AMC: Lorraine Broderick Interview in SOD/SOW

[NYC123]

Credit goes to DontStare @ SOC

At the time of this interview she only had 3-4 weeks left of writing.

She had no idea about the cancellation. She got the call a week before and was working on her storylines that weekend and then the news came down. Her mission then became to give the show a conclusion it deserves and satisfy long-term fans. It's the same thing to her. The core characters, the history, the relationships in particular - digging into all those things is how she found the story. It would have been that way with or w/o the cancellation. She talks with Agnes about three times a week and Agnes participates in all their note meetings.

She goes on for quite a while on Cady, Tad/Dixie. She thinks Tad/Dixie are one of the great love stories but also loves what D & D with Tad (bringing him frontburner) and Tad & Cara. (She also talks about working very closely with D & D while she was head-writing last time.) She thinks it's the beginning of a wonderful triangle. She says she feels about Tad/Dixie how she felt about Adam/Brooke and getting Cady back was equivalent to how she felt about getting Julia Barr back when she was head-writing last. Due to all the history she felt there were things that needed to be rectified. Everybody on the writing team was on board. She talks about how she was there when Dixie was created and Cady was a 17 year old, before she was at AMC, MEK was her student at the University she worked for. There's going to be wonderful events for the Chandler family as well.

Erica. For some reason she brings up that she thinks D&D did a good job with Erica/Caleb, but probably in reference to Erica's need to challenge all the men in her life due to the fact that she can't be loved enough. LB notes Erica loves Jack with all her heart but that is something that won't change about her. She talks about Nixon's deep understanding of Erica. She thinks the story that was started is perfect to go into that fabric of Erica. They'll resolve the Jane story in a fun/interesting way. They're going to be able to start fresh with Erica after this story. The exploration of what this situation would do to Erica's psyche. Erica's excited to be back but there'll be a sense of betrayal and it'll color the relationships.

Jangie. Powerhouse actors. incredible characters. They're already digging into how to resolve that in a very dramatic & interesting way. She can't wait to see what Williams & Morgan do with this material. She cries when she's writing the current material for Jangie. It's going to be good.

Zach/Kendall, wonderful couple. Kaye, terrific actor, she's thrilled he's back and he'll be working a lot. They've started the writing for him. She notes it's a gift to be able to work with all these unresolved situations with important characters.

Leo/Josh. Thrill, gift to the writers & fans, all the returns. Some of the returns will be surprises.

The rest is general. Her daughter is getting married at the end of July so taking on this task wasn't the easiest decision but she doesn't regret it. Despite the circumstances, it's a wonderful experience for everybody involved to be working together like this. She has all this old history (Brooke/Tom, Erica, the Martins) and Addie Walsh, her right hand woman has, all the more current history (Z/K, R/G). She's also working closely with Jeff B. in writing. Then there's Agnes who is the Erica encyclopedia. They got all the history there. The history all of them have together helps them write situations/stories that really speak to all these characters.

She says Agnes will contribute to how both AMC & OLTL end and that's how it should be.

[Soapsuds]

More Zach...ha....that's all the fans need...that's what drove them away in the first place..well part of it.

[LeClerc]

Why the heck didn't ABC just let D&D's contracts expire and then ask the associate headwriters (which would have included Broderick anyways) to assume headwriting duties (which they have done multiple times in the past) while they "searched" for a new HW, and then, when the cancellation was announced, ask LB to headwrite until the end?

To dupe her into thinking they were offering her a legitimate multi-year deal in order to try and throw her and everyone else off for less than 2 weeks seems totally unnecessary.

[NYC123]

Sadly Ryan/Greenlee are endgame BUT I am excited for the last 3 months.

LB looks like she is really writing her heart out with Addie and Agnes. I am going to be so SAD but I am going to enjoy every minute of LB writing we can get!

[LoyaltoAMC]

I'll take what I can get. I hope no one expected LB to swoop in and quickly wrap up D&D's stories. Looks like she's essentially going to continue them, letting them naturally play out, but probably with more depth than D&D could ever infuse. That's all we can really hope for right now.

[dragonflies]

I LOVE what she said about my Zen I also love that JV/Griffin didn't get a mention, guess LB thinks he's a non entity like he actually is

No it wasn't, it wasn't even part of it. It was nothing but hack writing and the lack of respecting the show's and character's histories

[AllMyDaysatGH]

This makes so much sense! That explains why Addie Walsh is credited along with her as Co-HW.

Love that she's finally speaking out and I am SO intrigued by what she had to say about the Jessie/Angie story. Looking forward to seeing how that ends up!!

Also intrigued by what she had to say about Erica. Should be interesting to see what happens with her when she gets back to PV...LOVE that Agnes Nixon will clearly have a big hand in how Erica's story will end in September.

[You're Soaking in it]

There isn't a co-head team like K&S. Walsh is the Associate Head Writer, under Broderick as HW. (If they had been a co-HW team, they wouldn't have spaced their names apart.) But the fact that they're choosing to credit Walsh on the same card, as opposed to the top of the list of Associate Writers & Breakdown Writers, is certainly a very respectful nod to her role in helping lead the writing team. It's basically a better credit as AHW... If we had the ego of a HW like Pratt or McT, we certainly wouldn't see their second-in-command's name appear in any proximity to theirs!

[Kylie]

Excited to see Erica's kidnapping color her relationships. It should. I was worried they'd just brush over it and move right into wrapping things up, but it's nice to hear LB say they'll deal with it. Erica has been through the wringer and it'll be interesting see how she handles all of this.

[You're Soaking in it]

I just read the interview (it's actually in Digest, the 7/12 issue with the AMC cover). I appreciate the recap from SOC - especially since I probably wouldn't have even known about it unless it was posted here! But it doesn't do the actual interview justice.

First, it's one of the longest feature interviews I've read in SOD in many years. It's really insightful, and Broderick really gives the reader a very good sense of who she is as a writer, the cooperative way in which she works with her team, and what AMC and its viewers mean to her.

It's among the best head writer interviews I've read. If you're interested, you should check it out since that issue won't be on the stands but for another day or two. (If it does happen to be gone already, PM me; I can probably help!)

[Jonathan]

I purchased my first SOD in over 10 years. The interview is well done and insightful. There's another preview article that gives some hints as to what will happen in the next few weeks. I'm looking forward to Amanda's story. (Oh, Amanda ). David's story sounds intriguing also. And of course, I can't wait to see the aftermath of Erica's kidnapping.

[KMan101]

It's such a shame they never let her come back before. She should have been brought back when Pratt was made headwriter.