The Journal Dec 1978 Writing Soaps, Getting Tanned
MONTECITO, Calif. (AP) — "Forget the image of 'The Dick Van Dyke Show' where frantic writers run around the set and throw out pages," says Jerome Dobson, sitting beside his swimming pool."We'll start plotting and say, 'Pass the suntan lotion.'"
Jerome Dobson and his wife Bridget lead a quiet, secluded life on a wooded estate between the mountains, and the Pacific in this affluent community south of Santa Barbara.
But they aren't cut off from the world of Bertha Bauer, her sons Ed and Mike, and everyone in Springfield, U.S.A., who don't make a move or utter a word that doesn't spring from the minds of the Dobsons. Every day they turn out a 65 page script for the CBS soap opera “Guiding Light," longest running drama in broadcasting, and are on the telephone constantly with the producers in New York.
Since becoming head writers 3 and 1/2 years ago they've given the soap opera which had been suffering from hardening of the arteries, a decidedly contemporary look and a faster pace. The Dobsons plot the series a year in advance, dictate the day-by-day outlines to a battery of secretaries, and send the outlines to four assistant writers to flesh out with dialogue. They use graphs and charts to keep track of all 30 characters and to be sure every actor works the number of. days required by his or her contract.
"It's a giant crossword puzzle," Bridget says, "We may work from sunup to moonup. It depends on if Jerry's being good ,we'll get through it fast. They write wherever the mood strikes them — by the pool, in the pergola, or in, their private offices.
Jerry and Bridget met at Stanford University. Bridget is the daughter of Frank and Doris Hursley, who wrote for "Search For Tomorrow" and created "General Hospital."
'Guiding Light' is a vastly different show from what it was, say, five years ago," says Bridget. "We were with the show a year and a half before I can really say we were proud of it. You can't change it overnight. The pace is faster, the characters are more contemporary,it's sexier, it-has more humor. characters are more multi-dimensional.
The Dobsons say there's no formula for writing soap opera."You can't fill in the blanks," says Dobson. "You can't just punch up the characters. You have to write from the gut; You have to be true to your characters at. all times or the audience will jump on you."
By
Paul Raven ·
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