Show Caller: Cue Numbers, GO, Cue Sheets and Timecode.

When a show has cues, someone has to keep time for everyone else. That is the show caller’s role: watching the clock, the running order and each operator, and turning a written plan into coordinated actions happening together.

This guide follows the complete process: Show caller as a role, Cue numbers as a language, GO / standby / warning as commands, Cue sheets as the show’s memory, and Timecode + manual cues as triggering methods.

Show Caller

The Show caller runs the show through spoken instructions: reading the sequence, giving commands and confirming that each movement has happened. They work with the cue sheet in front of them and a radio on, and their unit of work is the cue rather than the song: each event someone must execute at a particular moment.

Being a caller means providing context rather than shouting quickly. A good caller places each command in time (“in five seconds”), names its recipient (“LX”), and waits for confirmation when a movement is critical. Without a recipient, the message belongs to everyone and therefore to nobody.

The caller also manages time margins. If the schedule slips, they decide which cue to shorten and which to keep; that decision is agreed with the producer before the show, rather than during it. If something breaks, the caller cancels the affected sequence and orders the alternative plan, because everyone expects their voice rather than an open discussion.

Cue Numbers

Cue numbers are the show’s index. Orderly numbering provides brief, stable references: cue 42 means the same thing to sound, lighting and video without anyone describing the action. Without numbers, each movement is explained differently and competing interpretations appear.

Conventions vary by discipline and venue; what matters is a linear system without gaps renumbered after every change, and one that survives last-minute adjustments. Common practice reserves digits: units for cues in one discipline, tens for scene blocks, so a local change does not require rebuilding the sheet.

Each number has a short description and a position. A cue with its number, action, responsible person and relative time needs no explanation, exactly what you need at three in the morning with the audience inside.

During the show, a newly added cue takes the next available ten and is noted in the margin on everyone’s sheets: if only the caller has it, the sequence breaks mid-execution as soon as someone asks what that new number means.

The origins of this practice, with its variations, are in the theatrical prompt book and guides to concert production with cameras and booth coverage.

GO / Standby / Warning

The three commands form a preparation ladder. Warning signals that something is approaching, so the operator stops doing something else; standby means the position is ready and awaits only the order; GO is the execution command at the exact moment. Separating them removes “now?” from radio conversations.

The sequence proves useful for movements with real latency: a moving head needing three seconds, a video operator who must reach their position, or a smoke machine that must start beforehand. Warning buys that time; without it, GO arrives late even when called on time.

There is also a negative command: hold or stop, which stops the entire sequence. Deciding in advance who may call it and what everyone does on receiving it is part of the plan, rather than an improvised reaction. In practice, the warning, standby, GO ladder is rehearsed in the same test as sound so the team can deliver it without thinking.

A common mistake is calling warning too early: thirty seconds beforehand, the operator finishes their task, gets into position, waits and becomes distracted again; a useful warning arrives with exactly the margin the action needs. The opposite extreme is skipping standby in a rush, making GO the first time the operator hears what to do.

Cue Sheets

The Cue sheet is the show’s living document: number, action, responsible person, relative time, trigger and notes. It lives on paper or on the caller’s own device, never solely inside control software, because when software fails, the sheet is all that remains.

Creating it is collaborative: each discipline supplies its cues, production fixes the running order, and the caller compiles and numbers the whole. A correct cue sheet answers the most frequent question during a disruption: what comes next and who does it? If that answer is unwritten, it depends on one person’s memory.

Mark the sheet during the show. Cross out or annotate every executed cue, letting you resume after a stoppage without debating where you were. Afterwards, the same document becomes the record for the next date: what changed, what took longer and which cues were cancelled.

Each row’s minimum format is: number, action, who executes it, when (in seconds or relative to the previous cue), and what to do if it does not happen. That final column turns the sheet into a plan; without it, every disruption demands inventing a new response precisely when there is no time to invent one.

Timecode + Manual Cues

Timecode synchronises: a timestamp—hours, minutes, seconds and frames—lets music, video, lighting and consoles share one timeline and trigger automatically. Its advantages are precise timing and repeatability; its requirement is that everything be prepared and rehearsed against that timeline.

Manual cues use the caller as the clock: they tolerate last-minute changes, variable events and one-off setups better. Their cost is dependence on human hearing and concentration, which declines as cue numbers grow.

A mixed approach is most common in large productions: timecode for elements that must land exactly—video and music sequences—and manual cues for things that can move—artist entrances and individual special effects. Rehearse the transition between modes explicitly, because the greatest risk is the change of control itself. Rehearsing it means practising the transition twice: once with timecode running, then stopping it mid-sequence, so operators know exactly when they regain control and whom to listen to from then on. Details of ShowKontrol, Pro DJ Link and SMPTE synchronisation are in ShowKontrol, Pro DJ Link and SMPTE Synchronisation, with the general framework in Synchronisation and Show Control Protocols.

Typical Show Calling Mistakes

The failures repeat: commands without recipients, cue sheets outdated after a change, live renumbering, no rehearsal of warning and GO, and a single trigger with no plan B. All share the same root: the show was prepared as a technical rehearsal rather than an execution rehearsal.

The defence is brief. A complete run with the cue sheet and radio before doors open; mark every live cue; have one person responsible for commands; keep a printed version or one on an alternative device. With that, show calling becomes a procedure rather than depending on one person’s state of mind.

A useful smoke test before each date: give the cue sheet to someone who has not worked on the show and ask them to say aloud what happens after any three cues. If they hesitate, the sheet only serves the caller; it is then a private note rather than a show document.

Next Step

A cue procedure also covers what to do when something stops: review emergency stop communications and the incident protocol to define who orders the stop and how to communicate it without adding noise.