Cue numbering, and playing well with others

TL;DR:
How to write cue numbers with a system that lets you skip around, know where you are in your cue sheet, and be compatible with other departments…by working in blocks of ten.

The Story:
Some seasons are completely insane for me. It’s a common theme for designers – you’ve got maybe one too many shows on your plate, because something ran late or an opportunity came along that you had to take. Like any freelance-based business, you have to be organized and able to juggle multiple priorities and deadlines.

Two important elements to my workflow came early on. One is the use of digital scripts/prompt books, which I swear I will get to in another post. But the other crucial part for me is how I number my cues.

This may seem like a trifle – but it has allowed me to submit my cue sheet to the stage manager before tech begins, and gives me lots of room for error and the changes that can happen over the course of tech.

In this example, we are going to use a theatre production as an example. But I have used this for concerts and corporate events as well. I’m going to speak from the standpoint of sound, but it of course works for any department.

The Esoteric Bit:
The first thing to decide is what range your cues are going to be called. Maybe the lighting designer usually just starts with Cue 1 – pretty straightforward, right?

For sound cues, many companies/groups relegate sound cues to letters – A-Z, and some permutions if that isn’t enough or the design calls for a new cue between E and F – whether that’s E.5 or EE, whatever.

I hate that. I want all of the numerical freedom, and I can design fairly cue-heavy shows, especially if I am designing video as well. Plus, I want something that makes sense and is clear over the comm – no “T, as in train” or having to count how many times the stage manager said a letter to know what cue it is.

So in this example, I’m going to start with 300 – putting myself way above lighting, because the last thing you want is the stage manager to have to call more than one “Cue 22.”

My first cue is always 0.1 – or in this case, 299.1 (not shown in the example below). It’s the prep & setup cue & scripts before the doors even open.

I then work in blocks of ten. Here is how it goes:

300-309 – preshow, curtain, etc
310-319 – Act 1, scene 1
320-329 – Act 1, scene 2
330-339 – Act 1, scene 3

And so on. At the end of the Act 1, I jump up to the next block of 100  for Act 2. So Act 2 looks like this:

400-409 – intermission, curtain, etc
410-419 – Act 2, scene 1
420-429 – Act 2, scene 2
430-439 – Act 2, scene 3

If Act 1 has enough scenes to hit the 400s, then I’d jump to 500. Simple.

My cue sheet quickly starts to look like this: