that had such terrible performances that I couldn't bear to watch them for more than a few minutes.

On our indie we've shot anywhere from 2-3 pages to 20 pages in a day depending on the complexity of the shoot (I'd really like to never do 20 pages in one day again -- somehow that scene turned out great, but only because the actors were amazing, had it down and it only had 3 different shots...still, that scene amazes me!)

Good rule of thumb it 5-10pgs, but with indie, low-budget/no-budget stuff...rather than use the rule of thumb, simply go as hard as you can for as long as you can and when the cast/crew gets tired and the performances start suffering...stop for the day and start again tomorrow :)
 
It all depends on how you do it. For my film shooting next month, we are planning between 10 pages a day. My film is an action film and we are saving all the action stuff (fight scenes and such) for the last 2 weeks. On a 5-6 week schedule. Cause those take the most time and such and I have 2 other cameras doing those so it will be easier to get more angles than having 1 camera to change everytime. Who maybes maybe on somedays if everything is going smooth we may do more depends on a lot of factors. We certainly won't do an 18 hour thing or sorts, cause working with minors and such.
 
Okay, here's the answer you were looking for.

First, you need a benchmark. You need to know how fast your crew can move, once you tell them to move. Turnovers, relights, company moves. How fast can they move?
If you haven't worked with your crew enough to have a benchmark, you can't approach the problem that way. You have to "back into" your schedule.

Backing into your schedule means you fit the schedule to the time available. Talk to your crew and figure out the realistic maximum time you can spend shooting. If it's a no-budget weekend shoot, you're only going to get a few weekends before they mutiny. Figure out how many shooting days you really have. Then you cut down the script to be as short as it can be without hurting the story. Then you look at your shot list and consolidate as many shots as you can. Finally, you spread the shooting pages over the days you have. That's your schedule.

On Day One, you haul @$$ and try to get as much done as possible. You see how fast the crew moves. That tells you if you've got a prayer of getting it done. If you can't, cut pages and setups until you can.

Next time, you'll have a benchmark.

P.S. My thumbnail benchmark for a no-budget noob shoot:

2 pages a day
5 setups per page
no company moves

HTH
 
I agree with Popcornflix.

Establishing a benchmark will help to plan realistically.

A fast, efficient, skilled and accurate crew can make a major difference in how much can get done in a day.

Also as you progress through the shoot, keep looking for ways in which to refine and tighten the various workflows.

The benchmark may change somewhere between beginning and end.
 
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