Section 4.7: Run of Show

The Run of show is a rundown timed to the second, built for the people who call a live show. Build it in the project, run it from the same screen with Space for Next, and put it on every screen in the room, from the presenter's monitor to a browser source in OBS or vMix. A live data feed and a Bitfocus Companion module carry it into graphics systems and onto a Stream Deck.

Open a project and go to Production > Run of show.

1. Where it lives

Run of show appears on projects whose industry is Broadcast / TV / Streaming, Event Coverage or Other (Photography, Video editing, Graphic design, Sound design and Multi discipline projects), and on projects with no industry set. People who manage the project can switch it on or off with Configure tabs in the project's three-dot menu.

People who manage the project build the rundown and run the show. Everyone else on the project can read it.

To give the rundown a window of its own, choose Pop out > Editor window. It is the same editor with the same keyboard, so you can keep it on one display and the project on another.

Plan availability: Run of show is on every plan, including Free, with no limit on rows. Output screens, share links, the live data feed and the Companion module are on every plan too. AI generate counts toward your AI usage.

2. Read the rundown at a glance

Every timing column sits beside the title, so a show caller's numbers never scroll off the screen. From left to right:

Items are chained: each one starts when the one before it ends. Change an item's length and every item after it on that day moves with it.

Segment types

A small icon before each number shows the item's type: Segment, Open, VTR, Live hit, Interview, Performance, Transition, Break or Close. Hover over it to read the name, and change it from the row's menu under Type.

Blocks

A block is a header row that groups the items under it, such as an act or a part of the show. It takes no time itself and shows the running time of its items. Add one with Insert block below in a row's menu.

Floats

Float an item to keep it in the rundown without timing it, such as a backup piece or something you may cut tonight. A floated item takes no time, shows struck through and keeps its number. Run show never takes it to air, and the stage manager's screen and the client portal leave it out. Choose Float in the row's menu, and Unfloat to bring it back.

Hard out, over and under

Set the time the day must be off air in Hard out in the toolbar, and clear it with the X beside it. A hard out at or before the day's first item reads as after midnight, so a show that starts at 22:00 with a hard out of 00:30 must be off air at half past midnight.

Next to it, the toolbar shows the day's running time and where the day lands against the hard out: 2:30 over, 0:45 under or On time. The Back column appears in the grid.

3. Build the rundown

Production days

The day menu at the start of the toolbar lists each production day with its call time, and the arrows step from one day to the next. Days come from your shoot days, from any day that has items and from any day with a hard out.

• All days shows every day under its own header, each with its own running time, over and under, and numbering. It appears once the show has more than one day.
• Add production day adds the next day with its own call sheet.

Add and edit items

• On an empty day, click Add segment. In All days, use the plus on a day's header.
• Click a cell, or select it and start typing. Est reads 1:30, 45s, 1:02:03 or 1h30m, and a plain number is minutes, so 5 is five minutes.
• Type a time into Front to move an item, such as 7:30 pm or 19:30:15.
• Type cues into the cue columns, separated by commas. CAM 2, VT 01 becomes two cue tags. Graphics systems and Companion read them one by one, so agree a short vocabulary with your crew.
• Drag an item by its handle to move it within its day.
• Choose Delete in a row's menu to remove an item. A Row deleted message offers Undo. The item on air cannot be deleted until you take the next one.

The keyboard

The grid runs from the keyboard. On Windows, use Ctrl where this table says Cmd.

Shift from here

When the show slips, choose Shift from here… in the row's menu. Type an amount, such as +5 or -1:30, and click Shift, or use the quick steps from ten minutes earlier to ten minutes later. A plain number is minutes, and m:ss shifts to the second.

The item and every item after it on the same day move by that amount. Other days stay where they are, and anything that has already aired is left alone. A Times shifted message offers Undo.

Cue colors

Each cue column has a color, and every cue in it shows as a tag in that color. People who manage the project click a column's header to pick its color, and right-click any cue tag to give that one cue its own color wherever it appears. Use [column] color puts it back. Output screens use the same colors.

Generate with AI

Choose AI generate from the More menu (the three dots). In AI generate run of show, set the Event date, Start time and Event type, describe your items one per line in Segment outline with rough durations if you know them, and click Generate. ABRAM builds the items with cues for camera, audio, graphics, replay and talent. Review and adjust them once they arrive.

4. Views and settings

Views

A camera operator does not need the graphics column. Pick a view from the Rundown view menu, next to the day menu: Producer, Camera, Audio, Graphics / LED, Replay / VTR or Stage manager, then any views your team has saved. A view changes the columns you see and leaves the schedule as it is.

• Save current view… keeps the columns on screen as a new view.
• Edit views… opens the settings below.
• The view travels in the page address, so a link you send opens on the same view. ABRAM also remembers the view you last used on each project.

