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

Table of Contents:
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

About the Author :
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.

Review :
"This book is not only an informative and easy read, but is packed full of absolutely essential information for anyone wanting to venture into this complex world...The level and quality of practical examples - breakdowns, storyboards, logs, shot lists, hints and the language of film making - is astonishing. In my opinion, the author has far outdone anything which has gone before – the book should be on every educator's list of suggested reading for film students."-- Wendy Laybourn, Network Nine "This volume is much more than a text geared for aspiring script supervisors. It provides aspiring filmmakers with valuable lessons about the collaborative and complex world of narrative storytelling, a world in which people in many different roles must work together for a common purpose. Invaluable as a primary or supplemental text for narrative film classes and for professionals looking to broaden their knowledge about the narrative production process... Summing Up: Highly recommended." - M. A. Bay, Southern Connecticut State University, CHOICE