Script Supervisor Course
FOR DIRECTORS
SCRIPT SUPERVISING IS A MAIN STEPPING-STONE TO DIRECTING!. Many top Academy
Award directors started as Script Supervisors. Several Script Supervisors trained by our
instructor, Jim Kelly Durgin, are now Directors. Many are now Producers and studio
executives, including the Executive Vice President of Feature Film Production at a major
studio.
IMPORTANT WRITERS' INFORMATION
SCRIPT SUPERVISING TRAINS WRITERS HOW TO WRITE MORE ACCURATELY FOR
FILM! Anybody can write a script but not everybody can write a screenplay for feature films.
Submission scripts are rewritten for feature films at the studios. Now that studios have
announced a great reduction in feature film production, who's going to rewrite your script?
How can you sell a script that is not written for film? Most indy producers are not prepared to
pay another writer to rewrite your script! Expect more rejects if you are not writing for film.
Script supervisors actually rewrite the script in production by converting from the writer wrote
to what the director shoots. That's a good way to learn screenplay writing.
IMPORTANT ACTOR'S INFORMATION
Many times the crew can tell in a few minutes if they are going to get overtime or not when an
Actor steps in front of the camera. Actors do not know that. Beginning Actors stand out like
sore thumbs! It's the Script Supervisor constantly reminding the new actor what to do, how to
do, when to do because most new actors are not technically trained enough for film work.
Learn what the Script Supervisor knows about acting requirements in front of the camera and
then perform professionally! Shave years of the slow ladder-climbing to stardom by becoming
an expert film Actor starting out and then anticipate receiving many more call-backs.
IMPORTANT SCRIPT SUPERVISOR INFORMATION
For the most detailed "How-To-Do-The-Job" training, study with the expert, Jim Kelly
Durgin. It is Durgins' grads working on Hollywood's biggest pictures and many top TV series.
Currently in production in New Mexico on TERMINATOR 4, also worked on SUPER HERO,
INDIANA JONES 4, SPIDERMAN I, II, AND III, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN I, II, AND III,
CHARLIE'S ANGELS, the BATMAN SERIES OF FILMS, and hundreds of other shows,
Our signature course trains you in the ins and outs of this rewarding and lucrative key job.
The Script Supervisor occupies a very special place on the set – right next to the Director. He
or she is responsible for the continuity of the film and the complex information passed from the
set to the post-production pipeline. This job is similar to a stage manager on a stage play.
Get paid to learn Motion Picture Producing, Directing, Writing and Acting because
Script Supervising is a great stepping-stone to working in these positions: It’s considered to
be the main stepping-stone to directing and also is the best place for a screenplay writer to
learn how to write more accurately for film. Being a Script Supervisor teaches the actor how to
perform more professionally in front of the camera, enabling many more call backs and much
swifter rising in the acting career. Many producers and DGA production managers started in
this job.
This course is truly the best Script Supervisor Course in the country with more class hours of
training than any other with over one hundred hours of training! It is conducted one day a
week on Saturdays for about six months with around four or five hours of intense instruction
on each day. Upon completion of the lecture series, individual ON-THE-JOB-TRAINING is
conducted in the course for each student at no additional charge to make them professional,
Program tuition is $1,800.00, including the California State licensed school's registration fee.
A small down payment and incremental additional payments of four or five months are
available. Faster training in two or three months is available at an additional charge.
"It's not just a coincidence that so many of Hollywood's biggest pictures employ my trainees,"
says the instructor, Jim Kelly Durgin, "The same with many of the top prime-time episodic TV
shows. The companies want the best, I do train the best, and they hire the best!"
Once again, it is an ideal course for aspiring Actors, Directors, and Writers and Producers to
assist in thrusting their careers forward toward success in an accelerated fashion!
WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE SCRIPT SUPERVISOR TRAINING?
