How Quinta Brunson Hacked the Sitcom

Brunson is also the creator of “Abbott,” one of its executive producers and showrunners, and the leader of its writers’ room, all of which means that she has the final word on everything from costumes to punch lines. At the moment, a MacBook was propped on her lap, so that she could review an upcoming episode’s cold open. “The minute we call cut, somebody’s throwing a laptop in front of her,” one of her co-stars, Chris Perfetti, told me. “It’s astounding how much of the show is held in her brain at one time.”