# Script Cue Software



## NikolasR (Sep 16, 2016)

Usually when running sound I miss around 1 or so cue during a play because I am not able to turn my physical script in time. Do you guys know of any good software for Mac that I can add notes and cues onto my script? I don't mind typing it out. I would use Pages or something like that but I don't think you can format it page by page like a "book format."

Thanks in advance,
Nik

Sorry if this is the wrong section, didn't see any sections focused on software.

Edit: never mind this should be in the multimedia section, sorry.


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## Chris15 (Sep 16, 2016)

Thread moved from Sound, Music & Intercom to Multimedia, Projection & Show Control


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## ThomasL (Sep 16, 2016)

Not for Mac that I know of, but for Windows there is SCS -
http://www.showcuesystems.com/cms/


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## Mike R (Sep 16, 2016)

In regards to keeping a physical script, and missing cues at the top of the page, it can help to make notes on the previous page, warning you that you have a cue coming up quickly. This is done quite frequently by Sound Engineers and Stage Managers.


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## seanandkate (Sep 16, 2016)

I'm not sure if that would be substantially easier in a show situation, and retyping / scanning the whole script in would most CERTAINLY be more work. More information will help us tailor an answer for you. If you are talking the playback of pre-recorded cues, it's usually a stage manager that is calling those cues, thereby eliminating the need for any operator to _have _a script. While SCS / SFX /QLab all have places for notes, they are mostly for small scale notation, not wholesale scripts. If you are trying to chart where in a script to mute mics in a musical or something of that nature, you can probably solve most problems just laying out your script differently in your book. Even an indication at the bottom of page 76 to tell you to "quick-flip" to page 77 (because there is a cue right at the top of that page) will help your organization.


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## themuzicman (Sep 16, 2016)

I rarely type up my mix scripts during a tech, and only digitize them once the script has solidified. I also never have my script in a book format with two pages of text facing me. I use the backs of the previous pages for notes. This also helps my focus, as I tend to have all band moves and Q triggers on the right margin of my script and all fader moves on the left margin of my script and I visually don't want those notes next to each other.

I have a whole rule set that I write my mix scripts by, and having these rules helps keep the script orderly and lets me have confidence in throwing faders without having to flip pages in precision with the action on stage.

For text issues I do one of two things --

1. I write my upcoming fader moves in the bottom right corner of my script on every page, so I can take a mental note before the page turn, or get the next line up and then turn the page. I write an arrow with the direction I need to move the fader, and then the DCA number of the fader I need to throw. I write an X if a person who has dialogue before the flip ceases to talk at all on the next page.

If it's an urgent fader move that needs to happen on the flip I write it in red pencil. If it's a move that happens while dialogue continues from one page to another, it gets written in regular pencil.

The bottom margin of every page can look a little messy, especially if you have an urgent flip with several people speaking a few words in quick succession (IE X 2, UP 3/4, 7, 1) I know that 2 won't be speaking at all, I'm throwing 3 and 4 together, who say something, then 7, then 1.

If I find that the fader order is too wonky with a page flip, I'll trigger a DCA change scene over a lot of dialogue in a page prior, keeping the dialogue up on one stick, and ordering quick succession dialogue into a logical DCA order, that way I don't need to flip the page but know I can just bring up DCA 3/4, 5, 6 in that order and memorize the dialogue.

2. For pages where I NEED to have the page flipped (i.e. where a page flip kicks off a ton of dialogue among more than a handful of people) I simply find a place on a page where I can flip the script truncate the rest of the page, type up the portions of text on new pages, write in the actual page number on the bottom (so I can flip to it in tech when the SM asks us to visit that section), and black out the portions of the pages I am truncating and fitting on the new inserted pages.


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## derekleffew (Sep 16, 2016)

Perhaps employ a page turner ? 
I've often written at the bottom of many pages of a script "turn page fast."


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## Drew Schmidt (Sep 17, 2016)

Often the simplest, most elegant solution is the best and most reliable. 

I would suggest something as simple as duplex printing where every page is on both sides of a piece of paper, front and back. Flipping your book would then look like...
LEFT | RIGHT
Pg 1 | Pg 2
Pg 2 | Pg 3
Pg 3 | Pg 4
so on and so forth

This means you'll always be able to see the next page while on the current page and can flip when it's convenient.


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