When IKEA start to design a new item, they start with the consumer price.

What happens if we use a similar approach for shot planning of a feature or TV-series.

My manuscript for Lost and Found is estimated to be 88 pages.

We plan 13 days of shooting plus two extra days. In total 15 days on set. 8 hours working time per day, plus lunch break.

Update: After talking to several directors and assistant directors, I adjusted the budget for 17 shooting days, plus three extra days. The principle fir calculation is still the same.

88 pages / 13 days = 6 3/4 pages per day in average.

116 scenes in 88 pages => each scene is 3/4 page in average.

9 scenes per day and 8 hours per day gives you 53 minutes per scene (3/4 page). However, you need extra time for preparations each day and thus I only have six hours available for shooting, e.g. 40 minutes per scene.

If each shot takes 10 minutes then we have four shots per scene (3/4 page).

Make your calculations based on your page count, number of scenes, shooting days and usable hours per day.

Bonus:

With 1 page per minute film, each scene is 45s in average. With four shots per scene, each shot is roughly 12s in lenght. This is the average shot length for a drama by Paul Thomas Anderson.