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Women’s Work in British Film and Television

Ann Skinner
Script Supervisor/Producer

Ann Skinner (Script Supervisor/Producer)

Ann Skinner was born in Southgate, North London in 1937 and was educated at a boarding school in Yorkshire. After training in typing and book-keeping she started work as a Publicist’s Secretary for the Rank Organisation at Pinewood Studios in 1955. She then went on to help set up ‘Film Music’, the music publishing wing of the Rank Organisation, before freelancing as a Production Secretary until the mid 1960s when she moved into continuity. For the next fifteen years she provided continuity supervision on many of British cinema’s classic films including Billy Liar (1963), Darling (1965), Modesty Blaise (1966), The Devils (1971) and Robin and Marion (1976). In 1978 she became an independent producer and produced her first feature Return of the Soldier (1982) which was nominated for a BAFTA. She worked as a producer until 1997, principally on television films and won a BAFTA for her work on A Very British Coup (1988). In 1997 she took over as Head of the Producing Department at the National Film and Television School (UK) where she remained until her retirement in 2006.

In her recording Ann talks about her early work at Rank in the company’s busy publicity department and the skills she developed working as a Production Secretary. She talks in detail about what continuity work entails, including the skills needed to assess screen time accurately, and working with directors such as Richard Lester, John Schlesinger and Richard Attenborough. She describes working conditions for women, both on studio sets and location, professional attitudes towards women in the film industry, and reflects on the challenges she faced making the transition from continuity to producing.

©Melanie Bell

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Women’s Work Oral Histories/Oral Histories/Melanie Bell, Women’s Work in British Film and Television, https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/bectu/Oral Histories,Friday 26th April 2024.

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