If you’ve ever run a live event, you know the feeling: 15 minutes to air, talent asking “what’s next?”, director scrambling through notes, and someone in the back yelling “are we recording?”
For years, we ran our studio the same way most small production shops do — Google Sheets for rundowns, manual timers, and a lot of yelling. It worked. Sort of. Until it didn’t.
The Breaking Point
Last month we had a corporate client with a tight 90-minute live stream: three speakers, two panel discussions, four pre-roll videos, and a live Q&A segment. Standard stuff. But here’s what actually happened:
- Speaker 2 went 8 minutes long. Nobody knew we were behind schedule until we were already in the panel.
- The floor manager was checking her phone timer, the director was watching the computer clock, and talent had no idea how much time they had left.
- We forgot to trigger a lower third because the cue was buried in a Slack thread.
- The client asked “can we see the rundown?” and we… didn’t have a clean version to show them.
- Current segment timer (counting down)
- What’s happening next
- Messages from the director (“Wrap it up” / “Great, take your time”)
- A rundown system (Ontime is free)
- A production switcher with API access (vMix, OBS with plugins)
- A way to connect them (OSC, HTTP, whatever)
- Ontime: https://www.getontime.no/
- Works with vMix, OBS, Companion, and basically any production tool with API access
- Free and open source
We delivered. We always do. But it was ugly. And expensive. We burned an extra hour of studio time fixing what should have been smooth.
That night, I went looking for a better system.
What Live Streaming Actually Needs
Here’s the thing about rundowns in live streaming: they’re not just schedules. They’re coordination systems.
A good rundown needs to:
1. Show everyone the same information — Director, floor manager, talent, client. Real-time. No version control hell.
2. Track time dynamically — Not just “Panel starts at 10:30,” but “we’re 4 minutes behind and here’s what that means for the rest of the show.”
3. Trigger automation — When Event 5 starts, the system should tell vMix to load Scene 3 and cue the intro video. Not a human reading a note and clicking buttons.
4. Be accessible anywhere — Stage manager on an iPad, talent looking at a monitor, client watching from home.
Most rundown software is built for broadcast TV (overkill and expensive) or theater tech (not quite right for streaming). We needed something in between.
Enter Ontime
We found Ontime — free, open-source rundown software originally built for corporate events. Installed it on our Mac Mini, opened http://localhost:4001, and within 10 minutes had a working rundown.
Here’s what changed:
For Talent
We put `/timer` view on a monitor facing the stage. Now presenters see:
No more panicked glances at the clock. No more hand signals getting misread.
For the Director
The `/cuesheet` view shows every event, every cue, every transition. Click “Play” and the timer starts. Events auto-advance if you want, or you can manually trigger each one.
Every time an event changes, we send a signal to vMix via OSC. Lower thirds appear automatically. Graphics update. Recording starts when the show starts, not 30 seconds late because someone forgot to hit the button.
For the Client
We can pull up `/timeline` and show them exactly where we are in the show. They can see it on their laptop from the green room or from home. Everyone’s looking at the same information in real time.
For Backstage
Green room monitor shows `/backstage` — current event, next up, schedule updates. Crew knows when to stand by without someone running back and forth with clipboards.
The Real Win: Rehearsal Speed
Here’s something I didn’t expect: rehearsals got 3x faster.
Before, we’d talk through the show: “Okay, so after the intro video, we’ll bring up the panel wide shot, then I’ll call for the lower third…”
Now? We just run the show. Click Play. Watch it happen. See where the timing feels wrong. Adjust. Run it again.
Automation removes ambiguity. The rundown is the show. If it works in rehearsal, it works live.
What This Means for Small Studios
You don’t need a $10K Ross dashboard to run professional shows. You need:
Suddenly you’re operating like a broadcast studio with a fraction of the gear and cost.
Integration Ideas We’re Exploring
Now that we have structured show data, we’re looking at:
1. Automated graphics — Pull speaker names, titles, timestamps from the rundown into vMix titles
2. Recording markers — When an event starts, log a marker in the recording file for easy post-production
3. Client dashboards — Give clients a view-only link to watch the show timeline in real-time
4. Multi-camera auto-switching — Use event types to trigger camera presets (Interview = 2-shot, Q&A = wide)
All of this is possible because the rundown isn’t just a document anymore. It’s live data the whole system can read.
The Bottom Line
Live streaming is professionalizing. Clients expect broadcast quality at streaming prices. You can’t compete by working harder — you have to work smarter.
A real rundown system isn’t just about looking professional. It’s about being professional. It’s about delivering consistent quality without burning out your team.
We installed Ontime last week. We’ll never go back to Google Sheets.
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Resources:
Want to see it in action? Next time you book Studio One, ask to see the rundown system. We’ll show you how we run shows now vs. how we used to. The difference is night and day.
— E4 Studios