Despite it's usual love-fest atmosphere, sparks do fly on the set of JERSEY GIRL.

JERSEY GIRL's crew cares about this movie, and they're all working hard to make it something special. Sometimes, that desire flares into spirited debate.

For the past five minutes, script supervisor Carol Banker has been holding her own as she verbally spars with cinematographer (and living legend) Vilmos Zsigmond over a continuity issue.

Carol has caught Vilmos trying to cheat a sight line on B-camera because he thinks the framing is more artistic. She's concerned that should Kevin need to use any of that coverage, it won't cut together correctly with the primary footage coming from A camera, rendering B camera footage beautiful...but useless.

Zsigmond is indignant. (In a later interview, he'll reveal that he believes that it's the director and cinematographer who should be having these conversations, not the cinematographer and the script supervisor.) But Kevin Smith is a collaborator. He trusts Carol Banker absolutely, and welcomes her strong, solid opinions.

She keeps track of the smallest details (water levels in drinking glasses, actors' positions, how they hold props, and an absurd list of other microscopic detail) so that Kevin can concentrate on bringing great performances out of his actors.

She's the one in charge of continuity, a very tough, tee-totaling, thankless job that places her often at the center of debate. But for Carol Banker it's not about winning, it's not about losing. It's about making sure she does her job.

Eagle-Eye Banker
An Interview with Script Supervisor Carol Banker

Antony Teofilo: What's the correct title for what you do? Continuity, or script supervisor?

Carol Banker: It's two different titles for the same job, but to the public, [the term] continuity makes more sense to people who don't have a good understanding of filmmaking.

AT: What are your duties on JERSEY GIRL?

CB: It's so boring, it's beyond belief...

AT: Yet script supervisor is a very important position on a film set, and one of the most difficult in terms of workload. What are your specific responsibilities?

CB: From the beginning, I [analyze] the script and do what's called a continuity breakdown. All department heads who have continuity issues like wardrobe and makeup and props and set dressing get a breakdown. In particular for this movie, we have a lot of date issues. We go from 1994 to 2003, and there are seasons we have to keep track of. People refer to that breakdown to see where we're at because we shoot out of order. I also keep track of what we shot. Today, I know so far we've shot fifty and three eights pages, and how much running time that means so far for the movie.

I look to see when we're going to be shooting things, too. For instance, when we did the [spoiler omitted] thing, we've shot that from several different angles and such, so I have to make notes just for myself so that we can match appearances if we come back for re-shoots two months later. In the very beginning, we were shooting George Carlin and Ben Affleck, and just at the last second, Ben didn't want to wear a watch. I had to note that every story day that corresponds to that event in the script had to be a 'no watch' scene.

AT: Why didn't Affleck want to wear a watch?

CB: Who knows? [Laughs]

AT: Actors.

CB: I have to get a lot of my information by eavesdropping. It's not like he comes to me and says, "Carol, I'm not wearing a watch." I just have to always pay attention because that has repercussions in the big picture. And there's some stuff that you just can't avoid. I can lead the horse to water, but I can't make him drink. I can only tell Kevin, "This is the problem, and this is what happened." There are some actors who are not good with continuity. Within a scene, if they're standing with their hand on their hip, and they've got something in their left hand, some actors have no patience for wanting to match that in every take. In a situation like that, I will sometimes suggest a tighter shot so that the director can cut around the prop.

My job in a real basic sense is to make sure that what we shoot will cut together, and that we can cut based on story and based on performance, rather than continuity, because you never want to cut just for continuity.

AT: In pre-production, when do you get started?

CB: It depends on the script. Union-wise, I get ten days to prep. Very early on, I also time the script out. Kevin's scripts are long. I time it, and I let the producers know, "You have almost a three hour movie here". Kevin never wants to hear that, but the producers can then get him to make cuts because they don't want to shoot stuff that will never be in the movie. It's expensive.

AT: During production, does your day end when you leave the set, or do you go home and work a few more hours to prepare for the next day's shooting?

CB: In theory, I go home and work, except on a movie like this that is scheduled so well, I have a lot of downtime. I prefer to do it while I'm here. I keep up with what's happening during the day, but I prefer to work when I'm at work, not when I'm at home.

AT: One would imagine you've got to be pretty obsessive about detail...does that carry over into your personal life?

CB: I'm kind of an ironic script supervisor. I'm not that obsessive. I know script supervisors who are proud of the fact that they remember what color socks somebody was wearing like a year ago. I notice more details just about the world. I'm certainly observant, but I don't care about details like that in the world, because I don't have to. I'm not working.

AT: How and why did you become a script supervisor?

CB: I became a script supervisor so that I could direct. I think being a good observer makes a good director. I do think I'm observant, but at home, you know, I'm sloppy. Everything isn't in neat little piles. [Laughs] I thought [script supervisor] was the smartest route to go, to be next to the people you need to be with, to interact with the actors, to sit next to the director and learn from their mistakes. It was good to learn what I wouldn't do, as well as what a good director does.

AT: What have you directed so far?

CB: The Lone Gunmen [from the X-Files] had their own series on Fox for a while, and I directed on that show. I had a blast doing it. I will say that if the show hadn't been cancelled, I wouldn't be here. I'd be doing that. But I adore Kevin, and I love hanging out with him, so that's why I'm here. But I'm sort of over doing this job.

AT: How did you get your start in the industry?

CB: I started with Roger Corman's company. Back then, he was still in L.A., and he would churn out like two movies a month...

AT: That sounds like a pretty insane pace.

CB: It's definitely an insane pace. But it's super-low budget, and you would do just an insane amount of scenes and pages a day. But it was the perfect place to get good at what I'm doing, because the editing was right there. If I did make a mistake I could see it right away. It's never good to make a mistake, but if you're going to make one, a super-low budget film is the place to do it.

I did five movies back-to-back. My job is one of those catch-22's because nobody will hire you if you've never done it, but the only way you can get experience is to do it.

AT: So you just showed up one day and said, "I want to be a script supervisor?"

CB: When I first moved to L.A., I would literally work on anything. Back then, there was more non-union work. I did transportation, which now if you're not a teamster, you can't do. I did anything to meet people. But I was a P.A., and I became friends with a script supervisor on a movie where we were shooting in a high-rise all night. We were behind schedule, and they started to get this second unit that was getting bigger and bigger, so I started to do second unit continuity.

AT: Is there a union for script supervisors?

CB: Yes.

AT: What do you have to do to get into the Union?

CB: It's a little silly, because as a script supervisor, if you don't know what you're doing, you can really screw things up. The only thing you have to do is to be on a movie that goes union. I was doing a movie called FEELING MINNESOTA, and that movie went union right in the middle of that shoot. I did that right after MALLRATS. So on MALLRATS, I guess I was non-union. But that's how I got started.

AT: Do you have any advice for someone who wants to get into your line of work?

CB: If you're smart and are willing to work hard, people respond to that. Like I said, I would do anything when I started out. I worked as a painter, I did whatever. People see that you have a brain, and they want to surround themselves with people who are hard working and can think. It's a really basic learning situation. If you keep your ears open and your mouth shut and really pick up stuff, you can definitely figure it out.

My feeling is that if you have a real understanding that the movie industry is not glamorous, and you will work hard and be willing to live cheaply for awhile, you can move up and do what you want to do.