Author Topic: NEW WORKS: Distributing script changes  (Read 5012 times)

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leastlikely

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NEW WORKS: Distributing script changes
« on: Oct 03, 2012, 12:46 am »
I'm SMing a new work - rehearsals began tonight. In the months leading up to rehearsals I think I received four different versions of the script, but now that we're in rehearsals the director has put her foot down and the playwright will no longer be distributing new versions of the script. All changes will be noted by me, which you know... is great, on MY end and for the actors. But I'm not really sure what the best way is to keep the designers in the loop.

The playwright/producer handed out shiny new hard copies of the script at rehearsal tonight. Excellent - except for the fact that this is a different version than the most recent edition I got via email. So I suspect that the designers also only have the previous edition as well.

I've got a handful of changes that were made today after the readthrough, but I also have another handful of changes that were made between the last version and this one. The hard copies he gave out today have the changes tracked (...so there are strikeouts and red and blue text). I checked with my director and she asked me to just type all of these changes up as well, so the designers can be on the same page. So that's what I'm going to do, and for right now I'm just including a "Line Changes" section in my Rehearsal Report, because I don't know of any better way to do this.

I've really only done one show in the past that involved significant changes, but it wasn't a new work, it was a Shakespeare adaptation. I was ASM on that and my SM did everything on Google Docs, so her idea was to not change anything in the actual script document, but keep a running list of changes in a separate spreadsheet, and it was nicely color coded and whatnot but the changes were not monitored in the script... and then all of a sudden we're about to go into tech and I'm copying & pasting a bajillion line changes all night so she can have an updated version of the script which could then be distributed to designers, who had no clue about any of the changes because she never mentioned them in reports. Which ... hardly seems like the most efficient way to do things.

Personally I'm much more of a pencil & paper kind of gal, and also I don't have an ASM on this show, so I'll be keeping a list on Excel and it looks like I'll just be including the changes each day in the Rehearsal Report. I think this will work just fine... but I was just wondering if anybody out there has any tips and tricks for streamlining this, if it's possible to even do so.  Many thanks!

Rebbe

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Re: NEW WORKS: Distributing script changes
« Reply #1 on: Oct 03, 2012, 09:17 am »
I think it would be helpful for the designers to have a hard copy of the 1st rehearsal script.  That doesn’t necessarily mean you need to take care of that.  In many theaters I’ve worked at the production manager or dramaturge actually handles those first-day copies.  In any case, the whole team needs to start on the same page somehow, and if the actors get a hard copy it seems like the design team should as well.  That would save you the work of typing up what was handed to you in the first-rehearsal script.  If you have direct contact with the playwright, that may be helpful because the director won’t have to be your middle man on everything.  I’d ask either the director or the playwright if you could be sent an electronic version of the first-rehearsal script to make future changes easier to process ( you may need to make whole new pages).  Moving forward, I typically keep a cut-list for script changes, which I email to the production team and distribute in hard copy to the cast.  Since you don’t have an assistant, I think it would be fair to talk to the PM about whether anyone else on staff can provide assistance with script changes if a lot of them are anticipated.  It can take a significant amount of time to process and distribute them, and this task could be done by someone else, especially changes that come from the playwright and not the director.

Please check out the Uploaded Forms: Script Changes section of this website for examples of a cut list.  These other threads also have information that may help you:
NEW WORKS: new play!
NEW WORK: Script in process: how much paperwork do you re-do?
"...allow me to explain about the theatre business. The natural condition is one of insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster."  (Philip Henslowe, Shakespeare In Love)

MatthewShiner

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Re: NEW WORKS: Distributing script changes
« Reply #2 on: Oct 03, 2012, 09:57 am »
I have noted all changes in the performance report on a daily basis, and sent designers new scripts at the end of the week.

I also have an team member keep a change log, which notes date and all changes.  We distribute the change list to actors on a daily basis.  The change log can be a hard copy in their mail box and/or via e-mail at the end of the night.

We only issue new pages if there is a significant changes, major re-ordering, and added material.  New pages are issue with the change list. 

