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Script supervisor

2025-06-25T12:11:10Z

139.222.163.97: /* References */

{{Short description|Member of a film crew that oversees the continuity of scenes during filmmaking}}

A '''script supervisor''' (also called '''continuity supervisor''' or '''script''') is a member of a [[film crew]] who oversees the continuity of the motion picture including dialogue and action during a scene. The script supervisor may also be called upon to ensure wardrobe, props, set dressing, hair, makeup are consistent from scene to scene. The script supervisor keeps detailed notes on each [[take]] of the scene being filmed. The notes recorded by the script supervisor during the shooting of a scene are used to help the editor cut the scenes together in the order specified in the shooting script. They are also responsible for keeping track of the film production unit's daily progress.

The script supervisor credit is typically in the [[closing credits]] of a motion picture. The script supervisor is a department head and plays a crucial role in the shooting of a film. It is the script supervisor's job to monitor the camera shots, ensuring the dialogue and action match the corresponding pages of the shooting script. This oversight seeks to maintain coherence between the scenes.<ref name="Miller_Page_7">{{cite book |last1=Miller |first1=Pat P. |title=Script Supervising and Film Continuity |date=1999 |publisher=Focal Press |location=Burlington, Massachusetts |isbn=9780240802947 |pages=7–9 |edition=3rd |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2QKYAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA7 |access-date=22 July 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://getinmedia.com/careers/script-supervisor|title = Career Information|website=getinmedia.com}}</ref>

The script supervisor is the editor's and writer's representative on set, as well as being the right-hand aide to the director and the [[director of photography]]. It is the script supervisor's job to make sure that the film can be cut together after shooting has concluded. In that sense, they back up every department, monitor the script during shooting, and make sure that errors in continuity do not occur that would prevent the film from being able to be compiled smoothly in the editing room.

In pre-production, the script supervisor creates a number of reports based on the script, including a one-line continuity synopsis providing basic information on each scene such as the time of day, day in story order, and a one-line synopsis of the scene. These reports are used by various departments in order to determine the most advantageous shot order and ensure that all departments, including production, wardrobe, set dressing, hair and makeup, are in sync in regard to the progression of time within the story. The script supervisor may also time the script, which is of enormous benefit for the director and the producer, and will often attend a table read or read-through with the cast.

== Responsibilities ==

During production, the script supervisor acts as a central point for all production information on a film shoot, and has several responsibilities:
* '''Continuity''' – The supervisor is responsible for working with all departments (camera, lighting, sound, wardrobe, make-up, properties and sets) to make sure that [[continuity (fiction)#Continuity errors|continuity errors]] do not happen.<ref name="Miller_Page_7" /> The script supervisor takes notes on all the details required to re-create the continuity of a particular scene, location, or action. For every take, the script supervisor will note the duration of the take (usually with a stopwatch) and meticulously log information into a daily editor log about the action of the take, including position of the main [[actor]](s), [[screen direction]] of their movement, important actions performed during the shot, type of [[photographic lens|lens]] used, and additional information which may vary from case to case. When multiple cameras are in use, the script supervisor keeps separate notes on each. These logs also notate a director's comments on any particular take as to whether it is no good, a hold take (ok, but not perfect), or a print take (a good take). All of these notes are crucial not just for continuity – they provide the editor information on what the director prefers, any problems with any of the takes and other notes to assist the editing process.
* '''Axis and Eyelines''' – The script supervisor is also the go-to person for determining the [[180 degree rule|axis]] of a scene. The supervisor keeps track of and helps the director and the camera-operator set the camera position and off-camera [[Eyeline match|eyelines]] ensuring that the coverage of a scene cuts seamlessly and that the characters within a scene always appear, without any confusion on the part of the viewer, to be looking precisely at the intended character or object.
* '''Slating''' – The script supervisor interacts with the [[clapper loader]] (second camera assistant) and the [[production sound mixer]] to make sure that each take of exposed film has a consistently numbered slate, and that the sound and picture slates match. The script supervisor also notes the sound roll of each sync take, and the state of all [[MOS (film)|MOS]] takes. This ensures that there is proper identification on the film footage in the editing room so the editor can find and use the correct takes.
* '''Script''' – The script supervisor is responsible for keeping the most current version of the [[shooting script]]. During shooting, the script supervisor notates any changes from the [[screenplay]] that are made by the actors, director or others during the actual filming process. If significant changes are made to the script that affect a future day's shooting, the script supervisor is responsible for providing those changes to the assistant director's team who then will distribute those changes to the rest of the crew. The script supervisor's script is also referred to as their lined script because during shooting, a script supervisor draws a vertical line down the page for each different camera setup. Each line designates the start and stop of that setup, a quick note of what the shot description was and whether or not the dialogue was on camera for that setup. This allows the editor to quickly reference which camera setups cover which portion of the dialogue or action.
* '''Circle Takes''' – Depending on the director's preferences, the script supervisor may mark certain takes in the notes that the director or director of photography indicates that they particularly liked.
* '''Production Reports''' – At the end of each shooting day, the script supervisor prepares daily reports for the production team. These reports vary in form depending on the studio or production company; however, they generally include a log of the actual times that shooting and breaks started and stopped, and a breakdown of the pages, scenes and minutes that were shot that day, as well as the same information for the previous day, the total script and the amounts remaining to be done. Also included are the number of scenes covered (completely shot), the number of retakes (when a scene has to be reshot), and the number of [[wild track]]s. The script supervisor is the official timekeeper on any set.
* '''Editor's Notes''' – In addition to the production reports, each shooting day the script supervisor also compiles the continuity logs for the day's shooting as well as the relevant lined script pages for the scenes shot that day. Those notes are sent off to the editorial staff to assist them in the editing process.