Some examples of career start-up would include:
May 2008
Trudy is in New Mexico on TERMINATOR 4, Kari is in Hawaii on THE REEF,
Kathy is on a TV series filming on location, Verlie is on a feature in Louisianna,
Towie leaves shortly for a film shooting in Michigan, Heathere just returned
from a feature film shooting in Texas, and several others are currently on
shoots in the Los Angeles area. And instructor, Jim Kelly Durgin, worked on a
film this month as Script Supervisor. So did Ron, Kevin, Lisa (her first film!),
Dennis, Greg, Angela, and many others.
April 2008
Heather has worked six or seven projects since recent training. All of them
paid one hundred fifty dollars a day or more. No freebees on her resume.
Alex attended his final lecture session on Friday and on the following Monday
started work as a script supervisor at one hundred dollars per day. Very low
pay for sure - but first time out? Pretty good.
Brian worked his first picture as a script supervisor last week. The union
sound mixer asked someone. “How long has Brian been working as a script
supervisor?” When told that this was Brian’s first day as a script supervisor,
the mixer was really surprised that someone could be so professional on the
first day on the job. Even though it is the slow time of the year (March, 2008),
there are many productions filming to beat the impending actors’ strike. I do
not think they will actually strike.
August, 2007:
A call arrived for $1,500 a week for six weeks, I gave that to one of my grads and she
got the Script Supervisor job, a New York production company shooting three or
four days in this area said they could not find a Script Supervisor at $200 a day so I
gave that to one of my grads. He’s working today, August 24, 2007. Another company
said they could not find a Script Supervisor at $300 a day so I took that one myself
last week. My paycheck should arrive today from the payroll company.
Also, a partly trained, low budget Script Supervisor took my course and she just now
finished the course. In two weeks she starts on a five month feature film as its
Script Supervisor at $3.100 per week plus per diem plus overtime. Prior to that she
worked for free on a direct-to-video film and was Script Supervisor on a couple of
super low-budget films. Congratulations for her!
A recently trained young lady worked a film in Iowa, then one in Morocco, her next
picture filmed in San Francisco and then she went to India for the rest of it.
We are now accepting students to train for big production pushes currently
planned. Now is an excellent time to enter the industry with more productions
arising than ever in the history of Hollywood. Especially for you aspiring Actors,
Producers, Writers and Directors. This is your chance to get good pay on
productions working as a Script Supervisor while at the same time learning so much
more detail on improving your craft and pursuing your chosen career. Better than
waiting on tables or parking cars, eh!?
WHAT DO PRODUCERS THINK OF OUR GRADS?
Firstly, it is important to know that production companies are not noted for their
financial generosity. Yet, dozens and dozens of script supervisors trained by Mr.
Durgin have received impressive pay raises by production companies once the
quality of work was seen when they were starting out!
Please note that these examples are exceptions and are not average samples by
any means. But voluntary pay raises for our beginning grads do occur so often that
it is well worth noting. Quoted weekly rates are for six day weeks except for
episodic television shows which photograph five day weeks.
*One recent grad, Guy, wrote a letter stating that after subscribing to the higher
priced Accelerated Script Supervisor Course at Cinema Arts Tech, he earned his
tuition back within thirty days of the training. Hired on his third picture at $250 a day,
when his work was seen he was raised to $300 a day! Also in his letter to the school,
he stated that for several years he could not get anybody in Hollywood to read any
of the scripts he had written. Now that he is working as a script supervisor, many of
the filmmakers have asked him, “What do you have!” One is now up for option!
*On her first paid job, Collette was hired at $1,350 a week and at the end of the first
week was raised to $1,500, at the end of the second week again raised to $2,100 a
week, and then when that that picture finished production she was paid $1,500 a
week to work in the production office for two months between pictures because,
“They didn’t want to lose her to another show.”
