mikelyons

From documents I've obtained, Bill had a contentious relationship with the WGA from the 60s with regard to the international royalties from DAYS. He chaffed at writing long term story and daily outlines for the show, but having to pay his dialogue writers 50% of his take-home pay. He resisted the same calculation with his international royalties for DAYS. If I remember correctly, Bill wasn't a remember of the WGA for many years because he didn't want to become a scab writer on Y&R. (I wish I'd made a note of that source!) This makes sense to me, especially in the first year of Y&R when he was largely writing the show alone with the help of a few dialogue writers from DAYS. Bill wrote ATWT with Irna until they created ANOTHER WORLD and then he was placed on DAYS. @Paul Raven The producer Sherman is referencing could be Fred "Freddie" Bartholomew. He produced AS THE WORLD TURNS for Benton and Bowles from 1971-73 and then 1980-81. Since Bartholomew had been the VP of Benton and Bowles and produced and/or directed EON, ATWT, and SFT, he may be our guy. Sherman was a bit of a fox! https://books.google.com/books?id=3t5zDrReoyQC&pg=PA275&lpg=PA275&dq=Sherman+Magidson+as+the+world+turns+1973&source=bl&ots=dA52NCwB9G&sig=ACfU3U2kQJcLQ5zG0rZe1QNJtYZ0fuTWXQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj1yqy688HpAhVCqZ4KHYFoCyYQ6AEwCnoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=Sherman Magidson as the world turns 1973&f=false

I believe so!!

According to one of the DAYS history books, it seems (and someone **please** correct me if I'm wrong), that Harrower left Y&R for DAYS.

Thanks for sharing this article! I remember seeing Sherman's name as a consultant on Y&R scripts as late as 2004. From what I've been told by credible sources, Kay Alden was very much running the writer's room on Y&R from the early-90s. Bell supplied the long term story, but Kay was responsible for executing the long term story, working with the breakdown writers, and editing the final scripts. By the time she took over in 1998, it was a formality. Also, when John F. Smith was promoted to head writer, he'd been serving as head writer, but wasn't credited as head writer. Associate Head Writer Kay Alden (1980-1997) Head Writer Kay Alden (1998-2006)

This thread/index is for discussion about the many writers (head, breakdown, and dialogue) who have written for THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS. Any names, dates, stories, etc. are welcome! Head Writer 1973-1998 William J. Bell Early Y&R Scriptwriter (Dialogue Writers) 1973-75 Kay Alden Kay Lenard* Elizabeth Harrower Bill Rega* *Worked with Bell on DAYS while writing Y&R For the first two years of Y&R, Bell used some of his dialogue writers from DAYS to script Y&R. Kay Lenard quit Y&R in 1975, but kept working on DAYS.

Early Y&R Scriptwriter (Dialogue Writers) 1973-75 Kay Alden Kay Lenard* Elizabeth Harrower Bill Rega* *Worked with Bell on DAYS while writing Y&R

February 18, 1970 - Variety Raymond E. Goldstone, a staffer on LOVE IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING, is in negotiations with Warner Bros. TV to develop a soaper, tentatively tagged NEWS (has nothing to do with the news media). Goldstone, incidentally, nabbed his first assignment with the soaper.

Should we start a Y&R writer's thread? 😉

Kay Lenard was one of the first script writers on Y&R. In fact, Bill used a lot of a his DAYS script writers on Y&R scripts in 1973-75, but they were getting burned out, so he turned elsewhere. Kay Alden is the friend John F. Smith mentions who was working on her soap opera thesis and wound up interviewing Bell. Kay started at the tale end of 1973-early 1974 and was instrumental in shaping & forming Katherine under Bill's guidance. I have some old notes, etc. on this...I'll have to find them. Someone asked how old Bill Bell, Jr. was...I can't recall if it was on this thread or another. Bill Bell, Jr. was born in 1963, Brad in 1965, and Lauralee in 1968.

Thanks for sharing!

Yep! Loving and Capitol were huge in Italy (probably bigger than B&B). My Italian ex was in love with Myrna on Capitol. I showed him a few Italian episodes of both shows and he was giddy!

Brilliant! I'd love to see what Agnes' original intention was the for the show. Once Marland left LOVING, they removed his name as co-creator of the series. It's amazing the WGA (and Marland's agent) would allow Dramatic Creations to strip him of a co-creator credit. There's still so much that's never be told about LOVING!

