The Run of Show Template Your Videographer Actually Wants

A run of show is the one document a video crew reads more than once. Most of them are written for the stage manager and the caterer, which is fine, but two small additions turn it into a shooting plan. Here is the version we hope to receive before any Kansas City conference, gala or corporate meeting.

The columns

Time. Duration. Session or segment name. Speaker or presenter, with the name spelled the way they want it on a title card. Room. Audio source, meaning podium mic, lav or handheld and who runs the board. Notes, meaning anything unusual: lights go dark, a video plays, a paddle raise, an award walk. And a final column: film it? A simple yes, no or interview.

The two columns planners leave out

Audio source and film it. The first tells the crew which board to take a feed from and whether the speaker can wear a second lav. The second tells the crew which of the day's forty segments are the ones that will end up in the recap and which ones need a camera locked on the stage for an individual session edit. Without it, everything gets covered equally, which means nothing gets covered well.

Mark the gaps

Breaks and meal blocks are where attendee testimonials get filmed. If the run of show shows a twenty-minute break at 10:40, a crew will have the interview corner lit and be pulling attendees at 10:38. If the break is not on the document, the crew is guessing.

Mark the moments

The reveal, the award, the surprise announcement, the honoree video that will make the room cry. These are the shots that make a recap film, and they need a camera on the audience as well as the stage. One word in the notes column, "moment," is enough.

Send it twice

Once when it is stable, so the crew can plan positions and call the AV vendor. Once the night before, because it changed. We would rather get a run of show three times than once.

The rest happens on the call

A run of show plus a fifteen-minute call is a complete brief. Our packages are priced on the event pricing page, so the call is about the day, not the number. If the event is at one of the rooms we have written up, Union Station, the Kauffman Center or Loews, the venue notes are already done.