OLTL writer

[Jess]

Sweeps month was kind of dicey for OLTL. Ratings wise, it didn't do bad and I thought the show was OK. It had some real boners -- the firey sex scene. LOL.

Scotty, Jay, Errol or any other insiders have any gossip on the possibility of changes at OLTL, and if so, what nature?

I don't know anything about the new co-headwriter. I know that ABCD does have some good writers floating around out there -- Jack Smith, Kay Alden, James Harmon Brown, and I wonder if what folks who watch the show regularly would think of brining in a new headwriter or if OLTL would be best served by promoting from within.

Also, with Gary Tomlin about to be free, would Frons consider brining him back? I think Frons fired him previously didn't he?

I hoping for a good discussion on the prospects for maybe some changes at OLTL.

[Dr. Jay S.W.]

Well, let me begin with Ron Carlivati. Ron has been on the OLTL writing Team since 1998. Most recently, he served a Associate Head Writer. Ron is a lawyer, who use to practice in NYC. He had always been a fan of OLTL, and wanted the opportunity to write for the show. Ron is friends with Claire Labine who is said to have recomended him to Frons to become Co-HW of OLTL. Although Claire and ABC have some rifts, in terms of her ever coming back, Frons listens to her. James Harmon Brown now works at Days and is no longer on staff at OLTL, Jack Smith is at GH, and Kay Alden, at this point is writing stories to present to Frons, with the oppurtunity of becoming Head Writer of All My Children. Im pretty sure she will get it. Apparently, Frons has always wanted her for AMC. Kay was working for OLTL and AMC, as a consultant. Back to the Co-HW. Ron was bought in to balance out Higley's crap. He has been on staff for a long time. He was reponsible for making Walker, Todd. He presented it to Malone, and Malone let him work side by side with him to make it happen. I liked that story very much, by the way. Usually, as you may have seen,bringing in a Co-HW means that the present HW is going, and the Co-HW will become the Interim HW until a permanent HW is found.Usually teams only exist when they are brought in as a team. In terms of OLTL, I do believe that Higley is going and here is how I am almost sure it will play out. Higley's contract is up in December(yikes!!). I think she will be let go in June, because they can terminate you after 6 Months. I think that Ron, and Possibly, Carolyn Culltion, who has been a HW before on various soaps, or Leslie Nipkow, who is the current script editor will take over. I do not think a new writer will be bought in. It will be all about promotions at OLTL. If they do bring in a new HW, that person will come in in December, to remain on the same Contractual cycle as Dena. I believe that, Higley is definently on her way out and this is the beginning. I hope that helps.On to Gary Tomlin. Frons fired Gary Tomlin, to bring in Valentini who is horrible. If Frons brings him back, it would be because he has to or he needs him. Frons doesnt want to reverse his own decisions because it makes him look like an ass. He brought back Genie, because he had to to help GH, he okayed Hilary B Smith's contract because he had to help OLTL, he fired Megan because he had to help AMC and if Gary Tomlin was brought back, it would only be because he has to for the betterment of the soap, and more importantly,to him at least, the safety of his job.

If I may add something else- The original word on the "street" was that 2 ABC HW's were leaving. Orginally, I thought Guza since Jack Smith went over to GH. I knew Megan was going. With the recent bump up to number 2, i doubt Guza is going anywhere. My money is on Higley. She gets WAY more hate mail than Guza.

[cal3]

How exactly would Hackley's contract end in December? We all know when she started which was beginning of October 2004. I believe something like the 18th was her first day. If her contract was the traditional 2 years, then it was renewed in some capacity last October. If they were idiot enough to renew it then why would we think they would be backing out now. It's not like they weren't aware of how bad things were at that time and her general incompetency was already clear. The question seems to be how long the original term of her contract was. Was it a year and then renewed for some term, was the initial term 3 or more years meaning she still has until this October or were they stupid enough to renew it last October?

As someone who used to watch regularly, I don't know if I qualify to answer, but my opinion is they need to clean house. Dena may be the HW but her staff of writers bears some responsibility for the horrible writing. It's not like the dialogue and the continuity are sparkling with RC or any of the others. I don't know who they get but they desparately need someone with some creativity, vision and ability to construct and tell a story.

