ALL: Who are the best breakdown and dialogue writers?

[Faulkner]

It seems to be agreed that Patrick Mulcahey is the gold standard for dialogue writers, and Michelle Val Jean is up there as well. But who are the other writers we should look out for in soaps? Any great ones from the past/cancelled soaps?

Claire Labine's shows have always had great dialogue, but she's known as a head writer primarily, no? Did she write the scripts for RYAN'S HOPE?

[JamesF]

LOL I was just coming into the thread to cite Patrick Mulcahey and Michele Val Jean, both of whom are spectacular. I've also noticed James Houghton is doing a very good job on B&B. I never remember him standing out to me on Y&R but he's at home with the humour and camp side of that show.

Bernard Lechowick is another one to look out for on Y&R. He's yet to prove himself on the show but he used to write great scripts for Knots Landing and the short-lived Second Chances back in the 90s.

[Bright Eyes]

Sofia Landon Geier from DAYS is a really good scritwriter. anytime she writes an epsiode it's always a good one

[Andre]

The best scriptwriter and overal queen of the universe is, of course, [s.W.S.N.B.N.]: ruler of all that is sparkly and good.

[PAsoapfan]

On AMC Amanda Beall is a spectular Breakdown writer and Dialogue writer

I also think Michelle Patrick does good Breakdown's

Robert

[Adam]

Addie Walsh and Amanda L. Beall are two of the best IMO currently in daytime.

[leevo64]

Michele Val Jean.

[ClassicsSoapFan]

ATWT scriptwriters are:

Bettina Bradbury

Richard Culliton

Susan Dansby

Judith Donato

David A.Levinson

Elizabeth Page

All of them are pretty good. Even the best writer will produce a clunker every now and then.

Bradbury,Culliton and Dansby are the best.

Levinson is fairly new so I couldn't really judge him.

Two of ATWT's best scriptwriters are no longer on staff: Melissa Salmons and Josh Griffin.They were the best. Griffith is on Y&R now.I don't know what Salmons is doing now.

ATWT's problems are not the scriptwriters. The problem goes to the Headwriter and Co-Headwriters:

Jean Passanante

Leah Laiman

Christopher Whitesell.

[Dan]

Michelle Val Jean

Patrick Mulchahey (at his best, his dialogue is practically poetry)

Roger Newman

Carolyn Culliton

Nancy Williams Watt

Addie Walsh

[KLN]

Sofia Landon Geier from DAYS is a gem.

[bellcurve]

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE some Pat Mulcahey. He has brought some of B&B's [!@#$%^&*] storylines to LIFE with his fresh dialouge.

I wonder if he wrote the Wednesday episode from the week of the Heart Attack Reveal. Stephanie had such fabulous lines going down memory lane with Brooke, further explaning her hatred for her.

Stephanie(to Brooke): "Oh, we know your defense: everything you say at the moment is exactly what you mean. Well, I can't live in a world where truth is served up like a fast food. Hot one moment and cold and greasy the next."

That one was on my Facebook for, like, weeks.

And, I know this isn't a favorite of everyone's but put down the writer who made AMC's Erica say, "I don't have DNA. I have K-A-N-E."

And Karen Harris.

[Drew]

for Days, I would definitely cite Sofia Landon Geier. She managed to turn even the most awful stories into gold when it was one of her episodes, through smart dialog and use of different character interactions. Special props for being able to use the personal tragedy of her young daughter dying when it came time to writing the episodes where Zack was taken off life support. Not many would be able to do that.

Though he doesn't write scripts anymore, Peter Brash is also a great script writer. He wrote the bulk of the episodes from when Sami was being executed on Days, including the main episode where she gets the injection.

[R Sinclair]

Wasn't that Rebecca Taylor? If so, then that just furthers my already-low opinion of the woman.

General Hospital

But anyway, I have yet to see a Patrick Mulchahey script that exemplifies all of this praise. I only saw on GH episode he wrote (the one after Brenda "dies" and Jax goes back to the penthouse alone, and Alan and Tammy run into Tony at the clinic), and that wasn't all that stellar.

GH's Michele Val Jean is phenomenal. I love her words. I especially love how she writes Skye's dialog: "There's something particularly heartbreaking when our illusions are shattered." I know that Tony Geary has respect for her. He used to keep in contact with her while she was story editor during his problems with Richard Culliton.

I also think GH's Mary Sue Price does wonders with confrontation scenes. She holds no punches:

Skye: Jax and I made love tonight -- and it was fabulous.

Brenda: That's great, Skye. Good to know. You know, the last time I saw you in bed with Jax, you had all your clothes on. So, I'm sorry, just explain this to me. How do you working girls do that? You just hike up your skirt, right?

As for Susan Wald, it's taken me a while to enjoy her work, but I definitely think one of her strengths was/is in writing Sonny and Carly's fight scenes. Especially when they were married and Tamara Braun was in the role. It was like watching a real couple argue.

Elizabeth Korte seems to be assigning a lot of Sam-heavy episodes to Tracey Thomson. I guess she feels Thomson can flesh the Sam character out more? I don't know.

All My Children

AMC lost Bettina F. Bradbury to ATWT. I'm sad about that. I also miss John PiRoman. Very witty.

I think Amanda Beall is a little too much. I've said this time and time again. She makes me abhor every line Kendall utters and her attempts to make Babe sympathetic make me hate the character even more.

I think Joanna Cohen has promise.

But AMC's scriptwriters haven't been good since spring of 2003. Once McTavish got on board that summer, people started leaving left and right.

[JamesF]

I know he wrote the episode where all the slaps took place but I don't remember if it's the same one. He is so so good for the show that I'd be gutted if they lost him. I remember another brilliant one was when Brooke went up to the cabin to see Taylor after Ridge dumped her and after years, Taylor finally had some backbone and motivation. It was brilliant.

Taylor: You don't sleep with a man, you sleep with a whole gene pool. First the father, then the son, then the other son, then the half brother... You can't tell me most normal people wouldn't find that revolting. Psychiatry hasn't even come up with a name for your disorder.

Brooke: Well there's always been one for yours. Conceited b-i-t-c-h.

And later

Brooke: To be honest Taylor, you were more competition in the grave than when you popped out of it.

I so need to youtube some of that eppy.

Oh and who can forget Eric and Stephanie's confrontation. The dialogue was deliciously mature for B&B and I can't imagine anyone not enjoying it. Mulcahey came to a show which had a good foundation in its history but finally humanised some of the characters through dialogue and explained why there was so much resentment in Eric and Stephanie's marriage, why Brooke is who she is, why Taylor got a backbone. It's both campy and real at the same time.

I've never seen any of Pat Mulcahey's work on GH so I can't vouch for it, but I have heard glowing commendations. Somewhere I've got the episodes of Santa Barbara he wrote when Mason got Pamela out of the nuthouse and took her for dinner at the Capwell's. She slowly fell to pieces and it went from the comedy discomfort of her dishing Sophia's past to Mason's devastation at losing his mother again.

[R Sinclair]

I heard "Mulcahey" was instrumental in the shaping of Original Carly as well as Alexis Davis (at least that's what NLG has said, since they worked on Santa Barbara together).

I noticed Michael J. Cinquemani used to write a lot of Dillon heavy episodes on GH, kinda like I mentioned about about Thomson writing a lot of Sam heavy episodes.

Another writer who I forgot to mention was James Fryman. He got my attention when he wrote a script for GH back in 2002.

Even though I think Richard Culliton sucks ass as head writer, I've said in previous Culliton themed posts that if he was responsible for writing the first few scripts during his stint as AMC head writer back in 2001, then I think that THAT'S where his strength lies.