How to Avoid Prompter Fail

World Prompter guy Ian McGrady thinks days like this should never happen:



Ian says:

My first job was at ABC News, World News Tonight. We were retyping the entire show starting about 2 hours before the show, cutting and pasting it practically as we ran upstairs.

Peter Jennings had a copy of the script at his desk. If the prompter failed due to wrong copy, or just plain eating the paper (it was basically turning the script into a conveyor belt beneath a camera) he was mindful of the copy and could seamlessly switch between his copy and the machine.

Although it makes talent nervous when the script disappears, "good" talent knows the script and the story in their mind: so if the prompter fails, they have a sense for thinking about what's going on, and can extravert their thoughts seamlessly.

Unfortunately the prompter falsely presents an illusion that people can talk freely especially when cameras are almost always zoomed in past the prompter.

Maybe as a function of truth in advertising cameras should always show when people are talking on prompters.

That aside, here's a good tip to avoid massive system failures like the one above:

1. Print the script.
2. Put in TURN PAGE blocks or markers that show where the physical script is printed
(the operator can provide the best marking - they should collaborate with the writer)
3. Producers should give talent time to rehearse while turning the pages and confirming the behavior for themselves until they're comfortable
4. Practice once with deliberate failure and switching so the talent feels comfortable in any circumstance, prompter or no
5. NOW you're ready to go live.