DSM - Writing the Prompt Book

One of the most important roles of the DSM is to build the prompt book, also know as 'The Bible' or sometimes simply "the book," the prompt book is the copy of a production script that contains the information necessary to create a theatrical production from the ground up.
It is a compilation of all blocking, business, light, speech and sound cues, lists of props, drawings of the set, contact information for the cast and crew, and any other relevant information that might be necessary to help the production run smoothly and nicely.
Markings to the script (for cues, notes, etc.) are typically done in pencil (NO PENS ALLOWED), and either in the margins or on the blank side of the back of the opposing page.
For Snow Queen I was tasked with building the prompt book, under Ruth's guidance I started by putting A4 sized pages of the script (actors had been given copies in 2xA5 page per sheet format) into a ring binder. There is no fixed way to which way around the script goes into the book and it is left to the DSM's personal choice as to whether the script is on the left and the cue sheet is on the right or viceversa. I personally preffer the have the script pages on the left hand side and the cue/details/blocking on the right hand side.
The details page is usually written on the blank back of the next page of script so as to not have too many pages in the prompt book. This page is then divided into 3 vertical collumns, the closest to the script is for writing in the cues for Sound, Light, Flys and any other things that crew need to be cued for during the show, and also the appropriate standby cues for each. The middle collumn which tends to be the narrower of the three is for noting down descriptions of the cues. And the third outside collumn is to write notes and blocking. These notes and blocking are normally numbered and have their corresponding numbers in the script. Blocking notes will normally be abreviated and a lot of the time an abreviation key is kept in the prompt book so that anyone reading it can understand what it all means.
Everything that is written into the copy is only ever in pencil due to the fact that during rehearsals, tech and even performance runs it is still a very organic process and many things are changed, moved or even removed completly, so therefore writing everything in pencil means that things can be easily erased, making for a much tidier book.
Once we got to performance week on Snow Queen the prompt book file was practically bursting with the prompt script, rehearsal notes, cast lists, meeting notes, props list setting lists and so on...

The Snow Queen - Rehearsals

The role of Deputy Stage Manager (DSM) entails a great deal of paper work: knowing the script inside and out, writing up all lists, running rehearsals and writing / distributing rehearsal notes after each session, making and updating the 'Prompt Copy' to run the show, and a very long etc.

The following are some examples of rehearsal notes I produced for the Snow Queen.

I wrote these notes based on knowledge I had gleaned from examples of Rehearsal notes from REP shows that Ruth had given me and also pointers that Ellie gave me during the Snow Queen production process.
I have just recently discovered that some of the information I had put into these was not necessary and/or too detailed and now I am beginning to understand exactly what should be inserted into proper rehearsal notes.
Hopefully over the coming months and future productions I will get the hang of it all and improve.
As I have mentioned in previous posts, paper work has never really been my thing, but I believe that now I know how important these documents are for communication amongst the production crew and how much they can effect the smooth running of a show I should be able to make that improvement.