SINNERS Script Supervisor on Working with Ryan Coogler and Christopher Nolan

When Ryan Coogler needed someone to track every detail on SINNERS – including Michael B. Jordan playing twin brothers Smoke and Stack – he called Steve Gehrke, the veteran script supervisor and longtime collaborator of Christopher Nolan. With credits that span MEMENTO, INCEPTION, THE DARK NIGHT, OPPENHEIMER, and the upcoming THE ODYSSEY, Gehrke shares what a Nolan set is like, how he keeps time straight in “Chris Nolan world,” meeting Coogler and working on SINNERS, what a scripty actually does, and why he still takes notes with an old school pencil.

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(00:00) Meeting Christopher Nolan in 1989 for MEMENTO
(02:09) Voice Memo from producer Emma Thomas
(04:06) Why Steve “doesn’t care” about the words in a script
(05:10) Time and continuity in Chris Nolan world and MEMENTO
(06:57) “Every movie that we do makes you think”: INCEPTION, DUNKIRK
(07:55) Meeting Christopher Nolan (continued) and getting hired on the spot
(08:20) Process for collaborating with Nolan as a script supervisor
(09:42) THE ODYSSEY and the 25-year relationship
(11:14) What a Nolan set is like
(12:10) Preparing for a film, reading TENET
(14:04) Breaking down a nonlinear script and making “paper dolls”
(17:22) Story order vs. script order
(18:44) Why the script supervisor is the on-set editor and keeping track of kisses
(21:48) Continuity mental list, issues, eyelines
(24:29) Meeting Ryan Coogler and working on SINNERS
(28:11) Steve’s script supervisor toolkit and keeping it old school
(30:46) The Script Supervising Process: Smoke & Stack Scene
(35:03) The squiggles
(35:33) How Steve learned the job
(37:11) Prox Recs

IN PROXIMITY IS A PRODUCTION OF PROXIMITY MEDIA
Host, Director, Producer: Paola Mardo
Executive Producers: Ryan Coogler, Zinzi Coogler, Sev Ohanian
Theme Song and Additional Music: Ludwig Göransson
Co-Director and Director of Photography: Patrick Epino
Sound Designer and Mix Engineer: Ken Nana
Editors: Patrick Epino, Brittani Brown, Ken Nana, A.J. Calomay
Production Assistants: Isabella Miller, Devin Saddler
Sound Production Assistant: Isabella Miller
Post-Production Coordinator: Celine Mendiola
Social Media Coordinator: Alexandria Santana
Production Intern: Jun Sawada