Our deadline was approaching quickly, and we hadn’t shot a single frame for a holiday spot that was rapidly becoming as stressful as the actual holidays.

We’d scrubbed two shooting dates and had to cancel a shoot ten minutes in because we couldn’t find the right costume for the talent. Disaster was looming over us, so I dealt with it the best way I could… planning for the shoot.

And you know what? Things turned out okay.

Don’t get me wrong – there’s nothing inherently wrong about flying by the seat of your pants on a shoot. You’ve just got to know when it’s appropriate. The same week of the dreaded holiday spot, I ended up the woods working on the opening credit sequence for a hunting show. The common thread for the show is that it’s all about guys in the woods having fun – so what better way to shoot it than to get four guys out in the woods and grab whatever shots naturally happen? There was no plan aside from “let’s hit the woods and get some video.” There didn’t need to be. We had all the time in the world, a few hundred acres to ourselves, and that was that.

We couldn’t work like that for the holiday spot. Our two actors, playing Santa and Mrs. Claus, were on a tight schedule. We were shooting in a store inside a mall during business hours (though thankfully close to closing time so we didn’t have to worry about too many people wandering into the shoot).

The afternoon before the shoot, I coped with my rising stress level by starting to plan. I made an incredibly granular storyboard. We’ve filmed several spots in the location, so I was familiar with it and had a general idea of what angles would work. I had a script. I knew the lighting at the location. The storyboard incorporated all of it.

And once we arrived? I just followed those handy instructions I’d scribbled down. My storyboards aren’t Disney-esque masterpieces – I just draw stick figures. Nevertheless, it works for organizing a shoot, and this one was no different.

The shots were in the can quickly, everyone made it home on time, and when I hit the editing bay, it was dead simple to get everything together for a less-than-12-hours deadline. One round of tweaks later, everyone was happy.

So when in doubt, plan your shoots. Plan for shoots. A little bit of time spent beforehand will make things go much faster.