If you wouldn't mind sharing it, I know I'd be grateful! When I went to the archive back in 2015, they weren't allowing scans or photos. Thank goodness they've changed their policies!

Dear God in heaven, I need to see that scene!

Agreed. Outside of the original pilot and two clip scenes on YouTube, I can't find a single episode of LOVING from 1983! There only seem to be a handful from 1984. I think seeing those episodes might help fill-in the blanks.

You can say that again. Curtis, Clay, Cabot, fake-Clay, Alex...the Forbes'?? Yeah... To this day, it makes my head hurt. Someone needs to write a history of LOVING as a Kindle Single. 🙂

No, Bill Bell never wrote for the radio iteration of THE GUIDING LIGHT. By the time he started in soaps, he wrote solely for television.

Hubris, indeed.

Say it again! They let Ashley Bashioum (sp?) go as the original Mac over contract negotiations. No other actress was able to capture to nuance or fire of Mac as Ashley. Y&R lost David Tom and Heather Tom in the same period. Heather Tom left because they thought they could low ball her and she'd never walk...until she did. Christian Le Blanc's contract was up after Heather's, so they gave him everything he wanted and now we're stuck with Michael!

Exactly. Isn't DAYS still the most watched show on the NBC app/Peacock? Yes, the revenue from VOD and AVOD isn't as big as network, but with constant replays and compounding over a year, it adds up. I'd bet the soaps are making way more money than ABC, CBS, or NBC would care to admit to justify their budget cuts. As for writers, Kay Alden was one of the highest paid - ever. She was making about $10m per year. That may have included all of the sub writers, but those writers are usually employed by Bell Dramatic Serial Company, which is why it was really hard for LML get fire Minardi Slater, Esser, etc. Irna was making $250k per year from her 15 minute radio soaps during the Depression and into the 1950s. In the early-1980s, the networks were paying writers about $250k to simply CREATE a daytime serial, of which many were never picked up. It makes sense when you hear some of the big names who were hired to create a soap, but, those shows were almost always let on the dustheap.

$0.84. If I recall correctly, Susan Lucci was the first soap actor to earn $1m per year starting in the 80s. I would think this was around the time Capital Cities bought ABC, thus making ABC part of a larger corporation with greater resources. I do believe she made the most of any actor on daytime until the budget cuts. Drake Hogestyn was making $10,000 per episode on DAYS before the budget cuts in the early-2000s. Eric Braeden, Melody Thomas Scott, Peter Bergman, and Doug Davidson were the highest paid actors on Y&R well into the early-2000s clearing between $750k-$1m+ per year. Jeanne Cooper was making around $750k per year during this time due to a smaller guarantee than the other four. I wouldn't be surprised if Lauralee Bell was making close to Cooper. I've been told that the "core-four" at B&B (Moss, McCook, Flannery, and Lang) were making $1m per year in the early-2000s. It wouldn't surprise me if a bit of their pay came from international licensing fees to keep the CBS' licensing fee at a reasonable level. Also, Brad pays his actors well, even when they're under contract and off-screen! It's been reported that actors have been brought back to B&B, paid $250k-$500k for six months to a year, dropped after three months, and Brad pays out the rest of their contract. I wish I knew more about the P&G soaps & their budgets. I've been searching for years!

That sounds like bad community theatre!

Last time I heard, their budget had settled to $60m per year. I wouldn't be surprised if it was $50-$55m right now, but that's a guess, based on what I'm seeing on screen.

All right, let's talk budgets! When SEARCH FOR TOMORROW and LOVE OF LIFE launched in 1951, their budgets were $8,750 a week ($437,500/year). By 2014 or so, THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS' budget was $100m per year, one of the highest in television, and then fell to $80m per year. (For context with another highly rated daytime show, OPRAH was produced for $50m per year.) (Note: I found Y&R's budget in documents from the Sony hack.) It appears ALL MY CHILDREN and ONE LIFE TO LIVE cost $40m to produce (each) per year by the time they were canceled (that $80m went to KATIE). DAYS' budget has been about $750k per week ($37.5m/year) for a while now. What other hard budget numbers (weekly/monthly) do we have or know?

Oh, yes! That's Daisy! I noticed it, too!