# Electronic Prompt Book



## Dylandtech (Mar 23, 2011)

So I'm stage managing a simple school show and I talked it over with the Stage Management teacher and i got her go ahead to try an electronic prompt book. I was wondering what the easiest way to insert cues into the document would be?


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## chausman (Mar 23, 2011)

It just depends what you are using I guess. In word, you can add comments. In multiple colors I believe. Then you could also move where they were. Maybe use different colors for Lights, Sound, or calling actors.


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## blackisthenewblack (Mar 24, 2011)

chausman said:


> It just depends what you are using I guess. In word, you can add comments. In multiple colors I believe. Then you could also move where they were. Maybe use different colors for Lights, Sound, or calling actors.


 
There also different script programs out there to use. I know of Celtix, which is used for writing and formating shows. In terms of show use, there is still nothing more reliable than pencil and paper. If you are using a computer device, does the time taken to type up the script and format it, really outway the convinence? Does the device have the reliability in terms of hardware to be rock solid for the show? Does this device need to be portable? Is there power avaliable in the rehearsal hall and SM booth? Is this a personal device or school device? Do you need to be able to see in a blackout, because a screen may well ruin any nightvision you need to see movement on stage? 

Just some suggestions and questions to ask...


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## Dylandtech (Mar 24, 2011)

blackisthenewblack said:


> There also different script programs out there to use. I know of Celtix, which is used for writing and formating shows. In terms of show use, there is still nothing more reliable than pencil and paper. If you are using a computer device, does the time taken to type up the script and format it, really outway the convinence? Does the device have the reliability in terms of hardware to be rock solid for the show? Does this device need to be portable? Is there power avaliable in the rehearsal hall and SM booth? Is this a personal device or school device? Do you need to be able to see in a blackout, because a screen may well ruin any nightvision you need to see movement on stage?
> 
> Just some suggestions and questions to ask...



I should rephrase the question, i'm using the computer to input the cues into the script and then i'm printing it out. Also, it is a variety jukebox show, so all the lyrics for the songs are available online.


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## semartha (Mar 24, 2011)

What program are you trying to add the cues with? I would say layout the cues in a way that works best for your needs. Color coding is a stage managers best friend and can help avoid a lot of problems when calling.


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## kiwitechgirl (Mar 24, 2011)

Dylandtech said:


> I should rephrase the question, i'm using the computer to input the cues into the script and then i'm printing it out. Also, it is a variety jukebox show, so all the lyrics for the songs are available online.



I did this once, and never ever ever did it again - it just got stupid when I had to move cues - I must have printed the entire script three or four times by the end of tech week. You will never get me away from pencil, ruler and eraser - I don't even colour code my cues because you can't rub them out and shift them...


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## semartha (Mar 24, 2011)

kiwitechgirl said:


> I did this once, and never ever ever did it again - it just got stupid when I had to move cues - I must have printed the entire script three or four times by the end of tech week. You will never get me away from pencil, ruler and eraser - I don't even colour code my cues because you can't rub them out and shift them...


 
That's why I don't color code until after final dress. I feel color coding helps when calling, especially if youre board op too.


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## bdkdesigns (Mar 24, 2011)

I've always enjoyed those little flag type sticky notes. Color Coded and easy to move. Then, after final dress and depending on the length of the run, I'll either leave them as the sticky notes or transfer as pen and highlighter.


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## justind (Mar 24, 2011)

I wouldn't dare trust a computer (even my precious mac who only occasionally fails when photoshop, itunes, dreamweaver, are running and i decide to try to render a 3D video in vworks at the same time) during performance, but I do like the neatness of a printed-in-color prompt-book, without the danger of losing stickers, once the show is in performance. 

Sometime before tech week I will have an ASM scan the entire script and create a pdf. I then run the text recognition feature in Adobe Acrobat Pro so that I can easily highlight specific sections of text. You can add cues with text boxes, color-coded, which is easily done gradually throughout tech. Save often, print when finished.


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## mstaylor (Mar 26, 2011)

Why did you decide you wanted to do an electrtonic prompt book, is there an advantage I'm not seeing? To me, the only way to mark a script is handwritten notes. I like the idea of stickies with the cue on it, easy to see, easy to move or renumber. Sometimes we don't need technology.


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## CSCTech (Mar 27, 2011)

Whenever I do I show where I can not keep the script after the show, I will scan the entire thing, inlarge it to a full size sheet, print it out whole punch it and stick it in a binder. And during rehersal I will write notes in red pen (I should be using pencil, but I hate using pencil ) and before show day, go back to the scanned script on the computer and add in all final notes and reprint. 

Works for me 

Also, if I can keep the script and it is a good size (Sometimes our lower end shows have really..bad scripts, where all the text is squashed together and messy) and nice layout I will just force myself to write in pencil. (Fine tipped mechanical ) Because I like having original scripts for my collection.


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## Dylandtech (Mar 28, 2011)

mstaylor said:


> Why did you decide you wanted to do an electrtonic prompt book, is there an advantage I'm not seeing? To me, the only way to mark a script is handwritten notes. I like the idea of stickies with the cue on it, easy to see, easy to move or renumber. Sometimes we don't need technology.


