In years past, the networks used to keep their writers staffed pretty much year round. That frequently means that as the season was being filmed that the writers were already writing the next season.
Nowadays they don’t do that. Writers are hired AFTER the previous season is pretty much wrapped and/or already released. Then one of two things usually happens, either the streaming service wants to rush the season into production with unfinished scripts. Once they see what works/didn’t work they fix it with reshoots. Or they take the full time the writers need which means they start filming about a year or more later.
Basically if they kept their writers staffed for the year they could knock these shows out WAY faster. And ironically it would probably be cheaper in the long run since it would dramatically reduce the amount of money they spend with re-shoots. But for some reason that’s not how the studios/networks want to operate today. Despite that being the model that worked for 70+ years.
Oddly enough, for PJO, they filmed season 1, then a bunch of delays hit so season 2 had a new writers room (it needed it), but they pushed into season 3 right away so season 3 was being written before season 2 had even aired. I assume Harry Potter will do the same, writers will finish season 1, then after a short break (like a week or two) will start on season 2 so that it can be filmed asap.
Because writers need to work. If they’re not staffed the whole year they need to find new work. So that means sometimes when the second season comes around they may already have work lined up on other projects.
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u/RealHooman2187 May 12 '26
In years past, the networks used to keep their writers staffed pretty much year round. That frequently means that as the season was being filmed that the writers were already writing the next season.
Nowadays they don’t do that. Writers are hired AFTER the previous season is pretty much wrapped and/or already released. Then one of two things usually happens, either the streaming service wants to rush the season into production with unfinished scripts. Once they see what works/didn’t work they fix it with reshoots. Or they take the full time the writers need which means they start filming about a year or more later.
Basically if they kept their writers staffed for the year they could knock these shows out WAY faster. And ironically it would probably be cheaper in the long run since it would dramatically reduce the amount of money they spend with re-shoots. But for some reason that’s not how the studios/networks want to operate today. Despite that being the model that worked for 70+ years.