The script supervisor is the primary liaison between the director (who decides what scenes are to be shot) and the editor (who is usually not present during actual filming but needs to have exact records of the filming in order to do the job of cutting the film together). The script supervisor is generally considered as part of the director's team. There is usually only one script supervisor on a given film production. However, on big studio productions, the Main Unit script supervisor will have an assistant and there is usually a Second Unit script supervisor.

== Earlier terms ==

Up until the late thirties and early forties, the script supervisor in the American film and television industry was typically called the '''continuity clerk''', '''script reader''' or '''script girl''' and often there were two people doing the job. One was the "continuity clerk" and one was the "script girl". Individuals performing such duties were either credited with these titles or, more often, not credited at all. During this span of time, many script supervisors were indeed women, a fact that originally spawned the title "script girl." However, over the years, script supervisor positions throughout the American motion picture industry became more thoroughly integrated and formed a better balance among men and women. This fact, coupled with producers' desire to promote [[gender neutrality]] in a position that was increasingly taken up by men, produced the gradual change in nomenclature. The gender-specific term has disappeared from film and television credits, but sometimes appears in everyday speech.

== History ==

[[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences|The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]] credits [[Sarah Y. Mason]] as the first script supervisor, having invented the craft of [[film continuity]] for director [[Albert Parker (director)|Albert Parker]] and the film ''[[Arizona (1918 film)|Arizona]]'' in 1918, for which she was credited as "Continuity Girl."<ref>The Official Tumblr of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. [https://theacademy.tumblr.com/post/150463845146/sarah-y-mason-seen-here-at-the-typewriter "Sarah Y. Mason Seen Here at the Typewriter]</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Continuity (fiction)]]
* [[Shot (filming)]]
* [[:Category:Script supervisors]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
* Miller, Pat P. ''Script Supervising and Film Continuity''. 3rd Ed. Focal Press, 1998.
* Ulmer, Shirley and C. R. Sevilla. ''The Role of Script Supervision in Film and Television: A Career Guide''. Communication Arts Books 1987.
* Williams, M. 'The Continuity Girl: Ice in the Middle of Fire'. Journal of British Cinema and Television, 2013. https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/jbctv.2013.0160

== External links ==
* [http://www.scriptsupervisors.co.uk/page2.htm www.scriptsupervisors.co.uk]

{{Film crew}}

[[Category:Filmmaking occupations]]
[[Category:Film production]]

Muriel Box

2025-01-30T13:24:36Z

139.222.163.97: added new external link

{{Short description|British film director and writer (1905–1991)}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2014}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix = [[The Right Honourable]]
| name = The Lady Gardiner
| image = Director_Muriel_Box.jpg
| caption =
| birth_name = Violette Muriel Baker
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1905|9|22}}
| birth_place = [[New Malden]], Surrey, England, UK
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1991|5|18|1905|9|22}}
| death_place = [[Hendon]], London, England, UK
| occupation = Director, writer, screenwriter
| spouses = [[Sydney Box]] (1935–1969; divorced)<br>[[Gerald Gardiner, Baron Gardiner]] (1970–1990; his death)
| children = 1 daughter
}}

'''Violette Muriel Box, Baroness Gardiner''', (22 September 1905 – 18 May 1991) was an English screenwriter and director,<ref name="BFI">{{cite web |title=Muriel Box |url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f40d561 |publisher=[[British Film Institute]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308191525/https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f40d561 |archive-date=8 March 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Britain's most prolific female director, having directed 12 feature films and one featurette.<ref>{{cite web |last=Young |first=Neil |title=The delights of Muriel Box |url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/features/muriel-box-career-retrospective-san-sebastian-truth-women-passionate-stranger-seventh-veil-happy-family |website=British Film Institute |date=24 October 2018}}</ref> Her screenplay for ''[[The Seventh Veil]]'' (co-written with husband [[Sydney Box]]) won an [[Academy Award]] for [[Best Original Screenplay]].

