2009: The Directors and Writers Thread

[MarkH]

Oh man. All I want to know is how so many people are corralled together, by some effective management and distribution process, to produce a coherent and YES high-quality product.

[R Sinclair]

I'm glad she's doing well over there. It means Miss Bitchtatorship will stay there. The only thing I feel any resentment about is the fact that she apparently cut her teeth writing nothing but bullcrap on my show, and then seems to allegedly step up her game for Y&R.

[JackPeyton]

Now, i dont claim to know much of anything about writers or how it works BUT...

Perhaps it really is who she was working with. Who was above her, whatever. Its much how one head writer will be great at one soap, awful on another, then great on another one. Or when a HW is great at first then awful, Or is great once at a soap, then awful upon a return. Much like actors, directors, eps... Everything is a factor.

[R Sinclair]

ROTFLMAO! :lol: I about went hoarse literally laughing my ass off at that!

I'm just glad I'm not the only one. I'm embracing my cynicism today.

[Sylph]

 LMAO at those formulations!!!

But you are right: the truth is somewhere in between. There are those who still care and there are those ambitious, driven individuals who don't care how will they achieve a goal just as long as they achieve it in the end.

Another sad truth is that in recent years, especially after the strike, daytime has become a small, petty little business full of resentful and bitter individuals. And that isn't helping matters. What happens behind the scenes, we said it many times, is far more interesting than the lethargy devoloping on your screen.

[brimike]

You'll hear no argument from me. And it's strangling the industry.

[brimike]

Exactly. Frons has wanted to "youthenize" (i.e. euthanize) AMC for YEARS now. (Hello, Fusion!) I have no idea what goes on behind closed doors either, but I have a feeling that was the style of writing that was requested.

[LeClerc]

According to Pratt in SOD he would like to get one of Guiding Light's writers for AMC but it's "a long shot".

I am guessing it's Chris Dunn, who I believe is the only GL writer Pratt has crossed paths with in the past (Santa Barbara, Sunset Beach).

I don't know why it would be a long shot though.

[brimike]

I'm baffled why he would tell this to anybody at SOD.

[LeClerc]

I'm thinking SOD asked him if he wanted anybody from Guiding Light (i.e. actors) and he said no but he wants one of the writers.

[Adam]

He may not want any of the actors, but he should check with Frons first....

[bellcurve]

No one is saying that those may/may not be factors. Hey, I don't claim to know {Katherine Chancellor]ev-er-eeeee-THING.[/Katherine Chancellor]

But if someone's name is attached to their work, then it's only natural to blame them. The breakdown writer may have come up with that witty one liner or the network head may have put a mandate in for more saucy, cheap dialogue. But the scriptwriter is still at fault for not fighting for the voice of the characters that they have to write. Should the scriptwriter risk his/her career by overstepping one's bounds and going "the way you edited my work sucks, and here's why" or just stay silent and in effect, "sell-out?"

And aside from all of that, we all point out the differences among the scriptwriters and the way they interpret the characters. Why would an editor/editors edit one person's work to perfection and another's work to come off as cheap, but hip and cool?

I understand your point about everyone automatically blames the scriptwriter, but why them wouldn't the scriptwriter fight to not have their name attached to something that we nitpicky fans would easily criticize?

[brimike]

Really?

Believe me, if every script writer unhappy with the directives from up above at their show spoke up? You'd see most of these writers fired, and writers hired who WOULD take the directive. (ETA: And many times, I suspect a lot of these questionable writer firings at some shows happened because the writer spoke up.) And a lot of people who care about the industry would be out of work. All because they didn't want to "sell out".

By all accounts, you're basically saying if you're not happy with what your boss is telling you to do, tell him/her you refuse to do the job until they change their demands?

[Khan]

It worked for those factory employees in France...didn't it?

[R Sinclair]

Well, I don't know about all this extra up above. I just know that my feelings about certain scriptwriters has to do with certain trends, patterns, habits that always seem to ONLY come up in their credited scripts.

But, kind of to your point about edicts and such... that's why I know I wouldn't make it as a soap scriptwriter... because I couldn't write something I didn't believe in. For instance, I would never be able to write AMC because I don't like Tad and I don't like Ryan. I just wouldn't be able to write those characters -- without writing the opposing characters stomping all over them. But then, my work would either be edited, or I would be accused as not "fitting in" with the voice of the show, and out I'd go.