The oft-asked question, "What in blazes does a producer do, anyway, much less an 'executive' producer?" doesn't have a simple answer, and I'm too lazy to type out a complex one, so I'll just answer the second question and maybe that'll give you some idea.

A typical day on Farscape can contain any or all of the following:

Giving notes on an outline or script. Today, DK, Justin Monjo, Lil Taylor (Goddess of the Script Department), and I will be gathering 'round the office speakerphone to give notes to a freelance writer on her first draft of a "beat outline" - a rough scene breakdown. Because she's in Los Angeles and we're in Sydney, it's midnight for her by the time we finish.

"Breaking" a story. All the writers sit before a big blank whiteboard and come up with the overall plot of an episode. I argue with DK. DK argues with Justin. Justin argues with me. Lil argues with all of us. DK comes up with a Teaser that'll knock everyone's socks off. Onto the whiteboard it goes. Jokes are told. Toys are played with. Character motivations are debated. Plot points are bandied about. Act One is sketched onto the whiteboard. Actors drop by to divert us. Dave Elsey pops in and DK promptly asks him if he and the Creature Shop can build us a critter with three mouths. Food is ordered in. (For us, not the critter.) More arguments. Act One is reconsidered – then erased. Well, we still like the Teaser. We'll continue this tomorrow.

Revisions on a script. Each set of new script pages gets a new color: blue, pink, yellow, green, lilac, gold, lime, grey, double blue, double pink, etc. The record on Farscape is double green. Today, I'm doing lilac revisions. Nothing earthshaking; production considerations mostly - scene 18 is still too complicated (i.e. expensive), so I'm removing one character and simplifying the fight. Ben and Claudia had some good thoughts for the climactic Crichton/Aeryn scene, so I'm doing a dialogue touch-up.

The shooting schedule would be vastly improved (i.e., made less expensive) if Gigi could shoot B-unit scenes for some other episode all day Wednesday, but Chiana's in scene four of this script, which is still shooting A-unit on Wednesday, so I look at scene four to see if Chiana's absolutely necessary there. Turns out she is, so...

Solving production problems. Lil Taylor and I take a look at the production boards and see what the alternatives are. Maybe scene four can be swapped with scene nine on Friday? Except scene four's in Chiana's Quarters, and we're not shooting there on Friday; we're in the Centre Chamber and then in the Command, so we can't afford (time-wise) to move to a third set on Friday. Can scene four be set in Centre Chamber? It can, but it'll need a slight rewrite. Annabel Davis and Josh Mapleston (angels of the Script Department)have already sent out the lilac revisions, so these changes will be gold.

Watching "dailies". Daillies are the uncut footage of the previous day's shoot. Admiring the lovely work of our directors and crews. Laughing at the flubs and outtakes. Wincing at a guest actor in a bit part whose performance falls a bit short. Oh, well... we can cut around it.

Meetings. Pre-production meetings: what's this new creature in this script supposed to look like? Should it be animatronic, an actor in makeup, CGI, or what? Production meetings: going over each day of each shoot in advance, locking down the game plan. Actor meetings: so-and-so's got some thoughts on his/her character. (Sometimes the smallest suggestion from an actor will inspire an entire story arc. Other times we just nod and smile.)

Makeup meetings. Director meetings: hearing, for instance, Andrew Prowse tell us that a "simple" scene we've written is impossible to shoot - but he's going to shoot it anyway (and does, brilliantly). CGI meetings: There is never enough time nor money for CGI, so we pick and choose. Costume meetings. Creature Shop meetings. Special Effects meetings: Chris Murray demonstrates a new flamethrower he's built. Can we make use of it in an episode? We'd love to.

Screenings. Rough cuts: the first edited assembly of an episode - often too long, too slowly paced, too off-balance. We all give notes, suggestions, prayers. A scene that seemed essential in the writing looks superfluous in the cut; kill it. Sound briefs: screening the final cut of the episode for the post-production crew – dialog and sound effects editors, composer Guy Gross, etc. - and planning out the audio: music here, no music there, a certain background sound here, a line of dialog to be re-recorded there, a new line of dialog to be written, recorded, and snuck in here. Mix screenings: the soundtrack in all its combined, mixed-down, multichannel glory, and the final tweaks thereto – a crucial bit of dialogue gets overpowered by pulse pistol fire; can we make the words punch through?

Writing a script. Actually, given our busy days, actual writing usually takes place at night. Late at night. Very late at night.