Beyond Continuity : Script Supervision for the Modern Filmmaker

A guide to the craft of script supervising, the updated second edition features practical instruction through real-world examples that demonstrate and explain the skills needed by a professional script supervisor.

Author Mary Cybulski, one of Hollywood’s premier script supervisors, imparts her sage wisdom as she walks you through the process of training and working as a professional script supervisor, covering the basic skills of breaking down a script, taking notes on set, matching, cheating, determining screen direction, and knowing what the director, actors, and editor expect from a script supervisor. She also details many of the subtler, but just as important skills―how to get a job, how to think like an editor, how to tell what is important in a script and on set, how to get along with the cast and crew, and how not to get overwhelmed when there is too much information to process. This second edition has been fully updated throughout to address significant changes to workflow as script supervisors utilize new technologies, software, and apps. The book also provides brand new coverage on how the role varies when working on episodic TV, commercials, and lower budget film projects.

Ideal for aspiring, early career, and established continuity and script supervisors, as well as filmmaking students wanting to gain a better understanding of script supervision and film continuity.

An accompanying e-resource features downloadable versions of the various forms, templates, logs, and checklists used by professional script supervisors.

Mary Cybulski is a script supervisor with more than thirty years’ experience. She has learned and invented techniques that have made her one of the most skilled and valued script supervisors in the US. She is the first call for many of our most inventive directors: John Sayles, David Mamet, Jane Campion, M. Night Shyamalan, Ang Lee, Charlie Kaufman, Michel Gondry, and Tony Gilroy. She has worked on numerous A-list films such as Life of Pi, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Michael Clayton, and Syriana. During these years she has developed her craft by both learning and creating professional techniques.