Y&R: In Support of Jess Walton!

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Hey, it's a great pic and I miss the "whore hair" Jess used to have. At least that was my nick-name for it.

[Sylph]

And on top of all that, you put The Fierce Jess Walton full stop. That reminds me of someone, I can't exactly recall who on this board, but it's so not you!

[Y&RWorldTurner]

OK, Mr. Head of Drama.

[Sylph]

Bringing drama closer, always!

And whore hair is so spot on!

[BadZoe]

Well am I ever relieved if Jess is just in contract negotiations with them and not sick. I have been so worried about losing my favorite Y&R actress. I will definitely e-mail them and voice my opinion.

That said, I do think these actors really need to realize they are going to have to scale back their lifestyle if they want the soaps to survive and have a job period. Ad revenue is down across the board and just the other day I heard most prime time shows are now going to have to cut their production way down from the regular 23 episodes to 12-16. Times are tough but everyone needs to take a cut, not just a few actors.

Jess is Jill period.

[dm.]

Yes! No recasts, please! I don't care if she's a recast too.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I totally agree with everything you've said.

[MarkH]

Gathering some themes from this thread, the previous Y&R threads here, and the spoiler thread.

1. I don't understand why the cuts are always to the "guarantee". Actors want to act. Actors don't want to appear a few times a month.

Why not go to these stars and say, for example, "we need to cut our talent costs by 30%". And then say "We can cut your guarantee 30%, we can cut your rate 30%, or we can cut each by 15%" or whatever.

In the case of Jill, I cannot imagine that MAB and team want to use her LESS. My goodness, she almost disappeared under Smith and LML, so we surely don't want a return to that.

2. I understand that it is a tenet of negotiation that both sides take entrenched positions and then battle. But that really seems to work well, doesn't it? SAG vs. Producers? Israel vs. Palestinians? UAW vs. GM/Chrysler?

We also have relatively recent records of these negotiations leading to dissolutions of productive collaborations, on Y&R (if we don't want to count Diamont and Rowell, what about Heather Tom?), and elsewhere (e.g., Martha Byrne). Why keep repeating something that is not working for anyone?

3. DaytimeFan has told us, in the past, that the Bell family has creative control over Y&R. But now, in today's postings, DF says that Sony does the contracts.

How does this make sense? If creative and financial can't work together, then we're back to more bullsh*t, where one hand doesn't know what the other one is doing.

I'm loaded in questions that can never be answered. Argh.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

It's not true, as I've mentioned several times in this thread.

[CSF]

Y&RWorldTurner, as other's have said, I too love your avatar. Isn't that a shot from the hot promo's CBS used to air from the early 90s until Lucy Johnson left? Like the Get it On campaign, Everything is Everything, etc.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I think it's from a photo shoot from the early/mid 90's...

[RavenWhitney]

Sorry, I want her to be treated respectfully, but this is the real world of recession/depression, skyrocketing unemployment, paycuts etc. If Sony is offering a contract at a reduced salary, then she should consider it and stay on the job until her contract is over. All soaps have had to reduce costs. JW is a solid actress who's had many, many steady years of wonderful employment (at great pay compared to most average americans). She was on Capitol and now Y&R is a plum role. IF she leaves, the soap will surivive.

[MarkH]

Apologies. I did not see the earlier post.

I thought the money person/negotiator was actually Bill Bell Jr. Which gets awkward here, if that is true, because one assumes he and MAB have to be in agreement on these issues.

I almost liked the Sony-as-villain theory, because then I figured MAB could go to bat for her talent. But if she and her husband are deciding to play hardball...well, then I feel less hope that sensibility might reign here.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I think they have certain executives involved in contract negotiations, they're not directly the ones who decide which is the best offer or whatever.

[Heyou]

I don't want to lose Jess Walton as Jill; they should be cutting salaries across the board not just for a few select ones. For that matter, why keep some of the cast if they aren't even using them; trim the cast. They've proven there are those that could be dealt with and most wouldn't mind if they were gone but that's just not the case here and with most of the vets. I know the newbies don't even make a fraction of what we're talking about here but why not start with the poorest quality? This is not Jess!