Writer's Strike Thread

[Adam]

McTavish criticizing B&E..... oh puh-leeze. Bitter much Megs?

[Adam]

McTavish criticizing B&E..... oh puh-leeze. Bitter much Megs?

[dragonflies]

IMO B&E are traitors for crossing the picket line......

Toups any idea who some are that have crossed the picket lines besides B&E?

[Adam]

Isn't it just B&E? I don't think any other writers from AMC crossed.

[MikeGoldy]

Messy Megan is way jealous and lashing out at the writers who replaced her on two soaps; GL and now, AMC. Messy should keep her trap.

[Ryan]

If McTavish wasn't such a hack, she wouldn't have been replaced. Cry me a freakin river.....

[exwriter]

I am no fan of Megan McTavish, but she is absolutely right to be pissed at E&B. Their going back to work does nothing but prolong to strike, and is a desperation move. They are scabs. Megan was interviewed by the Times because of her prominence, but believe me, E&B are universally despised, more than they were before, because of their selfish, greedy betrayal of daytime writers. Anyone else who'd been interviewed would've said the same thing if they had the guts.

[Adam]

Why no mention of the half doze other fi-core Daytime writers then? Here argument would hold more water with me if she mentioned Josh Griffith, Garin Wolfe etc also in her lashing out.

[MarkH]

Did you all see the latest Hollywood Reporter story on running out of scripts?

Hot Water for the Soaps

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/conten...4d408259f243ff4

Somewhat relatedly, I'm getting closer to articulating what I think is fishy about Y&R...which is my primary lens on the strike. The core point is that Y&R looks too much like classic Y&R...but the NAMED writers and producers don't support the idea that the "classic" creative team is back. That can only mean, I think, that the classic creative team IS back...but hiding beind the curtain.

Griffith, Bell, Cwickly, Anthony Morina...none of these folks represent classic Bell. (Well, Arena wasn't really a big part of Y&R...her history is more with B&B as a writer). No Ed Scott or David Shaughnessy or Kay Alden or Jack Smith in the credits, but this was the most Bell-like episode yet. [since Ed Scott is still on the Sony payroll, and Steve Kent is reputedly the "acting EP", I do wonder if he's got Scott pulling double duty or at least consulting with Y&R].

On today's 1/21 show, the Bell resonance was stronger than ever. There was still plot driven stupidity (and yes...I'm prepared to admit that nobody recognizing Marina is stupid, much as I love Adrienne Frantz). But there were also:

- looooooooooooooog scenes (Jack and Sharon, anybody? Sharon's wistful stare off the balcony while Jack slept...and kudos to 50ish Peter Bergman for gamely showing his midlife torso)

- a CLASSIC Y&R FAKEOUT. It happened TWICE. Both Victor and Nikki dreamed that the divorce was going to be cancelled at the last minute when the other one came to their senses...and that not only showed us where the characters' hearts REALLY were, but it was a very classic Y&R device

- instrumental music again

- Jill and Kay bickered--just a little (about Cane and Amber)...and EVEN fell on sensitive territory when they talked about younger women and older men (ostensibly talking about Lily-Cane, but quickly hitting remembered Jill-Phillip II territory). Jill even told her mom to basically drop it...and sounded like classic Jill

There is GUARANTEED a Bell-related puppet master, uncredited (just like Sandra Weintraub said) in the mix. I want to know who is behind the curtain. Otherwise, someone has REALLY been studying the classic Bell methodology and carefully implementing it.

I have to say, it is SO clever to use the strike, and transform it from a disruptive force into a force for restoring a once-grand show. Far from perfect, but measureably better.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

If Sony and the Bell's are smart enough, they'll hire David Shaughnessy as acting EP during the strike and to replace Latham overall. He's still apart of the Bell fold, so a transition back to Y&R could happen and would make sense.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see what becomes of Y&R once this strike ends.

[Khan]

Does there have to be a Bell insider working behind-the-scenes at Y&R? Perhaps, Josh Griffith just "gets" the show better than LML.

[Errol]

Yes, I know this probably should be part of that Writer's Thread, but I thought this piece of info was interesting enough to warrant its own thread.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/conten...ad66865b45?pn=1

Soaps in Hot Water

Nets Running out of Fresh Scripts

The daytime soap operas might be losing their bubbles in the weeks ahead as networks resort to episodes not penned by WGA writers.

The guild, which has been on strike since early November, has picketed for several days in front of ABC headquarters in New York, primarily to protest its airing of "All My Children" episodes written by non-WGA members. ABC is the only network to produce all of its soap operas, while "Days of Our Lives" on NBC is produced by Corday Prods. and all of the CBS soaps are produced outside the network, including two by Procter & Gamble and one by Sony.

