Selections from the Anne Rapp Collection

Filmmaker, screen writer, and script supervisor, Anne Rapp has worked on more than 60 feature films. Selections from her collection give insight into the wide breadth of her career but also the intricacies of the movie making process.

Movies are often filmed entirely out of sequence —shooting is organized according to the practicalities of location and availability of cast rather than the unfolding of the story. A script supervisor's responsibility is to make sure the production has continuous verbal and visual integrity. This means they are heavily involved when it comes to consistency within costumes, props, hair, makeup, prosthetics, sets, and lighting throughout production. During pre-production, script supervisors prepare a continuity breakdown, which analyzes the script in terms of cast, actions, wardrobe, and props in scenes and story days. During the shooting of the film, they take extensive notes on and photos of each scene, documenting which direction an actor looks while speaking a particular line, which hand an actor uses to pick up a prop, and so on.

In addition to her extensive work as a script supervisor, Anne Rapp also wrote the screen plays for Cookie’s Fortune and Dr T. and the Women. Directed by Robert Altman, Cookie’s Fortune was filmed on location in Holly Springs, Mississippi. Pages, notes, and marginalia from Cookie’s Fortune are on display and illustrate the creative evolution from page to screen.

Featured in this display:

• Script pages. Cookie's Fortune, 1999
• Polaroid photos and shooting script. The Color Purple, 1985
• Polaroid photos and storyboard from Industrial Light and Magic, Death Becomes Her, 1992
• Polaroid photos and continuity log sheets, The Firm, 1993