Run of show settings

Choose Settings from the More menu to open Run of show settings.

• Time: the show's Timezone, which starts as the project's (Use the project timezone puts it back), and the Clock, 12-hour or 24-hour. The clock is your own preference and everyone can set it. The rest of the sheet is for people who manage the project.
• Cue colors: each cue column's color, and under Cues with their own color, every cue you colored on its own. Remove one to give it its column's color again.
• Views: add a view with New view name, rename or delete your saved views, and pick a view's columns under Columns · [view]. Reset to default puts a built-in view's columns back.
• Custom cue columns: add columns of your own with New column name.
• Share links: links that open the rundown without signing in. See Section 7.

5. Run the show

When the show starts, click Run show in the toolbar. ABRAM takes the first item still to run on the day on screen to air. In All days, it runs the day of the row you have selected.

A run bar appears under the toolbar:

• On air, or Paused while the show is on hold, with the item's number and title.
• The time left on the item, in large figures. Once the item runs over, it counts on past zero with a minus sign.
• Next: the item that follows.
• Hard out: where the day will land against the hard out. With no hard out it reads Plan, against the planned end.

The controls:

• Next takes the next item to air. Press Space for Next whenever you are not typing in a field. One press moves one item, even if you hold the key. Blocks and floated items are never taken to air.
• Pause puts the show on hold and Resume carries on. The hold is not counted against the item.
• End show asks End the show? and takes the show off air when you confirm with End show, or carries on with Keep running.

Items that have aired dim in the grid, and the Actual column fills in. ABRAM keeps a record of what aired and when, and each item's actual time comes from it.

Message to talent

Type a note in Message to talent and press Enter. It shows at once on the presenter and stage manager screens, up to 280 characters. Click the X beside it (Clear message) to take it down.

The run bar and every output screen read ABRAM's clock, so a room full of screens agrees to the second.

6. Put it on every screen

Pop out in the toolbar opens the rundown as read-only screens for the people in the room:

• Editor window: the editor on its own, when you are working in the project.
• Outputs: Presenter, Stage manager and Clock.
• Views: one screen for each view, such as Camera or Audio.
• Float clock: a small clock that stays on top of your other windows, in browsers that support it. If yours cannot, ABRAM says so.

Each screen has its own page address, so you can open it on a second display, on a crew phone or as a browser source. Screens keep the display awake, hide the pointer and scale their text to the window.

For a browser source in OBS or vMix, add ?transparent=1 to the end of the screen's address. The page loses its background, so only the text goes over your picture.

These screens need someone signed in to ABRAM with access to the project. For talent, freelancers or a graphics machine with nobody signed in, use a share link.

7. Share links

A share link opens one screen without signing in, read-only, and stays up to date as the show runs. Create links in Run of show settings under Share links. People who manage the project can create and revoke them.

1. In Opens, choose what the link opens: Presenter, Stage manager, Clock, any view, Data feed or Companion (control).
2. Add a Label if you like, such as the person or the machine it is for.
3. Choose when it Expires: After the show (the default), 1 day, 7 days or Never. After the show is the end of the show's last production day in the show's timezone, or 7 days from now if the show is already over.
4. Click Create link and copy it straight away. ABRAM keeps only a fingerprint of the link, so it can't be shown again. If a link is lost, revoke it and make another.

A screen link carries only what that screen draws. The presenter and clock screens carry no cues, a view carries only its own columns, and only the presenter and stage manager screens show the message to talent.

Each link in the list shows what it opens, when it was created, when it was last opened (or Not opened yet) and when it expires. Revoke ends a link at once and cannot be undone. Expiry is set when a link is made, so to change it, revoke the link and create a new one. A revoked or expired link reads "This link is no longer active."

8. Live data feed

The live data feed hands the rundown to graphics systems and switcher software. Create a share link that opens Data feed, and ABRAM shows four addresses, one per format, each with a copy button:

The feed carries the show title, timezone and show day, whether it is live or paused, the time of day, the hard out, the planned and projected end, over and under, and the message to talent. It carries the item on air with its start, elapsed time and time left, the next item, and the day's items in running order with their numbers, front times, lengths, talent, notes, status and cues, each cue split out on its own.

Every request is worked out fresh on ABRAM's clock, so countdowns stay exact. Refreshing once a second for a countdown is fine.

• vMix: add the JSON or XML address as a data source, or the Flat address to bind a title's fields straight to it. Refresh every second for a countdown, and less often for titles.
• Ross XPression: add a DataLinq source of type JSON or XML and point it at the JSON, Flat or XML address, then key text objects to the fields. Reading straight from an address is not yet confirmed on XPression hardware. If your DataLinq source reads only files, fetch the address to a local file on a schedule and point the source at that file.