I always print out a new page, regardless of the simplicity of the change, for my script.

Also, talk to the designers - some don't need a new or current script until tech.  (Lighting designers for example, don't often keep track of daily changes.)

I prefer the AD or someone from Literary handle changes - - - especially on a new work, given future possibility of a show - but if I have the resources, I don't mind doing it - but often, you can end up spending an hour or so dealing with the script changes.
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Anything posted here as in my own personal opinion, and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of my employer - whomever they be at a given moment in time.

BeccaTheSM

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Re: NEW WORKS: Distributing script changes
« Reply #3 on: Oct 03, 2012, 07:08 pm »
What I have done, and found success with, is in the rehearsal reports having a separate section solely for script things. I keep a note at the top of it that says Please see all script changes made today, below. Words with strikethrough are CUT. Words with underline are ADDED.

I then list the changes with page numbers, the character whose line it is, and the line with added / cut words struck thru or underlined as appropriate. I have attached an example from a recent show with a TON of script changes.

Of course, this only works if the designers have a script to reference.

ALSO, on this show (since there were SO many changes) I updated the electronic script every few days or so, which I would forward to the designers at the end of each week.
Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos. - Stephen Sondheim

leastlikely

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Re: NEW WORKS: Distributing script changes
« Reply #4 on: Oct 05, 2012, 03:38 am »
It turns out that the designers do already have an electronic copy of the same version I am working with. Something got lost in communication there (that is, it didn't get communicated to ME) but that's smoothed out now.

So far what I'm doing is keeping my own cut list, and including a Line Changes section in the rehearsal reports where I use strikethrough for cuts and bold for additions, very similar to what Becca posted. Mine are looking like: Pg 6 DOC – I’d be happy to take you up if you have money can afford it. But then I also have notes from dates when the playwright isn't present at rehearsal, so some of them are phrased more like a request. For instance, Pg 4 – SHEILA says “...I’m being graded on this interview, you see.” In her next line she says “It’s an assignment, you see.” Could we cut one of the “you see”s?"

I think I am going to follow Matthew's advice and distribute the cut list to the actors on a weekly basis. I'll get them hard copies if there are really significant changes, but beyond that I think it will be best to just make sure they have the most recent list of edits!

BayAreaSM

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Re: NEW WORKS: Distributing script changes
« Reply #5 on: Oct 08, 2012, 02:44 am »
Another thing that I found helpful:

When I work on a New Work, (aside from emailing line changes and new pages with my report) I keep a text bible constantly running. If there are small updates, we write it on the page in the bible with the date, and if a new page is issued, we insert it and paperclip it on top of the old page. (I do the same thing in my script.) Granted, it makes for a HUGE book (that tends to look like a rainbow, because we color code the script page versions), but when someone asks what date something was changed, or what text used to be - or wants a copy of the most updated version right now - it's easy to reference the bible.

Now this may be pointless if you have access to the electronic version of the script. I haven't always had that - and I tend to work on musicals and don't have the proper software for reading those files (unless they are turned into PDFs). However, I've have several instances where I was told the night before or the morning of tech that the sound engineer needed an updated copy of the script and the designer didn't have time to make the updates to his script, so I just copied the bible and handed it over.



Maribeth

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Re: NEW WORKS: Distributing script changes
« Reply #6 on: Mar 24, 2013, 01:16 pm »
I'm working on several new plays this year, so I have been revisiting all of the threads about script changes often. Lots of great advice!

One thing that I did not do on my current play, but will for the next one: Maintain a set of mailboxes or folders to keep track of distributed pages. On my current show, I was vigilant about tracking the (daily) script changes, printing and distributing new pages, posting and distributing a script change log, and keeping a "master script" in the rehearsal room. It was a small cast and not that hard to keep track of who needed new pages.

However, we had understudies in rehearsal some days but not others. Every time the understudies would be there, I would have to dig through my stack of extra new pages to distribute and figure out which ones they needed. For my next show, I will get a filing box with a folder for each actor, and distribute changes that way.