Beyond Continuity
Script Supervision for the Modern Filmmaker

A guide to the craft of script supervising, Beyond Continuity features practical instruction through real-world examples demonstrating and explaining the skills needed by a professional script supervisor.

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 more subtle, 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.

Also included is access to a companion website which features downloadable versions of the various forms, templates, logs, and checklists used by professional script supervisors. www.focalpress.com/9780240814896

PART 1 INTRODUCTION

What’s so great about being a script supervisor?

What does a script supervisor do?

PART 2 GETTING STARTED

How to get a job

Meeting the director

Making your deal

PART 3 PREPRODUCTION

You have the job. Now what?

Prep Time

The Production Office

Breakdowns: What, How, and Why:

Rehearsals

Rewrites

The Read Through

Tech Scouts

PART 4 PRODUCTION

Getting ready for the shoot

A virtual day on set

Blocking

Keeping the notes

Rolling Film

What to Remember

Using Your Breakdowns

The Grammar of Filmmaking

Working Well with Others

Wrap

Safety

PART 5 THE BIG PICTURE

How to Learn About Acting

Being a Department Head of One

The Girl Thing

Mary Cybulski is a script supervisor with more than twenty 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, Syriana, and The Ice Storm. During these years she has developed her craft by both learning and creating professional techniques.