On-Set Best Practices

Watchdog, problem solver, problem anticipator, production ambassador…as a writer-producer on set, you may have all of these unofficial duties and then some. What may seem daunting to on-set newcomers is actually manageable. During the recent Writers Ed panel titled Production 101: Writers Working on Set – Television, showrunners Nora & Lilla Zukerman (Poker Face), actor Sarah Wayne Callies (The Walking Dead), director Jesse Warn (Supergirl) and script supervisor Taliesin Sanford (The Irrational) shared their thoughts on the ways that writers can demonstrate their value on set. Robert Hewitt Wolfe (The Irrational executive producer) served as the moderator.

Thanks to a new provision in the 2023 MBA, a minimum number of writers must be included in production for single-camera series made for HBSVOD and Pay TV that are exclusively filmed in the U.S. and Canada. On each of these shows, two writer-producers must be employed for the lesser of 20 weeks of production or the duration of production along with the showrunner. The two writer positions can be used for more than two writers provided that the total weeks worked by the additional writers adds up to the minimum required number for each position. 

Nora Zuckerman (left) and Lilla Zuckerman accept the 2024 Writers Guild Award for Episodic Comedy for the Poker Face episode “Escape From Shit Mountain.” Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images

According to Lilla Zuckerman, writers are required on set because they function as “the eyes and ears of the showrunner.” Writers are needed on set to observe, offer thoughts, protect story and communicate with their showrunner, in ways that are necessary throughout the entire production, from prep to the last day of shooting. 

“You are intimately involved with the material. You know it better than anybody else, because you wrote it, or were in the room when it was being broken,” says Lilla Zuckerman. “You know your showrunner. You know her vision, and you know how she wants you to execute the story. And so it is your job to be the advocate for the showrunner's vision while you are on set.” 

How do you accomplish this? Here are some tips.

Be fully present 

Take the job seriously. Show up at call and leave at wrap. Other than bathroom and meal breaks, don’t leave, and when you do, make sure people know where you are and how to reach you. 

“You are there whenever the cameras are rolling. You are there for all rehearsals,” says Wolfe. “Don’t go to the set if you’re going to spend time on your phone because then you’re not doing your job.” 

Take advantages of prep meetings 

Anticipate and stave off problems before they happen. Make friends with key collaborators like producers and unit production managers and figure out ways that you can help save time and/or money. That’s one of the reasons you are there! Also known as the concept or pre-production meeting, the prep meeting is the place where the crew and department heads go through the script with the director and often with the showrunner. The concept meeting is the production team’s chance to get the ball rolling on the work they need to do, and your opportunity to answer questions, or say “Let me get back to you on that.”

“This is your chance to really get to know people in certain departments,” says Nora Zuckerman. “If it's your first time on set, that's your chance to introduce yourself to everybody. So don't be afraid to reach out with email questions afterwards.”

Adds Lilla Zuckerman: “That’s also a meeting where you start to see if there are going to be big problems emerging. You can usually kind of get a sense of it during the concept meeting. And if it’s like, ‘Yeah, everybody’s really freaking out about doing this underwater stunt,’ or whatever it is. That’s your chance to say ‘Hey, let’s have a meeting about that specifically, or let’s sidebar this thing that’s going to be about this particular location.”

Warn also suggests asking for a pre-tone meeting with the episodic director. (The actual Tone Meeting usually happens closer to the start of actual production). It’s a chance for you to feel like you both understand what story you’re telling. “You can get a general idea of their visual take and they’re listening to you and getting a general idea of the character and tone of the script in advance,” Warn says. 

Walk the sets 

“Picking locations, walking the set, understanding how things are going to get on their feet, that’s really the director’s job,” says Wolfe, “and it’s your job to help them make that work.”

You can do that by answering the director’s questions about why a specific location is needed or perhaps be the person on the scout who knows how many times the show will be going back to that particular location. Remember, prep is a great time to get really figure out what is essential and what can be adjusted, in order to make the best piece of television within the budget you have. 

Take lots of notes 

Do this at every meeting you attend and keep those notes handy with the script that you bring to the set every day. 

“I used to use different colored pens for different meetings. Now I’m using Scriptation. However you do it, whether it’s lo-fi or high tech, take your notes and bring them with you every day to set and refer to them,” says Lilla Zuckerman. “It will re-center you and it will make everything so much more clear about what you need to accomplish scene to scene.”

Be a resource to the actors

They’re going to be speaking your words, after all. Introduce yourself to them early in the process and let them know you are available to them. 

“By the time you get into the place of blocking and rehearsing and shooting, questions are going to start coming up,” says Sanford. “They already know why you’re there, and they know who to go to with those kinds of questions.”

“If you’re lucky, your production has a read-through. That’s a great place to meet actors who you haven’t met before and just get their read on stuff,” adds Nora Zuckerman. 

The read-through or table read is the place where most actors will communicate their notes, if they have them. Hear them out. If they have questions and you think you know the answer, you can answer, or tell them you’ll call the showrunner and get back to them on that. Remember, the actors are our collaborators.

Use your downtime productively 

During the time in turnaround, when people are setting up between blocking and the start of shooting, Lilla Zuckerman recommends productive action. “Go walk the set you are about to shoot on,” she says. 

“You may be required to write a set report. That would be like something that all those notes you're taking in the script. You may need to type that all up and give it to the showrunner,” adds Wolfe. 

Wrangle the VIPS

As an ambassador of the production, you may encounter someone who is well-dressed, not acting frazzled and clearly not part of the production. This could be a personal manager, a network VP or studio executive. These people should be greeted warmly, shown around the set, reminded to turn off their phone, and generally schmoozed.

“The care and feeding of your VIP guests is part of your probably unexpected responsibilities, and half the time, you don’t even know that they’re showing up until somebody sits down with you with a smoothie,” says Lilla Zuckerman. “And you’re like, ‘I didn’t even know that smoothies were available.’” 

Preparation is everything

According to Wolfe and Zuckerman, essentials include clothing to combat cold weather, comfortable shoes that won’t make noise on set, a valid passport that doesn’t expire for at least six months after the date of your arrival, and a tiny flashlight to study your sides in the dark.