If you’ve ever stood in on a TV or commercial job that has asked you to read off of a teleprompter or off of cue cards, here’s a tip to help you deal better with the challenge.

Ask for the Script!

Part of the challenge of reading off of a teleprompter or cue cards without any prior knowledge of the script is that when you start a sentence, you probably don’t know the end of the sentence.

As a result, you might start reading the sentence in one way, only to find out it was a joke with a particular punchline, or not a joke with a very serious statement at the end!

So, if you’re standing in and you see there are teleprompters on the cameras or cue cards being written up, ask if you’re going to be asked to read off of them. If you are, then politely ask if you may have a copy of the script so you can prepare.

Why Having the Script Beforehand Helps You as a Stand-In

Effectively, preparation is key when it comes to working with a teleprompter or cue cards.

When you are prepared with what is on them, you can better anticipate the end of a sentence when you begin reading the sentence, especially when the sentence is really long and not fully displayed when you start reading.

When you’re prepared with what you are to say, you can start reading a sentence aloud with more confidence and more smoothness when you’re standing in, meaning you will stumble less when reading aloud and possibly read aloud faster if the job requires it.

You may still trip up on words when you read aloud. Avoid being too hard on yourself — the pros fumble, too. If you’re reading aloud too fast, you might find you make more mistakes, so try slowing down your read so that you’re more accurate. Or else, when you step off, go over the script a couple more times so that the text is smooth to you.

Sometimes text in a teleprompter or on cue cards will be written in a way that is just not smooth for you to read aloud without tripping, or you might not understand the reference or joke in the lines to make sense of them. Just commit your best to the reading — that’s about all you can do in such situations. Sometimes your making repeated mistakes is a clue to the writers that the writing needs to change in order to be said better by the first-team performer for whom you’re standing in.

Another Quick Tip

If you learn you are going to be reading off of a teleprompter or cue cards, have on the ready anything you need for reading at a distance — such as glasses or contact lenses.

If you can’t naturally read text from a distance, this tends to means the cameras will have to come closer to you in order to read off of the teleprompter or cue cards. This can compromise rehearsals and camera setups, changing positions and coordination of cameras.

So, make sure you come ready to be able to read at a distance if you need assistance in order to do so.

Have any other teleprompter or cue card tips? Post them in the comments below!