The networks and soap production companies have gone radio silent about how many scripts they still have from WGA writing staffs, and the writers themselves say it varies from soap to soap.

"Our daytime shows have remained in production and have continued to produce original episodes" is all Chris Ender, senior vp communications at CBS, would say. An ABC statement simply read: "The shows are staffed, and we have people in place to continue producing original programming."

Regarding the number of remaining WGA-written soap scripts, Courtney Simon, who writes for "As the World Turns," which is produced by P&G for CBS, said: "There is a huge variation from show to show. Some do not want to get too far ahead with their story lines." But Simon said she's heard that scripts written by her team will run out this week.

It remains to be seen what impact this will have on viewership.

Simon does not believe that the writers behind the new scripts will be able to maintain the integrity and focus of the story lines. "It will be painful for us to see what happens to our story lines and know that when we return, we will have to clean up what these makeshift teams do," she said.

So far, the ratings and viewer levels for the soaps on all three networks have been pretty much flat since the strike began -- not a surprise since the scripts being used were from the regular writing teams. Going forward, however, ratings could take a melodramatic turn.

All the networks and production companies that own soaps said they have enough scripts and a system in place to remain on the air and produce fresh episodes indefinitely. That has been facilitated by a government rule that allows WGA members to cross picket lines by filing for "financial core" status. Technically, they resign from union membership but still pay dues, and the guild can't stop them from returning to work.

Two writers on "All My Children," James Harmon Brown and Barbara Esensten, have returned to work under the "fi-core" provision, and other soaps might each have a couple of writers who also exercised the provision. ABC, without naming names, did acknowledge that some soap writers have returned under fi-core and that producers are aiding in the writing process.

Over at CBS, for example, "The Bold and the Beautiful" executive producer Brad Bell also is the head writer.

But Simon said it is a struggle to stay ahead with scripts even with a full complement of writers, which could number from 10-15 depending on the soap.

Although SAG has supported the WGA by not crossing its picket lines for televised TV and movie awards shows, SAG members have not boycotted show production and continue to show up for work. That could change, however, if soap producers begin using scripts written by non-WGA writers.

Despite that, Shirley Jones recently joined the "Days of Our Lives" cast and will appear in episodes beginning Jan. 31. And Mario Van Peebles has joined the cast of "All My Children" and will first appear in a Jan. 29 episode.

The networks maintain that keeping the soaps on the air during the strike is vital to the future of the daypart. They argue that if the soaps were to go into repeats or be pulled during the strike, viewers might defect and never come back.

Clearly the ratings support the notion that daytime is a declining daypart. Compared with last season, soap ratings among women 18-49 and 25-54 are down anywhere from 5%-25%, with most soaps averaging about 300,000 fewer viewers per day.

However, while soap ratings are down from last year -- almost a regular annual occurrence during the past decade -- advertisers so far are not complaining. With the other dayparts so tight, and with daytime ad inventory cheaper than most, it is still a desirable place to run messages, particularly for advertisers targeting women. The soaps are still averaging between 2.4 million ("Days of Our Lives") and 5.5 million ("The Young and the Restless") viewers a day.

But if audiences begin to notice changes in story lines written by non-WGA writers and producers, they could start tuning out. "Good shows can't be written when the situation is panic-driven," Simon said. "Soap opera story lines have to be well thought out and take time to play out. Makeshift, temporary writing teams can't do that."

Although the soaps are part of the overall negotiation process, the WGA can negotiate separate deals with the individual production companies such as Corday, P&G or Sony. WGA sources said none of the companies has so far been willing to do an individual deal.

John Consoli is a reporter for MediaWeek.

---

The Bolded portion is interesting to me.

[Ryan]

[P.J.]

But if audiences begin to notice changes in story lines written by non-WGA writers and producers, they could start tuning out. "Good shows can't be written when the situation is panic-driven," Simon said. "Soap opera story lines have to be well thought out and take time to play out. Makeshift, temporary writing teams can't do that."

I have all the respect in the world for what the writers are fighting for. However, Simon's quotes are laughable, especially in regards to ATWT. Even if the scabs do "damage" the show....all the returning writers have to do is exactly what they've done in the recent past. Hurriedly wrap up the stinky story as ludicrously as possible, and move on to the next story and forget whatever "history" they just created.

[baller]

Ok but they did not cover the fact that some of the "scab" writers are BETTER than the crap there before