Examples you'll see
| Banner text | Where it goes |
|---|---|
| COMPANY MOVE TO HILL ST. GARAGE | Between the last diner scene and the first garage scene on the same day |
| WEEKEND | After the Friday day break |
| LABOR DAY HOLIDAY (NO SHOOT) | After the preceding day break |
| TRAVEL DAY: COMPANY TO SANTA FE | Between two shoot days |
| REHEARSAL DAY: CAST 1, 2, 3 | Before day 1 |
| SC. 88 STUNT: SAFETY MEETING AT CALL | Right above scene 88's strip |
| SECOND UNIT: HIGHWAY PLATES | Where second unit work happens in parallel |
Why it matters that notes sit on the board
A note in an email gets lost. A note on a banner prints in the right spot on the one-line schedule and long-form schedule every time the AD re-publishes, and it moves with the scenes around it when the board is shuffled. If the diner scenes shift from day 3 to day 5, the company move banner goes with them.
Some banners carry a warning more than a plan: "PERMIT PENDING" above an exterior, or "JOE AVAILABLE AFTER 2P ONLY" above his first scene. Department heads reading the schedule see the condition next to the work.
How the board reads with banners
Here's day 3 in strip order on a fictional board:
- Sc. 14, INT. ROSIE'S DINER - DAY, 2 3/8, cast 1, 2
- Sc. 15, INT. ROSIE'S DINER, KITCHEN - DAY, 6/8, cast 2, 5
- Banner: COMPANY MOVE TO HILL ST. GARAGE
- Sc. 41, EXT. PARKING GARAGE - DAY, 1 1/8, cast 1, 3
- Day break: END OF DAY 3, 4 2/8 pages
The banner has no pages and no cast, so the day total stays 2 3/8 + 6/8 + 1 1/8 = 4 2/8.
Mistakes
Using too many banners is the usual one. When every day has four notes, people stop reading them. Keep banners for things that affect the whole company or change where and when work happens.
Another mistake is mixing up a banner and a day break. If you put "END OF WEEK 1" on a banner but forget the day break before it, software may treat Friday and Monday as one long day, and the page total will be wrong. The stripboard color legend lists common banner colors across programs.