Script Supervisor
Shot out of order, a film only stays coherent if someone tracks it.
What this is about
Films are shot in the order that is cheap, not the order that is told. Someone has to hold the told order in mind while the cheap order happens — that is script supervision, and it works only with a plan to check against.
Every department needs the same plan in a different view. That is exactly where document collections fail: they only ever serve one perspective well.
What runs differently here
Where this differs from the general case:
- Every scene shot out of story order multiplies the continuity points to verify per setup
- The daily progress report reconciles planned coverage against what actually exists on the cards
- Eyelines and screen direction are settled at blocking; fixing them later means reshooting, not regrading
What the plan has to deliver
A production plan is useful to this role when it provides the following:
- The shooting order next to the story order
- A shot list with coverage status everyone sees
- Blocking decisions recorded, not remembered
- Continuity photos attached to scenes, not to a phone
Common pitfalls
What most often goes wrong in practice:
- Treating continuity photos as a private archive instead of a shared one
- Logging takes without noting which ones the director circled
With TillyGen
TillyGen shows scene, shot and schedule in one view, so checked-off coverage is visible to the whole production, not one notebook.
Change one constraint and the consequences travel through the whole plan: affected shots are flagged, the call sheet is regenerated, and nobody keeps working from yesterday's version.
Frequently asked
What does script supervision need before day one?
The shooting order next to the story order, the shot list with its coverage intent, and the blocking decisions that fix eyelines. Everything else is built on those three.
Why does shooting order matter for continuity?
Because props, wardrobe states and emotional levels have to match scenes that were shot days apart. The further the order jumps, the more has to be tracked per setup.
Who reads the daily continuity report?
The edit first — it says which takes were circled and why. Production reads it too, because it is the earliest written record of what the day actually achieved.
How long does it take to get started with TillyGen?
A first project takes under an hour to set up. There is no configuration phase in which templates and fields have to be defined before the tool produces anything.
Can the results be exported?
Yes — as PDF for the crew, CSV for downstream systems and through the API for anything automated. The plan stays the source; the exports are views of it.