Y&R: In Support of Melody Thomas Scott

[MTSRocks]

Good point.

Retail stores do this a lot too. Hire a sh-t load of employees, and then start cutting back shifts to like one day a week and such. I'm not saying it's good management, but from a financial standpoint it doesn't really hurt the overall structure.

[MarkH]

Yup. It really is a good point.

But back to Melody. She was AWESOME in Friday's show. I love that she was at the door, about to walk in on Adam and Ashley. How could the show not want to come to terms. BEND A LITTLE, Sony!

[Bright Eyes]

I know this is weird, but simple things like her banging on the door with her umbrella were awesome LOL.

[brimike]

Sony's not the one who isn't bending. From all accounts, it sounds as if MTS just doesn't want the cut, nor will she take recurring. She's basically doing what Kim Zimmer did to GL a few years ago, and to hold a show hostage like that proves how much she isn't a team player.

Which is a crying shame because Nikki is a great character, and she still offers the show so much. But everybody knows that in this new climate, when your cycle is up, you're going to need to take a pay cut. I wish she had just taken the pay cut the same way everybody else has taken the pay cut. But clearly, she doesn't need the money anymore, and probably wants to start a new chapter in her life that doesn't involve working. So I say, more power to her. I hope she and Ed travel the world and see amazing things. And really enjoy whatever they do next in their lives. Because from the sound of it, it's not like MTS is willing to bend over backwards and it's Sony that's digging their heels in the ground.

[DRW50]

After the reports that tried to put Jess in a bad light I'm not sure what I believe. Every time an actor wants to leave, suddenly stories start about how difficult they're being. If MTS does leave, given the poor writing for Nikki over the past year, she may see the writing on the wall even if she does take a cut and stay.

[Cashton]

this is probably very different thinking but what's new - i want us to lobby for THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS to get a fair deal!! Think about it. Y&R just took a big paycut themselves in terms of their franchise fee. Poor Y&R just had to take it. There was no online campaign to appeal to whomever it is that Y&R is the most watched, most talked-about, most buzzed soap on the air. That it generates boo-koo interest all over the world.

I'm sorry - but now that I know that Y&R's franchise fee is cut and it can no longer reward it's stars with gigantic paychecks, i'm on their side. I truly believe that if Y&R could, it WOULD give MTS the sun, moon and the stars. Perhaps if EB, PB and JC all step up and say we know what's coming - to save MTS's face we'll take our pay cuts when our contracts are up, too so she knows it's not just her.

Honestly, I really wish I knew where these franchise fees are established from, cause they're really the ones who are getting one over on us - not MAB and her team.

Now I will say this - in business, they let the bean counters deliver all the bad news and the agents and managers deliver it. I don't know the details, but in situations like this, when you have a 30 year relationship with the show - MTS does deserve to have all sorts of pomp and circumstance bestowed on her and she deserves to have MAB & Co. begging her to stay on at a reduced rate, telling her how important she is and how much they need her and that if they could, they would give her anything. But I know the biz, and that's just not how it's done unfortunately. Actor's egos are as easily inflated as they are deflated.

This simply isn't a case (as far as i can tell) of - Y&R's being cheap. If it was I'd be rallying too, cause I love Nikki Newman and think she's the soul of this show. This isa case of - damn, we gotta stay afloat.

[Sylph]

But that's the thing: what is fairness and fair? Does fair carry the same meaning for you and for me? How do you know Sony was unfair if you weren't in the room? How does anyone else know?

[MarkH]

So you all know I know NOTHING. But there are three different scenarios, and they MATTER.

a. Sony says 50% cut, MTS says no cut. Then Melody is being unreasonable.

b. Sony says 50% cut, MTS says, I'll accept a cut -- say 25%, and Sony won't budge from 50%. Then Sony is being unreasonable.

c. If Sony said 50% cut, MTS came back with 20% cut, and they ended up meeting at 35%....that would be reasonable negotiation.

I don't know enough which of the above scenarios is true. I'm somehow guessing [ b ]...but I know nothing.

Let's be clear...NOT EVERYONE HAS TO TAKE THE SAME CUT. Some performers are more valuable than others, IMO. And MTS is one of them. I'm a liberal, left-leaning dude...but I don't think it makes you a "team player" if you refuse to take the same cut as a newbie.

But I have no clue what the reality is. Brimike, your note implies scenario [ a ], and then, yes, sadly I wish MTS a good retirement.

But the reality is there are other ways to save $. There are characters that are near-universally viewed as unnecessary, and others viewed as expendable (this second list is more controversial).

If Sony is saying, say 50% cuts...WITHOUT BUDGING...and not considering getting rid of a good number of those in the expendable list (e.g., Victoria and JT)...then that is cutting off your nose to spite your face. To make an example of the principle that "everyone has to take a cut", you lose one part of the soul of your show.

Can Y&R go on without her? SURE. But Y&R has been PERMANENTLY DAMAGED by other recent losses (Rowell, Douglas), and NOTHING has repaired that. You can keep chipping away at the soul of our show, or you can invest strategically.

IMO, the dream scenario would be, in my example, if they meet in the middle (e.g., 25% cut). I don't know if the sides are being reasonable enough to get to that place?

[brimike]

Well said, Cashton! Bravo!!

[Juliajms]

Right, but the problem is that newbies are probably not making enough to even take the same kind of cuts percentage wise. Let's take Billy Miller. If he makes $250,000 a year and he's asked to take a 70% paycut, that leaves him with about $75,000 a year. After taxes and agent fees and all that, can one even live as a soap star with what's left?

If the upper tier people are making several million dollars, it does seem like that's where at least some of the cuts need to come from. Y&R just isn't making the ad money to support these huge salaries. Maybe getting rid of some of the bottom tier people and then putting some of the mid tier people on recurring would help. JT and Vikki could easily go to recurring at this point.

[MarkH]

Yes, I agree.

But there is a certain temptation, with the most expensive folks, to say "progressive taxation"...by which I mean, "they especially have to take big cuts".

Maybe.

But they're top tier for a reason. ANY cut helps...but as I said upthread, I personally have no way of knowing who is being unreasonable in this negotiation. If MTS is saying "absolutely no cut, of any percentage, for any reason"...then it's probably her.

[Juliajms]

But even if so, I feel for her. After working 30 years, one expects pay raises not pay cuts. It's something a lot of people around the country are dealing with, but it's still hard for anyone to take, I think.

[MarkH]

True! And the thing is, on soaps. I don't think folks can expect to 'catch back up'. Because it is not just about the current economy. It's about the dying of the genre and of network television. So the pay rates will just fall and fall.

[Juliajms]

Unfortunately. And even with the unemployment rate at 9% soap ratings aren't going up. There are just too many options for entertainment out there, I guess.

[Cashton]

I'm just saying let's look at the cause of all this - it's not the Y&R brass, it's not snubbing MTS, it may not even be the franchise cut to blame. It began with this wretched economy - especially the bankruptcy of the car industry- and trickle-down, cause and effect.

Loyalty goes both ways. MTS has given 30 years of hard work to Y&R and in turn, Y&R gave MTS 30 years of solid work. She'll always be legend to Y&R watchers because of her role on this show. But this decision truly rests with her now. They didn't show her the door, she quit. and as a fan of hers, I hope she has peace that she's abandoning us and the place that's been a home to her for years and given her a lush, lavish, glamorous lifestyle that most people only dream of. i truly hope it's worth it for her and that she's ok with it. And I welcome her return if or when she deigns to.

It's a sad day all around.