How does the crew of the SoL coordinate their lines in the theater?
The crew never seem to interrupt each other. They laugh at each other's jokes and sometimes coordinate lines. Their silhouettes move in conjunction with their lines and other cues. So it seems like it must be live.
But, they never seem to make a mistake or talk over one another. How are they coordinating their lines in the theather?
Best Answer
As noted in the comments, the biggest reason that they don't interrupt each other is because it's all scripted, not improvised. The only time it was unscripted was in their first season, when they were only on a local Minnesota station. If you watch any of those episodes, you can quickly see why they started writing it all ahead of time.
The show's writing team watches the movies multiple times, and the best lines are compiled into a script, with a notation of the time code when each line needs to be spoken. The performers are then filmed performing their lines in front of a green screen, and the resulting silhouette is composited over the movie.
Since the show has commercial breaks, they only have to shoot for about 10-15 minutes at a time, not the entire 90-minute movie at once. 10-15 minute takes are very long compared to most TV shows, but not long at all compared to something like a stage performance (which the cast of the show has done multiple times). And since we only see the characters in silhouette, it's pretty easy to cover up mistakes by re-recording lines later, or even replacing jokes completely if they want.
If you want to get a better feel for the shooting process, the unedited tapes from filming a handful of episodes have found their way online. Here's one example:
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