As you look round your office with its well-stocked cupboards and shelves, it is very difficult to envisage exactly what you need to take with you on location, and the quantities required. Of course, very much depends on where you are going and for how long, but a selection of the following might be useful:
Scripts, Schedules, Call Sheets, Artists’ Information Packs etc.
Always take plenty of these as people are apt to leave them in the most extraordinary places.
Anything to Do with the Production
Any files specifically related to the production, e.g. your production file, address book and diary must be taken.
Stationery and Forms
If you use any standard forms, for example to do with artists’ hours, take enough of them, and a small amount of general stationery.
Miscellaneous
Here is a list of easily forgotten odds and ends which you would regret leaving behind.
Laptop PC and printer, clipboard, hole puncher, stapler and staples, adhesive tape, paper and bulldog clips, pencils/ballpens, pencil sharpener, eraser, ruler, rubber bands, spare files, spare folders, rough paper, string, scissors.
Specifically for Continuity
Continuity report forms
1 set of coverage scripts
1 set of rough continuity scripts
1 set of scripts (to be interleaved with continuity notes for your daily use)
Progress report forms
Stopwatch
Polaroid camera and film
Daily continuity log forms
A plastic sheet to keep your notes dry in the rain
A small folding stool
Do not take too much away with you. You only have the problem of transporting it around from location to location and then probably taking most of it home unused at the end. Work out a list of essentials beforehand and stick to it.