What Does a "Creative Consultant" or an "Executive Consultant" do?

[Dr. Thong]

I've noticed on many sitcoms spanning the decades, that sometimes you'll see someone credited as a "Creative Consultant" or the even more puzzling "Executive Consultant."

What exactly do these people do?

Personally, I suspect it's a title given to someone to appease them or just to make them feel important.

In the case of The Odd Couple TV show, the show was developed for television by Garry Marshall and Jerry Belson. While Marshall was the show's executive producer, Belson is credited as being an "executive consultant." I wonder if the title was given to Belson since he wasn't a producer on the show. I think he may have been a producer in the early days of the show, but I'm not sure.

[GentlemanJim]

Originally Posted by Dr. Thong

I've noticed on many sitcoms spanning the decades, that sometimes you'll see someone credited as a "Creative Consultant" or the even more puzzling "Executive Consultant."

What exactly do these people do?

Personally, I suspect it's a title given to someone to appease them or just to make them feel important.

.

A creative consultant is a member of the writing crew that works with either the director or producers, to take requested changes back into the writing room, when problems come up during shooting/production..

An executive consultant would be someone with specialized knowledge, for example the creator of "Superman", or "Starwars" who is not directly involved in creating a sequel, but who his hired to review the work to assure continuity, and character of the new work.

Then, you have the "story consultant", which might be as simple as someone who has actually lived wherever the story is cast, who can contribute a native flair for the actors

That's the way I see it, anyways..

[Greenbeans]

Originally Posted by GentlemanJim

A creative consultant is a member of the writing crew that works with either the director or producers, to take requested changes back into the writing room, when problems come up during shooting/production..

An executive consultant would be someone with specialized knowledge, for example the creator of "Superman", or "Starwars" who is not directly involved in creating a sequel, but who his hired to review the work to assure continuity, and character of the new work.

Then, you have the "story consultant", which might be as simple as someone who has actually lived wherever the story is cast, who can contribute a native flair for the actors

That's the way I see it, anyways..

That's a good response.

MASH, for example, hired a doctor as a story consultant to the writers to make sure the surgery scenes were accurate.

[Dr. Thong]

Originally Posted by GentlemanJim

A creative consultant is a member of the writing crew that works with either the director or producers, to take requested changes back into the writing room, when problems come up during shooting/production..

An executive consultant would be someone with specialized knowledge, for example the creator of "Superman", or "Starwars" who is not directly involved in creating a sequel, but who his hired to review the work to assure continuity, and character of the new work.

Then, you have the "story consultant", which might be as simple as someone who has actually lived wherever the story is cast, who can contribute a native flair for the actors

That's the way I see it, anyways..

Thanks. It's as valid a theory as any. I always assumed "Story consultant" or "Story editor" was another term for head writer.