The title of Kaufman's new movie, "Synecdoche, New York," informs the viewer that they are once again going to participate in a wild journey. The word synecdoche, according to Webster's dictionary, is a "figure of speech in which a part is put for the whole, the whole for a part." For example: "I cracked the boards once," indicates that person had been a theater actor. In "Synecdoche, New York," playwright Caden Cotard (Philip Seymour Hoffman) has reached a creative and emotional glut. His wife, Adele Lack (Catherine Keener), an artist about to embark on a retrospective of her work in Berlin, is burnt out by the pressures of being the mother to both four-year-old Olive and her 40 something husband. She takes Olive and heads for Berlin, leaving Caden with a playwriting grant and a purposeless life. Sparked with the desire that his creativity will simultaneously prove his worth and win her back, he begins staging a grand play in a to-scale replica of New York. Thus begins the synecdoches: New York is the world, the world is New York. The play is his life, the life is his play. One moment defines existence, existence is defined in one moment.

When "Synecdoche, New York" appeared in Variety’s Los Angeles Screening Series, Charlie Kaufman proclaimed that his script supervisor was the backbone that kept the very complex world of this movie in check. Actors played actors playing actors. Rooms were built within rooms within rooms to look like the original room. Without her system, Kaufman stated, everyone would have been too confused to stay on top of the script. She was the glue that kept every department together, and kept the production on schedule at an effortless pace.

Who is this woman that tackled this complicated Kaufman world? How did she do it, and was it really as effortless as it seemed?

Mary Cybulski began her career in film while studying Sculpting at the University of Michigan. While volunteering as a viewer in the Ann Arbor Film Festival, she discovered connections experimental film had with her current work. As she continued to participate in the Ann Arbor Film Festival, Mary began to meet and speak with the experimental film makers, including the man who would become her husband, and with whom she worked on a number of 16mm experimental shorts. Their work together garnered them an AFI filmmaking grant, as well as a spot in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Fine Arts permanent collection for their film entitled "Manhattan Dinner."

Along with experimental films, Mary began taking on jobs in the camera departments of bigger budget productions, Although she's worked in a number of different positions on set, she consistently falls back to the role of Script Supervisor, being attracted to the complexities and control this job holds. She calls it "the hot seat;" it's the position that makes the decision if something is right. It's the position responsible for keeping in mind the "big picture, and reminding the director of what their initial intentions and thoughts were in their preproduction phase." The script supervisor keeps all the staging, props and script in mind, making sure everything being shot will come together correctly in the editing room. "You're constantly walking the balance between styles: you can't be too loose and have the shots fall apart, but you can't be too tight or all the life will be gone from your sequences." She likes the ability the script supervisor has of making judgment calls and discovering the "bio-continuity" of a script. There is no one way to handle perfect continuity. A good script supervisor adjusts their style to the style of the script, be it a period piece, an internal character study, or a fanciful, creative tale. "The same rules always apply, but the style should be flexible."

When prepping any job, Mary first begins with a number of script read-throughs to really get to know the story. She then prepares a time breakdown. She goes through every scene of the story and develops the chronological time line, and then further breaks down each scene within day breakdowns, comparing the scenes with the complete timeline. Then, meetings with the director ensue to discuss the scenes and timeline of the story, and to develop the logic and shooting schedule. Occasionally, the process of developing a timeline leads to the discovery of unrealistic time lapses. For instance, working on the upcoming "Taking Woodstock," Mary informed director Ang Lee that the entire script took place over a five day period. When discussing the logic of the occurrences in the script, Ang saw that more time was needed for the characters’ journeys and discoveries. Some re-writes occurred, expanding the story into a 24 day period, and removing time compression. "This is the importance of having conversations with the director about what's occurring in each scene." Once the breakdown occurs, all departments on the film utilize the breakdown in their preparation.

Prior to "Synecdoche, New York," Mary had worked on another Kaufman penned script: "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." The story revolved around Joel (Jim Carrey) learning that the girl he recently broke up with, Clementine (Kate Winslet), went to a facility to erase her memory of him. Angry and hurt, Joel decides he also wants to erase her. During the procedure, however, his conscious mind realizes he's about to loose all trace of her, and he tries desperately to store a memory where the erasers won't find it.

