Guided by Sharon Watt (Boardwalk Empire, The Watcher, Mr. Robot), this hands-on workshop guides students through the vital role played by the Script Supervisor.

There are no available registration dates at this time.

The script supervisor, sitting at the right hand of the director, is a critical player in filmmaking. This week-long campus workshop will give participants a hands-on exploration of the script supervisor’s role in feature films, episodic television, and TV commercials. You will be guided by Sharon Watt, who has over two decades of experience working as a script supervisor on films and TV shows such as The Watcher, Boardwalk Empire, Stoker, Mr. Robot, The Night Of, Café Society, The Time Traveler’s Wife, and the upcoming Apple series, Lady in the Lake, starring Natalie Portman.

The Watcher on Netflix with Sharon Watt as a script supervisor
Veteran script supervisor Sharon Watt recently worked on the popular Netflix series The Watcher, starring Naomi Watts, Bobby Cannavale, and Jennifer Coolidge.

Through lectures, discussions, scene study, script breakdowns, exercises, and on-set work, students learn the proper procedures for timing, reports, and script notes. Held the same week as a directing workshop, participants will be able to practice in the field while scenes are filmed. All of the script supervisor’s responsibilities, including paperwork, tools, and procedures are covered.

The class will also examine the most important relationship of the script supervisor — that with the director, and how to relate to the actors, producers, the story, and the accuracy and reality of the film production. Students learn what to watch for during filming, and why script continuity is essential to the editing process. The class learns how to read a script and prepare for each day’s work on set.

Some of the topics we will examine:

  • The role and responsibilities of the Script Supervisor
  • Story chronology, how to break down a script and prep for a production
  • The importance of timing: pre-timing a script, timing the shot, accounting for running time
  • Film grammar, shot terminology, and visual storytelling 
  • How to supervise a scene: tracking dialogue, continuity, blocking, and logging the media 
  • Making it cut – coverage, eyelines, screen direction, crossing the axis, and matching action
  • Script notes for the Editor: daily report, daily shooting log, facing pages, lined script
  • Working with the Director, actors, and other production departments
  • Set etiquette and a day in the life of a script supervisor from call time to wrap report.

We will also consider various digital tools that facilitate the script supervisor’s work on a modern film set. The class will also look at how to get started and what job opportunities exist in this area of the industry.

Leave the week with a new understanding of this essential role in film and TV production.

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Instructor: Sharon Watt

Sharon Watt has accumulated over twenty years of experience working as a Script Supervisor in narrative feature film and episodic television, working with directors such as Tim Van Patten, Steve Zailian, Woody Allen, Sam Esmail, Park-Chan Wook, and Alma Har'el. Feature credits include Stoker, Café Society, Lost Girls and Mothering Sunday; television includes Boardwalk Empire, Mr. Robot, The Night Of, The Time Traveler’s Wife, The Watcher, and the upcoming Lady In The Lake.

Sharon also administers NYSSN, the New York Script Supervisors Network, and serves on the executive board of IATSE Local 161. Originally from the northeast of England, she came to New York to pursue film production after studying Media Arts at the University of London.

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