Search For Tomorrow Discussion Thread

[Contessa Donatella]

Just looking at IMDb, SFT was their first, of five. In order: SFT, Texas, GH, Rituals, OLTL. Now we know that IMDb can be wrong. 

[Paul Raven]

Dec 79 Schreveport Journal

Former Shreveporter Moves From Academe to the Soaps By DAVID CONNELLY 

When John William Corrington and his wife Joyce began their careers in academe they never thought they would end up as writers for a daytime drama. Now they dream up the daily trials and tribulations of the characters in “Search for Tomorrow” which airs every weekday at 11:30 am on KSLA Channel 12 (CBS).

Mr Corrington, a 1951 graduate of Byrd High School and a 1956 graduate of Centenary College taught English on the college level for many years and became chairman of the English Department at Loyola University in New Orleans. He later became an attorney and practiced law in the Crescent City. Mrs Corrington, his wife of 20 years, worked as a chemical engineer for many years and also served as a professor of chemistry at Xavier University in New Orleans. She later collaborated with her husband on their many screenplays in addition to now co-writing the scripts of “Search for Tomorrow” .

The Corringtons who now live In New Orleans have included characters from that city and Shreveport in the drama and report that they have have met with much success “The producers of the show were very receptive to these characters because they had never had anything like them” Mr Corrington said “It adds another unique dimension to our drama” Though the network daytime dramas are taped In New York City Mrs Corrington noted that many of the writers live In other parts of the country. “They like to keep the shows reflective of middle America and most daytime dramas are set in smaller cities often in the Midwest” she said. Writing for a daytime drama is lucrative but it’s also extremely demanding “It consumes your life” Mrs Corrington said, “If you weren’t married to the person you’re writing with you’d never see your husband”. “It’s like working for a newspaper”, Mr Corrington added. “You have a new deadline every day and you have to come up with another script. You rarely get a day off”.

There are three levels to writing for a daytime drama according to Mrs Corrington.

First they have to decide on a long-term plot — what’s  going to happen In the next two or three months.

Then they have to develop the synopsis for a week and further break that down into separate acts.

Finally there’s the actual writing of dialogue. For the most part Mrs Corrington handles the long-term projections and her husband writes the dialogue though they work together on all aspects of the drama. “We have discussed many scripts over dinner" Mrs Corrington said.

The actual time involved in writing an individual script varies “If you have a script you’re really excited about it comes fast” Mr Corrington said. “Sometimes you really have to struggle with it. Usually it takes about 6-10 hours to write one half-hour show and that doesn’t include conferences and planning" The husband-and-wife team regularly talks with the producers and directors o( the show on the phone.

As writers the Corringtons appreciate the emphasis on the script in soap operas. “Daytime drama is literate” Mrs Corrington said “Because you can’t go out and do all the visuals you have to rely on words". While working on feature films the Corringtons found that the movie industry put a low premium on words. “In Hollywood a writer has little impact" Mrs Corrington said. "The director is the motivating force -  You give him a script which he uses as a blueprint and often you recognize only a small part of your work in the final product”. Writing for daytime has a different kind of frustration ‘The greatest frustration is that it’s so ephemeral there are no repeats”, she added. “You can see movies over and over again and good novels hang around for a long time I’d like to produce something that hangs around for a while”.

Any daytime drama has to attract a female audience, but Mrs Corrington is quick to point out that “Search for Tomorrow” has a male following too. “According to the Nielsen ratings men make up about 20 percent of our audience. “The main consideration is that we always try to involve women in the stories”, she added. “We don’t have many male-male conflicts independent of women”. Much criticism has been levied against daytime dramas for their treatment of women and for what some see as their negative effect on the female viewer. Soap operas according to some critics encourage women to ignore their own problems while fantasizing about the more exciting lives of the female characters on the screen. Caught up in their daytime fantasies they don’t take active steps to change their lives.

The Corringtons reject this view “If you're sitting in front of a TV set you’re watching dreams being created. Psychologists say we can’t live without dreams”, Mrs Corrington said. “You get to know your soap opera friends better than most of your real friends” she added. "When was the last time you stood by listening to a couple argue or when was the last time you shared an extremely personal problem with a friend? I think we’re a little remote in our daily lives”.

