Writers are responsible for crafting the story of a series and shaping it into a script. The script is the template that the rest of the production follows.
Writers are credited either through staff positions where there work is across multiple episodes or through specific credits where they make a significant contribution to a single episode.
They can be credited "Written by" where they work on both the story and the script for an episode. Credit can also be divided between "Story" and "Teleplay". For more information see screenwriter.
Television writers are typically either full time crew members working as part of a writing staff or writers for hire working on individual scripts. The latter are referred to as Freelance Writers.
The Newsroom relies upon a writing staff. Crew positions for full time writers in order of seniority are:
- Writer's Assistant
- Staff Writer
- Story Editor
- Executive Story Editor
More senior writers typically also receive a producer credit. For example Aaron Sorkin is the series Head Writer and is credited as an Executive Producer on The Newsroom. Paul Redford is a Co-executive Producer and senior writer.
David Handelman and Ian Reichbach are Story Editors for The Newsroom. Brendan Fehily, Cinque Henderson, Amy Rice, and Gideon Yago are Staff Writers for the series.