NZTECHO 4Cont<strong>in</strong>uity GuyGuy Strachan and the Art of Cont<strong>in</strong>uityBy David WelchPeople get <strong>in</strong>to script supervis<strong>in</strong>g(also known as “cont<strong>in</strong>uity”) fora variety of reasons. Some maysimply have a natural aptitude for therole, while others look on it as a chanceto learn as much about the craft offilmmak<strong>in</strong>g as they possibly can. GuyStrachan is a script supervisor for thelatter reason. In this regard, there isno better boot camp than cont<strong>in</strong>uity.An exceptionally strenuous role, it isconsidered one of the most difficult <strong>in</strong>the <strong>in</strong>dustry and extends <strong>in</strong>to many areasof production.“I have never asked any other cont<strong>in</strong>uitypeople what they get out of it. I haveno idea why on earth you would CHOOSEto do this job, if you didn’t have anambition to be do<strong>in</strong>g someth<strong>in</strong>g else.However, a lot of cont<strong>in</strong>uity people havebecome producers <strong>in</strong> the <strong>in</strong>dustry. Someof the l<strong>in</strong>e producers that first hired mesaid, ‘Oh yeah, I used to do cont<strong>in</strong>uity.’So I th<strong>in</strong>k maybe that’s symptomatic ofthe broad-base knowledge that it doesgive you. You get to know the <strong>in</strong>s andouts of both the film set and productionbecause, essentially, you’re with the production.”Guy has been a script supervisor for close to fouryears, and has an <strong>in</strong>credible passion for the art of film.However, this has not always been the case. “I did a BSc<strong>in</strong> chemistry and then part way through that I picked upjust one film paper and decided, this… is what I want to bedo<strong>in</strong>g.”LIFE BEFORE CONTINUITYGuy admits that there wasn’t a great deal of connectionbetween chemistry and the world of film. “I didn’t haveany arts subjects at high school, so I just didn’t reallyknow about it. I grew up at the Mount (Maunganui), wentto high school <strong>in</strong> Hamilton and then <strong>in</strong> Auckland. I wentoverseas for a year straight after high school, and thenwent to Otago and spent five years there…” Was film arandom choice? “K<strong>in</strong>d of… In an undergraduate degree youend up with 60 po<strong>in</strong>ts to do a paper. I just looked at [thefilm paper] and that was it. I did a semester and thought,‘Bugger this’. So I started aga<strong>in</strong> and did a B.A.”It was at the end of this period that Guy embarked ondirect<strong>in</strong>g his short film, M<strong>in</strong>efield, which was producedby Ride with the Devil producer Rachel Jean and shot byG<strong>in</strong>ny Loane. “I got to the end of university and that waseight years of university studies. I was a bit over it. So Idirected a short film.”“M<strong>in</strong>efield was a story about a war between two elderlyretired widows, and… it was all right. I did it <strong>in</strong> three days.It was based on an idea I had come up with as a student.It started off as a battle between two old women over amarijuana plant, but the marijuana gag wasn’t as strong asthe story element. So that k<strong>in</strong>d of got lost somewhere…”Guy laughs.BIRTH OF A SCRIPT SUPERVISORDur<strong>in</strong>g his Masters degree, Guy worked on a short film that
5 NZTECHOone of his fellow students was direct<strong>in</strong>g. Dur<strong>in</strong>g the shoothe had the opportunity of meet<strong>in</strong>g with Melissa Lawrence,daughter of actor Bruno, who was do<strong>in</strong>g cont<strong>in</strong>uity on theproject. He discussed with her the pros and cons of scriptsupervis<strong>in</strong>g and “…decided at that po<strong>in</strong>t that I reallywanted to direct, and that seemed like a good way ofspend<strong>in</strong>g [a lot] of time with Directors…”Guy confesses he had never considered cont<strong>in</strong>uity prior tohis encounter with Melissa. “Not at all! I just got shown thebasics of what to do, then did a bunch of short films. Afterthat, I just put my name <strong>in</strong> the Data Book and the next dayI got a call. <strong>The</strong> first job I had was probably the hardest. Itwas quite stressful, but… reward<strong>in</strong>g. So that’s made it k<strong>in</strong>dof easier <strong>in</strong> a way… gett<strong>in</strong>g through that…”<strong>The</strong> first show that Guy was hired for was the TV3 m<strong>in</strong>iseriesDoves of War. “It was two cameras, 16 millimetre,shoot<strong>in</strong>g seven or eight m<strong>in</strong>utes a day. <strong>The</strong> director wasalso one of the camera operators, so there wasn’t a lot ofthat cont<strong>in</strong>uity-director <strong>in</strong>teraction. It was full on! I wasjust so busy focus<strong>in</strong>g on what was go<strong>in</strong>g on <strong>in</strong> the story… Itwas a real back-seat k<strong>in</strong>d of role.”