A call sheet is the single document every cast and crew member receives the night before a shoot day. It tells them where to be, what time to be there, and what's being filmed that day. If the shooting schedule is the production's master plan, the call sheet is that plan translated into exactly what one specific day looks like, for everyone on it.
Who sends it, and when
Call sheets are usually put together by the 1st assistant director (or a coordinator, on smaller productions) and distributed the evening before, typically by email or a production app. Everyone working that day gets one: cast, every department head and their crew, and anyone else with a call time.
Production info
The top of a call sheet covers the day itself: production title, the date, which day of the overall schedule this is ("Day 12 of 26"), general crew call time, weather forecast, sunrise/sunset (relevant for exterior scenes), the location name and address, parking instructions, and the nearest hospital, in case of an on-set injury. Director and producer names are usually listed here too.
Cast calls
A table listing every actor working that day: character name, actor name, and their individual call times, broken into pickup (if transportation is provided), hair/makeup call, and set call (when they need to actually be in front of camera, ready to shoot). Staggering these times is what lets makeup and wardrobe work through multiple actors without everyone standing around waiting.
Crew calls
Similarly organized by department, camera, sound, grip and electric, art, and so on, with each crew member's name and call time. Departments that need to prep before anyone else, like electric rigging a location, are often called earlier than the general crew call.
Scene breakdown for the day
A list of exactly which scenes are being shot that day, in shooting order: scene number, INT or EXT, day or night, location, a one-line description, which cast members are in it, and the page count. This is the part of the call sheet that comes directly from the shooting schedule, it's the same information, just filtered down to a single day.
Notes
Anything that doesn't fit elsewhere but the crew needs to know: special safety notes for a stunt, a reminder about a costume change, a note that a scene requires a closed set. This section is where a 1st AD flags anything unusual about the day before it starts, not after something goes wrong.
Common mistakes
The most frequent call sheet problems are avoidable: sending it out too late for cast and crew to plan around, leaving the location address vague or unconfirmed, and forgetting to update it when the schedule changes at the last minute. A call sheet is only useful if everyone actually reads the current version, so consistency in when and how it goes out matters as much as what's on it.
Start with a blank call sheet template if you want to build one by hand.