*In June, 2007 Verlie worked her very first day as a script supervisor on a low
budget project at a rate of $55.00 a day. The company was so impressed with her
work, film knowledge and contributions to the production that they tripled her salary
and also gave her an additional bonus of an extra day's pay at the higher rate. Verlie
was then hired on a low budget pic at $125,00 a day. When they saw the quality of
her work, they raised her to $200.00 a day. Her next show is $300.00 a day. Not bad
just stating out! Verlie is on a show today, Feb., 2008 at $420.00 a day on location.
*Jennifer’s neighbor, an industrial filmmaker, heard that Jennifer was studying
script supervising and he hired her as a script supervisor on her first picture at $50
a day, “Just to help her get started.” On her first day, the producer looked at her
work and said, “I didn’t know you were professional!” and raised her to $250 a day.
Jennifer is a Director now, having directing several films at Universal Studios.
*Mr. Durgin visited the set for the On-The-Job Training portion of Liz’s training on
her first script supervisor job. He reported that the producer and his wife were so
excited at the quality of her work and her helpfulness in so many areas of
production that they had doubled her salary! On-The-Job Training is included in the
course.
*Julie was hired last month in September on her second picture as a script
supervisor at $200.00 a day.
*A few years ago,during Gail’s interview with a producer who films one or two
feature films a year, the producer told Gail that when it comes to hiring the script
supervisors on his films, he gathers all of the resumes for that position and
personally looks at each one. He told her that he does not look at the name at the
top of the resume, nor the picture credits. He only looks at the bottom of the
resume under Education and if it doesn’t mention that training was by Jim Kelly
Durgin, the resume is tossed into the waste basket. Over the years he has hired
many script supervisors train by Mr. Durgin and many others trained elsewhere.
Recognizing that there is not just a little difference between the two groups, he said
that he now only hires script supervisors trained by Jim Kelly Durgin, they are the
best! Gail was hired on that picture and it was captured by the union. The capturing
qualified Gail for union membership. She reported two weeks ago that she had just
finished a few years on an episodic series, earning over $3,000 a week and that the
series only filmed an EIGHT HOUR DAY on a five day week due to its young cast.
*Simone and Sarah were both working on different films at the same time in
Missouri this year, Sarah within sixty miles of her family's home.
Many producers and production managers have mentioned that they only hire script
supervisors trained by Mr. Durgin because there is not just a little difference in the
abilities. There’s a lot of difference in film knowledge and the amount of each
persons’ contribution to the film in so many areas.
Quite often accounts are given about first day experiences as a script supervisor. It
is quite normal for our grads to say that on their first day as a script supervisor, and
for some it is truly their first day ever even on any film set, that professionals on the
crew ask, “How many years have you been doing this job?” “How did you learn so
much about film!?” “What are you doing working on such a low budget film?” Most
of the questioners have degrees in film. Not all of our script supervisors do. Many
of our grads only have around one hundred hours of good, solid film training in our
Script Supervisor Course! And they are still highly praised by the professionals.
MORE WORK EXAMPLES POSTED LAST YEAR:
Let's look at today, January 29, 2007. Many, many of our Script supervisor grads are
working at this time. Greg just finished a three day commercial and starts on a
feature today, Jan 29, 2007 on location with the last week of his production in
Tennessee, starring Willie Nelson. Kathy starts a feature film today, Kari starts a TV
series on location in Hawaii, also today. Kathy earned over $2,500.00 a week within
thirty days of her training about a year and a half ago and she hasn’t stopped
working since. She has many feature films and commercials on her resume already.
Dennis just finished a film at Lake Castaic and is scheduled to do one in Florida.
Afterwards he’s signed on to do script supervising on a film in the Congo and in
Nigeria.
