Before You Commit to a Live Show Workflow: A Checklist

Most workflow problems begin with a programme that was never given an honest running time. Before anyone talks about cue sheets or talkback, write down the slot, the hard out and what must happen in the last two minutes. A bulletin that has to hand over to another programme at a fixed second needs a different plan from a studio discussion that can stretch.

I come at this from the audio side, and I notice how often the clock is treated as an afterthought until the final segment is squeezed. Ask whether each item has a duration the team believes, who owns the clock in the gallery, and what gets cut first when things overrun.

Settle the answers on paper before the first rehearsal. A workflow built around a believable clock is far easier to rehearse than one that tries to recover time later.

• Slot length and hard out time
• Who calls the clock in the gallery
• What is cut first if you overrun
• What must be on air in the final minutes

A rundown is only useful if the director, vision mixer, audio and presenter can all read it under pressure. Look at yours as someone seeing it for the first time. Can you tell in a second which item is live, which is next, and which sources each one needs? If the answer needs explaining, simplify it before the rehearsal, not during it.

Keep one master version and make sure everyone works from it. Copies that drift apart cause more confusion on a live day than almost any equipment fault. Decide who is allowed to change it and how a change is announced to the whole gallery and the studio floor.

Agree the wording used for items too. A short, consistent label for each segment means the gallery and floor refer to the same thing every time.

• One master rundown with a named owner
• Consistent short labels for every item
• A clear way to announce late changes

A cue sheet that looks tidy can still hide problems. Walk through each cue and confirm that the source exists, is routed where you expect and has been checked at the right level. Roll-ins, graphics, remote guests and microphones all need an entry, and each one needs a named person responsible for it.

From my work with microphones, the usual gap is the guest who arrives late or the radio mic that has not been assigned to a channel. If a cue relies on something that appears only once, find out what happens if it is not ready.

Mark each cue with what the audience hears as well as what they see. Sound changes between items are easy to forget and obvious to viewers when they go wrong.

• Every source routed and checked
• A named owner for each cue
• A fallback if a roll-in or guest is late
• Microphone assignments written down

Talkback is the thread that holds a live show together, and it works best when it is boring. Decide who speaks to the floor, who speaks to the presenter and how the gallery signals a change without talking over the programme. A short routine that everyone has heard before rehearsal is worth more than a clever system nobody has practised.

Agree the spoken phrases for the moments that matter: stand by, going to, extend, wrap. Keep them short and keep them the same every time. If guests wear earpieces, decide who is allowed to speak in them and when.

Also work out what happens if talkback fails. A hand signal from the floor manager and a printed back-up of the order can save a segment.

• Who talks to floor and presenter
• Short fixed phrases for key moments
• A back-up if talkback drops out

A rehearsal that runs the whole programme from the top often spends its time on the easy segments. Go through the plan and mark the moments most likely to go wrong: the tight handover, the remote link, the segment with several guests. Rehearse those first and more than once, then run the full show as a final check.

Be honest about who needs to be there. A rehearsal without the presenter or the guest booker tests the gallery, not the show. If someone cannot attend, say so and note what remains untested so it is treated with care on the day.

Leave time after the run to talk through what went wrong. Agree one or two changes and write them into the rundown straight away.

• Rehearse the riskiest segments first
• Run the full show once as a final check
• Record untested items and what changed

The last item on the checklist is the simplest and the most often skipped. On a live day, one person decides when the plan changes, and everyone knows who it is. Without that, a gallery can lose valuable seconds while several people suggest different fixes.

Write down the roles: who calls the show, who watches the clock, who handles guests and who talks to the floor. If one person covers two roles, note it and check that they can manage both. A small crew is fine, as long as nobody is guessing.

If you are taking over an existing studio, add a question about handover. Who knows how this room actually behaves, and have they written it down?

• One named decision maker
• Roles listed, including doubled-up ones
• Handover notes for an inherited studio