One of the essential jobs of a Script Supervisor is to ensure that on each shooting day, each scene being shot gets “full coverage.” This means that if you were to add up each of the director's takes, nothing’s left behind on the page. To keep track of this, the Script Supervisor “lines the script” during each take. If you’ve ever seen a Script Supervisor drawing squiggly lines down a page, it’s not just idle doodling, it’s an efficient method of tracking what has and has not been covered.
To line a script properly as a Script Supervisor, you need to know the difference between squiggles and straight lines.
When lining the script, there is a specific way the industry prefers to show what will be covered and what won’t be for each set-up. (There’s going to be examples, so do not fret my visual learners!)
For example, if shot 1A will cover all of Character A’s lines, but not Character B’s lines, then a straight line would go through the middle of Character A’s dialogue and a squiggle through the middle of Character B’s lines. The same rule applies for action text. If a shot will cover certain action text but not dialogue, then a straight line would go through the middle of the action text and a squiggle would go through the dialogue.
Although the industry standard is the squiggle vs. straight lines, the way of dedicating each shot and take can vary from set to set. Some people prefer to put all the shot titles at the top of each page, while others prefer to put the shot titles right above where the coverage begins. It’s best to talk with the Script Supervisor and/or Producer(s) to ensure everyone is on the same page as to what works best for the production.
Option 1: How to line a script with the shots listed evenly at the top
Option 2: How to line a script with the shots listed above the coverage start point.
This pattern is followed for the entirety of the script with each shot clearly labeled at the beginning of the line.
The rules for the lines still stay the same: a squiggle for not covered and a straight line for covered. The only difference now is the added bonus of keeping track of what each take specifically covers. Maybe take one of shot 1A covered everything the director wanted, but take three of the same shot only got the tail end of someone’s lines. It’s up to the script supervisor (or Assigned Line Supervisor, if the crew is large enough) to keep track of everything.
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