What does a script supervisor do?

The script supervisor — "scripty" on set — is the person who makes sure the film can actually be cut together. They track what was shot and how, keep the story continuous across takes and angles, time the day, and hand the editor a clean record of everything that happened. It is a quiet job with an outsized cost of failure: a missed continuity note or an unlogged take can surface months later in the edit, when it is expensive to fix.

Lining the script

Lining is the script supervisor's core notation. For each setup, they draw a vertical line down the page across the lines of dialogue and action that shot covers — straight where the actor is on camera, wavy where they are off. At a glance, lining tells editorial exactly what coverage exists for every moment of the scene, and where a line was only captured in one size.

Logging takes

Every take is logged: its number, whether it was good, no-good, or a hold, and which were circled as the ones to print or prioritise. Notes ride along — a fluffed line, a great reaction, a technical problem — so the editor walks into the cut knowing which takes to reach for first.

Guarding continuity

Continuity is the part everyone knows: the coffee cup at the same level, the jacket buttoned the same way, the actor's eyeline and screen direction matching from angle to angle. The script supervisor watches these across takes and setups — often with reference photos — so shots filmed hours or days apart still cut together as one continuous moment.

Timing and the daily report

The script supervisor times scenes and tracks the day's progress — pages shot, minutes captured, scenes still owed. That feeds the production report the whole team relies on, and gives the editor a sense of how the picture is running to length.

Handing off to editorial

At the end of the day it all becomes a report for post: the lined script, the take log with circles and notes, continuity references and timings. The cleaner that handoff, the faster and calmer the edit. This is why the role is really about records — accurate, legible, complete.

Doing it on an iPad

The job has moved onto glass. A dedicated app lets a script supervisor line the script with a finger or pencil, log takes in one tap — good, NG, circle — and pin continuity photos and voice notes to the exact setup. When a new draft comes in, a good tool re-imports it without losing a single logged take, and exports a clean PDF for editorial.

That is what Scripty is built for — the script supervisor's continuity and lining, on an iPhone or iPad, offline, with an export editorial can actually read.