A data feed carries the whole day, with every cue column, the talent, the notes and the message to talent, because a graphics system picks the fields it needs. Share its addresses only with the machines that use them.

9. Bitfocus Companion

The ABRAM module for Bitfocus Companion runs the show from a Stream Deck and lets cue changes in the rundown fire your switcher, graphics and playback.

Download companion-module-abram-0.1.0.tgz and import it on Companion's Modules page (Companion 5.0 or later).

Set it up

1. In Run of show settings > Share links, choose Companion (control) in Opens and click Create link. ABRAM shows a Server URL, a Token and a Live updates key. Copy them now, because they can't be shown again. Anyone with this token can run the show. For read-only buttons, make a Data feed link instead.
2. In Companion, add an ABRAM Run of Show connection.
3. Paste the token into Link token. Pasting the whole link works too.
4. Paste the Server URL into ABRAM server URL. The default is right for most people.
5. Paste the Live updates key into Live updates key. With it, changes in ABRAM arrive within a fraction of a second. Without it, the module checks every Refresh every (seconds), 2 seconds by default.

The connection turns green once the show loads. If it reads This link is no longer active, the link was revoked or has expired: make a new one and paste it in.

What it gives you

• Actions: Go live, Next, Previous, Pause, Resume, Pause / Resume, End show, Send message to talent and Clear message to talent. They need a Companion (control) link. On a Data feed link they are refused, and the reason goes to the connection's log.
• Variables: the show title, the time of day, whether the show is live or paused, the item on air (number, title, talent, type, time on air and time left), the next item and when it starts, over and under, the hard out and the time left to it, the message to talent, and each department's cues (camera, audio, graphics and replay) for the item on air and the next one.
• Feedbacks: Show is live, Show is paused, Current item is over time, Current item has N seconds or less left, Hard out within N seconds and A message to talent is showing.
• Presets: ready-made buttons under Show control and Displays, including a countdown that changes color as an item nears its end and runs over.

Fire cues from the rundown

A Companion trigger can watch a cue variable and run another connection's action when the show moves onto an item, such as a switcher macro when the camera cue reads MAC 3, or a graphics take when the graphics cue names a lower third. The module's help page inside Companion walks through examples.

10. Ask ABRAM

In chat, ABRAM can work on the run of show for you:

• Generate a run of show.
• Read it: item timings, the hard out and what is on air now.
• Shift one show day's start times from an item on, to the second.
• Edit one item: its length, float, title, type, talent, notes or cues.
• Set or clear a day's hard out.

Item edits and hard out changes show you a card to approve before anything changes.

11. On your phone

Open the project on your phone and Run of show shows what is on air, how long it has run and how far over it is, and what is next. It updates live as the show moves on, so a stage manager or camera operator can follow along without a laptop.

People who manage the project can also make quick changes there. Add a segment adds an item, Reorder moves items, and tapping an item opens it to change its title, start time, length to the second and notes. When you change an item's timing, Shift the rest moves the later items on that day with it. Turn it off and only that item changes. Run the show itself from a computer or from Companion.

12. Print and export

• Print, in the More menu, opens a landscape sheet in the view you are on: the day on screen, or every day in All days. It carries item numbers, blocks, floated items and the hard out.
• Export CSV, in the same menu, downloads what is on screen in the view's columns, with the item number first and times to the second. In All days it adds a Day column.

13. Step-by-step UI navigation

1. Open the run of show: open your project, then go to Production > Run of show.
2. Choose the day: pick a day from the day menu, choose All days, or click Add production day.
3. Add items: click Add segment, or press Cmd+Enter (Ctrl+Enter on Windows) in the grid. Type the title, the Est and the cues.
4. Group and float: press Cmd+Shift+Enter for a block, and choose Float in a row's menu for an untimed item.
5. Generate with AI: choose AI generate from the More menu, fill in the event and the outline, and click Generate.
6. Set the hard out: pick a time in Hard out in the toolbar and watch over and under.
7. Shift the schedule: choose Shift from here… in a row's menu, enter an amount and click Shift.
8. Set views and colors: pick a view from Rundown view, and open Settings from the More menu for the timezone, clock, cue colors, views and custom columns.
9. Open screens: choose an output or a view from Pop out, and add ?transparent=1 for a browser source.
10. Share without sign-in: in Settings > Share links, choose what the link opens and when it expires, click Create link and copy it.
11. Feed your graphics: create a Data feed link and copy the JSON, Flat, XML or CSV address.
12. Connect Companion: import the module, create a Companion (control) link and paste the token into the ABRAM Run of Show connection.
13. Run the show: click Run show. Press Space or click Next for each item, use Pause and Resume, send a Message to talent, and click End show when it is over.
14. Print or export: choose Print or Export CSV from the More menu.