==Early life ==
Violette Muriel Baker was born in Simla, Poplar Grove, [[New Malden]], Surrey, on 22 September 1905.<ref name="BFI" /> She was the third child of Caroline Beatrice (''née'' Doney) (1872–1961) and Charles Stephen Baker (''d''. 1945). Her mother had been a [[Pupil-teacher|pupil teacher]], a maid, and an assistant in a [[magic lantern]] shop. Her father worked as a clerk for the South Western Railway at Waterloo. Her family called young Muriel "Tiggy". She attended St Matthew's School, Tolworth, for her primary school years moving up to Holy Cross Convent in Wimbledon in 1915, but was expelled, mostly as she had not been baptised. She then transferred to [[Surbiton High School]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite ODNB |title=Box [née Baker], (Violette) Muriel [other married name (Violette) Muriel Gardiner, Lady Gardiner] (1905–1991), screenwriter and film director |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-49588 |access-date=2023-02-19 |date=2004 |language=en |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/49588}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Burnett |first1=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-mwtAQAAIAAJ&q=surbiton+high |title=The Autobiography of the Working Class: An Annotated, Critical Bibliography |last2=Vincent |first2=David |last3=Mayall |first3=David |date=2 March 1984 |publisher=Harvester Press |isbn=9780710809704 |via=Google Books}}</ref> Here she took ballet lessons and studied drama with Sir [[Ben Greet]]. In the 1920s, she met [[Joseph Grossman]] of [[Stoll Pictures]] which led to work as an extra in ''The Wandering Jew'' and in the thriller series ''[[The Old Man in the Corner]]''.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}}

In 1929, Baker left a typing job at Barcley Corsets in Welwyn Garden City, for the scenario department of British Instructional Pictures. As [[Sound film|talkies]] were introduced, Barker was given the task of reading unsolicited manuscripts which led to her developing story writing and dialogue skills. She landed a job as continuity clerk on [[Anthony Asquith]]'s ''[[Tell England (film)|Tell England]]'' (1931). She moved to [[Associated British Picture Corporation|British International Pictures]] at [[Elstree Studios|Elstree]], where she worked on Alfred Hitchcock's ''[[Number Seventeen]]'' (1932).<ref name=":0" />

== Career ==
In 1935, she met and married journalist [[Sydney Box]], with whom she collaborated on nearly forty plays with mainly female roles for amateur theatre groups.<ref>{{cite web |title=BBC Radio 3 - Sunday Feature, Carol and Muriel |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001jcln |access-date=2023-02-19 |website=BBC |language=en-GB}}</ref> Their production company, [[Verity Films]], first released short wartime propaganda films, including ''The English Inn'' (1941), her first directing effort, after which it branched into fiction. The couple achieved their greatest joint success with ''[[The Seventh Veil]]'' (1945) for which they gained the [[Academy Award]] for Best Writing, Original Screenplay in the following year.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allmovie.com/artist/muriel-box-p82649|title=Muriel Box - Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos - AllMovie|work=AllMovie}}</ref><ref name="screenonline">{{cite web|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/479374/|title=BFI Screenonline: Box, Muriel (1905-1991) Biography|work=screenonline.org.uk}}</ref>

After the war, the [[Rank Organisation]] hired her husband to head [[Gainsborough Pictures]], where she was in charge of the scenario department, writing scripts for a number of light comedies, including two for child star [[Petula Clark]], ''[[Easy Money (1948 film)|Easy Money]]'' and ''[[Here Come the Huggetts]]'' (both 1948). Muriel Box occasionally assisted as a dialogue director, or re-shot scenes during post-production. Her extensive work on ''[[The Lost People]]'' (1949) gained her a credit as co-director, her first for a full-length feature.<ref name="screenonline"/> In 1951, her husband created [[London Independent Producers]], allowing Box more opportunities to direct. Many of her early films were adaptations of plays, and as such felt stage-bound. They were noteworthy more for their strong performances than they were for a distinctive directorial style. She favoured scripts with topical and frequently controversial themes, including Irish politics, teenage sex, abortion, [[illegitimacy]] and [[syphilis]] — consequently, several of her films were banned by local authorities.<ref name=screenonline/>

