A new writer can infuse Daytime with energy

[remos]

About the OP, yes and no. Perhaps they can bring new ideas and reboot this genre, but.... so often the temptation to "make it right" overrides the need to appreciate the history and keep it true. Everyone raves about Sri Rao and that last season of Night Shift, but it was basically little more than his own personal 14 week FanFiction. There was no integrity in the long standing characters, especially the connection between Anna and Robert. Sure he made a pass at it, and seeing Sean, Tiffany, etc, was fun, but it wasn't in keeping with the development of Robert and Anna post-Faison.

While I agree that this continual shuffling of the writers deck amongst the daytime shows it's a good way to go, a whole hog change isn't wise either. What they should be doing is retiring some of these HW and replacing them with the juniors who have worked the show for some time. New talent shouldn't be brought in at the top, it should be trained up the ranks.

[Dr Neil Curtis]

Daytime just need someone who can write for soaps. If a young person can write soapy, I say go for it. I don't won't to see the witchcraft, vampire, goth stuff come back to daytime.

[JackPeyton]

I dont think any soap should have a head writer, well one head writer. they all get so burnt out so quick.

[Mr. Vixen]

I think soaps would be wise to bring in fresh blood. I mean they are so intent on having these "young" feels to the show, why not bring in some young writers?

For instance, I am a lot younger than Bob Guza, but yet I know probably just as much about the history of GH as he does. Probably even more, since he completely ignores it anyway. And I know that if I wrote the show there would be so much more focus on the history of the show, the veterans, love, the ospital, business storylines, scandal, good soapy storytelling. And I love to write. I've never taken one of the soap writing style classes, but I'm sure there are many young people who have. So if I, just another young person at home, feel I could infuse the show with youthful input style storytelling, while remaining true to history...Then I am DAMN sure there is a young and trained television writer out there who could do it...Too bad daytime won't ever be bothered looking.

[Money]

My problem from promoting within is that these people are influenced by the same hacks they've seen through the years therefore even if they have fresh ideas their tendency to rely on what they've seen overrides their potential. I'm not comfortable with anyone in the current genre as HW. I think new talent is best with fresh ideas that relate to today's society with respect to the show and characters history. They consult with the current staff but but only for background information. That is the only input they should be given.

[quartermainefan]

I am all for the idea of new blood. I guess though the issue is you can have John Grisham walk through your door and tell you he wants to write your soap for 5 years and will work for free, but does that mean he understands just how much has to be written? Can he handle the work load?

Actually a John Grisham penned EON sounds pretty good, but I can think of some writers from comic books who serialized their comics for years and juggled two dozen characters who could probably switch over to soaps in a heartbeat and do a better job due to a lack of cynical hackery.

[SFK]

Well, say if writers like David Simon and Ed Burns provided a bible for a new bi-weekly gritty, urban soap, and a small team of primetime and young up-and-coming/trained in the soap format writers were at the helm, yeah, I guarantee that could be a success (if only critically ).

[MoTheGreat]

New writers, that means soaps will have to step out of the recycle bin. I don't think they are ready for that.

[MichaelGL]

How about simply promoting from within, and bringing in new blood to work as script and breakdown writers, so that eventually they can become HW's someday? Such an idea worked well with GL when they promoted Nancy Curlee to the Head Writer position.

And what about outsourcing the position of HW of American soaps? lol Meaning, how about bringing in some new blood from British soaps?

[Sylph]

Didn't work.

Research: Daran Little.

[beebs]

I always thought this could be a great idea, though I think the likes of Paul Marquess might be a bit jarring for a lot of viewers, since he tends to kill off 10 people within a week of his first show airing. I don't think daytime needs any more of that going on, considering how bad its been the last ten years. What they need to do is find a writer who can convincingly vary the stakes. I found any new soap is turned up to 11 so much that the impact of the drama is lost. They need to drop it to 2 or 3 and still be able to draw people in, and I don't think any writer right now has the power to do that with the interference they currently are faced with. I don't know that any writer has that kind of autonomy to really shake things up when you're in that kind of environment.

[ReddFoxx]

Writers who knows how to plan in advance are who should be hired. I'm not convinced any of these writers plan more than a few months in advance, when the minimum of planning should be at least 1 to 2 years worth of story outline. The problem most soaps ran into was the fact that they've had to many writers with no vision. There are plenty of people out there with vision, but the soaps aren't going to hire them over the establishment names.

With British soaps, the Executive Producer position is essentially unilateral control over story and one person dictating story is what is needed. With American soaps, you have an Executive Producer and Head Writer pulling strings, plus the Programming Directors, they structure is very stifling to creativity.

[EricMontreal22]

This is the thing. People often talk like the endless recycling of talent is a new thing--it's not. Look at how many shows James Lipton managed to drag into the ground, and yet get constantly rehired... I do agree that the best solution is to hire from within--but again this doesn't alwayws work either. It seems that often when they hire outside talent (like Lemay and Malone) they do great work on their first stint, and then never manage to again...

[EricMontreal22]

Right, but mainstream comic books have been going through the EXACT same problems as soaps in terms of writer recycling, burn out, etc, etc, for a while now... (I'm always surpised there hasn't been more comparison of the N American comic book and soap industries since they share so much in common, from both genres being the "pulp" of their mediums, to long runs that are only really remembered by fans for key writer or producer eras, and of course the back from the dead cliches). I'd not think to look at comic books, in their current Marvel/DC form, as a guideline for the networks, LOL.

[EricMontreal22]

WTF was with that? I can't see ANY of his influence during his time at AMC. Did they not give him any power? Did he try to change his vision to suit US soaps? For someone who's been so key to Corrie's history, it's just *weird*.

I think UK soaps just have such a different history and precedent--in a way they're a different genre (with common ties).

As for from within--people largely loved Ron Carlivati's OLTL run at first (of course after the disastrous Malone and especially Higley eras, that wasn't too hard) but I think even his defenders have had to admit defeat recently... But that's only one example.