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Show runner (alternatively showrunner,^[1] or show-runner^[2]) is a term used in the United States television industry referring to the person who is responsible for the day-to-day operation of a television series, in other words, the person who "runs" the show. The term is also occasionally applied to people in the television industries of other countries.^[2]

Variety defines it as the executive producer. The de facto showrunner may, however, be someone completely different. The blog (and book) Crafty Screenwriting defines showrunner as "the person responsible for all creative aspects of the show, and responsible only to the network (and production company, if it's not his production company). The boss. Usually a writer."^[3]

Los Angeles Times columnnist Scott Collins describes show runners as^[4]

"hyphenates," a curious hybrid of starry-eyed artists and tough-as-nails operational managers. They're not just writers; they're not just producers. They hire and fire writers and crew members, develop story lines, write scripts, cast actors, mind budgets and run interference with studio and network bosses. It's one of the most unusual and demanding, right-brain/left-brain job descriptions in the entertainment world....[S]how runners make — and often create — the shows, and now^[5] more than ever, shows are the only things that matter. In the "long tail" entertainment economy, viewers don't watch networks. They don't even care about networks. They watch shows. And they don't care how they get them.

Traditionally, the showrunner is the creator or co-creator of the series, but this is not always the case.^{[citation needed]} In long running shows, often the creator of the show moves on, and day to day responsibilities of showrunning devolves to other writers or writing teams. ER, The Simpsons, The West Wing and NYPD Blue are all examples of long running shows that went through multiple showrunners.^{[citation needed]}

In the Canadian television industry, many terms generally accrued to writers are currently in dispute. "Showrunner" is one of these terms, with many non-writing producers recently trying to claim the term, as the Canadian TV industry has traditionally been a line-producer driven industry. Many producers, citing the difficulty of getting programs financed and off the ground, look to claim the title for themselves.

In the American industry it is extremely rare for a showrunner to not come out of the writing class.^{[citation needed]} In Canada, as writers and producers struggle for primacy, the term showrunner has become a football, with many writers^{[attribution needed]} refusing to acknowledge non-writing showrunners, and Producers resisting giving "producer" credits to writers.^{[citation needed]} Partly due to this confusion and controversy^{[citation needed]}, in 2007 The Writers Guild of Canada, the union representing screenwriters in Canada, established the Showrunner Award at the annual Canadian Screenwriting Awards, partially to call attention to this fact, and to the role of "writing" as an essential component of the showrunner title. The first "Showrunner Award" was presented to Brad Wright, Executive Producer of Stargate Atlantis, and Stargate SG-1, in April 2007.