# Spread Sheets and Qs



## delnor (Mar 3, 2003)

I put my Qs in a spreadsheet and organize them so when you have people on flys or spots you can just seporate what they need and print them out a nice little Q sheet. You can even format it niceley so its easy to read. Makes everyone that much more accurate, cuz they all have the same info.


----------



## TechDirector (Mar 4, 2003)

Thats a really good idea..........I'll make sure I tell my stage manager that. lol


----------



## tm1000 (Mar 4, 2003)

delnor said:


> I put my Qs in a spreadsheet and organize them so when you have people on flys or spots you can just seporate what they need and print them out a nice little Q sheet. You can even format it niceley so its easy to read. Makes everyone that much more accurate, cuz they all have the same info.



I do that for mic cues, makes the show much easier and I only miss about 1 cue every 2 shows or so


----------



## delnor (Mar 8, 2003)

Another thing I have done when you have a show with a ton of different Acts lots of Qs. You can make excel templates and print out a page for each seen so you have a nicely formatted Q book. And then you and Martha Stewart can sit down and make little Q books for each person on your staff with a nice accented title page customize to each crew member. LOL What’s sad is I have seriously done that before.


----------



## megf (Nov 8, 2003)

How about pre-show cue lists? I always sit down with a script in the first week of reh (or earlier, if I can get it) and put together a list of all the cues called for in the script. This becomes the basis for my master breakdowns for props, costumes and scene shifts; lights and sound are usually finalized at paper tech. 
Any other methods? I'm looking to streamline this a bit, so any tips are appreciated. 

M


----------



## wemeck (Nov 12, 2003)

Megf----

Your idea works quite well. During the rehearsal stage the production staff needs to watch blocking and exists. Especially for quick changes, specials, fx, and props. A lot of the time I would just get the blocking notes from the Assistant Director or the SM to track the movemnents of the actors. Some directors follow the script like Gospel, others find a happy medium, and some just remake the show.

But watching rehearsal and checking the blocking notes are key, especially for props and spot lights.


----------



## mixsa (Jan 23, 2004)

When i was running sound for a variety concert at school we had the computer up the back running two monitors (all computer should come with two monitors - they are soo cool). On one screen we were running the sound stuff, while on the other we had an excel spreadsheet open with all the cues, and throughout the day of the show we were easily able to make changes to the sheet - and we finally printed a copy out about an hour before the show
Note: colour is very good - we had our sheet colour coded by type of act, which stage they were performing on, etc. it worked pretty well actually


----------



## Dean (Mar 8, 2004)

I'm working on something releated to this.. but its HUGE - details later


----------



## halojen (Mar 30, 2004)

i just completed doing sound and lighting for a play.
i put highlighter on all my cues. different colours for sound and lighting.
i replaced the light in the top of teh booth with a UV.
this meant that the cues jumped out at me but not much light was case over the audience in front of me.


----------



## soundman (Mar 30, 2004)

I would use like a 4 or five collum spread sheet one for each tpye lighting sound fly etc then one for the line before it. I like it when all the people are on the same number, so instead of it being sound cue 28 lighting 54 and fly 2 its stand by cue 54 go cue 54 just seems simpler to me.


----------



## zac850 (Mar 31, 2004)

but Martha Stewart is going to jail, so........ are we supposed to go to jail and do this with her? i'm not sure I really wanna go to jail.......

(ok, bad lame joke, i'm sorry. i left my school at 11:00 working on the shows.....blah, time for sleep......)


----------



## nate (Apr 19, 2004)

I often use the script and follow it somewhat well. I haven't missed a Q yet though. I like the idea of organizing the Qs on a spreadsheet. It will be somewhat nice too knowing that my director generally tries to have the actors exit in a spot that won't be in the way of my crew moving sets. Thanks for the ideas everyone.

-Nate


----------