All of those mentioned above were RECENTLY trained by Jim Kelly Durgin and are
making a very good living in films all ready. As for some of those trained earlier by
Durgin, Mary was on SPIDERMAN I and II and she was also on SUPERMAN RETURNS,
Trudy was on SPIDERMAN III and is on second unit on INDIANA JONES 4 in Hawaii,
and some of her previous script supervising credits include TERMINATOR II,LETHAL
WEAPONS III, BASIC INSTINCT, TWISTER, THE NET, THE QUICK AND THE DEAD, and
SWORDFISH. Sharon did PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN I and II, TRUE LIES and all of
the BATMAN films. Monica finished seven years on WEST WING (she didn't speak
English until she went to school in East Los Angeles), another Kathy finished
several years on WITHOUT A TRACE, starting with her work on the pilot and Petra still
works the show. Karen has been on ER for years and Kristine was on THE GILMORE
GIRLS and CHARLIE’S ANGELS. Kristine has made a fortune on commercials and so
has Corrie, with each commanding over six hundred dollars for ten hours plus
overtime. And overtime is normal.
Many of the various recent state film incentives have added to the current
increased production mix. Don’t expect California to compete with New Mexico,
Louisiana, Florida, Wisconsin, and many, many of the other states. Our elected
California state reps will never allow that.
Tax incentives do work. Look at New Mexico and Louisiana and many other states
for their film production increases!!! My two cents, eh? jim kd
NO COURSE BEGINNING – NO ENDING? HOW’S THAT?
by Jim Kelly Durgin
That’s right! All students in this program have a beginning date of their own but
there is no start point for the course. When the Association of Film Craftsmen Local
531N.A.B.E.T., AFL-CIO, CLC hired me to train their Script Supervisors a long time
ago, I designed the program to permit its membership to work on film projects, miss
several of the course sessions if needed and not to be punished by missing some
of the sessions. The missed sessions could then be made up at another time
without penalty.
That Union Local 531, which has since merged with the I.A.T.S.E., recommended to
each of its members at that time to specialize in TWO JOB CATEGORY SKILLS in
order to assure more continuous employment in this life-time career of temporary
employment. I still recommend TWO JOB CATEGORIES today. We can train you in a
second well-paid category of film work for more continuous employment..
Since the Script Supervisor job itself is composed of several different chores, it was
an easy opportunity to fill with no start point and no finish point. Once each
student learns how to perform each of the numerous chores taught in the series of
lecture sessions, in whichever order, the student then has the required skills and
knows how to do the job. Then each student enters the course's On-The-Job
Training Phase with individual tutoring at no additional charge.
An additional advantage to this style of training is that each student may take each
session as many times as desired at no extra charge, including the entire course.
Each lecture session in the course is packed with voluminous how-to-do-it
information which is provided in a short period of time. Recognizing that each
individual student has a separate personal learning curve, this no start point
approach allows a considerably higher degree of training and professionalism
based on individual need for each and every student. Some students are quick to
grasp mathematics, for other students it may be easier to absorb spatial topics, and
for even others, very mechanical technical topics. To each his own. None to be left
behind.
If you took quite readily to map reading from first exposure, for example, then most
likely the two dimensional motion picture story telling procedures within the rigid
rules of the Screen Direction topics which are provided in this course might be
much more easily absorbed by you than by others without this gift. For some of the
students still struggling to discover where they are located in the three dimensional
lay of the land in reference to the two dimensional printing on the map, the two
dimensional Screen Direction topics would be much more of a challenge. They may
need to attend those topics more than once, even several times for some. That’s
okay. I do not want anyone lousy out there by being partly trained or poorly trained,
especially in Screen Direction. Every student must be amongst the best by meeting
the highest standards of performance! It’s not just a coincidence that so many of
Hollywood’s biggest Producers are hiring my grads.
Come sit in a free audit session. There is no charge, you should learn quite a bit
about film that you do not know at this time, and, if you do subscribe to the program,
you could have the advantage of joining many of the “Big guns” of the industry and
work on many of Hollywood’s biggest pictures! Script Supervising is the stepping-
stone to Directing, Actors and Writers would learn how to perform far superior in
those categories, and many Production Managers, Producers, and even Distributors
have started as Script Supervisors.
