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Old 16-11-2016, 12:33
Ulsterguy
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Does anybody else think that the way old Who was written, having different writers and a script editor was better than the showrunner writing scripts?
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Old 16-11-2016, 12:36
Sam_Gee1
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There are different writers now unless i am misunderstanding you.
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Old 16-11-2016, 12:50
Ulsterguy
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There are different writers now unless i am misunderstanding you.
How many episodes does Moffett write? And who approves them?
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Old 16-11-2016, 13:08
Sam_Gee1
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How many episodes does Moffett write? And who approves them?
Moffat writes 3-4 and would approve the other scripts and help edit them. Isn't that what they did with classic who showrunners? Doubt the person at the time wouldn't even look at someone elses script.
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Old 16-11-2016, 13:58
Ulsterguy
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Moffat writes 3-4 and would approve the other scripts and help edit them. Isn't that what they did with classic who showrunners? Doubt the person at the time wouldn't even look at someone elses script.

Let's look at a series 13, considerd one of the better ones. 6 stories, 2 of which were jointly written by the script editor.
The opening episode and the final one weren't written by the script editor.
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Old 16-11-2016, 14:00
Sam_Gee1
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Let's look at a series 13, considerd one of the better ones. 6 stories, 2 of which were jointly written by the script editor.
The opening episode and the final one weren't written by the script editor.
So it is the same? Writes some episodes then edits the other ones.
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Old 16-11-2016, 16:09
Dave-H
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The American term "Show Runner" was never used in this country in the days of 20th century Doctor Who.
I worked in BBC TV from 1971 to 2009, and was never really aware of the term at all until the 21st century.
The equivalent was Executive Producer or Series Producer, and AFAIK they very rarely if ever actually wrote scripts for the series.
They decided what stories to go with from those offered or commissioned, and the script editor would ensure that all the scripts worked within the framework of the series history and continuity, as far as was possible.
A better system IMO as if the person making the decisions is also a writer, it relies on him or her editing their own work, which for obvious reasons is not sometimes as objective as it could and should be!
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Old 16-11-2016, 17:18
Lord Smexy
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Personally I think he showrunner position is a bit of a dive that can go either way, depending on how you feel about the showrunner's creative input. On the one hand, there's Moffat's era; mostly brilliant. On the other hand, there's RTD's era; mostly a wreck (all my opinion, of course).

The old format of producer and script editor seemed to be a safer bet that allowed some of the wilder sides of a writer to be restrained.
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Old 16-11-2016, 18:37
Boz_Lowdownl
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Personally I think he showrunner position is a bit of a dive that can go either way, depending on how you feel about the showrunner's creative input. On the one hand, there's Moffat's era; mostly brilliant. On the other hand, there's RTD's era; mostly a wreck (all my opinion, of course).

The old format of producer and script editor seemed to be a safer bet that allowed some of the wilder sides of a writer to be restrained.
And yet there is so much evidence that disproves this.
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Old 16-11-2016, 18:59
Daniel Dare
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How many episodes does Moffett write? And who approves them?

As executive producer, RTD/SM outlines the whole of the series, meaning they're/he's the one that comes up with the ideas for all 12 to 13 stories (including having the ones that were influenced by Big Finish and DW:NA, meaning they were his idea to slot them into a series). Of course, he can only give around a quarter of them his full attention as credited writer and steers the remaining writers with their stories from his 'acorns'.

I'm another one that can't get used to the word 'showrunner', it's executive producer or simply the series' producer for me too. I suppose it's what you've been brought up with from reading the various books on the subject, both academic and light reading over the past few decades.
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Old 16-11-2016, 19:26
Lord Smexy
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And yet there is so much evidence that disproves this.
For a moment there, I was worried you'd forgotten about me, Boz.
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