 
I do not know if there are any advantages. Which is why i want to attempt it. I have worked with people who have done shows where the cues where entered through a computer. Its something i want to do for a test trial.


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## rochem (Mar 29, 2011)

Dylandtech said:


> I do not know if there are any advantages. Which is why i want to attempt it. I have worked with people who have done shows where the cues where entered through a computer. Its something i want to do for a test trial.


 
I had a SM on a summerstock show last summer who did this for the two shows she SMed, which each ran only 2-3 weeks or about 18-22 performances. With the super-compressed schedule of a summerstock tech and run, she went through hell trying to format her book and make everything pretty, and she ended up with so many crossouts and changes and modifications that she just scrapped the whole idea after opening and copied everything in pen. On the other hand, I know of quite a few SMs on large Broadway shows who use computer-generated scripts to call from every night. It ensures that there's always an infinite number of backup copies available, there's no danger of markings fading or falling out over time, you can easily run off a new copy for a new member of the SM team, and all the different people who call the show have an easy-to-read script that's not done in someone else's handwriting. Either way works, it just depends on your schedule and how much time you can put into it.


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## gafftaper (Mar 29, 2011)

I have to agree with most of the people above. There is usually no legal or easy way to get a digital copy of the script. Scanning scripts is lame. Second its just too much work once you do have a copy of the script. Give me a pencil and a package of color coded dot stickers from the office supply store and I'm good to go.


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## zmb (Mar 30, 2011)

Anyone think there will be a day where publishers would offer scripts on a non-copyable flash drive for this purpose?


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## chausman (Mar 30, 2011)

zmb said:


> Anyone think there will be a day where publishers would offer scripts on a non-copyable flash drive for this purpose?


 
Possibly, but is it possible to make something like that, if it is text, can't you just Copy and Paste into Word or Pages. And if it was pictures, it would be a MASSIVE file.


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## rochem (Mar 30, 2011)

chausman said:


> Possibly, but is it possible to make something like that, if it is text, can't you just Copy and Paste into Word or Pages. And if it was pictures, it would be a MASSIVE file.


 
The question isn't whether they could make it easier to do, but whether they would make it legal. Technically, copying your scripts or scanning them into an electronic format is illegal - now, that usually doesn't stop almost every group from doing it. There's only so much you can do with those pre-bound script books that have no margin space and you can only mark in pencil. Interestingly, I have heard a few isolated cases of publishers giving one-time permission to a production to have a digital copy of the script for the SM's personal use, on the condition that this was destroyed at the end of the run. With the increasing popularity of iPads and similar, I would not be at all surprised if digital scripts (possibly that required some sort of a dongle, to protect from illegal copying) started becoming available.


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## chausman (Mar 30, 2011)

We just need MTI to make an iPad app that would have the scripts if you had the right code, then just go away when you are done. If they add the ability to make notes in that app, it would be pretty nice. Even if they did limit printing, the SM or who ever could make their own notes.

rochem, I know it's illegal, but I'm still going to end up doing it .


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## shiben (Mar 30, 2011)

mstaylor said:


> Why did you decide you wanted to do an electrtonic prompt book, is there an advantage I'm not seeing? To me, the only way to mark a script is handwritten notes. I like the idea of stickies with the cue on it, easy to see, easy to move or renumber. Sometimes we don't need technology.


 
I think the only possible advantage would be that destroying it would be hard to do, and the notes would be easy to read always. 

I would just use word and insert comments where you want them, then print it with the comments.


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## chausman (Mar 30, 2011)

shiben said:


> I would just use word and insert comments where you want them, then print it with the comments.


 
And, if you were to have multiple people working on the same file, comments are different colors so you could have the LD making light cues in one color, sound making cues in another, and scene changes by another person in another color!


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## Cashwalker (Apr 1, 2011)

I've been using a custom-built program for years that does just about everything you guys need. Color Highlights, with note writing/editing, plus integration with effects playback (only sound is implemented, but light control has been on my todo list forever). The only reason why I keep it to myself is because it's not useful if you don't go scanning the script. Scanning with screen resolution (72 dpi) in mind, not print resolution (300 dpi) results in pretty small image files. I've also realized recently, that even if you annotate a blank page, my app can still be useful, so I may make it public at some time.

With eBook devices on the rise, with DRM built-in, it's only a matter of time before the publishers will adapt to the technology. Whether or not they'll let you annotate the digital copy is anybody's guess. I would love to jump onto that gravy-train if it were to seem like a reality.


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## robartsd (Apr 19, 2011)

Digital Restrictions Management is a flawed concept, but I imagine publishers will be willing to try it for scripts. The model for a publisher is likely to be very similar to the model for textbooks - which are seeing some serious experiments. One of the biggest influences on publisher decisions will be how difficult the community makes maintaining the DRM. If the community is constantly pushing against the DRM, then the publishers will likely be weary of providing more works in digital format, but if the community accepts the restrictions the publisher places on digital copies, they will be happy to provide it.


