Editing Screenwriting (section)

====Writing for daily series====
The process of writing for [[soap opera]]s and [[telenovela]]s is different from that used by [[prime time]] shows, due in part to the need to produce new episodes five days a week for several months. In one example cited by [[Jane Espenson]], screenwriting is a "sort of three-tiered system":<ref name="jane">[http://www.janeespenson.com/archives/00000588.php 08/13/2008: Soapy Scenes] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081017045312/http://www.janeespenson.com/archives/00000588.php |date=2008-10-17 }}, from "Jane in Progress" a blog for aspiring screenwriters by Jane Espenson</ref>
:a few top writers craft the overall [[story arc]]s. Mid-level writers work with them to turn those arcs into things that look a lot like traditional episode outlines, and an array of writers below that (who do not even have to be local to Los Angeles), take those outlines and quickly generate the dialogue while adhering slavishly to the outlines.

Espenson notes that a recent trend has been to eliminate the role of the mid-level writer, relying on the senior writers to do rough outlines and giving the other writers a bit more freedom. Regardless, when the finished scripts are sent to the top writers, the latter do a final round of rewrites. Espenson also notes that a show that airs daily, with characters who have decades of history behind their voices, necessitates a writing staff without the distinctive voice that can sometimes be present in prime-time series.<ref name="jane"/>