ALL: Who are the best breakdown and dialogue writers?

January 6, 200718 yr

Member

Brian does actually WRITE just like the EPs of the other shows I mentioned do actually WRITE story, create characters
and even re-write portions of SCRIPTS. That's a fact that anybody knows.

WRITING story, creating character and doctoring Scripts is a lot more than being an executive

approving storylines.

Like any other UNION people break WGA guidelines each and every day. You already know that.

SON fans would probably crack up laughing if they knew who some of the oddballs were actually CONTRIBUTING

and WRITING these soaps without WGA knowing about it.

I actually knew a Producer who had teenaged daughters writing the TEEN scenes for his soap in 1984. He would

bring his daughters work to the "WGA writers" on staff and have them TYPE IT.

Ever heard of the Writer's Strike? Well every since then--it's been the way I just described to you.

Brian Frons writes on all the ABC soaps.

Okay.

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January 6, 200718 yr

Member

Hmmm...not sure if we can put them in the category, but...

Christian McLaughlin and his writing partner, Valerie Ahern(MTV's Spyder Games).

Richard Andreoli(MyNetworkTV's FASHION HOUSE).

These two should be writing dialogue for B&B or PASSIONS.

January 6, 200718 yr

Member

Hmmm...not sure if we can put them in the category, but...

Christian McLaughlin and his writing partner, Valerie Ahern(MTV's Spyder Games).

These two should be writing dialogue for B&B or PASSIONS.

I remember Spyder Games!

These two shouldn't just be writing dialogue for Passions,they should be HW's!

January 6, 200718 yr

Member

Hmmm...not sure if we can put them in the category, but...

Christian McLaughlin and his writing partner, Valerie Ahern(MTV's Spyder Games).

These two should be writing dialogue for B&B or PASSIONS.

Uh, they should be headwriters!

Spyder Games production values were such crap. And some of the acting left alot to be desired. But wow... was the writing ever entertaining and thrilling. Every episode ended with a huge cliffhanger, and I just loved it.

They should bring Natalia Carlisle to B&B! My God, can you imagine?

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BTG: December 2025 Discussion Thread

Not a big Tomas fan, but he was right about not giving up his position at the firm to struggle trying to make it from the ground up. It is easy for Kat to tell him to do that because she has had every advantage.

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I wonder if Frank was supposed to be a longer term character?
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By Paul Raven · 58 minutes ago58 min
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Yes Days needed a shake up but the 1980 revamp was too much.
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By Paul Raven · 1 hour ago1 hr
BTG: December 2025 Discussion Thread

I'm going to get some push back for saying this, but I truly think there needs to be a male head-writer to balance things out.
If we go by how men write stories/books vs how women tend to write stories/books.. it's as different as night and day. Women tend to be more about character development and the day to day details while men tend to be more interested in world building as well as writing action.
I think Guza leaving has diluted whatever action/momentum the show had going on and it feels like I'm watching some great scenes and a promise of a good story without any sort of clear thread and/or direction... more now than at the start of the soap where there seemed to be clear main plot lines (Dani/Bill/Hayley, Nicole/Ted's house of cards marriage, Joey's slowly developing character being almost like a puppet master with his hand in a lot of plots, SPS using Eva as a way to get into Ted/Nicole's life, Joey slowly working his way into Doug and Vanessa's lives through their addictions).
I just think that Guza and MVJ made a decent head-writing team.. and I'm noticing something is missing with him gone and the new head-writer joining in the last two months or so.

By Soaplovers · 1 hour ago1 hr
DAYS: Behind the Scenes, Articles/Photos

It was much easier to watch than I'd feared after hearing of this era of tumult. I guess the claims that things get much worse once the "massacre" takes place were correct. The only part which annoyed me a little was Margo and her baby voice, although it makes sense for how sheltered the character seems. Patty Weaver also has a much lighter voice here than she would on Y&R, which is natural due to aging, but I wonder if they were both trying to play younger or softer (the pigtails in Patty's hair).
You can see what a good body Richard Guthrie had in some soap magazine features, which I was reminded of again seeing what a nice ass he has here.
(if that's considered objectifying him, then I'll say Mary Frann looks lovely too)
The Mickey/Amanda scene was the highlight. It's very difficult for a soap to present two very different points of view and have both be right, but that's the case here. I could say Mickey is being hard-edged (which seems to be the case for the Hortons until their '80s reinvention), but he's not entirely wrong. Amanda and Chris dealing with the consequences of their "true love" affair is much more compelling than what we would have gotten in later years, where Amanda would have gone to visit Alice and Alice would have told her Chris was her soulmate.
The Anderson material is also really fascinating and shows you just what a horrendous decision it was to wipe them off the canvas and then gave Mary a botched recast as one last kick. Given how much some DAYS families cling on by their fingernails, I genuinely think the Andersons would still be there in some capacity if not for these choices. I've always wanted to see more of Brooke/Stephanie and now I have. Eileen Barnett is not as moving or raw as Adrienne LaRussa was, but she's perfectly fine. There was no reason to kill Brooke off.
I wonder how much of the story reason to separate Mary and Chris was down to the alleged dislike between the actors. It's unfortunate if this cost the show Barbara Stanger, who is very good.
(Tom should be written up for telling Mary her father's medical history)
It's disconcerting watching this and knowing just how much will be lost within six months.
I had a few questions:
Was that something the uploader did (they make a few changes sometimes for copyright reasons) having that weird shaking before Patty went into the lengthy flashback, or was that the show's actual flashback style at the time?
How long did the show have the format of commercial break, then one last scene going into the closing credits?