By the way, if you are a working Script Supervisor, trained by someone else and wish
to upgrade your skills to a higher more efficient skill level, the school does provide
a substantial course discount for this more advanced training
SCRIPT SUPERVISING IS A MAIN STEPPING-STONE TO DIRECTING!. Many top Academy
Award directors started as Script Supervisors. Several Script Supervisors trained by our
instructor, Jim Kelly Durgin, are now Directors. Many are now Producers and studio
executives, including the Executive Vice President of Feature Film Production at a major
studio.
IMPORTANT WRITERS' INFORMATION
SCRIPT SUPERVISING TRAINS WRITERS HOW TO WRITE MORE ACCURATELY FOR
FILM! Anybody can write a script but not everybody can write a screenplay for feature films.
Submission scripts are rewritten for feature films at the studios. Now that studios have
announced a great reduction in feature film production, who's going to rewrite your script?
How can you sell a script that is not written for film? Most indy producers are not prepared to
pay another writer to rewrite your script! Expect more rejects if you are not writing for film.
Script supervisors actually rewrite the script in production by converting from the writer wrote
to what the director shoots. That's a good way to learn screenplay writing.
IMPORTANT ACTOR'S INFORMATION
Many times the crew can tell in a few minutes if they are going to get overtime or not when an
Actor steps in front of the camera. Actors do not know that. Beginning Actors stand out like
sore thumbs! It's the Script Supervisor constantly reminding the new actor what to do, how to
do, when to do because most new actors are not technically trained enough for film work.
Learn what the Script Supervisor knows about acting requirements in front of the camera and
then perform professionally! Shave years of the slow ladder-climbing to stardom by becoming
an expert film Actor starting out and then anticipate receiving many more call-backs.
IMPORTANT SCRIPT SUPERVISOR INFORMATION
For the most detailed "How-To-Do-The-Job" training, study with the expert, Jim Kelly
Durgin. It is Durgins' grads working on Hollywood's biggest pictures and many top TV series.
Currently in production in New Mexico on TERMINATOR 4, also worked on SUPER HERO,
INDIANA JONES 4, SPIDERMAN I, II, AND III, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN I, II, AND III,
CHARLIE'S ANGELS, the BATMAN SERIES OF FILMS, and hundreds of other shows,
Our signature course trains you in the ins and outs of this rewarding and lucrative key job.
The Script Supervisor occupies a very special place on the set – right next to the Director. He
or she is responsible for the continuity of the film and the complex information passed from the
set to the post-production pipeline. This job is similar to a stage manager on a stage play.
Get paid to learn Motion Picture Producing, Directing, Writing and Acting because
Script Supervising is a great stepping-stone to working in these positions: It’s considered to
be the main stepping-stone to directing and also is the best place for a screenplay writer to
learn how to write more accurately for film. Being a Script Supervisor teaches the actor how to
perform more professionally in front of the camera, enabling many more call backs and much
swifter rising in the acting career. Many producers and DGA production managers started in
this job.
This course is truly the best Script Supervisor Course in the country with more class hours of
training than any other with over one hundred hours of training! It is conducted one day a
week on Saturdays for about six months with around four or five hours of intense instruction
on each day. Upon completion of the lecture series, individual ON-THE-JOB-TRAINING is
conducted in the course for each student at no additional charge to make them professional,
Program tuition is $1,800.00, including the California State licensed school's registration fee.
A small down payment and incremental additional payments of four or five months are
available. Faster training in two or three months is available at an additional charge.
"It's not just a coincidence that so many of Hollywood's biggest pictures employ my trainees,"
says the instructor, Jim Kelly Durgin, "The same with many of the top prime-time episodic TV
shows. The companies want the best, I do train the best, and they hire the best!"
Once again, it is an ideal course for aspiring Actors, Directors, and Writers and Producers to
assist in thrusting their careers forward toward success in an accelerated fashion!
WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE SCRIPT SUPERVISOR TRAINING?
