2008: The Directors and Writers Thread

[Sylph]

Toups, why is Eric Freiwald always listed in your posts as Eric Friedwald?

I'm quite surprised he's still writing, since he's 80.

[Chris B]

Sylph, you are so ageist! You always mention older writers never coming back due to their age. Look at B&E, those legendary HWs (for the wrong reasons) returned and they're in their 70s. 70 is not that old. Jeanne Cooper is almost 80 and gets more fierce each year. The fact that in 2004 she was a clear frontrunner for the Emmys speaks volumes. Just because you reach a certain age doesn't mean you can't work.

I'd love to hear from some of the older writers and see why they still write. Interesting subject now that I think about it. BTW Toups, when will we get more writer interviews? If I find Scott Hamner's email would you attempt an interview? Of course Cherie Bennett and Jeff Godesfeld from Y&R list their emails on their website. I also had James Houghton's email and could dig it up for you.

I'm sure the Y&R fans can help you out with questions. It would help flesh out your database!

[Sylph]

Now that you mention this, Chris, I can totally see why it seems that way (that I'm ageist)! But, I assure you – I'm NOT!

Whenever I think about this age thing and the incestuousness of daytime, I reminisce about that panel WGA held which Faulkner (SON's member) attended. He mentioned how Shelly Altman was "most pessimistic about people getting into the business" and that she's "not giving up her job". That last part is like a cold, sharp blade that pierces my mind every time I think about it. Sure, I'd probably think the same if I were a writer, but that doesn't mean this statement is less disturbing.

I'm so disheartened by the fact that so many faboulous young writers aren't given the chance to write for daytime. My feelings intensify every time I see this load of blockheaded, annoying, hectoring, biased, didactic, tendentious, obtuse, inane, haphazard, messy, highly mediocre, narcissistic, long-winded, tedious, turgid, graceless, bogus, derivative, blatant, gratuitous, phony, lazy, voyeuristic and reductive writing on daytime every day. Those are just about all the negative adjectives I can recall right now to describe this mess.

Many of my friends write excellent stuff and every time I read their clever and funny work, I feel invigorated. I just cannot wait for their next script, short story or whatever to hit my mailbox so that I can enjoy the ride reading it.

And I'm sure there are many, many more people like that who just cannot find their way to work for these shows. So my constant remarks about age are, I guess, a bit of frustration because of this whole situation.

Certainly, I would never, never disqualify a writer because of her or his age! But I do think a mix of "old" and "young" is something daytime could benefit from.

By the way, Toups, maybe I can find Sara A. Bibel's e-mail if you're interested, as I mentioned some time ago.

[NYC123]

Sylph, you are so ageist! You always mention older writers never coming back due to their age. Look at B&E, those legendary HWs (for the wrong reasons) returned and they're in their 70s. 70 is not that old. Jeanne Cooper is almost 80 and gets more fierce each year. The fact that in 2004 she was a clear frontrunner for the Emmys speaks volumes. Just because you reach a certain age doesn't mean you can't work.

I'd love to hear from some of the older writers and see why they still write. Interesting subject now that I think about it. BTW Toups, when will we get more writer interviews? If I find Scott Hamner's email would you attempt an interview? Of course Cherie Bennett and Jeff Godesfeld from Y&R list their emails on their website. I also had James Houghton's email and could dig it up for you.

I'm sure the Y&R fans can help you out with questions. It would help flesh out your database!

I want to marry this post!!

[LoyaltoAMC]

Being a HW takes a hell of a lot of time and energy. It's a stressful 24/7 job. I'm not sure that writers up there in age who'd been writing forever (Agnes Nixon, for example) want to dedicate all their time to overseeing a show, especially amid all the corporate nonsense they'd have to put up with, watching their story proposals torn to shreds, etc. Who wants to spend their finally days (for lack of a better term) dealing with that crap?

[LoyaltoAMC]

finally=final

[DaytimeFan]

Case in point why Bill Bell was the most brilliant executive producer in daytime as the Bells own B&B completely outright. There isn't ANY corporate nonsense at B&B.

I hate ageism, a good writer is a good writer. What AMC viewer would turn down Agnes Nixon in favor of someone younger?

[Sylph]

Which part exactly?

I don't understand this...

[LoyaltoAMC]

I'd kill to have Agnes back at AMC, and I gather that even Frons would hire her in a heartbeat (despite some nonsense from a poster on some other board who keeps claiming that when Agnes was consulting for ABC a couple of years back, she was let go and told by the suits she didn't know anything about the genre!), but I just cannot imagine any 80-year-old who has the stamina to take on such a stressful job. She would have to have some strong co/sub-HWs to essentially carry the show. The 1990-1992 writing structure for AMC was great, with Agnes as HW overseeing things, and with Wisner, Lorraine, and even Megan taking on very active sub-HW duties. If Bill Bell were still alive, I can imagine that he'd still be there as HW, more in name only, with Kay Alden doing most of the work. Are both Jim and Babs in their 70s? Obviously a co-HW team is less stressful than a one-man show.

[dragonflies]

It's even less stressful when you don't do any actual writing, just a bunch of plot points

[DaytimeFan]

What I meant was that because the Bells own B&B outright there isn't any network interference as an earlier poster had mentioned that an older writer wouldn't want to deal with the network interference that is so common currently. When Barbara Bloom phones B&B she gets hung up on.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

That can be both a good and bad thing. Face it, Brad Bell isn't a very capable writer in the least bit, he has serious ADD issues, doesn't know the idea of the word balance, and tons of stuff gets dropped. He has a his good times, but overall, his bad qualities overwhelm him IMO. Network interference can be just as bad, especially when you have outsiders who know nothing about the show telling you what to do, especially catering to the 18-49 demo, but it could also prove some type of balance. CBS has very little say in their soaps though, at least not to the extent ABC (who owns their soaps outright) have and NBC who seems to have certain aspects of DAYS under control.

[DaytimeFan]

Here's my stance on owners running their shows into the ground like Brad Bell is accussed of doing and what Ken Corday has actually done. It doesn't really bother me, it's their show, it's their legacy, they can do what they like. What bothers me is when someone from outside the family (like LML) swoops in and destroys it because it isn't *her* show, it's Bill Bell's show. At ABC I tend to think that the shows belong to the characters of yesteryear so when Frons decided to decimate AMC I thought that isn't *his* show, that's Erica Kane's show, with GH it isn't *his* show it's the Quartermaine's show, with OLTL it isn't *his* show it's Vicki and Dorian's dammit! P&G is probably the most frustrating, their shows have outlived most anyone originally associated with them so I don't know who *really* has claim to them.

I don't think interference is ever good. It's all about a singular vision and with interference that vision is destroyed.

[Sylph]

Look at B&E, those legendary HWs (for the wrong reasons) returned and they're in their 70s. 70 is not that old.

And Megan is what? 59? Conclusion: she's coming back!  I mean, I wouldn't be surprised at all to see her name pop up at, say, AMC or GL.

[Sylph]

I don't even think she calls them. She has the best job in the world! I mean, all day doing nothing, only showing up at her job and earning millions. What more could you want?