In the future Mr Corrington who has written novels, poems and short stories would like to devote more time to essays. “There’s a point when I think I’ll want to leave these more concrete investigations and concentrate on pure theory” he said. But Mrs Corrington quickly added that they haven’t tired of their work on “Search for Tomorrow ” “We’ve been doing it now for over a year and it’s still a kick”.

[Contessa Donatella]

@Mona Kane Croft

Mona, I stalked the Corringtons through Schemering & he listed all the shows that IMDb did, plus one more - Capitol. But I don't have dates, apparently more near the end than the beginning. Before SFT they seem to have written for films. Interesting people. Also he revealed that they were a failure at GH.

I was looking for something else when I learned that Ralph Ellis was indeed writing SFT when Kathy had her abortion.

Edited January 28 by Contessa Donatella
typo

[Mona Kane Croft]

I may be wrong, but I really don't think the Corringtons had any real soap opera success after leaving SFT (although, as you say, they worked at several soaps).  And what they wrote at SFT (adding the Louisiana gothic stuff permanently) was SO unique, but they could not do that again at another soap. Their original plan for Texas was a period piece set in New Orleans, but that all changed when Paul Rauch decided to move the location to Houston and place it in 1980.  And writers can't really go from soap opera to soap opera doing Louisiana Gothic over and over again.  Anything other than that they wrote seemed blah and boring to me.  They did Louisiana-slanted stuff extremely well, but that was their one trick pony.  

[Contessa Donatella]

Two things:

1. This sounds about right.

2. I have always wondered if the original concept for that spin-off wouldn't have been far more successful. And, tell me if you disagree but I thought doing the Dallas thing was NBC's idea & that they put a ton of pressure on Rauch.

 

[robbwolff]

The Corringtons were head writers of Capitol from around 1982 to 1983. They replaced Stephen and Elinor Karpf and were replaced by Peggy O'Shea.

[Contessa Donatella]

Thanks

[Joseph]

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That Treasure Trove of a Channel on YouTubeshared this episode of SFT and Even Better they apparently have a Bunch of other episodes of the same Time Period!!!!! We can fasten our Seatbelts!

[DRW50]

An episode from late January has been on Youtube for a while. Can't remember if any others ever have (I think saynotoursoap used to have two up).

[Contessa Donatella]

Already heard back from Syracuse & they've narrowed it down to a certain week. 

Now they are missing the week in April that it probably happened. I have inquired if there was any mention in the last 3 days in March. But, we are so close!!!

[Joseph]

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Playlist With New Episodes! Some January and May, 1980

[Paul Raven]

Looking back at the Corrington's stint, I think their lack of experience writing soaps shows through.

They came in like gangbusters with the Sentells, the Adamson sisters etc. This proposal must have excited the execs and sure enough it played out well onscreen.

But once their initial stories played out after the first year or so, what came next seemed uninspired. They didn't seem to have long term plans in place.

 

[VelekaCarruthers]

Agree. Watching the new SFT episodes that were just posted (end of Jan 1980) some scenes are outstanding especially Stephanie's dialog with Martin, but the Cissy/Beau stuff is not good. Most of the vets had nothing substantial to do.  May 1980 episodes have also just been posted but with no credit crawl at the end. Does anyone know if the Corringtons were still HW or had they left and who replaced them?

[DRW50]

When did they leave to start Texas?

Anytime I try to watch this period it does seem lethargic, although I know the bad stuff is still on the way.

Thanks for reminding me - a few from January or February 1980 had been on Youtube for years but I don't remember ever seeing the May 1980 episodes put up today.

This opens with the craziest scene. I knew that Liza was in constant danger in the late '70s/early '80s but I never thought I'd see her in a full on choreographed fight sequence! Sherry goes all in. What a treasure she was.

I don't think @amybrickwallace has posted here in a while but if they still do they might enjoy this. 

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Edited Thursday at 11:04 PM by DRW50

[VelekaCarruthers]

So far he's posted four consecutive episodes from end of May and first of June 1980. haven't watched them yet.