Story editor

Story editor is a job title in motion picture and television production, also sometimes called supervising producer. The responsibilities of the story editor vary depending on the production; this article describes the duties the role most commonly has.

Live action

The story editor has many responsibilities, including finding new script/breakdown writers, developing stories with writers, and ensuring that scripts are suitable for production. The story editor will work closely with the writer on each draft of their story and script, giving the writer feedback on the quality of their work, suggesting improvements that can be made while also ensuring that practical issues, like continuity and correct running time, are adhered to. When a script is past due, multiple people may write an act. Many primetime series have an executive story editor and a story editor.

Marc Abrams of the TV series The Bernie Mac Show said, "As you go from show to show you learn that each has its own temperature and its own etiquette. You recognize your role on that particular show. Certain show runners encourage the lower-level writers to pitch ideas, others don't. Some want ideas well thought out before they are presented, others like to hear the kernel of an idea that could be expanded."^[1]

Animation

In American animation on productions under the jurisdiction of IATSE Local 839, the story editor is not a lower-level writer, but rather the head writer of the series who oversees the writers' room, working directly with the showrunner or even serving as a showrunner. Their role involves brainstorming ideas, determining the direction of the show, directing the writing staff in breaking episodes and season arcs, and doing rewrites for the finished scripts. They collaborate with the executive producers and department heads to achieve a shared vision for the series.^[2]

Notable story editors

• Mara Brock Akil
• Josh Berman
• Kay Cannon
• T. Rafael Cimino^[3]
• D. C. Fontana
• Ashley Gable
• Donald Glover
• Dee Johnson
• Mindy Kaling
• Angela Kang
• Chelsea Peretti
• William James Royce
• Paul Rust
• Robert Van Scoyk

See also

• Script editor
• Television crew

References

1. "T. Rafael Cimino". IMDb. Archived from the original on 8 July 2019. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
2. Mekler, Ben [@benmekler] (24 February 2021). "@GennHutchison Incidentally here's an animation writers room: Staff Writer Story Editor (aka Head Writer, most often runs the writers room) Co-Executive Producer (this is a new one, not many of us) Executive Producer (overall showrunner) The result of the WGA and TAG playing telephone I guess" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 1 June 2021. Retrieved 19 July 2021 – via Twitter.
3. "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip". IMDb.