[Toups]

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Soap Opera Network has learned the names of soap opera writers who declared “Financial Core” status to keep on working during the strike. By going “Fi-Core,” these writers can never be members of the WGA again but they continue to pay reduced union dues and the Guild is obligated to continue providing services such health insurance, pension and residuals. Though they can still work on Guild projects, Guild members will not be keen to hire them.

Here is the list of “Fi-Core” writers:

“All My Children”: James Harmon Brown & Barbara Esensten (returned to work in late December)

“The Bold and The Beautiful”: Kay Alden

“Days Of Our Lives”: Hogan Sheffer (went “Fi-Core” in early January), Meg Kelly (went “Fi-Core” in late November), Victor Gialanella, Mark Christopher Higley

“General Hospital”: Garin Wolf (went “Fi-Core” immediately), Michael Conforti

“One Life To Live”: Gary Tomlin, Fran Myers, Jeanne Marie Ford, Michelle Poteet Lisanti (all went “Fi-Core” immediately)

“Passions”: James E. Reilly, Shawn Morrison, Pete T. Rich (went “Fi-Core” immediately)

“The Young and The Restless”: Josh Griffith, Maria Arena Bell, Paula Cwikly (all went “Fi-Core” immediately)

There are no “Fi-Core” writers at “As The World Turns” and “Guiding Light.”

At “DAYS” the show decided not to use the services of Hogan Sheffer and Meg Kelly; instead they were paid to stay at home. This signifies that “DAYS” will name a new Head Writer.

Still at “DAYS,” it is unclear as to whether or not that the fired writers (Tom Casiello, Frederick Johnson, Gordon Rayfield, Judy Tate, Judith Donato, Renee Godelia, Richard Backus) will be returning to the show. More on this story in the upcoming days or weeks.

Over at “Y&R” there have been rumors and speculation about the departure of Executive Producer and Head Writer Lynn Marie Latham. However, there has been no word if these rumors are true or not.

Stay tuned to SON as more details become available.

UPDATE: April 18, 2008

The WGA released a letter today naming more writers that I didn't originally have.

The list of writers are:

“The Bold and The Beautiful”: John F. Smith

“Days Of Our Lives”: Dena Higley (went “Fi-Core” just before the strike ended in February)

“Passions”: Marlene Clark Poulter, Clem Egan, Darrell Ray Thomas Jr

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PLEASE LINK ONLY!!

This post has been edited by Toups: 18 April 2008 - 10:10 PM

[Kennylicious]

Corday's paying for three HWs (Reilly, Sheffer, Kelly) - un-freakin-belieavable!!

Budget crisis my busted white ass.

Don't forget the writer he's likely paying under the table to write through her pussyfied husband.

[Ryan]

LOL You put it somewhere. I'm not good with HTML.

Done

[brimike]

Budget crisis my busted white ass.

Don't forget the writer he's likely paying under the table to write through her pussyfied husband.

Right. So that's FOUR head writers.

And if what Melissa Salmons said on deadlinehollywooddaily is true, that means Dena, Hogan and Meg cannot continue in their jobs. So if that does come to pass, then there will be a FIFTH head writer.

So let's first cut the vets, then fire the whole writing team, and now embroil yourself in a union scandal. Good going, Ken.

[Kubla Khan]

I believe FiCore members can continue in their jobs post-strike. They went FiCore within the guild rules. The problem is if networks want to keep them employed. The WGA doesn't view FiCore members favorably, and networks might want to dump FiCore members to keep the WGA happy.

Dena didn't go FiCore. She is a full WGA member. There are ahem, rumors that she scabbed at Days, but innocent until proven guilty, right?

[Tishy]

I guess it's easy to guess who wears the pants in the Higley family.

I can't believe Corday. He is paying for at the very least, three HWs. So does firing the rest of the staff balance the bottom line? Corday is a freakin idiot

[Kyle]

I really hope B&E are gone!!!

[Kennylicious]

And if what Melissa Salmons said on deadlinehollywooddaily is true, that means Dena, Hogan and Meg cannot continue in their jobs. So if that does come to pass, then there will be a FIFTH head writer.

No, I think that Dena would be able to keep writing for the show, since she never 'officially' went fi-core. Having her write secretly (through her husband) while paying her under the table (which I'm sure happened) was his way of ensuring she'd be able to come back officially and keep writing the show post-strike while Hogan/Meg were out on their asses.

I dunno. The legal details of everything confuses me. All I know is that the material we've been seeing for the last few weeks has been all 100% Higley -- even if it is through her husband.

God. Can you believe that Hogan was willing to go fi-core for the show and Corday just told him to sit at home?!

This post has been edited by Kennylicious: 13 February 2008 - 07:13 PM

[Y&RWorldTurner]

DAYS can't afford to bring another Head Writer on board, so they'll have to make due with what they have, which is Dena Higley. Doesn't anyone find it funny that Dena was hired before the strike and she wasn't fired along with the other writers? Also, it's yet to be proven that she went Fi-Core or scabbed, as long as Corday wants her there, she has a job, regardless of what the WGA thinks.

With Hogan now at Fi-Core status at the WGA, that pretty much kills any chance of him being named Head Writer at any other show I believe.

