Writers craft the scripts, but Greg says a story-editor’s job is “responsibility for the script process. A writer may story-edit his or herself, or a producer may story-edit, but story-editors always have writing credits on their resume. Multiple writers help shows meet deadlines, so a story-editor sees their stories are within guidelines, have a consistent tone, that the scripts are the right length, and are clearly understood for the actors, artists, and crew to bring to life.
On Gargoyles, four story-editors worked on the second season. All reported to Greg, who acted as supervising story-editor. They sought consistent work from their writers, and then Greg supervised them in turn.
Greg co-wrote for JEM -- see http://devoted.to/tojem -- before he moved back to Los Angeles. At Disney, he story-edited the last five episodes of Ducktales uncredited because he was a development executive (see Part One). He developed premises, gave notes, and did some rewriting.
The amount of rewriting is “directly proportional to how in sync the writer is with the story-editor,” says Greg. “I’d also like to say how talented the writer is, but sometimes that’s not the case… if someone gives me a script that needs a lot of work, I’m going to be doing a major rewrite. If someone gives me a script that doesn’t need a lot of work… I’ll do as little as I have to in order to get it to be the kind of script I want it to be.” A talented writer may not understand a show, so being rewritten doesn’t necessarily mean lack of ability.
With Gargoyles’ third season, Greg wrote and story-edited – but didn’t produce – the first episode. It “can be a dangerous process but it’s… more rewarding than having someone else story-edit,” he said. An advantage is getting “the individual’s unadulterated vision… strong but powerful, not always good… pure, and there’s something to be said for that.” As to dangers, he admitted, “you get concerned with little details and lose track of the bigger picture.”
Greg explains, “freelance story-editing is tough. One is, financially it’s not as lucrative thus you’re forced to do more work in a shorter time to make an equivalent amount of money. The second reason… you’re not on site. You’re not engaged in… daily dialogue with the other people working on the show. The only advantage I can think of is the certain amount of freedom… that allows you to simultaneously do something else.”
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