2008: The Directors and Writers Thread

[brimike]

Y&RWorldTurner's right. Methinks it's an associate head writer title.

If you look at other soaps, the breakdown writers are listed for EVERY episode, whether they wrote that breakdown or not. Y&R hasn't done it this way in awhile, but I *suspect* (I do not know for sure) that since Natalie has been with the show so long, she gets credited every day as an associate head writer.

[DaytimeFan]

Natalie Minardi Slater is, indeed, an AHW.

[Toups]

Marla's also listed as AHW and she began writing for the show after the strike. But she wasn't in the everyday credits until Natalie went on Maternity leave.

So I'm guessing Marla and Natalie do a little more than Cwikly, Stanley and Gibson.

[brimike]

I know Paula's heavily involved in layout, so that's pretty strange that she's not listed every day.

I really have never understood the Y&R credits. LOL!

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Y&R's credits have always been perplexing, to say the least. LOL!

I'm surprised they didn't give Friday's episode to Sally McDonald to direct, as she usually does the Friday episodes. Andrew Lee did a fantastic job though.

I notice they gave Mike Denney Monday's episode to direct, which is fitting, since it delves deeper into the funeral stuff and he is Y&R's longest serving director.

If there's any good that came out of Ed Scott's firing at DAYS it's that Y&R got Mike Denney back. LOL!

[Toups]

Can you make screencaps of it?

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I'll just write them down for you. They scrolled the credits by so damn fast that it's impossible to make perfect screencaps. LOL!

Remote Sequences Directed By

Michael S. Stich

Second Unit Remote Sequences Directed By

Anthony Morina

Paris Production Staff

Production Consultant

Daniel McCaffrey

Producer

Hélène Delale

Line Producer

Eric Jollant

First Assistant Director

Cheyenne Corre

Second Assistant Director

Sybil Rerat

Third Assistant Director

Julie Laugier

Continuity

Jacqueline Gamard

Unit & Location Manager

Sophie Dorange

Location Scout

Raphael Schneider

Director of Photography

Gilles Arnaud

Steadycam Pperator

Richard Mercier

Camera Operator

Josseiln Billot

Camera Assistants

Xavier Tauveron

Antoine Sanier

Jean-Francois Revendy

Christelle Quatremarre

Yaun Gadaud

Audio Mixer

Didier Sain

Boom Operator

Benjamin Charier

Costume Designer

Sophie Puig

Wardrobe

Camille Paraiso

Casting By

Stéphane Silheres Darris

Extras Casting

Marie Minico

Make-Up Artists

Natalie Kovalski

Mauriel Baurens

Hair-Stylists

Jean-Max Geurin

Cécile Segui

Props

Bruno Lefebvre

Lighting

Oliver Garin

Rodolphe Juteau

Mickael Jeanbretones

Grips

Jerome Robin

Olivier Roux

[Toups]

Awesome. Thanks, man.

[MarkH]

What I am starting to extract from this is that Y&R has each script pass through more hands.

Instead of that being a bad thing (which we might usually assume it would be....writing by committee)...here it seems to reflect multiple levels of quality control.

It is still not perfect (e.g., forgetting that this was not Sharon's first visit to Paris), but it is pretty good.

It means that--in the rush/bang of soap writing--time is being taken for multiple eyes to peruse each script and shape it from multiple perspectives. Is the youth dialogue strong enough? Are the veterans' historical pieces being written right? Are extra Hogan-esque flourishes being added? And so on.

When Tom Casiello described the chaotic rush of his days with Y&R, it was clear that there was never even enough time to write...let alone have all these levels of quality control. The lack of planning, editing, historical consistency showed up on screen. So, it seems that part of what MAB and her team have done is to reinstitute the TEAM...and to build in multiple levels of checking and tweaking. It is a luxury that other soaps (who don't even have BDW) can't seem to afford...but that "luxury" shows up as inferior product elsewhere.

[brimike]

It's definitely a LOT more structured there now, that's for sure. From what I hear, there's actually time for the writers to WRITE.

[SOAPSFOREVER]

I think you take the exact same mindset that the network honchos do these days (and have for some time): more hands make a better product, or are likely to keep mistakes from making it to air. Here's the thing, though: Bill Bell wrote this show with two associate heads and four scriptwrietrs for years, and did it magnificiently. More people looking over something, or giving input often just muddies things. We don't need to see Hogan-esque touches to the show. He's not the headwriter, he has no history with Y&R, and frankly his style of headwriting is antithetical to Bill Bell's. (Also, though he did some stellar work on ATWT, he bombed on DAYS. I think his track record is uneven at best.) If a show has a truly gifted, strong visionary as its headwriter, it doesn't need layers within its writing staff. If that headwriter is able to communicate that vision to a staff of writers he trusts, who shares his vision, then you've won the battle. Tom Casiello, while a gifted writer, may simply not have been suited to the way Y&R does things. Some writers thrive on short deadlines, others need more time. As for a team approach, it never was that way with Bell. He, Alden, Smith (and Birn later) laid out all the shows, wrote the outlines, then sent them to the four scriptwriters. The outlines were so complete that the scriptwriters often complained about not having much input. But that was Bell's way of keeping tight control and a singular vision. And it worked. Yeah, times have changed, there's more network interference, but I still maintain the nets have it ass-backward. Put a strong headwriter in charge, let him or her have creative control and let the chips fall. There are way too many cooks in the kitchen, and this is why the stories are such a muddled mess. My hope would be is that Y&R would let the person with the most history with the show edit scripts. The process doesn't have to go through a dozen hands. Bell never worried about whether the dialogue was "strong enough." Some of his dialogue was "arched" and unnatural. But what he got, and what most soap writers these days don't, is consistency of character, and the SOUND of the character. Making them all different and unqiue. Today so many of the characters on soaps are all interchangable. They all sound alike, especially the young characters. Get the SOUND right, stay CONSISTENT, and KNOW ALL the characters on the canvas like the back of your hand and you'll have more success. MHO, but it seems that's what Bell, Marland and Nixon knew and did.

[SOAPSFOREVER]

I loved seeing all the vets: Nina, Brock, Danny, Dina, Tracey, Gina. I've gotta tell you, it made me long for the good ol' days. I'm sorry, but I have to disagree. I thought Andy Lee's direction was lackluster and uninspired. He directs the show like someone who doesn't have a history with it, which he doesn't. I think directling this show is like writing it: the directors/writers who've been with it longest are somehow able to capture that unique Y&R feel. When Ferri or Freiwald write a script, I get the feel of the old Y&R. When Denny and McDonald direct, same thing. Not so much with the others. Maybe it's a confidence they have, having "known" the characters and show for so long, that shows up in their scripts and directing.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

^You know, there are days where Lee impresses me much more than Dean LaMont, and LaMont's been there for years.

It wasn't mindblowing direction, but I thought Lee's direction was able to capture the emotional essense of the show in an alright capacity.

I'm sure Denney's direction will top it in Monday's episode though.

[DaytimeFan]

It does...Monday's episode, in my view, makes Friday look ho-hum.

[MikeGoldy]

On a side note, I LOVED when Nina asked who was the "cutie" was, meaning Cane, and then when she found out who he was, she said he would never compare to Philip. That scene wouldn't have happened on other shows, nor during LML and her gosh awful period.