Thursday, August 25, 2005

1. Staff Writer
2. Story Editor
3. Executive Story Editor
4. Co-Producer
5. Producer
6. Co-Executive Producer
7. Executive Producer
8. Executive Producer/Show Runner

A staff writer is essentially a free lancer who works in the office. He's paid a weekly rate against his script fee; that is, he gets the greater of his script fee(s) and his weekly salary. He only works on his own scripts.

A story editor / exec story editor / co-producer / producer etc. works on her own scripts and other people's scripts (especially free lancer's). She's in the room when the staff break story. The various titles are, so far as I know, just an indication of seniority / rank / pecking order / salary expectations, not qualitatively different jobs.

A showrunner is the person in charge of all aspects of the show creatively. Akin to the position of a director on a movie. Hires and fires writers, directors, editors, etc. Responsible for the vision of the show. Often the creator. The showrunner gets a title of Exec Producer (showrunner is a job description, not a title), but the title is not exclusive. Aaron Sorkin was the showrunner on Seasons 1-4 of The West Wing but Tommy Schlamme and John Wells (who's now the showrunner) also got EP credits.

There's an informal title of Head Writer, which indicates the highest ranked writer below the showrunner. A Head Writer runs the writing room when the showrunner isn't around. A Head Writer could get a Co-Exec or Supervising Producer credit.

On Canadian shows a showrunner sometimes gets a Supervising Producer credit, not an ExPr credit. As Head Writer on CJ, I got an Exec Story Editor credit, but then, we only had a staff of four (two story editors and a staff writer)!

I would hesitate to state salary ranges since they depend on the budget of the show. You can see the minimums on the WGA website, but no one above a junior story editor is getting the minimum.

3:29 PM

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