Quoting a second time - again,
straight from the horse's mouth:
What does a lead writer do?
AM: It varies from studio to studio. My job as a lead writer is to help my team do their best writing, help them grow as writers, help them stay on tone, stay true to the lore of the project. We all have a vision presented to us by the creative director. It's our job to help realize that vision. A big part of my job is just ensuring that we're following that vision and the path that the creative director has laid out for us, and that the writers are doing their best work. I'm like a mediator between the writers and the creative director's vision.
It might be slightly different at CDPR, but it's probably pretty much the same thing. There's stuff that Pawel has said that lines up with that quote (making sure each team "stays on theme", to paraphrase him). Also I'm not sure they'll have a "writer's team" as such, as they'll be working in "pods" i.e. groups that consist of a smörgåsbord of all the talent you need (e.g. that could be: a couple writers, cinematics, quest design, enviro art, engineers, etc., all in one team). That's how it was for PL, as opposed to the base game, where each discipline was silo'd off (something like a cinematics team, an enviro art team, etc., all separated).
So, Anna's job is probably going to involve her going in and out of every pod, checking in, and basically making sure whatever writing each pod produces is staying in line with the vision that's (presumably) laid out by Igor (the creative director). In practice, I wouldn't be surprised if she directly contributes
some writing here and there, but presumably the bulk of it is going to be from the writers in those pods.
Also, I imagine the vision presented by Igor will be the result of conversations between himself and Gabe, Pawel, Anna, Mike Pondsmith, etc., etc. Like, probably all of the directors and leads are chatting away, throwing ideas back and forth at this stage. Or maybe it's him going off into a cabin in the woods alone and emerging months later, fully bearded, with the ultimate bestest idea ever conceived? Or maybe a mixture of both, lol.
Also worth bearing in mind is that the devs are supposed to be really empowered. They've talked about a "Yes, and?" approach, meaning they're encouraged to be as creative as they want, as long as it's in keeping with the vision. E.g. a quest designer in a pod might have a crazy idea, and Sarah (acting lead quest designer) likely won't say "no" unless there's an extremely good reason to do so; it's more likely going to be a "yes, and?" with some guidance/direction to keep it in line with the overall vision. Anna will presumably be following that same culture with the writers in the various pods.
So basically the directors/leads sound like... gardeners? They're going around watering the plants I guess.
If anyone's interested in hearing more about this kind of stuff, you can watch some of the lead devs talking about it here:
