Penny Eyles, Script supervisor

Penny began her career in film when she worked with Ken Loach on ‘Kes’ and ‘Poor Cow’. She went on to work on many of the big British films of the 1980s including ‘The Killing Fields’, ‘The Long Good Friday’, ‘Dangerous Liaisons’, ‘Brazil’, ‘My Beautiful Laundrette’, ‘A World Apart’ and ‘Monty Python & the Holy Grail.’

Penny has worked on many of the films directed by Stephen Frears, Terry Gilliam and Sally Potter. Recently, she was script supervisor on ‘Gosford Park’, ‘Dirty Pretty Things’ and ‘The Queen’.

JOB PROFILE

The script supervisor is part of the story telling process. They record details of everything that is seen and heard on screen and use this and their knowledge of the script to assist in shooting. They are a second pair of eyes for the director and they communicate with all the crew and cast.

They send daily reports of what has been shot with relevant notes to the editor and supply daily reports to the production covering screen time shot, amount of script pages covered, scenes part and complete, number of set-ups, as well as hours worked, meal breaks, etc.

TOOLS OF THE TRADE

Stopwatch, Polaroid or Digital Camera, script folder, notepad, a spare script to mark for the editor, continuity sheets, progress report and CONCENTRATION!

PEARLS OF WISDOM

  • Never to rely on memory – always make notes
  • Always be on set an hour early