I'm interested in the Y&R situation as well, if Latham does in fact return, will those 17 other writers all be back as well? Also, if Latham and her team are not returning, who will be the new Head Writer and who are the writers that will be hired as apart of the show's new writing team?

Hopefully, we get official word on what is happening at DAYS and Y&R soon....

This post has been edited by Y&RWorldTurner: 13 February 2008 - 07:14 PM

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I believe FiCore members can continue in their jobs post-strike. They went FiCore within the guild rules. The problem is if networks want to keep them employed. The WGA doesn't view FiCore members favorably, and networks might want to dump FiCore members to keep the WGA happy.

Dena didn't go FiCore. She is a full WGA member. There are ahem, rumors that she scabbed at Days, but innocent until proven guilty, right?

Yep, and let's not forget that the Fi-Core writers were stripped of their WGA Award nominations...

[Southofnowhere]

So since even though he went Fi-core Sheffer didn't write so will that keep him from being blackballed?

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Victor Gialanella and Mark Christopher Higley were pushing Dena's agenda at DAYS, plain and simple. This doesn't hinder Dena's status with the WGA, I expect an announcement from Corday Productions/NBC soon with Dena being named the new Head Writer of DAYS.

This post has been edited by Y&RWorldTurner: 13 February 2008 - 07:24 PM

[Ryan]

No, I think that Dena would be able to keep writing for the show, since she never 'officially' went fi-core. Having her write secretly (through her husband) while paying her under the table (which I'm sure happened) was his way of ensuring she'd be able to come back officially and keep writing the show post-strike while Hogan/Meg were out on their asses.

I dunno. The legal details of everything confuses me. All I know is that the material we've been seeing for the last few weeks has been all 100% Higley -- even if it is through her husband.

God. Can you believe that Hogan was willing to go fi-core for the show and Corday just told him to sit at home?!

That really has me upset. You have a guy who basically gave up being a full member of the guild to write for a show that he loves only to be told to stay home. What a big slap in the face.

[Days4Life]

I can't wrap my mind around this...so Hogan and Kelley went fi-core, thereby damaging their careers and losing their status with the WGA, FOR NOTHING? Because Corday in his brilliance chose to pay them to sit around NOT writing? And Dena did not go fi-core and has not been acknowledged as scabbing so she may come out of this with the HW job? Although we know she's most likely been ghost writing through her husband? Unbelievable!

[Kennylicious]

That really has me upset. You have a guy who basically gave up being a full member of the guild to write for a show that he loves only to be told to stay home. What a big slap in the face.

Hey Ryan. Wanna head to Burbank Studios together? We can take turns shoving a foot up Corday's retarded ass. We could make a fun little trip out of it!

[Y&RWorldTurner]

One thing though, despite how crappy her writing is, that Dena Higley is one smart bitch...

[DaysForever]

Oh my God...

Ken Corday is OFFICIALLY the worst executive producer in television history.

This just proves how loyal and how much Hogan loved DAYS. Can you imagine wanting to go Fi-Core for a show that you love only to be asked to stay home to be replaced with some awful writer?

Stupid, stupid, stupid...

Corday's paying at least three headwriters all at once... goodbye vets.

[Ryan]

Hey Ryan. Wanna head to Burbank Studios together? We can take turns shoving a foot up Corday's retarded ass. We could make a fun little trip out of it!

You like first class? I got my credit card ready. Let me find my steel toe boots....

[LoyaltoAMC]

Why does everyone think that Latham isn't returning to Y&R? I really think the more casual pace and more character-driven scenes have been a result of the show just trying to stall plot advancement until the strike's end, and not the result of TPTB wanting to hearken back to the Y&R of old. I'll guess we'll know pretty soon.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Why does everyone think that Latham isn't returning to Y&R? I really think the more casual pace and more character-driven scenes have been a result of the show just trying to stall plot advancement until the strike's end, and not the result of TPTB wanting to hearken back to the Y&R of old. I'll guess we'll know pretty soon.

Um, maybe it's more than just the writing changes that have happened on the show? Suddenly, after Latham's name was gone from the credits we started having some traditional Y&R close-up shots, flower shots, and window shots. We also got some shots of the exterior of the houses, namely the Abbott mansion and Newman estate. Also, all of the college rock background music Latham used was gone and we started getting some traditional classical gothic-style Y&R music back...

Why would all these changes coupled with the writing changes happen if something wasn't up? But as you said, we'll just have to wait and see.

Whatever, the case, people are taking to Josh Griffith and Maria Arena Bell's Y&R more than they did to Y&R in 2007 under Latham. The fact that Y&R pushed over 6 million total viewers last week should attest to that, something it never did in 2007.

This post has been edited by Y&RWorldTurner: 13 February 2008 - 07:42 PM

[LoyaltoAMC]

Honestly, I think the flower shots, exteriors, flashbacks, etc, have just been the show's clever ways of padding the scripts. I mean, it must be tough for the 3 writers they have listed in the credits to churn out script after script. If I were Griffith, I'd add as many visual elements as possible to keep dialogue to a minimum. It's just hard to believe that TPTB had some nostalgic change of heart about the direction of show just as the strike was beginning. Again, we'll have to wait and see.