Line Note- POST ITS!

[Maribeth]

Scott- I use the same method. Easy, quick, and effective. It also doesn't tie someone up doing nothing but line notes- you can easily keep track of that and be on book and track props....

[lauria]

In my experience, professional actors, especially stars, are not interested in defining what the error was -- it is more useful for memorization to just hear/see the correct line again as it is written.

(Twice as true for new works, where rewrites are likely.)

I definitely agree. Most of the time if I tell them what they said, and what the correct thing is, they get confused and will end up repeating the mess up, rather than the right thing.

[smejs]

I try to get everyone in the stage management staff to use the same notation for missed lines in the script.  A circle for paraphrasing, and S shape for transposing (around the parts they switched around, almost like a circle, but shows which words misplaced which words).  A circle for added words (in between others).  A big "J" out to the side for Jumped, L for Called "Line", D for dropped.  I try not to tell them "what they actually said", but keep things to the actual script.  I don't do line notes all the time (though I find lately I've gotten directors who want them every day).  But if you have a joint "language" for stage managers, you can take turns who does the line notes, and if you're really lucky and have a spare person during a run through, that person can be writing down the line notes for people a page or two after you've turned the page, and you're nearly done by the end.

When doing them by myself, I tend to give people a page to themselves, using an Excel line chart that lists page number, a key for what they did (the same L, J, etc), and the correct line, with underline/bold of the correct words, and asterick if they added in things.  I've done the single-strip things in the past, but if there are very many line notes, it's a huge waste of paper I think.

When our line notes for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead were SO extensive, I started giving the boys gold stars at the bottom of the page for every time I erased one they'd corrected the next rehearsal.  That certainly helped their morale.

Erin

[LCSM]

In my experience, professional actors, especially stars, are not interested in defining what the error was -- it is more useful for memorization to just hear/see the correct line again as it is written.

(Twice as true for new works, where rewrites are likely.)

I definitely agree. Most of the time if I tell them what they said, and what the correct thing is, they get confused and will end up repeating the mess up, rather than the right thing.

I agree wholeheartedly from an actor's point of view as well. Whenever someone tells me "don't say.....say....instead" I invariably end up messing it up.

The post-it notes sound like a great idea, it would be neat if you could reuse them somehow to save on cost though...I also like the idea about the page covers, but coulden't the ink get smudged off?