Thread by @LHissrich

You've seen their faces. (You've had opinions.)

You've heard how and why I hired them. (Lots more opinions.)

Now let's talk about what actually happens in a writers' room. (Bring it on.)

First things first, I welcome the writers. I explain that we're more than a team. We're a family. We're the foundation for hundreds of people who will make this tv show, and we're not only gonna be great storytellers, we're gonna be fucking great human beings along the way.

Then we get down to work. Before the room opens, the incredibly smart @clareh_video has put together documents that outline the stories, terms, characters, and themes I want to cover in season one. There are maps. There are pictures. There is a special font she chose just for us.

Yes, the writers have read the books, but these documents focus our discussions on day 1. We move fast, and I don't bend on the schedule. There are due dates, and we must respect them so that everyone else can do their jobs when we're done doing ours. (TV is teamwork, period).

With that, we start talking. And talk and talk and talk. We write the things we say on dry erase boards. Often the lowest level writer does it, but sometimes it's the person with the best handwriting. (That's always been me, until now mwah ha ha ha ha. Now I sit in a chair.)

We break down characters first: who they are, what they want, who they'll do it with. Organically, those emotional moments collide with plot. Note: some writers are better at plot machinations. Some are better at emotional arcs. Some do action. Some do sex. It takes all types.

Then we start breaking it down into episodes -- where would this plot or emotion fit in the eight episodes we have? What's a fun and unexpected beginning to the season? Where do we want it to end, and how does that keep an audience's interest until season two? (🙏🏻)

We decide on something. Then we change it an hour later because we find something else even better that highlights this character's journey, or this super cool monster that's just PERFECT for this episode. We do this all as a room. But TWIST: we write episodes as individuals.

I ask the writers to "own" their episodes: they bear the responsibility of ushering it from a kernel of an idea to fully-executed script. I oversee the whole process, but each writer needs to be fully invested in the vision and quality, or the show doesn't work. (Again: teamwork)

From there, it's much like I talked about at the pilot phase. A writer writes, the room reads, we give notes. The writer writes again, we pass it on to producers, they give notes. The writer writes again, often working with me individually, to fine tune and hone and perfect.

And then we do it again with the director, or actor. For me, a script is a living, breathing thing. I'm not God. I don't determine All Things. TV doesn't have space for ego or assholes, because without all the people doing their jobs, it collapses. We all own it. Together.

And that, friends, is how we write.

Bring it on.