Written by: Joshua Kazemi
The Writer’s Room is the beating heart of a TV show. It’s also the pulsing brain of a TV show. And the central nervous system of a TV show. Point is, the Writer’s Room is made up of a lot of people and moving parts that come together to make America’s favorite pastime: the television show.
Human body metaphors aside, the Writer’s Room can also feel like The Magic Castle, a place you’ve heard about in Los Angeles where the magic happens behind closed doors. Who all is in the Writer’s Room, and what are their various jobs?
Let’s start at the bottom of the illustrious totem pole and work our way up (and don’t worry, from here on out the metaphors will be kept to a minimum.) Be sure to keep in mind that the following is how things are generally done. Each specific Showrunner decides how they like to run their room and may do things differently.
SUPPORT STAFF
Writer’s PA
The first few spots in the hierarchy are support staff positions, starting with the Writer’s PA, who is a Production Assistant from the show assigned specifically to the Writer’s Room. They aren’t responsible for any of the words uttered in the room, meaning, they don’t write or take notes. PAs are given a budget from the studio for lunch orders, coffee, snacks, and any writing supplies needed. They are essentially responsible for helping the room run smoothly by answering calls, keeping things organized, and getting anything the room might need.
Showrunner's Assistant
As expected, the Showrunner’s Assistant works directly for the Showrunner. Instead of tending to the Writer’s Room as a whole, they focus on facilitating the Showrunner’s day-to-day. They set their schedule, act as a liaison for writers that need to touch base with the Showrunner when they’re out of the room, and help with anything else the Showrunner might need as they work with the various parts of production.
Writer's Assistant
A Writer’s Assistant is there to help the room with any writing-adjacent task that could potentially get in the way of actually writing the show itself. The most important thing a Writer’s Assistant does is take detailed notes in the room. Instead of having Staff Writers stop in the middle of breaking a story to transcribe a riff, the Writer’s Assistant will take those notes so that the room can keep the momentum going. They will also take the crazed ramblings of said riff and turn them into clear and actionable room notes that they distribute to the entire writing staff at the end of each day.
Script Coordinators
Script Coordinators are the liaison between the Writer’s Room and the studio/networks, and after the Showrunner, they are the member of the team that touches the script the most. They’re tasked with making sure a script is ready to be sent out to various stakeholders, including being in charge of proofreading, making formatting adjustments, ensuring script continuity, and more. Script Coordinators are also in charge of script files, due dates for drafts, and various paperwork that needs to be filled out. They also create or at least maintain show templates for story areas, outlines, scripts, locations, and cast lists per episode, and more. This administrative upkeep does a lot to allow writers to hit the ground running.
BELOW THE LINE
Staff Writer
The Staff Writer! The first position beyond support staff where writers finally get to do their thing. They pitch in the room, break story with the other writers, and contribute to the overall DNA of the show itself with no guarantee of getting any assigned episodes to write themselves. It’s ultimately still more of an entry-level position. Staff Writers aren’t expected to have all of the answers, but instead are expected to listen, learn how the room is run, potentially do research that the room needs, and adopt the tone and voice of the Showrunner for any outlines or scripts they may be assigned to write.
From this point on, most, if not all, of the positions designate seniority among writers in the room. These are writers who have been on the show, or shows in general, long enough to climb the ladder and assume more responsibility, and with that comes greater compensation. But traditionally, all of those nifty writers started as Staff Writers and did the work of just contributing to the show.
Story Editor / Exec Story Editor
It’s at this level where writers are guaranteed to be assigned at least one episode to write. This is important because although a room usually breaks and generates story together, a script is then assigned to one or a pair of writers to write the actual script. As Story Editors, writers are paid more for their title bump. The guaranteed episode and title/pay bump are the biggest differences between a Staff Writer and a Story Editor - beyond that, they are essentially doing the same job. After one or a few seasons of doing the job well with the Story Editor title, a writer will often get bumped up to the even fancier Executive Story Editor title.
ABOVE THE LINE
Producers
At this point in the totem pole, we’ve reached all the various producers, and metaphors are back! Anything goes, baby! In general, as you move up the producer ladder, the writer receives more responsibility and a pay bump.
- Co-Producer: These are writers who have proven they can write on the show year after year and can handle a little more on top of that.
- Producer: These writers have a say in casting, production, and the general creative direction of the show.
- Supervising Producer: These writers have more hands-on production responsibilities. This is the last stop for a Staff Writer before unlocking the EP achievement.
- Co-Executive Producer: Co-EPs have proven their worth as Super-Producers and can now act as de facto leader of the Writer’s Room when the Exec Producer and/or Showrunner is out.
- Executive Producer: All Showrunners are Executive Producers, but not all Executive Producers are Showrunners on any given show. For those Non-Showrunning EPs, they are second in command. They run the room when the Showrunner is on set or away working on something else. Keep in mind, there are also Executive Producers who are more hands-off. These are often writers or producers who helped get the show off the ground. They might give high-level notes occasionally and/or keep tabs on the show as often as they can.
Showrunner
Finally, the Showrunner, a writer who has climbed their way to the top with hours of television under their belt. They are the lead Executive Producer. For a job that requires endless levels of creativity, its title lacks any and all because simply put, the Showrunner runs the show. (Although this person might also be referred to as the Head Writer as well, depending on the show.)
The Showrunner implements their vision of the series by having final say on all creative decisions across production. They say that television is a writer’s medium, and that is because of the Showrunner. Whereas a film set looks to its director for its creative direction, a television show looks to its fearless Showrunner.
There you have it! Every glorious hour spent in front of the warm, glowing box in your living room came directly as a result of a hard-working Writer’s Room. It takes a village and a whole lot of creative collaboration across experience levels to create episodic narrative gems, week after week. Everyone’s job in a Writer’s Room is important, and everyone works as hard as they can to achieve a common goal of telling great stories for the small screen.
Dreaming of working in a Writer’s Room? Apply for Shore Scripts TV Writers Mentorship Program! Winners will get 1:1 mentorship from working TV writers, talk with Showrunner Beth Schwartz (ARROW, SWEET TOOTH), meet with a Development Exec from UCP (UMBRELLA ACADEMY, TED), pitch to reps, and more. Final Deadline is May 16th!