“[In terms of be<strong>in</strong>g a director] cont<strong>in</strong>uity has given meaccess to a lot of th<strong>in</strong>gs I wouldn’t otherwise have hadaccess to <strong>in</strong> only four years. You hear a lot of discussionsgo<strong>in</strong>g on between directors and DoPs and art directors andproduction designers. To try and work your way up throughthe camera department or the sound department will takeyou years to work your way up. It’s just this ladder you’vegot to climb, essentially. But [do<strong>in</strong>g cont<strong>in</strong>uity]… whenyou’re on that shoot, you’re right there. It makes you feellike you’re right <strong>in</strong> the midst of it. It can be massivelyfrustrat<strong>in</strong>g because you have NO artistic <strong>in</strong>put, though itdepends on the commitment offered. Your job is to watchout for mistakes and to try and m<strong>in</strong>imize the amount oferrors. As such, it’s not ideal but it is still really helpful.”a whole, and the chosen person needs the ability to focuson many different areas simultaneously.GENDER BIAS IN CONTINUITY<strong>The</strong> historical term for script supervisor is ‘cont<strong>in</strong>uityclerk’ or ‘script girl’, as <strong>in</strong> the past the position wasfilled almost exclusively by women. This gender bias hascont<strong>in</strong>ued largely unchallenged <strong>in</strong>to today’s film <strong>in</strong>dustry,with the majority of cont<strong>in</strong>uity people still be<strong>in</strong>g female.[Editor: Why is this? Do producers believe women to bemore analytical, or <strong>in</strong> modern parlance, better at themulti-task<strong>in</strong>g necessary <strong>in</strong> cont<strong>in</strong>uity work? Or are thereother reasons? Are males more attracted to deal<strong>in</strong>g withmore mechanical equipment rather than pen and paper, orperhaps to be<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> positions of greater authority?]When asked about whether the stigma attached to scriptsupervis<strong>in</strong>g has ever affected him, Guy is slow to answer.“I don’t know, eh. I am only ever the one person do<strong>in</strong>gthat job on a film. <strong>The</strong> first couple of jobs I did, peoplewould always comment on it. On one of the first shortfilms I did, I asked a loader whether they had a preferencefor the slate number. <strong>The</strong>y just said, “Oh, I normally justask the cont<strong>in</strong>uity lady!” So I was like… Oh, right… Okay…THE HISTORY OF CONTINUITYIn the early days of film, the majority of ‘silents’ usedonly s<strong>in</strong>gle long takes. It was when the legendary pioneerD.W. Griffith <strong>in</strong>troduced the techniques of close-up, midshotand the deployment of multiple cameras that th<strong>in</strong>gsbecame more complicated, and the script supervisor’s rolewas born.<strong>The</strong>re can be more than a hundred cont<strong>in</strong>uity errors <strong>in</strong>any given film, from very m<strong>in</strong>or to major. A glass on thetable might be full while the director films from one angle,then empty <strong>in</strong> a take a shot later. That’s someth<strong>in</strong>g ascript supervisor needs to watch out for, and that ‘cowboywith a wrist watch’ moment is every cont<strong>in</strong>uity person’sgreatest fear. However, that moment may not be such anunlikely event, as the script supervisor needs to keep aneye on over a dozen th<strong>in</strong>gs at any given time, and mistakescan sometimes slip through the cracks. <strong>The</strong> role of scriptsupervisor requires an extremely broad view of the film as
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