2011: The Directors and Writers Thread

[DRW50]

I'm surprised Sheffer never wrote for the WWE. He'd get to have macho men and have women who are there to get their clothes torn off.

If their Y&R run is any indication, the WWE might be better off just trying to find the people who wrote GLOW.

[Khan]

Personally, I like the guy, but I really wish he'd never said (or intimated) that. You can't say you're one of us, Tom, because you're not. We don't have two Emmy awards at home for writing AS THE WORLD TURNS; you do.

You're not one of us; you're one of them.

[Darlotto99]

haha tom has no idea who he's going to work for McMahon is going to eat him out and spit him out. Vince is the hardest person to work for it's 24/7 with him and most writers don't last so in 6 months expect him to be back at a soap.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I don't want to see him at another soap after the way he Tweeted about soap fans and posters here at SON.

But yeah, from what I've been told, turnover with the creative team at WWE is pretty rapid and a lot never last longer than a year or two.

[GladGirl]

You're spot on about McMahon, but let's face it -- with only four soaps left, the chances of getting a soap writing gig are getting tougher and tougher. I suspect Tom knows this and has no illusions about returning to daytime writing. But if he DOES hope he can return, he would've been wiser to keep the WWE gig on the QT. It's really considered "slumming it" by the soap community.

My heart truly goes out to the soap writers, directors and producers. We all know primetime doesn't give a rat's arse about daytime experience. I suspect some of the associate producers/associate directors may try to get a somewhat entry-level gig on a primetime or reality show. But as far as I know, most of the staffers on GL and ATWT are still out of work. Does anyone know of any staffer on either of those shows who landed anything significant outside of daytime? (And by significant I don't mean a producer of 10 episodes of a web soap. I'm talking about something that pays a steady salary, has benefits and can pay a New York-tri-state area rent/mortgage....)

The WGA and DGA should be doing some sort of outreach to their daytime union members, even if it's just a support group.

[Toups]

GladGirl, there's a former GL writer and director who currently works for the WWE also. And then there's former GL'ers David Rupel, Brett Steaneart, and Brett Cullen who were working on Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. It was good to see Rupel bring along former soap people to help him out.

[Bright Eyes]

Name, please.

[GladGirl]

Yeah, I forgot about Chris Cullen (not Brett, but I know who you meant) and Rupel. Didn't know about Steaneart.

[RavenWhitney]

On Y&R some surprising backstage changes:

Jay Gibson, breakdown writer, now consulting producer.

Edwin Klein, added as script and story continuity, job sharing with Michael Montgomery.

Edwin Klein worked on Another World and Days of Our Lives as scriptwriter.

[aMLCproduction]

I remeber Klein on AW. I wonder what is prompting all these changes...

Thanks for the update

[Khan]

Very simply, Paul Rauch is gone, MAB is completely in charge, and if she hasn't put her foot in -- I mean, put her stamp on Y&R before now....

[RavenWhitney]

It's not about Rauch being gone; he was reporting to the Bells but was brought in by CBS at Bloom's suggestion. It's about Bloom being gone. She had a huge hand in backstage appointments, firings etc. She is responsible for Latham's clan coming aboard, Griffith, as well as post writer's strike hirings (Beall, Kanalos, Milstein). Now that MAB and Bill Bell Jr are in full control, you can see how they are cutting back on Bloom's appointments. I have hope.

[DRW50]

Unless Sheffer goes there is no hope.

[R Sinclair]

Ugh! There's always an "Unless _____ goes, there's no hope" clause to every last change on each of these shows. So, why bother at all?

[LeClerc]

Today was Dave Ryan's first AMC script. Ignoring Alicia Minshew's interpretation at various points, it wasn't too bad.