
Script coordinators are in charge of proofreading and formatting the script, the title page, and handling the distribution of the script at night. The script coordinator is an expert in Final Draft, and will be responsible for denoting changes in each draft and communicating changes to production and to set. When it comes to the script, they are the intermediary between the showrunner and everyone else, and departments will rely on them to get the information they need.
This is the highest-level assistant position in the TV writing world. In fact, it's so high up the ladder, the title doesn’t even have the word “assistant” in it anymore. Sure, you’ll still be looked at and treated like an assistant, but you’re as close as possible to being a writer and to possibly getting a freelance script. This is a script that is written by someone outside of the regular writing staff, and at least one is generally given out each season.
Script Coordinator Duties
At the beginning of the season, the script coordinator will send out a script template to all the writers so everybody is working on a document with the same set of formatting rules. This is basically idiot-proofing the script for the writers so they can’t turn in anything that looks egregiously wrong. And yet, after coming back from writing a script, some writers will manage to turn in scripts that will make you go “Have you ever seen a script before?” Still, on the whole, you’re saving yourself time.
Once the first script comes back from the writer, it’s time for proofing. This means reading through an entire script and fixing spelling, grammatical, and formatting errors. The script is also scanned for inconsistencies and logic bumps that the writer may have missed. And this process is repeated for every new draft, so eventually you become the person most familiar with every script.
Once it’s approved by the showrunner, you’ll send the script to the studio and network. Sometimes this is done through email and sometimes through a more secure distribution platform like Scenechronize. Systems like these are used for tightened security and to watermark scripts so they can be tracked in case of a leak. This has become increasingly popular since the Sony hacks.
The Sony Hacks
In 2014, Sony’s servers were hacked by a North Korean group as retribution for daring to release the movie The Interview, about Kim Jong Un. A ton of embarrassing company emails and information was released to the public. So much strife over a Seth Rogen movie.
Production as a Script Coordinator
The real heavy lifting for the script coordinator begins when preparing for production. This is when a keen eye is particularly necessary. The first step is preparing the script for the table read. This requires proofing just like before, but this time you’re putting a script out for the entire production crew, the actors, the executives at the studio and the network or streamer. If there’s a misspelled word or a rogue typo or weird formatting, this could trip up some of the actors.
A table read gains momentum as it moves forward, and the showrunner hopes the progression and positive energy dissuades execs from giving too many notes. If your missed word or spelling error disrupts that flow, all eyes will be on you. I’ve seen script coordinators reprimanded for egregious table read-related errors. Before my tenure on one show, an old script draft was distributed instead of the most current one. It happened on a show where there was zero communication from the top, and the script coordinator was doing the best they could. But it nonetheless led to them being fired.
The script coordinator will also be required to create distribution lists for the scripts. This includes everyone on the crew, in the offices, and the executives. It’s a rotating list of about 150 people. And there will be emails every day for the first two months from crew members who should be getting the script but aren’t, or who have moved on to other shows and don’t want to be receiving the script. It’s a job in and of itself to manage these lists and who should be getting what draft.
Once a script is ready to be shot, the script coordinator will put out a “shooting draft.” This is when the script can get a little wonky. At this point in the rewrite process, you might assume that any necessary script revisions have been made. Wrong. The networks, streamers, and studios have notes on every single draft—and that includes what is supposed to be the final draft, the production draft—and they will continue to give notes and the script will continue to change.
Once the shooting draft is out, the script coordinator “locks the pages.” This means that page count can’t change when revisions are made. In Final Draft, once pages are locked, if you add enough to a page, instead of making the entire script longer, an “A page” is created. So, let’s say you add some words on page 25 that pushes it over to the next page. Now the page numbers will go 25, 25A, 26. Revised pages are then proofed and sent out to everyone instead of a full script.
The reason is once the Shooting Draft is distributed, the crew starts physically making notes in their scripts, and the script supervisor (an entirely different position from script coordinator) starts tracking the shots on their script. Releasing “pages” of only the revised parts of the script allows everyone to keep their notes they’ve made on the rest of the script and insert the new pages without having to re-do all their work.
With each new revision, a new color is given to the pages of the script, and those colors are nearly identical across all TV shows. In draft order, it goes like this:
1. White (this is the first draft of any script)
2. Blue
3. Pink
4. Yellow
5. Green
6. Goldenrod
7. Double White
8. Double Blue (and on and on)
If Double White is reached during a production week, something has gone horribly wrong, everyone’s script looks like a rainbow, and you are having a bad week. You have my sympathy.
Should you take a script coordinator job?
There’s a ton of responsibility with this position, and the eyes of the entire production are on you. If you mess up a page that’s being sent down to shoot or forget to lock the pages, then you bear the brunt of the mistake and are responsible for slowing down the entire production.
And this thought will undoubtedly be in your head every time you press SEND on a new revision of a script, as you pray to the gods of screenwriting minutiae that you didn’t miss anything. Because you will miss something. Of course you will. There are far too many things for you to keep track of, and the script is constantly changing hands and being noodled with. With a thirty-five- to sixty-five-page script coming out once a day, the chance for error is almost infinite.
So, just try to put your head down and triple-check the important things. A misspelled word pales in comparison to an unlocked script or sending out the wrong draft. Or, very embarrassingly, getting the showrunner’s name wrong on the title page. That was a weird day.