Some examples of career start-up would include:
May 2008
Trudy is in New Mexico on TERMINATOR 4, Kari is in Hawaii on THE REEF,
Kathy is on a TV series filming on location, Verlie is on a feature in Louisianna,
Towie leaves shortly for a film shooting in Michigan, Heathere just returned
from a feature film shooting in Texas, and several others are currently on
shoots in the Los Angeles area. And instructor, Jim Kelly Durgin, worked on a
film this month as Script Supervisor. So did Ron, Kevin, Lisa (her first film!),
Dennis, Greg, Angela, and many others.
April 2008
Heather has worked six or seven projects since recent training. All of them
paid one hundred fifty dollars a day or more. No freebees on her resume.
Alex attended his final lecture session on Friday and on the following Monday
started work as a script supervisor at one hundred dollars per day. Very low
pay for sure - but first time out? Pretty good.
Brian worked his first picture as a script supervisor last week. The union
sound mixer asked someone. “How long has Brian been working as a script
supervisor?” When told that this was Brian’s first day as a script supervisor,
the mixer was really surprised that someone could be so professional on the
first day on the job. Even though it is the slow time of the year (March, 2008),
there are many productions filming to beat the impending actors’ strike. I do
not think they will actually strike.
August, 2007:
A call arrived for $1,500 a week for six weeks, I gave that to one of my grads and she
got the Script Supervisor job, a New York production company shooting three or
four days in this area said they could not find a Script Supervisor at $200 a day so I
gave that to one of my grads. He’s working today, August 24, 2007. Another company
said they could not find a Script Supervisor at $300 a day so I took that one myself
last week. My paycheck should arrive today from the payroll company.
Also, a partly trained, low budget Script Supervisor took my course and she just now
finished the course. In two weeks she starts on a five month feature film as its
Script Supervisor at $3.100 per week plus per diem plus overtime. Prior to that she
worked for free on a direct-to-video film and was Script Supervisor on a couple of
super low-budget films. Congratulations for her!
A recently trained young lady worked a film in Iowa, then one in Morocco, her next
picture filmed in San Francisco and then she went to India for the rest of it.
We are now accepting students to train for big production pushes currently
planned. Now is an excellent time to enter the industry with more productions
arising than ever in the history of Hollywood. Especially for you aspiring Actors,
Producers, Writers and Directors. This is your chance to get good pay on
productions working as a Script Supervisor while at the same time learning so much
more detail on improving your craft and pursuing your chosen career. Better than
waiting on tables or parking cars, eh!?
WHAT DO PRODUCERS THINK OF OUR GRADS?
Firstly, it is important to know that production companies are not noted for their
financial generosity. Yet, dozens and dozens of script supervisors trained by Mr.
Durgin have received impressive pay raises by production companies once the
quality of work was seen when they were starting out!
Please note that these examples are exceptions and are not average samples by
any means. But voluntary pay raises for our beginning grads do occur so often that
it is well worth noting. Quoted weekly rates are for six day weeks except for
episodic television shows which photograph five day weeks.
*One recent grad, Guy, wrote a letter stating that after subscribing to the higher
priced Accelerated Script Supervisor Course at Cinema Arts Tech, he earned his
tuition back within thirty days of the training. Hired on his third picture at $250 a day,
when his work was seen he was raised to $300 a day! Also in his letter to the school,
he stated that for several years he could not get anybody in Hollywood to read any
of the scripts he had written. Now that he is working as a script supervisor, many of
the filmmakers have asked him, “What do you have!” One is now up for option!
*On her first paid job, Collette was hired at $1,350 a week and at the end of the first
week was raised to $1,500, at the end of the second week again raised to $2,100 a
week, and then when that that picture finished production she was paid $1,500 a
week to work in the production office for two months between pictures because,
“They didn’t want to lose her to another show.”
*In June, 2007 Verlie worked her very first day as a script supervisor on a low
budget project at a rate of $55.00 a day. The company was so impressed with her
work, film knowledge and contributions to the production that they tripled her salary
and also gave her an additional bonus of an extra day's pay at the higher rate. Verlie
was then hired on a low budget pic at $125,00 a day. When they saw the quality of
her work, they raised her to $200.00 a day. Her next show is $300.00 a day. Not bad
just stating out! Verlie is on a show today, Feb., 2008 at $420.00 a day on location.