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Another World Discussion Thread

Thank you! (And thanks @DRW50 for the notification).
Iris explaining to Blaine what lawyers are for was killing.
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By Xanthe · 1 hour ago1 hr
R.I.P.: Anthony Geary has passed away

They were. I think Jill's regime first had them matte'd together like that in late 2001. It was long overdue for them to be put at the end of the opening and I actually love that two-shot too, I just wish it had happened in a different regime (and Jill and Megan's reunion story for them was pretty lousy).

By Vee · 2 hours ago2 hr
BTG: December 2025 Discussion Thread

Finally done with last week...

I was about to write off the whole week. I think the only week that I disliked more than this one was the week right before the two weeks of Chelsea's kidnapping. But that ending with the woman who KNOWS HAYLEY...AND RANDY, TOO!!! Oooo....THANK YOU FOR THAT CURVEBALL!!!

I didn't like the week. Or maybe I should say that I liked the moments within the week. I already mentioned my thoughts on Winterfest. And we know I'm hot to trot for GV. But as for the rest of what I liked...

MARTIN ABOUT TOWN. Thank you! I liked Martin got a scene with his dad. Then Martin got a scene with his sister and they made up. It was just really nice to see the Richardson family in play. Now if only Martin had gotten a scene with his mother, too. hehe. Brandon Clayborn has come such a long way and I was enjoying his presence that week.

TEAM KAT OVER HERE. I know we discuss how she has been a classist...at least with Eva cuz she just comes across as a little diva princess with other 'commoners' like Laura and Mona...but I don't see how you can watch this week and have her talk about her feelings all week and then she's not worth caring about when she's not at all (or at least not completely) the problem. She was dead on about Eva. And she's dead on about Silk Press Sheila. But everyone wants her to work it out with Eva. Meanwhile, Eva is telling everyone who will listen that her Mama has changed when that is not at all the case and SPS isn't even really trying to change. Nor is Eva coming across remorseful to me. Sidenote...love we got another Kat/Dani scene. But...it's sad that since Guza left the building, I feel a lot of the shades/grayness to the characters have kinda walked out of the building with him and the Kat/Eva rivalry for me is a case for that. What happened with Joey and Vanessa...which felts like a complete 180...was another.

DEREK. I see what you meant @Soaplovers . But honestly I don't need Derek to backpedal. He had a firm ending when he read Ashley down last week. And that should be that. So this talk with Jacob and he getting defensive is highly worrying. But I felt even with the tongue-lashing he gave Ashley, they were far from being over just due to the abruptness of Ashley finding out about his lying...it seems under Thomson, they want them together. We'll see.

TOMAS. I continue to feel this whole thing to get Kat to marry him will lead to his exit storyline. And ha at mentioning Carl Vati outside of a non-RC episode.

SILK PRESS SHEILA. You know what? I can't fault her for not waiting around for Ted. And I like her with Marcel. I would think Eva wouldn't have run to her so quickly to warn her. But let's see how this growing cat-and-mouse game goes. Speaking of...

THE MYSTERY WOMAN. It's been a moment since we got the Hayley reveal. And outside of Bill's recent almost death, it has been overdue the next story beat. So that has me excited. Though it again for me gives me late 90s DAYS...which is a compliment. How is Hayley and Randy going to get out of this one? hehe. Stay tuned.

What I did not like...and it's been my main complaint. It's been a series of scenes. BTG has been at its best so far when it builds up to events. It also is at its best when it is focused on one of its A stories or one of its B stories. And outside of Dani...there is no longer any of that. And I found it telling that just as Dani's story was heating up again, it abruptly fell to the backburner and has been on a simmer for too long for me. I am happy that we do get moments of teasing. In fact, I would say the writers are aware. Otherwise, there would be no teasing.

Other things...

JACOB/NAOMI. While I'm happy to see them connecting again...Naomi was coming across as a shrew too many times. And that gave me more whiplash than the discussion I glanced about Naomi and Jacob's issues abruptly vanishing during the Winterfest episode. I just felt it was a 'good day' for them, but that it didn't just vanish. Friday though...even with Naomi spelling it out...I just felt those scenes were off. Though I love me sum Jacob for being so sweet.

EVA. Just ugh. Shut up. Laura is the victim. Your mother is not. This is the woman who kicked you out of the apartment after the anniversary party and you are STILL traumatized yourself. I can't with her. I know I hoped that once they mended fences, they would still be a ki-ki, but I was expecting a ki-ki with some growth to it. This ain't it.

ASHLEY LE SIGH. Not again. And by again, I mean I know they are not trying to already put Ashley and Derek back together. Please no.

By Taoboi · 2 hours ago2 hr
R.I.P.: Anthony Geary has passed away

Haha thanks. I was watching those bc I largely quit soaps in the mid/late 2010s so it was all new to me

By Cheap21 · 2 hours ago2 hr
R.I.P.: Anthony Geary has passed away

Yep, it’s definitely still available through Roku and I think Pluto. I see ads for it all the time. Just turned it on, and yepppp, still showing episodes from “Season 58,” which is what…2020-2021? Who is begging to watch those again.

By All My Shadows · 2 hours ago2 hr

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