writers-room

Writer's Room Skill

Purpose

A collaborative pre-production workflow where multiple specialized agents pitch their creative visions before any writing begins. This creates diverse perspectives, healthy creative tension, and a synthesized approach that draws from the best ideas.

When to Use

• Before starting a new screenplay or major rewrite
• When reimagining existing material
• When the creative direction is uncertain
• When you want multiple expert perspectives before committing

Participants

The Writer's Room convenes 6 specialized agents, each with a distinct role:

Story Architect

Focus: Structure and form

• Alternative three-act structures
• Non-linear possibilities
• Scene sequence options
• Climax variations
• Pacing strategies

Story Analyst

Focus: Character and meaning

• Character arc potential
• Thematic depth opportunities
• Aristotle's Six Components evaluation
• What the story is really about
• Theophrastus archetype analysis

Dialogue Writer

Focus: Voice and tone

• Character voice distinctions
• Comedic/dramatic rhythm
• Language approach (profanity, dialect, period)
• Signature lines and moments
• Subtext opportunities

Scene Writer

Focus: Visual storytelling

• Key visual setpieces
• Physical comedy/action beats
• Power dynamics per scene
• Compression opportunities
• "Show don't tell" moments

Standards Reviewer

Focus: Quality and originality

• What makes each proposed element A-grade?
• Weak points to avoid
• Cliche identification
• Fresh vs. derivative analysis
• Genre boundary awareness

Research Specialist

Focus: Authenticity and grounding

• Setting accuracy requirements
• Technical/professional accuracy
• Historical or cultural considerations
• Real-world logic checks
• Reference material needs

Process

Step 1: Brief the Room

Provide all participants with:

• The core premise/logline
• Any existing material (V1 script, source material, notes)
• Target tone and audience
• Constraints (runtime, budget considerations, rating)
• What's "sacred" vs. open for reimagining

Step 2: Individual Pitches

Each agent prepares their perspective:

• What excites them about the material
• Their proposed approach
• Specific recommendations
• Potential concerns or warnings

Step 3: Synthesis

Combine the best elements from all pitches into:

• A unified creative direction
• Key scenes that must exist
• Tone and voice guidelines
• What's explicitly off-limits
• The "North Star" for the project

Multi-Model Council (opt-in)

By default every seat is played by its routed Claude model (see .claude/model-routing.md) — "diverse perspectives" from diverse prompts. The council upgrade lets the room convene diverse minds: some seats on Claude, some on a self-hosted vLLM model, some on another cloud. This is additive — the default behavior is unchanged.

Modes

• solo (default): all six seats = their routed Claude models. No registry or endpoints needed. This is exactly the classic Writer's Room.
• diverse: seats spread across providers, plus optional guest seats on rostered non-Claude models (e.g. a local Qwen/Llama wildcard, a Gemini seat).
• custom: an explicit seat→model roster provided at invocation.

How the council runs

The Session Manager conducts:

1. Read the roster. node scripts/model-consult.js list (or the list_models MCP tool if the model-consult server is enabled) returns the available models, redacted, with a ready flag per model. Assign each seat a model_id — default is the seat's affinity → Claude model.
2. Gather pitches in parallel — one mind per seat:
   • Claude seats: dispatch the seat's native subagent ("Acting as the Story Architect…") on its routed model, as today.
   • Guest (non-Claude) seats: call consult_model(model_id, seat, system, prompt) (MCP), or node scripts/model-consult.js consult <model_id> --seat <seat> --prompt "…". The system prompt is the seat's role framing; the prompt is the brief from Step 1.
3. Synthesize with provenance. A single Claude Opus pass consolidates all pitches into one direction and credits which seat/model each surviving idea came from — so you can see whether the local model or the cloud guest actually moved the needle.
4. Degrade gracefully — never fake. If a guest seat's provider is unreachable or not configured, the connector returns a structured error (not a completion). Skip that seat and record it under "Seats skipped" with the reason. The room continues with the seats it has; the roster header states who spoke and who was skipped (no silent drops).

Configuring guests

Guest endpoints and keys live in .env (see .env.example); the registry (.wtfb/ai-harness/model-registry.json) references only the env-var names. To enable the MCP path, install the SDK and register the server per scripts/model-consult-mcp.mjs. With nothing configured, the room simply runs in solo mode.

Output Format

# Writer's Room Creative Direction

## Project: [Title]
## Date: [Session Date]
## Mode: [solo | diverse | custom]

### Council Roster
| Seat | Model | Provider | Spoke? |
|------|-------|----------|--------|
| Story Architect | claude-opus-4-8 | anthropic | ✅ |
| Story Analyst | claude-opus-4-8 | anthropic | ✅ |
| Dialogue Writer | claude-fable-5 | anthropic | ✅ |
| Scene Writer | claude-fable-5 | anthropic | ✅ |
| Standards Reviewer | claude-opus-4-8 | anthropic | ✅ |
| Research Specialist | claude-opus-4-8 | anthropic | ✅ |
| *(guest)* Wildcard | vllm-local | openai-compatible | ✅ / ⏭️ skipped |

*Seats skipped:* [none] — or "Wildcard (vllm-local): NETWORK_ERROR — endpoint unreachable".

---

## The Pitch (From Story Architect · claude-opus-4-8)
[Structure and form recommendations]

## The Heart (From Story Analyst · claude-opus-4-8)
[Character and thematic core]

## The Voice (From Dialogue Writer · claude-fable-5)
[Tone and language approach]

## The Spectacle (From Scene Writer · claude-fable-5)
[Visual setpieces and key moments]

## The Standard (From Standards Reviewer · claude-opus-4-8)
[Quality benchmarks and originality notes]

## The Foundation (From Research Specialist · claude-opus-4-8)
[Authenticity requirements]

---

## Synthesized Creative Direction

### Core Approach
[Unified vision statement]

### Must-Have Scenes
1. [Scene description]
2. [Scene description]
3. [Scene description]

### Tone Guidelines
- [Guideline]
- [Guideline]

### Off-Limits
- [What to avoid]

### North Star
[Single guiding principle for all creative decisions]

Benefits

1. Diverse Perspectives: No single creative blind spot
2. Quality Bar: Standards Reviewer prevents lazy choices
3. Grounded Creativity: Research Specialist prevents plausibility errors
4. Unified Vision: Synthesis creates alignment before writing begins
5. Reusable Asset: Creative Direction document guides entire production

Integration

The Writer's Room output feeds directly into:

• /theme-discovery - Validates thematic direction
• /character-interview - Guides character development priorities
• /story-check - Establishes success criteria
• /scene-writer agent - Provides visual direction
• /dialogue-writer agent - Sets voice parameters

Example Invocation

/writers-room

Project: Racoon Rescue V2
Premise: A drunk Navy petty officer uses an unconscious raccoon to bypass his breathalyzer interlock.
Existing: V1 screenplay (15 min short, dark comedy)
Target: Smart R (Fargo-level), complete reimagining
Sacred: Core premise only - everything else open
Constraints: Keep at ~15 min, sophisticated adult humor