*Jennifer’s neighbor, an industrial filmmaker, heard that Jennifer was studying
script supervising and he hired her as a script supervisor on her first picture at $50
a day, “Just to help her get started.” On her first day, the producer looked at her
work and said, “I didn’t know you were professional!” and raised her to $250 a day.
Jennifer is a Director now, having directing several films at Universal Studios.
*Mr. Durgin visited the set for the On-The-Job Training portion of Liz’s training on
her first script supervisor job. He reported that the producer and his wife were so
excited at the quality of her work and her helpfulness in so many areas of
production that they had doubled her salary! On-The-Job Training is included in the
course.
*Julie was hired last month in September on her second picture as a script
supervisor at $200.00 a day.
*A few years ago,during Gail’s interview with a producer who films one or two
feature films a year, the producer told Gail that when it comes to hiring the script
supervisors on his films, he gathers all of the resumes for that position and
personally looks at each one. He told her that he does not look at the name at the
top of the resume, nor the picture credits. He only looks at the bottom of the
resume under Education and if it doesn’t mention that training was by Jim Kelly
Durgin, the resume is tossed into the waste basket. Over the years he has hired
many script supervisors train by Mr. Durgin and many others trained elsewhere.
Recognizing that there is not just a little difference between the two groups, he said
that he now only hires script supervisors trained by Jim Kelly Durgin, they are the
best! Gail was hired on that picture and it was captured by the union. The capturing
qualified Gail for union membership. She reported two weeks ago that she had just
finished a few years on an episodic series, earning over $3,000 a week and that the
series only filmed an EIGHT HOUR DAY on a five day week due to its young cast.
*Simone and Sarah were both working on different films at the same time in
Missouri this year, Sarah within sixty miles of her family's home.
Many producers and production managers have mentioned that they only hire script
supervisors trained by Mr. Durgin because there is not just a little difference in the
abilities. There’s a lot of difference in film knowledge and the amount of each
persons’ contribution to the film in so many areas.
Quite often accounts are given about first day experiences as a script supervisor. It
is quite normal for our grads to say that on their first day as a script supervisor, and
for some it is truly their first day ever even on any film set, that professionals on the
crew ask, “How many years have you been doing this job?” “How did you learn so
much about film!?” “What are you doing working on such a low budget film?” Most
of the questioners have degrees in film. Not all of our script supervisors do. Many
of our grads only have around one hundred hours of good, solid film training in our
Script Supervisor Course! And they are still highly praised by the professionals.
MORE WORK EXAMPLES POSTED LAST YEAR:
Let's look at today, January 29, 2007. Many, many of our Script supervisor grads are
working at this time. Greg just finished a three day commercial and starts on a
feature today, Jan 29, 2007 on location with the last week of his production in
Tennessee, starring Willie Nelson. Kathy starts a feature film today, Kari starts a TV
series on location in Hawaii, also today. Kathy earned over $2,500.00 a week within
thirty days of her training about a year and a half ago and she hasn’t stopped
working since. She has many feature films and commercials on her resume already.
Dennis just finished a film at Lake Castaic and is scheduled to do one in Florida.
Afterwards he’s signed on to do script supervising on a film in the Congo and in
Nigeria.
