Thread by Sera Gamble

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WHY HAVE A TV WRITER ON SET?

Since they already wrote the script (and rewrote it 8 times, and tweaked it after the table read)?

Glad you asked, here's a thread.
First: sets exist in 3rd-dimensional reality. Crew may determine that this cool haunted-lookin' house has previously-undisclosed safety issues that change plans. Or the director just had an idea that, if the scene can be adjusted, will save 3 hours.
There are near-infinite "or"s that can pop up on the day. Or, one of your actors sprained their ankle and must be seated. Or, it's raining. Or, the location with enough floor space for the time machine fell through and there was no time to tech scout this one.
So where's the writer in all that? For each scene, there's a rehearsal, and then the crew springs into rapid, efficient action. In the, say, 20 minutes it takes to light, the writer will confer with the director on needed changes, provide adjustments and write new dialogue.
(Yes, the actors memorized it all one way and then this new stuff just gets tossed at them. Professional TV actors adjust insanely fast, under considerable pressure.

And yes, professional TV writers rewrite insanely fast, under considerable pressure.)
The writer on set is often the only person who knows minute details of what's gonna happen 6 episodes from now. So they're able to see performance through that lens, and advise the director who can work with an actor to make choices that will best support their character's arc.
The writer on set is the extension and representative of the showrunner. They're probably texting said showrunner 5-20 times a day. They can get quick answers, real-time heads-ups from the writers' room, or official word that flower crowns absolutely should not be in a scene.
(Sure, the flower crowns should have been hashed out in prep. But as with anything complex, sometimes "finishing touches" slip through the cracks. You can still catch them on the day. If you're on set to do that.)
By the way, let's say there was no writer on set and the scene was shot with flower crowns, and that cannot be. It's not just aesthetically suss, it does something bad and wrong to the story. The scene will need to be reshot.
Now, let's say that reshooting the scene will take 3 hours. 'Cause it's not very complicated, just 3 series regular actors on one of the show's home sets. Could be reshot A nice, non-catastrophic example.
A nice back-of-the-napkin number to know is $250k. It's a very broad-brush shorthand of one day of shooting a not-terrifically-huge show. On set with only a few actors, it could be less. Say, more like 180k. Fancy location, lots of extras, zombie prosthetics... way more.
Now do the math on that wee reshoot the writer on set could have prevented.

Now imagine that over the course of their episode, writer prevents just 5 things from happening that would require a reshoot, pickup, insert shots, or VFX. (It's never just 5.)
See how much money a writer on set can save a production? Why it can be said that the cost of having them "pays for itself"? As for how much it actually costs per episode -- for simplicity's sake, since this thread's getting long: a lot less than $250k.
A writer on set isn't just getting experience for the future.

They're not there because the showrunner is nice or doing them a favor.

They are actively producing the show. This is true when the writer is new and learning fast, and quadruple-true when they are experienced.
And, on a practical level, this is necessary, because no matter how crucial covering set is, a showrunner simply cannot always do it. Sometimes they are by necessity physically elsewhere at that moment and also cannot be cloned, an issue as yet unsolved by scientists.
So from now on when you hear "writer on set," you know to be picturing: rewriting, avoiding continuity errors, making a scene funnier or sadder or scarier. Helping the director guide performance and supporting actors so they can do their best work....
...answering questions from the script supervisor and costume designer and props and hair and makeup. And art department and set dec, and and and. At lunch they're walking a new set with the production designer. Between scenes they're ducking out for a notes call.
Oh, and they've got their laptop out, on their actual lap while they sit behind the monitor, because they're also writing their next episode.

Hope this helps! Thanks for reading, and for supporting writers.
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