She pursued her favourite subject – the female experience – in a number of films, including ''[[Street Corner (1953 film)|Street Corner]]'' (1953) about women police officers, [[Somerset Maugham]]'s ''[[The Beachcomber (1954 film)|The Beachcomber]]'' (1954), with [[Donald Sinden]] and [[Glynis Johns]] as a resourceful missionary, again working with Donald Sinden on ''[[Eyewitness (1956 film)|Eyewitness]]'' (1956) and a series of comedies about the battle of the sexes, including ''[[The Passionate Stranger]]'' (1957), ''[[The Truth About Women]]'' (1958) and her final film, ''[[Rattle of a Simple Man]]'' (1964).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/oct/06/women-muriel-betty-box-rachel-cooke-film|title=Power women of the 1950s: Muriel and Betty Box|author=Rachel Cooke|work=the Guardian|date=5 October 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Morley |first=Carol |date=2023-02-19 |title=Who was Muriel Box, Britain's most prolific female film director? |language=en-GB |work=The Observer |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/feb/19/muriel-box-female-film-director-carol-morley-sunday-feature |access-date=2023-02-19 |issn=0029-7712}}</ref>

Box often experienced prejudice in a male-dominated industry, especially hurtful when perpetrated by another woman. [[Jean Simmons]] had her replaced on ''[[So Long at the Fair]]'' (1950), and [[Kay Kendall]] unsuccessfully attempted to do the same with ''[[Simon and Laura]]'' (1955). Many producers questioned her competence to direct large-scale feature films, and while the press was quick to note her position as one of very few women directors in the British film industry, their tone tended to be condescending rather than filled with praise.<ref name=screenonline/>

==Later years==
Muriel Box left film-making to write novels and created a successful publishing house, [[Femina (UK)|Femina]], which proved to be a rewarding outlet for her [[feminism]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.filmdirectorssite.com/muriel-box|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208150400/http://www.filmdirectorssite.com/muriel-box|url-status=dead|archive-date=2015-12-08|title=Muriel Box Films - Muriel Box Filmography - Muriel Box Biography - Muriel Box Career - Muriel Box Awards|work=filmdirectorssite.com}}</ref> She published her memoirs, ''Odd Woman Out'', in 1974,<ref>{{cite book |last=Box |first=Muriel |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1341873 |title=Odd woman out : an autobiography |date=1974 |publisher=Frewin |isbn=0-85632-090-0 |location=London |oclc=1341873}}</ref> and published ''Rebel Advocate'', a biography of her second husband, Gerald Gardiner, in 1983.<ref>{{cite book |last=Box |first=Muriel |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/9668786 |title=Rebel advocate : a biography of Gerald Gardiner |date=1983 |publisher=Gollancz |isbn=0-575-03269-3 |location=London |oclc=9668786}}</ref>

==Personal life==
She married [[Sydney Box]] in 1935 and gave birth to a daughter, Leonora the following year. They divorced in 1969.<ref>{{cite web|date=2013-10-05|title=Power women of the 1950s: Muriel and Betty Box|url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/oct/06/women-muriel-betty-box-rachel-cooke-film|access-date=2021-07-15|website=the Guardian}}</ref> Her sister-in-law [[Betty Box]] was Head of Production at the [[Gainsborough Pictures]] studio in Poole Street, [[Hoxton]], and her brother-in-law through Betty was [[Peter Rogers]], producer of the ''[[Carry On (franchise)|Carry On]]'' series of British comedy films.<ref>{{cite news |date=1947-03-29 |title=Producers run in Box family |work=Australian Women's Weekly |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article51389240 |access-date=2023-02-19}}</ref> In 1970, she married [[Gerald Gardiner, Baron Gardiner|Gerald Austin Gardiner]], who had been [[Lord Chancellor]], who died in 1990. She died in Mote End, Nan Clark's Lane, Mill Hill, [[Hendon]], [[London Borough of Barnet|Barnet]], London<ref name=":0" /> on 18 May 1991, aged 85.<ref name="BFI" />

=== Daughter ===
Leonora went on to study at the [[Royal Academy of Arts|Royal Academy]] from 30 September 1957 until December 1960, exhibiting at both the 1959<ref>{{cite web|title=1959 Changing Times|url=https://chronicle250.com/1959#catalogue=leonora+box|access-date=2021-07-15|website=chronicle250.com}}</ref> and 1960<ref>{{cite web|title=1960 Dod Procter's Jamaican Girl|url=https://chronicle250.com/1960#catalogue=leonora+box|access-date=2021-07-15|website=chronicle250.com}}</ref> Royal Academy of Arts Exhibitions, while living at Pond Cottage, Nan-Clark's Lane, Mill Hill NW7.<ref>{{cite web|title=Leonora Box {{!}} Artist {{!}} Royal Academy of Arts|url=https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/name/leonora-box|access-date=2021-07-15|website=www.royalacademy.org.uk}}</ref>

