Y&R: In Support of Melody Thomas Scott

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Then what's the difference between being used under a trail basis and being under contract? Wouldn't it be the same situation, being paid by episode, only contracted writers are tied to the show under binding legal terms?

Or maybe each writer is guaranteed a certain number of episodes to write before their contract cycle is up, and they get paid accordingly.

Regardless, MAB doesn't need all those writers anyway, no matter how much they get paid per episode.

But episode guarantees and money are two separate situations with contracts sometimes. They can get a fixed salary, but only guaranteed to work a certain number of days per week. Some actors with clout might not want to work as much as other actors, and that's been done before.

[MTSRocks]

How many does she actually have? I agree for the most part, but if there is no solid communication between the writers then it shows onscreen.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

15, it's the biggest writing staff on daytime.

[MarkH]

Brad can apparently afford all the rejects! Must be that international $$

[rhythmchyc]

[MTSRocks]

Thanks. That is quite excessive. I think they could trim it down to half of that, or 5-6. However, writing a year worth of episodes can be highly time consuming, so I can understand why it's so huge.

[MarkH]

Okay, what is the lineup now? Do I have it right below? So the BDW/SW ranks are fine...indeed, maybe they are short one SW, right?

The only places that "look" inflated are the second co-HW and that middle rank of AHW. But, I mean, this part of the lineup has been stable for a year. Clearly, it is working for them, structurally, right? Why are people sweating this extra 1-2 writers? Sure, it adds a bit of expense, but we also comment on what a well-produced and coordinated show Y&R is. So why are people even worrying about it??

HW

Maria Arena Bell

Co-HW

Hogan Sheffer

Scott Hamner

AHW

Natalie Minardi Slater

Marla Kanelos

Beth Milstein

BDW

Tom Casiello

Lisa Connor

Amanda Beall

Paula Cwikly

Jay Gibson

SW

Eric Freiwald & Linda Schreiber

Janice Ferri Esser

Sandra Weintraub

Teresa Zimmerman

But, back to MTS. You could probably ditch 3-4 of the people above, and still not get to 40% of MTS' salary, right? So again, does it matter?

[cara mia]

You can justify MTS salary if you use her and have her carry a major story. It doesn't make sense to pay her a million dollars while Nikki just sits in the Athletic Club and moons over Victor. It's awfully silly to have Victor, Ashley and Nikki on canvas and not play the triangle.

[Sylph]

A voice of reason.

[JimTolkien]

I guess if we weren't in a crappy economy I would say I agree with your post wholeheartedly. I am upset about this as well but before anyone starts talking about what should and can be done, people really need to go take a look at Sony's and CBS's financial statements!! Really look at them. Not a whole lot of happy shareholders!! Especially on the CBS side of things. Contrary to the stories probably being spun, Y&R isn't probably doing as great as it should be not from the standpoint of what it used to be and how CBS/Sony looks at it.

So this MTS issue is probably just the tip of the iceberg sad to say. I can barely discuss this subject because I am so bloody but from a financial standpoint for both CBS & Sony, I truly do get it and probably would advise them to figure out where their most cost savings are. And usually those savings come from "people". It sucks but it is what it is. Every company out there is doing it.

Hopefully economy will turn probably not this year but next and advertising will come back and we won't be going through this so much...hopefully.

[cara mia]

It's not a black & white situation. It's math!

I don't know what the real numbers are so I'll plug some in just for illustration's sake.

These numbers are all just made up: Y&R has 1.5 million per week to spend on it's show. Each cast member has the potential to bring a certian number of fans to the show, DEPENDING on story. I know Sharon Case has fans who will turn on the show to watch her. However, it also depends on her story. If SC has something juicy, that will bring 100,000 fans to the show, while if SC is just in the background making cocoa for Noah that drops to 25,000. I don't know what the math is for MTS but one can assume that Nikki in a good story could bring a lot of old-time Nikki fans back to the show.

If the writers though are incapable of writing a major & hot story for Nikki, then keeping her doesn't make sense. That said, there's something amiss with the writing staff if they can't write something good MTS.

[MarkH]

Well, lately, it's likely they used her minimally because of the need to potentially write her out.

According to the resource archive, in

2008 = 169 episodes (Rank = 3)

2007 = 140 episodes (Rank = 9)

2006 = 123 episodes (Rank = 17)

2005 = 139 episodes (Rank = 12)

So, she actually did VERY WELL under MAB in MAB's first year. Think of all she did: (a) Victoria's protector during the coma; ( David Chow; © Kay's chief mourner; (d) Mexico and Paris arcs; and (e) Paul romance. She got plenty of play...more even when she was one of the lynchpins of Clear Springs and the Senate...so I think we can assume that MAB would invest in her if she could.

YTD in 2009, in the first five months (out of 103 episodes) she had 40 appearances and was rank #18. If we extrapolate over the whole year, we can expect only about 100 appearances. That is a SIGNIFICANT DROP. Moreover, Nikki has been trivialized in story. I could imagine that Melody wants to guard against that continuing.

Let's assume she HAD a 100-episode guarantee. Let's assume, as the data above show, that she was used ABOVE her guarantee (quite substantially).

Now, if they are proposing (say) a 40% cut in the guarantee, that brings her down to 60 episodes. Even if they INTEND to use her above her guarantee...if they can't (because of lean times)...that means she might only appear once a week. That's hardly worth showing up.

Never mind the $$ loss. The bigger deal is that the character becomes irrelevant. That is such a come-down for the character, I would respect her integrity for not wanting Nikki trivialized thus.

[MTSRocks]

This I agree with, and I blame the writers for not playing more beats to that story.

MarkH when you break down the writers like that it doesn't seem so bad. Whomever said that MAB has all these writers to cover her failures, I doubt it. Nobody really pays attention to those writers, she's the headliner for Y&R, and she herself claims responsibility for it all.

[cara mia]

I know this sounds crazy but I'll throw it out there since it's never going happen now. In my heart of hearts, I wanted a quad with Nikki/Victor/Ashley/CE's Adam. I know -- sounds crazy, LOL, and probably a bit freaky but I thought it would have been the kind of story that gets a lot of buzz, it would have this weird Oedipal element times two, Victor facing his own mortality [because that's really the terror that Adam produces in Victor], and both of these women who have always worshiped & adored Victor being giving the chance to "redo" their relationships with a younger version of him and in that way, recapture their own youth.

That said, I am so excited about what AMC is doing with Erica. I won't spoil it in this thread though it's gonna be hard for folks to miss because the AP picked up the plot twist.

Mark, you're right about MTS leaving while still on top of her game. I don't want Nikki reduced to some once a week supporting player. Nikki it the closest Y&R comes to Erica Kane. If she's not going to the star diva, it would be painful to watch her turn into Lauren.

[SteveFrame]

This may have been discussed already and I missed it but the talk of her pay in this doesn't make sense if you believe all of Nelson's report. He says in Friday's Suds Report that Y&R wants her to go recurring. Salary and stuff won't matter at all if she goes recurring. There won't be a contract. It is just up to her agreeing to go recurring and being paid and used just when Y&R needs her.

So basically they were giving her two options. If she wants to keep her current pay then she has to go to recurring. If that happens, I doubt we will hardly ever see Nikki. And if they are even thinking recurring status is possible, that means to me that there is no real story planned for Mel in the near future.