Enter your items and lengths and get the start time of every item, the total running time and how far over or under the slot you are. Front-time from the start, or back-time from a hard out.
| Item | Length | Starts |
|---|
Lengths can be m:ss, h:mm:ss or plain seconds. Your rundown is kept in this browser only.
A rundown is a list of items with lengths. Front-timing starts from the time the show goes on air and adds each item to find when the next one starts. Back-timing starts from a time that cannot move, the hard out, such as a network join, a break or the end of a slot, and works backwards to find when each item has to start so the show lands exactly on it.
When the end is fixed, the number that matters is the gap between your planned running time and the slot. If you are over, you know exactly how much to cut. If you are under, you know how much to fill. The tool shows both, next to the start time of every item, so a producer can see at a glance where a late item will land.
m:ss, h:mm:ss or plain seconds.Times run on a 24-hour clock and wrap correctly past midnight. Everything is worked out in whole seconds. If you need frame accuracy, use the timecode calculator.
The rundown is saved in your own browser so it is still there tomorrow. It is never sent to a server.
Rundown, front-timing and back-timing are standard broadcast production practice. This tool does whole-second arithmetic only.
Back-timing means working backwards from a fixed end time, such as a hard out or a network join, to find the time each item has to start. It tells you when to start the show and how far over or under you are.
Front-timing starts from the planned start and adds item lengths forward to find the end. Back-timing starts from the end that cannot move and subtracts item lengths to find the start. Producers usually use both: back-time to plan, front-time while the show runs.
A hard out is a time the programme must finish by and cannot overrun, for example because something fixed follows it, such as a news bulletin, a network join or a commercial break.
Enter the slot length. If your total running time is longer, the tool shows "Over by" the exact amount, and "To cut" tells you how much to remove.
Yes. Clock times wrap around midnight, so a show starting at 23:50 correctly shows items starting after 00:00.
No. It is calculated and stored in your browser only.
Yes. NewsRoll keeps the newsroom and the gallery on the same rundown in real time, and CGRoll can take its graphics from that rundown. Contact us to talk about it.
NewsRoll keeps scripts and rundowns in sync between the newsroom and the gallery in real time, and feeds CGRoll, our graphics playout, directly. Tell us about your setup.