Nelson Aspen Interviews Veteran soap scribe, Janet Iacobuzio

[John]

Part 1:

http://www.welovesoaps.net/2014/07/catching-up-with-janet-iacobuzio-part-1.html

[RavenWhitney]

I wonder if she talks about how she broke into writing. There's always been speculation that she was on Donna Swajeski's AW writing team during the five month 1988 writer's strike. I've heard that that strike started the writing careers of Swajeski, Iacubuzio and Mimi Leahey. Also on the strike team were Michael Zazlow (Roger Thorpe) and his wife Susan Hufford, along with someone named Nerissa Radell. The scabs were all hired a few weeks after the strike ended, when P&G fired Harding Lemay, Stephen Lemay, Chris Whitesell and Barbara Hagstrom after only nine weeks.

[John]

Part 2

http://www.welovesoaps.net/2014/07/catching-up-with-janet-iacobuzio-part-2.html

[EricMontreal22]

She talks about how she got into soaps in part one.

Wow she wrote the Bianca coming out script? Funny that she seems to have no idea what happened to Bianca after, but I guess when you're writing soaps you don't have much time to watch other soaps. And Bob Guza was a jerk? *shock*

[LeClerc]

I'm pretty sure she did start writing during the strike, but she managed to tell her story without mentioning that fact lol.

Would have loved for her to talk more about her interim HW stint at GH, which was a pretty weak period.

Interesting to find out for certain who wrote Bianca's coming out scenes. I always assumed Bettina Bradbury had written them.

Who fired her from OLTL- Higley or Carlivati?

[cassadine1991]

Carlivati fired her from OLTL and GH

[LeClerc]

Ah that's right. I forgot she was at GH when he took over.

[EricMontreal22]

I actually thought Agnes did it--at least some of the dialogue. SHe returned specifically for that story (and because the show had been a mess,) and she's well known for tweaking dialogue and writing key sequences (Hell, according to her, she wrote the funny scene between Joe and Billy Clyde in the online version because she knew Ray always wanted to do a comic scene.)

[jcar03]

She refers to Guza as a total mensch, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary a mensch is a person of integrity and honor (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mensch)

[EricMontreal22]

Oy! LOL I thought it was an insult...

[jcar03]

I had to look it up because the way she said "I never forgot it" I thought the same thing as you.

[JONNYSBRO]

Janet and Jean P would make a good team they worked together at ATWT. Janet should come co head write y and r.

[EricMontreal22]

Jean P has never made a good team member with anyone (actually apparently she was a good breakdown writer--which is where she built her reputation with Malone and Griffith's OLTL--but never as a HW). Even when she briefly Co-HW with Agnes Nixon the show suddenly became so schizophrenic--it would be easy to bet money on which stories who was focusing on.

[John]

Janet is happy working with Chris Whitesell & Gary Tomlin at Days. She's a great SW and Days does well by her

[KMan101]

I appreciate that she learned from Richard and Carolyn. They often write fantastic scripts for DAYS. Her scripts are good from what I can remember, but I can almost always tell when a DAYS episode was penned by Salmons or the Cullitons.