While developing a timeline, a complication arose. Certain memories needed duplication: Joel when he was four, Joel and Clementine eating at home, Joel meeting the doctors at the erasing facility, and a number of others. Mary created two major breakdowns for this script: a chronological breakdown, and a story breakdown. Because of the complexity of the script, additional breakdowns were done, including a hair breakdown. Clementine’s hair changes color several times through the course of the story. "(Director) Michel (Gondry) added color assignments to the various stages of the love relationship to Clementine's hair." This carefully wove into the fabric of the story breakdown.

"Synecdoche, New York" provided two major complications. First, the time breakdown had to be developed, however, time in this script moves in no constant way. For instance, months go by during the course of one breakfast scene. Another example of time inconsistencies: Olive grows up and becomes an adult, but Caden’s second daughter does not grow up. Breaking the script down from scene to scene also had no importance. This script sometimes had two scenes occur within one year, and these scenes occurred months apart. Mary had to devise a different tool to breakdown the script because the standard rule didn't apply. She decided to conduct a breakdown based on Caden's aging, and have all other elements of the story revolve around that 50 year breakdown. Despite a certain fantasy seeped in reality concept of the script, this breakdown helped Mary find a logic to develop a useful timeline.
A detail from the warehouse scene chart. Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

The second major challenge was working the timeline around the locations. Because Caden is establishing a play that follows his life in a warehouse that holds a life-sized scale of New York, each location used for shooting actually stood in for multiple locations. One shooting location used in Brooklyn was the site for the outside of Caden's house, as well as the location within the warehouse where the play was staged, as well as the set within the set of the warehouse. The site will always look the same when someone exits from an exterior, so a plan had to be developed that would keep the scene descriptions and script breakdowns consistent with the complex locations. Mary overcame this hurdle by creating an comprehensive chart on one sheet of paper containing a drawing of each location, and line drawings linking the scene numbers between the locations. The task was no small undertaking and required incredible amounts of preparation. The result allowed all members of the crew to easily access the exact location used for each scene, and allowed the shooting process to follow the logic needed. "I’m incredibly proud of the work done for this movie."

Mary's prior foray in working on a Charlie Kaufman script was a much different experience. Michel Gondry directed in a very "spirit of the moment" fashion, having two hand-held cameras running at all times, minimal rehearsals, and no marks to hit. He was inspired by spontaneous thoughts, such as developing a scene around the appearance of circus elephants that happened to be marching on 34th Street, or linking live video footage onto a television screen used in a shot because he was inspired by the idea. "You really had to keep up!" With "Synecdoche, New York," Kaufman was directing his own script. He was aware it was a very complicated concept, and that it would be best shot very conventionally. There was plenty of rehearsing, and the shooting process was more controlled. There was much less deviation from the script. Part of this can be attributed to a director working with their own script. Mary has worked with such writer/directors as David Mamet, Bill Condon, and John Sayles, and notes that directors who have also written the script being produced have a very clear vision of their story. "They've already had a chance to work through every story element, and they keep to the script more. " Kaufman proved to be no exception.

Knowing the quality of Charlie’s scripts, many respected actors and crew members were eager to jump onboard for "Synecdoche, New York." As Mary states, "People who love the movie making process were enthusiastic and encouraging of his directing experience. It was a hard shoot and a hard schedule, but everyone maintained a level of enthusiasm. Charlie kept up a great working environment. He’s a real decent man; he’s open-hearted and generous. Because of movies such as ‘Adaptation’ the general misconception is that Charlie is self-defacing and depreciating. He’s actually a great director." Although originally slated to be directed by Spike Jonze, who worked with Kaufman on "Being John Malkovich," Kaufman picked up the reigns when Jonze’s commitment to directing "Where the Wild Things Are" conflicted with Synecdoche’s shooting schedule. This was Kaufman’s directorial debut, and it was a very ambitious undertaking for a first time director. Mary observed that Kaufman "kept his composure, handled his job skillfully, was open and accessible to the cast and crew." When asked if she’d work with Charlie Kaufman again, she stated "The ride with Charlie was a great time. I would love the chance to work with him again, and I hope to work with him again!"