# Writing Cues for Prompt book



## EustaceM (Nov 4, 2011)

Should I write standby cues in my prompt book? warnings?

How do you write your cues, what way do you do it?

(I usually underline the entire line then put a box over the cue line, and extend line to far right corner of page then what kind of cues. For ones that are cued on blocking or anything thats not dialog I write the action and put a box over it on far right corner of page.
All cues except scene shifts are numbers, scene shifts are usually letters.)

Any suggestions for writing cues to try?


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## kiwitechgirl (Nov 4, 2011)

Prompt books are a very personal thing - with the caveat that if you get hit by a bus, someone else should be able to come in and call the show from your book. I always have script on the RHS of the binder, with the blank backs of each page on the right. The blank pages are divided into two columns, sometimes with a scaled-down drawing of the set at the bottom. The right-hand column is for blocking; where a piece of blocking happens in the script, I'll write a number in a circle, then write the corresponding blocking in the right-hand column. The left-hand column is for cues; I draw a vertical line each side of the cue word, then underline from the first vertical line across the gap in the page, then write the cue on that line, so:

DOROTHY: I guess we're not in |Kan|sas any more, Toto._____LX5 GO

I always, always, always write standbys - usually about half a page of dialogue before the cue.


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## MrsFooter (Nov 4, 2011)

Personally, I write every single word that will come out of my mouth during the show. Every standby, warning, and cue. It can get crazy with multiple departments doing multiple things at once, and you don't want to accidentally forget to give someone a standby because you were concentrating on other things. Rail gets warnings two minutes out and standby at 30 seconds, everyone else gets a standby ten seconds out. Don't count of your brain to remember anything; you'll be amazed by how busy your brain will be!

As for how to physically write them in your book, I'm afraid I'm not much help there as all the shows I've called are ballets. In those cases, I make myself up a spreadsheet with the cue, an approximate clock time of execution, visual cue, and notes. This works extremely well for me. For a musical your method seems logical, but the best way to find out is take it for a test run. While I believe standards for this type of thing do exist (don't know what they are but I think they exist,) the best method for you is going to be whichever one gets you through the show successfully.

Good luck!


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## mstaylor (Nov 4, 2011)

I agree with Mrs. Footer, there are standards but what works for you is the correct method. I have seen many methods for writing LX cues and some are so convoluted I would be totally lost, but if it works for the person calling then it isn't wrong. Warnings and standbys are a must, especially if there is some time between cues. I like her idea of writing your cue language down so you say it the same way each time. Not only do the techs get used to it, it makes it easier if a fillin comes in to cover, or as noted early, if you get run over by a bus somebody can read your cues.


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## seanandkate (Nov 4, 2011)

kiwitechgirl said:


> DOROTHY: I guess we're not in |Kan|sas any more, Toto._____LX5 GO
> 
> I always, always, always write standbys - usually about half a page of dialogue before the cue.


 
This is the way I do it as well, but backtime my standbys more by elapsed stage time than page length (a half a page of monologue ≠ a half page of quick dialogue. Regardless, as long as it gives the operators enough time to prep, but not so much time that they start to lose focus, you're good). Delivering the standbys in the same place consistantly has saved me on at least one occasion (LBO-"Shouldn't I be in standby?" Me-"Sorry! YES!"). I also mark a "quick flip" arrow on pages that have a cue in the first couple lines of the following page.


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## icewolf08 (Nov 4, 2011)

Let me also add a couple things. First off, you should make sure that you combine warnings and standbys when you can. Even if the actual cues don't happen at exactly the same time, the more concise you can be with your calls the better off you are. You might have a cue sequence that has multiple cues for different departments over a section of text, there is no reason to write in individual standbys/warnings for each cue, you can group them together. Speaking of warnings, typically, most stage managers I have worked with only give warnings to actions not initiated by a GO button. So lights, sound, automation, projections just get standbys and GOs (there isn't much prep involved in pushing a button). By the same token, there have been plenty of instances where we have hand enough light cuse that the SM just gives one standby for lights at the top of each act.

As far as actual cue notation, I have seen it done many ways. You have to pick what works for you. One SM I know uses coloed flags (post-it style) during tech so that as cues change they are easy to move. Once the show is open she transfers them all to book and highlights them with the same colors (one color per department). I have also seen SMs who literally re-type the script and just insert their calls in with the text. That is obviously a lot of work, but for some it is very effective. My method is to have columns down the right-hand side of each page, where each column is for a different department. This way just looking at the column tells you whose cue it is. Then from the cue line I underline out to the cue itself as many have stated before.

One other thing to think about is the order in which you call warnings, stanbys and GOs. I think that it is very important to be consistent. If you setup your standby as: "Standby lights 5, sound 4, deck 1, rail 1" then you should expect to hear responses from the departments back in the same order "Lights. Sound. Deck. Rail." Using the same order all the time helps your crew know what they are listening for and streamlines your communication. It will also help you keep tack of who is talking to you when.


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## kiwitechgirl (Nov 4, 2011)

icewolf08 said:


> One other thing to think about is the order in which you call warnings, stanbys and GOs. I think that it is very important to be consistent. If you setup your standby as: "Standby lights 5, sound 4, deck 1, rail 1" then you should expect to hear responses from the departments back in the same order "Lights. Sound. Deck. Rail." Using the same order all the time helps your crew know what they are listening for and streamlines your communication. It will also help you keep tack of who is talking to you when.



I knew I'd forget something. This is really important - consistency will make for a much smoother show as people know what they're listening out for. Also, you might come across something where you're not exactly sure what to title the cues; I had an incident where an SM was calling "fly" cues and "floor" cues (we almost never use "rail" here). The two words sound too alike, and we had some mixups where the fly and floor crews thought it was their cue and it wasn't...so we switched to "deck" instead of "floor" and it fixed it. I also remember having a long discussion with my people-flying operator about how to call his cues - couldn't use "fly" as we were using it for the rail cues. So I ended up calling them as "aerial" cues - but so long as you are on the same page as the operator, and you're both happy with what you're calling the cues as, you can call them whatever you like.


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