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## robartsd (Apr 19, 2011)

I recently completed directing the lighting for a show using my PowerBook to display the script with my cues added. This was easy to do for me because the script was available on a web site and as a PDF download. (The copyright is held by my church the script is publicly available on the church website - commercial performance requires contacting the church for license, but performance by church units is freely licensed.) I copy and pasted text and marked it up with HTML because I know how to style a web page and could set my browser to full-screen. I found it much easier to follow along on a continuous scrolling screen of light text on a black background than a paper script would be; and I had all the space I could want for notes, because I was inserting them into the document instead of squeezing them into margins.


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## jglodeklights (Apr 19, 2011)

I currently am toying with Microsoft Office OneNote as a tool for creating my book for my lighting designs, and many of the same principles would apply to stage managers as well.

OneNote can import and OCR many different types of files, while leaving margin room to type in notes that you can click-and-drag anywhere on the page, layer if you really want to, and then mark with different colors and flags. By properly customizing the tags, you can view different types of Q's that are in it so as to create Q sheets of sorts. By properly formatting the information, you can also copy and paste the summary Q information into a text editor and then import it into a program such as Excel or Access to create actual Q sheets. Additionally, Microsoft is supportive of cloud based computing and you can save OneNote files to Microsoft Live, where they have web based editing/viewing tools, much like Google Docs.

Best part? It is all AutoSave. Ok, maybe if you make a mistake that isn't good.


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## gafftaper (Apr 20, 2011)

robartsd said:


> Digital Restrictions Management is a flawed concept, but I imagine publishers will be willing to try it for scripts. The model for a publisher is likely to be very similar to the model for textbooks - which are seeing some serious experiments. One of the biggest influences on publisher decisions will be how difficult the community makes maintaining the DRM. If the community is constantly pushing against the DRM, then the publishers will likely be weary of providing more works in digital format, but if the community accepts the restrictions the publisher places on digital copies, they will be happy to provide it.



Unlike the music and normal publishing industry, the script publishers already have a very tightly controlled small market. 5 companies control the vast majority of the product (Tams, MTI, R and H, Dramatist, and Samuel French). Why would they allow anything to go digital? They essentially have a monopoly, their customer base is forced to work with them, there isn't a pirate bay for musical theater scripts and scores, and the community is so small it's fairly easy for them to police. Plus what happens if you get busted? They black list your theater and you can never do a show by them again. It's too easy for them to maintain things just the way they are and there's no profit motive for them to change.

If anything I look for even more crack downs by them because technology makes it easier for them to find out who is producing their works illegally. Just search the internet to find out who is producing your shows this month. If they didn't pay royalties or buy enough copies of the script call your lawyer and nail them.


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## derekleffew (Apr 20, 2011)

gafftaper said:


> ... Why would they allow anything to go digital? ...


Stage Directions | Theatre Publishers Step Up to E-Reader Challenge


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## robartsd (Apr 28, 2011)

gafftaper said:


> Unlike the music and normal publishing industry, the script publishers already have a very tightly controlled small market. 5 companies control the vast majority of the product (Tams, MTI, R and H, Dramatist, and Samuel French).


This is why I compared to the textbook industry which is significantly smaller market than general books (though not nearly as small as scripts)?

gafftaper said:


> Why would they allow anything to go digital? They essentially have a monopoly,


So they won't be forced to by competition, and being a small market the cost of DRM could outweigh reduced incremental cost of duplication.

gafftaper said:


> their customer base is forced to work with them, there isn't a pirate bay for musical theater scripts and scores, and the community is so small it's fairly easy for them to police. Plus what happens if you get busted? They black list your theater and you can never do a show by them again.


I see all this as reasons for them to try digital scripts - it would be hard to get away with pirating scripts for use in a production.


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## Cashwalker (Apr 29, 2011)

derekleffew said:


> Stage Directions | Theatre Publishers Step Up to E-Reader Challenge


 Wow... very good article... They're closer to having eBook versions, which means they're open to the idea. But not necessarily interactive scripts like we're envisioning....


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## Tex (Apr 30, 2011)

One of the smaller publishers, Theatrical Rights Worldwide is already offering electronic scripts for perusals with the rights to print reading copies. Their materials also don't have to be returned. I wish all publishers would go this way.


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## shiben (May 1, 2011)

robartsd said:


> This is why I compared to the textbook industry which is significantly smaller market than general books (though not nearly as small as scripts)?
> 
> So they won't be forced to by competition, and being a small market the cost of DRM could outweigh reduced incremental cost of duplication.
> 
> I see all this as reasons for them to try digital scripts - it would be hard to get away with pirating scripts for use in a production.


 
I agree. Also, it could totally make a good way for them to get more money. Now, when we photo copy a script, they have no idea. When I make a new e-copy, they do and they can bill for it. Even makes their lawyers need to be paid less, because now instead of trying to sue a place to make them stop or send a letter or whateve,r they just send a bill. Easy cheesy. Probably good for everyone...


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