[Poloma S]

HWs can pretty much be fired whenever. Legally, it's every 13 weeks, but if writers are fired in the middle of cycles they just stop writing and get paid until the end of the cycle. Contracts always benefit the networks, they never have to hang onto anyone they don't want to.

[Dr. Jay S.W.]

Hired in September. Started writing in October. Name in Credits, in December.

[cal3]

Somehow I doubt she worked for nothing between October and December. Sorry but that doesn't fly.

[Dr. Jay S.W.]

Writers have to prepare material before they actually take over. It takes time. Im not saying she was taking nothing. Malone's stuff was still airing. Do you remember the "Dark Period". Higley was preparing her stuff. I could be named Head Writer tomorrow and have to prepare my stuff, weeks in advance before i take the pen.

[Dr. Jay S.W.]

Dena's first day at work was the 24th of October. She didnt begin until December 13th.

[cal3]

It doesn't matter when her stuff showed up in the credits, it matters what the dates on her contract are. If they were paying her which I would bet they were in October then she was under contract in October. Think -- it's just like an actor, their contract starts when he starts taping not when he's first seen on an episode. The only question is the term of her contract and at what intervals, if any, ABCD can release her and minimize what portion of her contract they would have to pay out.

Of course the presumption here is that she's going anywhere. I know we were told it wouldn't be renewed but if there was another year on it at the time that statement was made it offers no real hope.

[Dr. Jay S.W.]

I gave you the dates that I was told, and that I know. Take it or leave it at this point. I gave you the info that I know, because that is what Jess asked for.

[psychofan]

Good grief, people are arguing over when Dena's contract is up? Who cares?! As long as it's not renewed, I don't care WHEN it runs out.

And as I've said before, I'll take any writer who will give me Margaret back. Other than that, I won't be watching the show regularly.

[Jess]

Cal it's good to hear from you.

I agree Jay, I think Higley is history. I just don't know about promoting from within. I admit, I was hoping OLTL would get either Jack Smith or Kay Alden.

I do think it would take Frons swallowing a lot of pride to make the change at EP, but, in some respects it would be a good PR move for him. If nothing else, he knows PR. It certainly would be a sign that he is willing to swallow his pride for the good of a show.

I suspect contracts are written in such a way that individuals can be fired whenever the network chooses to fire them. I wonder how Malone would be if there was a strong EP with a good vision for the show, or if he would even consider coming back. I really hated his last year, but I'm not sure how much of that was strictly his fault. The pattern has continued so I don't think it was!

The one thing I did like about Malone is that he brought back Kevin, he brought back Joe and he did seem to respect the Buchanans. Whoever is the next headwriter would be welll-served to return the focus to the Buchs. I honestly believe it would work and that they would be a very attractive next generation for the show. I don't know if Dan G. would consider moving back to New York with his family, but it would make me very happy if he came back as Kevin and they brought back a Joey.

[cal3]

I don't get why Frons hasn't fired FV. As Jess says Frons talent, such as it is, is marketing. Firing FV is a great scapegoat type of move. The fact that FV is still around is as much of a mind bender as why Dena is still here. I can't imagine that FV has a contract with no outs so the only question is how close to one are we?

The one bright side to this may be that March is 6 months from October. If Hackley's contract has 3 or 6 month out provisions then the show and the viewers may catch a break.

[Dr. Jay S.W.]

Frons will never reverse his own decisions unless he absolutely has to.

[Jess]

I don't understand that either. Frank is definitely the runt of the litter when it comes to ABCD's EP's and none of the EP's are brilliant.

I agree that it might take bigger eggs than Frons has to back up on his decision and bring back Tomlin. It would be a good move on his part.

Technically, he is reversing decisions though. He is canning Higley, who he hired; he is canning McTavish, who who bled for; so it's possible. It's not likely but possible. I think that Frank is a problem. I also think that if Frons is a smart man, and as much as he annoys me, I do think he is smart, he'll realize he takes a lot of hits because of Frank's incompetence.

Part of Frank's job is to toss out bad scripts and he's not doing that. Part of his job is also telling Frons that he thinks something is a bad idea so that ABCD doesn't take a hit that can be avoided. Frank obviously does none of that.