The Continuity Girl: Ice in the Middle of Fire

This article offers the first detailed scholarly account of the role of the continuity supervisor, also known as script supervisor, in film production. After examining in more general terms its attendant duties and responsibilities, the typical career trajectories of a number of ‘continuity girls’ working in British cinema and the deeply gendered nature of this section of film production labour, the article goes on to examine continuity supervision in more depth through looking at two specific case studies: two continuity supervisors who worked on several productions directed by David Lean, Maggie Unsworth and Barbara Cole. The work of Unsworth and Cole provides a starting point for reconsidering the significance of the hitherto critically marginalised ‘continuity girl’, and the article concludes with suggestions for further study in this area.