Members Cashton Posted October 17, 2009 Members Share Posted October 17, 2009 It's called show business for a reason - one can't exist in a vacuum without the other. And I don't know how you can argue that the writing on this show has not been affected by JW, MTS and EB's contract negotiations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Y&RWorldTurner Posted October 17, 2009 Members Share Posted October 17, 2009 Y&R has had extremely tense contract negotiations leading back to the Smith era. Melody Thomas Scott, Heather Tom, Jess Walton, and Sharon Case were all in danger of never coming back in the early 00's, yet the show wasn't on the the dire creative path then that it is now. Core characters weren't written off by having been responsible for the death legacy characters, by bringing vulnerable psychos to town to reek havoc, and by getting the heart of someone he tormented for months. This go around, even a year before their contract troubles, MTS and Jess Walton were being phased out for like a year. Nikki's relationship with Paul took place off-screen for 90% of its duration, and Jill had nothing noteworthy to do expect playing second fiddle and demon to Katherine's angle routine (which is horrible writing for the Kay/Jill feud). Even with her son coming back from the dead and her grandson coming back to town, Jill has had nothing to do other than file nails once or twice a month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cashton Posted October 17, 2009 Members Share Posted October 17, 2009 In danger - but never due to pay cuts. MTS left briefly. The gaslight story was to revolve around Nikki being the suspected culprit and Paul and Nikki were indeed supposed to get married till MTS was walking. ALL THREE ACTORS WALKED AT SOME POINT. AND - the smoothness of the prior contract negotiations was because B-P Productions was making the call - not Sony. Contracts were not negotiated like this. There WAS respect on both sides - now they get "Take it or leave it" and leave MAB and Co. scrambling to change story and do all sorts of work-arounds. the entire production schedule, model and way of doing business has changed - and I've heard this from someone who works there. I'm not making this up - the franchise fee cut mixed with Sony's agressive "I don't give a crap" negotiations and increased oversight of every aspect of the show has created a ripple effect that is definitely affecting the show we watch. Now do you have to agree with MAB's workarounds? Of course not - and some were horribly done. But she's been thrown into the fire and IMHO - things didn't get ugly till March/April when things started to show up on our screens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Y&RWorldTurner Posted October 17, 2009 Members Share Posted October 17, 2009 It WAS due to pay cuts. Jack Smith used to say in every interview that their budget was severely slashed and that they could no longer afford to do the things they once did. That's not true, MTS told Michael Logan her contract negotiations have ALWAYS been handled by Sony. Nikki was being phased out a year before MTS's contract trouble though, she was hardly ever on and then her In the hands of more creative writers, exits would be written less damaging (like this Victor exit) and more organically. Again, Jack Smith did a better job of them than MAB and Co. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MarkH Posted October 17, 2009 Members Share Posted October 17, 2009 See, this smells like 'truth' to me. This is an explanation that fits with my understanding of how the world, and business, works. Plus it's the kind of stuff DaytimeFan kept whispering! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Y&RWorldTurner Posted October 17, 2009 Members Share Posted October 17, 2009 Here's the MTS quote: http://www.tvguidemagazine.com/soaps/exclusive-melody-thomas-scott-renews-yr-contract--1596.html So Sony, not the Bells, have indeed been the only one doing contracts since the beginning of this show... And you all know about the budgets cuts and tense contract negotiations that took place during the Smith era. Hell, Heather Tom left because she couldn't get the episode guarantees she wanted, it wasn't so much about the pay cut, it was the way it was handled and not getting a good episode guarantee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JimTolkien Posted October 17, 2009 Members Share Posted October 17, 2009 THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!! I have been saying this all along. It is actually this SIMPLE!!! And I am sure CBS got miffed first and it trickled down...after all she probably told them she has her vision and nobody should get in her way. They probably let her have her way and now the show is in EXCELLENT shape. I am not letting her off the hook here...NOPE, NOPE!!! Btw, does anyone know eactly what MAB's vision is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Y&RWorldTurner Posted October 17, 2009 Members Share Posted October 17, 2009 Maria: Sheffer and Hamner, do whatever you want, but make sure to add an art storyline in there once an a while. Oh, and make sure you reference something that happened in the past once in a while too, the viewers are stupid, they'll buy anything as long as you reference some history! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ladyceejay Posted October 17, 2009 Members Share Posted October 17, 2009 I read somewhere that Sony wanted to get rid of Melody Thomas Scott, but, CBS did not. I am thinking the same is most likely true of Eric Braeden. In the long run CBS will trump Sony...... with a lot of great drama and publicity in between.At least this is the outcome I am hoping for. Not too sure I care to continue watching this show without Victor Newman and don't care for the direction it is going in, anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dc cubs Posted October 17, 2009 Share Posted October 17, 2009 This is a little off topic but here goes. Is the Sony/Y&R relationship the same as the Sony/DOOL relationship? When the Days licensing fee was drastically cut Corday didn't even offer Hall & Hogestyn a pay cut. He just let them go. Does Sony handle the contracts for Days too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lmfan Posted October 18, 2009 Members Share Posted October 18, 2009 If she has to do work arounds due to budget issues than why doesn't she use some of her veteran actors who have been languishing on the backburner for so long to fill in these gaps? I can see that she has to work around long breaks based on contract negotiations for actors like MTS, MS and JW but then she doesn't write for other actors for months. One would think that she may want to write some of these characters B story so if she has to ramp down one of her A stories she can do that instead of always scrambling. Is it any big shock to anyone that this happened to MTS or is happening with EB? They knew they would bulk at such large cuts and probably walk away from the show, at least temporarily, so why not plan better for it? I think MAB has a difficult job and maybe I am being naive, but I just can't see the budget issues as a main cause of her lousy storytelling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeeeDee Posted October 18, 2009 Members Share Posted October 18, 2009 Don't forget Lauren Woodland. Exactly. She was treated like a stranger & she did NOT appreciate it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ladyceejay Posted October 18, 2009 Members Share Posted October 18, 2009 I have always been under the impression that Sony hired Paul Rauch to be their hatchet man. IMHO, he and Sheffer are ruining our beloved soap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Y&RWorldTurner Posted October 18, 2009 Members Share Posted October 18, 2009 Rauch and Maria have both said that Bill Bell, Jr. (Maria's husband) hired Rauch to consult and when it came time to look for a new EP after Griffith was fired, they picked Rauch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MarkH Posted October 18, 2009 Members Share Posted October 18, 2009 Can we please forget her? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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