All of those mentioned above were RECENTLY trained by Jim Kelly Durgin and are
making a very good living in films all ready. As for some of those trained earlier by
Durgin, Mary was on SPIDERMAN I and II and she was also on SUPERMAN RETURNS,
Trudy was on SPIDERMAN III and is on second unit on INDIANA JONES 4 in Hawaii,
and some of her previous script supervising credits include TERMINATOR II,LETHAL
WEAPONS III, BASIC INSTINCT, TWISTER, THE NET, THE QUICK AND THE DEAD, and
SWORDFISH. Sharon did PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN I and II, TRUE LIES and all of
the BATMAN films. Monica finished seven years on WEST WING (she didn't speak
English until she went to school in East Los Angeles), another Kathy finished
several years on WITHOUT A TRACE, starting with her work on the pilot and Petra still
works the show. Karen has been on ER for years and Kristine was on THE GILMORE
GIRLS and CHARLIE’S ANGELS. Kristine has made a fortune on commercials and so
has Corrie, with each commanding over six hundred dollars for ten hours plus
overtime. And overtime is normal.
Many of the various recent state film incentives have added to the current
increased production mix. Don’t expect California to compete with New Mexico,
Louisiana, Florida, Wisconsin, and many, many of the other states. Our elected
California state reps will never allow that.
Tax incentives do work. Look at New Mexico and Louisiana and many other states
for their film production increases!!! My two cents, eh? jim kd
NO COURSE BEGINNING – NO ENDING? HOW’S THAT?
by Jim Kelly Durgin
That’s right! All students in this program have a beginning date of their own but
there is no start point for the course. When the Association of Film Craftsmen Local
531N.A.B.E.T., AFL-CIO, CLC hired me to train their Script Supervisors a long time
ago, I designed the program to permit its membership to work on film projects, miss
several of the course sessions if needed and not to be punished by missing some
of the sessions. The missed sessions could then be made up at another time
without penalty.
That Union Local 531, which has since merged with the I.A.T.S.E., recommended to
each of its members at that time to specialize in TWO JOB CATEGORY SKILLS in
order to assure more continuous employment in this life-time career of temporary
employment. I still recommend TWO JOB CATEGORIES today. We can train you in a
second well-paid category of film work for more continuous employment..
Since the Script Supervisor job itself is composed of several different chores, it was
an easy opportunity to fill with no start point and no finish point. Once each
student learns how to perform each of the numerous chores taught in the series of
lecture sessions, in whichever order, the student then has the required skills and
knows how to do the job. Then each student enters the course's On-The-Job
Training Phase with individual tutoring at no additional charge.
An additional advantage to this style of training is that each student may take each
session as many times as desired at no extra charge, including the entire course.
Each lecture session in the course is packed with voluminous how-to-do-it
information which is provided in a short period of time. Recognizing that each
individual student has a separate personal learning curve, this no start point
approach allows a considerably higher degree of training and professionalism
based on individual need for each and every student. Some students are quick to
grasp mathematics, for other students it may be easier to absorb spatial topics, and
for even others, very mechanical technical topics. To each his own. None to be left
behind.
If you took quite readily to map reading from first exposure, for example, then most
likely the two dimensional motion picture story telling procedures within the rigid
rules of the Screen Direction topics which are provided in this course might be
much more easily absorbed by you than by others without this gift. For some of the
students still struggling to discover where they are located in the three dimensional
lay of the land in reference to the two dimensional printing on the map, the two
dimensional Screen Direction topics would be much more of a challenge. They may
need to attend those topics more than once, even several times for some. That’s
okay. I do not want anyone lousy out there by being partly trained or poorly trained,
especially in Screen Direction. Every student must be amongst the best by meeting
the highest standards of performance! It’s not just a coincidence that so many of
Hollywood’s biggest Producers are hiring my grads.
Come sit in a free audit session. There is no charge, you should learn quite a bit
about film that you do not know at this time, and, if you do subscribe to the program,
you could have the advantage of joining many of the “Big guns” of the industry and
work on many of Hollywood’s biggest pictures! Script Supervising is the stepping-
stone to Directing, Actors and Writers would learn how to perform far superior in
those categories, and many Production Managers, Producers, and even Distributors
have started as Script Supervisors.
By the way, if you are a working Script Supervisor, trained by someone else and wish
to upgrade your skills to a higher more efficient skill level, the school does provide
a substantial course discount for this more advanced training
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