Okay I thought of another example
Steve Kloves wrote the scripts for all the Harry Potter films, but how different does 3 feel to 1 and 2? Hogwarts almost seems like a different place! I think I read somewhere the director of 3 was trying to make it "a horror film for kids". Obviously with the content of the story that is easier with 3 than the first 2, but the direction really brought it home.
Then there are directors like Ridley Scott, Steven Spielberg, James Cameron ... when Scott made the latest Alien films, he wouldn't have sat around twiddling his thumbs, wondering what's going to be in his film
he'd have given the script writer a basic outline, talking about the characters or at least the character types, certain scenes he needed it to include...