==Filmography==
===Screenwriting credits===
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
*''[[Too Young to Love (film)|Too Young to Love]]'' (1960)
*''[[The Truth About Women]]'' (1957)
*''[[The Passionate Stranger]]'' (1957)
*''[[Street Corner (1953 film)|Street Corner]]'' (1953)
*''[[The Happy Family (1952 film)|The Happy Family]]'' (1952)
*''[[Christopher Columbus (1949 film)|Christopher Columbus]]'' (1949)
*''[[Here Come the Huggetts]]'' (1948)
*''[[The Blind Goddess (1948 film)|The Blind Goddess]]'' (1948)
*''[[Daybreak (1948 film)|Daybreak]]'' (1948)
*''[[Good-Time Girl]]'' (1948)
*''[[Easy Money (1948 film)|Easy Money]]'' (1948)
*''[[Portrait from Life]]'' (1948)
*''[[When the Bough Breaks (1947 film)|When the Bough Breaks]]'' (1947)
*''[[Holiday Camp (film)|Holiday Camp]]'' (1947)
*''[[Dear Murderer]]'' (1947)
*''[[The Brothers (1947 film)|The Brothers]]'' (1947)
*''[[The Man Within (film)|The Man Within]]'' (1947)
*''[[A Girl in a Million]]'' (1946)
*''[[The Years Between (film)|The Years Between]]'' (1946)
*''[[The Seventh Veil]]'' (1945)
*''[[29 Acacia Avenue]]'' (1945)
*''[[Alibi Inn]]'' (1935)
{{div col end}}

===Directing credits===
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
*''[[Rattle of a Simple Man]]'' (1964)
*''[[The Piper's Tune]]'' (1962, featurette for Children's Film Foundation
*''[[Too Young to Love (film)|Too Young to Love]]'' (1960)
*''[[Subway in the Sky]]'' (1959)
*''[[This Other Eden (film)|This Other Eden]]'' (1959)
*''[[The Truth About Women]]'' (1957)
*''[[The Passionate Stranger]]'' (1957)
*''[[Eyewitness (1956 film)|Eyewitness]]'' (1956)
*''[[Simon and Laura]]'' (1955)
*''[[To Dorothy a Son]]'' (1954)
*''[[The Beachcomber (1954 film)|The Beachcomber]]'' (1954)
*''[[A Prince for Cynthia]]'' (1953, short)
*''[[Street Corner (1953 film)|Street Corner]]'' (1953)
*''[[The Happy Family (1952 film)|The Happy Family]]'' (1952)
*''[[The Lost People]]'' (1949)
*''The English Inn'' (1941, documentary short [credited as Muriel Baker])
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
*''Odd Woman Out'' by Muriel Box, published by [[Leslie Frewin]], London, 1974
*''Gainsborough Melodrama'', edited by Sue Aspinall and Robert Murphy, published by the [[British Film Institute]], London, 1983

==External links==
*{{IMDb name | id = 0101504 | name = Muriel Box }}
* {{cite web|url= https://www2.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/features/muriel-box-career-retrospective-san-sebastian-truth-women-passionate-stranger-seventh-veil-happy-family|title= The delights of Muriel Box|date= 3 February 2023}} Sight & Sound festival retrospective report by Neil Young
* Muriel Box (Senses of Cinema Great Directors) by Melanie Williams https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2024/great-directors/box-muriel/
* Spotlight: Muriel Box by Melanie Williams https://www.invisible-women.co.uk/post/spotlight-muriel-box
* How Muriel Box broke down doors by Josephine Botting https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/how-muriel-box-broke-down-doors-female-directors-britain

{{Muriel Box}}
{{AcademyAwardBestOriginalScreenplay 1940-1960}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Box, Muriel}}
[[Category:1905 births]]
[[Category:1991 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century English businesspeople]]
[[Category:20th-century English memoirists]]
[[Category:20th-century English screenwriters]]
[[Category:20th-century English women writers]]
[[Category:Best Original Screenplay Academy Award winners]]
[[Category:English film directors]]
[[Category:English film producers]]
[[Category:English women film directors]]
[[Category:British women screenwriters]]
[[Category:British baronesses|Gardiner]]
[[Category:British women memoirists]]
[[Category:Spouses of life peers]]
[[Category:People educated at Surbiton High School]]
[[Category:People from New Malden]]
[[Category:People from Tolworth]]
[[Category:Writers from the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames]]