Guide · Updated July 2026

Show Calling & Rundown Software for Live Events

A printed rundown is out of date the moment the show starts running late. Here's what changes when the rundown becomes live, timed, and shared with the whole crew in real time.

What a show caller actually needs mid-show

• One glance to know where the show stands — what's live, what's next, how far off schedule.
• A single action to move on — no fumbling with a stopwatch and a highlighter simultaneously.
• The whole crew updated instantly — lighting, sound, and stage management on the same page without a radio call for every cue.
• A safety net — undoing a mistaken cue without chaos.
• A paper trail — for the next rehearsal, the next year's edition of the same event, or a teleprompter operator.

Option 1 — Printed script and a stopwatch

Reliable and requires no technology — right up until the show deviates from plan, which every show does. There's no live view for the crew, no running total of drift, and updates mean shouting over a headset or radio.

Option 2 — A shared spreadsheet

An improvement for building the rundown collaboratively beforehand, but spreadsheets aren't built for live operation: no built-in per-row timer, no one-click "go to next," no dedicated crew viewer that updates itself.

Option 3 — CueCaller

CueCaller is a rundown manager built specifically for the moment the show is actually running:

• Rundown manager — name, type, presenter, timing, sound/video/lighting cues and notes per row, drag to reorder.
• Section headers — color-coded blocks like "Doors Open" or "Intermission," synced to the crew's Schedule view.
• Private notes per row, visible only to the caller — never exported or shown to viewers.
• One-click GO — starts the next event's timer and updates every connected viewer instantly.
• BACK button — undo a mistaken GO and cleanly restart the previous event from zero.
• Live per-event timer with ±30s/±1m adjustments; overtime shown in red.
• Running delta — a real-time total of how far ahead or behind schedule the whole show is.
• Internet viewer URLs — crew opens a Live View or Timer channel from any browser, anywhere, no LAN required.
• HDMI output window for a full-screen timer on any connected display.
• Quick broadcast messages pushed to all connected viewers instantly.
• CSV/Excel import-export and teleprompter text export with configurable fields.
• ON AIR indicator, light/dark rundown, save/load as a portable .cueshow file.

Side by side

Frequently asked questions