2008: The Directors and Writers Thread

[TC]

Eterna was a monster. And I don't mean that in a good way. Interesting stuff about FAMILY PASSIONS. Back when I saw it, I was convinced the German accents were phoney, in a Hogan's Heroes kind of way.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Not too excited about the Thom Racina news, but I'll give it a try. He's only writing scripts, right? Not like he'll have that much of a creative stamp on the show storyline-wise.

I think some people here need to learn the difference between script, breakdown/AHW, and head writers in this thread.

My big gripe is that with Racina's addition, Y&R now has 21 WRITERS ON STAFF. Talk about WAY too many cooks being in the kitchen.

Maria Arena Bell is clueless, she really should've stuck to fashion.

[Sylph]

How many more writers is she going to hire? And too many are ex-head writers! Do you believe they are going to be satisfied writing dialogue/simple outlines?

:lol:

[AddictedToSoaps]

I LOVE the Ice Princess story. There's just something about it.

[sheilaforever]

I'm still clinging on the hope that dozens of those hack friends will be kicked to the curb as soon as their contracts expire...

They all returned to work in April so maybe after three months it is finally pink slip season over at Y&R?

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Sylph, we saw it with Latham and now we're seeing it with Maria. Writers who can't write and don't plan things out have huge writing staffs to accommodate their lack of skill or laziness.

[brimike]

Yeah, no kidding.

Thom Racina is a SCRIPT WRITER.

He can write all the sci-fi he wants in his novels, but his job on Y&R is to take an already written breakdown, with scenes mapped out for him, and just write dialogue for it. For one episode a week.

His job is to learn the characters' voices, and incorporate them in in each scene. That's all. He's not going to make or break the show. He has no say in storylines, and probably won't ever step foot through the studio door.

[sheilaforever]

80s corny-ness. Outlandishness was du jour during that time. I think it started with "Moonraker" popculture wise and GH had the right momentum to incorporate it into their show with wasn't much about the hospital during those days but still showed lots of family drama besides L&L/the teens...

[dm.]

Has any soap ever had 21 writers on staff? Or is it some kind of a record?

[brimike]

I don't know, but I have a funny feeling that number's about to go WAY down.

After everything that happened with AMC and Days, and they jury still out on how they're going to handle it, nobody wants to piss the guild off now. Y&R waited until the strike ended to fire Lynn and two of her writers - and now they're going to ride everyone's contracts out. It won't happen all in one fell swoop... it'll happen one at a time, and my guess is, by December, it'll be a solid team again.

I do wish they'd bring back Sara and Trent though. But it's a new day in Genoa City, sadly. It'll never be the way it was again. I'm sorry the Y&R fans are experiencing what most of us experienced back in the 90's. But it had to happen eventually. Unfortunately.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I doubt it, and think about what this is doing to the show's budget. Yes, Y&R has a relatively large budget compared to the other soaps, but having that many writers on board IS a waste of money. They could produce a quality show with half the staff they have now.

Some contracts are expiring soon. I HOPE MARIA AND HOGAN TRIM THE DAMN WRITING TEAM.

[Sylph]

I would like someone to calculate the cost of keeping 20 people on staff. Let's presume they're all paid the minimum (which they're not, bu, hey...).

[dm.]

Doing it one at a time may cause lower ratings... I wish they'd hurry up. These days it's hard to regain good ratings... and if they don't hurry up they won't be able to save what's left of the audience.

[Sylph]

No Trent, no Janice.

[brimike]

I left Janice off just for you, Sylph. :-)