Anybody Ever Write their own Soap?

[beebs]

I like a lot of what I'm hearing. I'd love to see more, and for Y&R as well. MJ was done so wrong by DePriest, I much prefer your direction. And anything better than killing off Quinn. I'm assuming Chad is Chad Rollo, or did you use the same name on a different character?

I did a similar treatment for DAYS starting in 1979 (as a number of you have read, it's in the blog section), but I find myself very overstretched with different projects and gave up early on.

 

I like the idea of going back in time to try and write around the rules of life in a past time frame. Our lives are so connected now with technology and whatnot, that a lot of things that could be done now cannot be done then, and vice versa. I had Steve Olson involved in a bigamy story with his Parisian girlfriend Mimi and Mary Anderson, who he married to get at that sweet sweet Anderson $$$, whereas nowadays one quick google search and a phone call would upend that in about five minutes.

 I also really enjoyed touching on topical issues of that time that wouldn't be considered that cutting edge today (I had Doug & Julie struggling to conceive, which had been hinted at on the show at the time, so Neil suggests IVF, which was, of course, brand new technology at the time), and playing the emotional complexity and fears of the new procedure. 

I'd be intrigued to do a treatment for Y&R as well, maybe going back to 1980 or 82 when the Abbots really come into play, and maybe seeing what I could do if I continued on with the Brooks and Fosters instead. Who knows what my brain may come up with!

Edited May 16, 2021 by beebs

[Paul Raven]

Loved your Days ideas.Hope you back to it sometime.

It does get difficult as you go along because you have to decide whether to incorporate stuff that happened eg actors leaving or go totally fantasy. That's why I found doing an episode by episode treatment kept things grounded as you soon realized that juggling too many characters or stories  was impossible to handle.

 

OK some more AW stuff.

I had Zane open a gym, to provide another meeting place for characters (there was juice/snack bar)and keep him in the story. Ben McKinnon and later a returned Carter Todd worked there.

Eventually I faced that issue so many writers do of how to keep a married couple frontburner so Zane was killed off in a mini story about a trainer supplying drugs at the gym. Felicia had to struggle with widowhood. Dr Russ Matthews returned and was attracted to Felicia but she shunned his advances but eventually agreed to date. Russ, having lost wives was understanding and they settled into a tentative romance.

Iris returned and wanted to work alongside her Dad at Cory. Mac was sceptical but Iris proved to have talent working at Brava. She wanted to rekindle a romance with Russ.

 

I followed DePriest's lead and returned Mary and Reg but looking back I may not have gone that course.

Mary's return rocked the McKinnons and affected Vince's budding romance with Maisie but eventually Vince and Maisie married and became a tentpole couple. Maisie became a mother figure to Sara, a waitress at the restaurant. Sara became attached to Ben's baby Sam and they got involved. However, when the time came for them to make love Sara freaked out and pushed Ben away.

At this time Sam's mother Paulina arrived to claim her son. She claimed to have left Sam with Ben because she was in danger from some unsavoury associations. Her past caught up with her and she was almost killed. Ben getting nowhere with Sara once again fell for Paulina and they played happy families for a while.

 

Michael and Donna played out their fiery romance but I had his ex fiance Joel turn up as a spoiler to announce she would marry him. Michael had to let Joel down gently but she understood and they stayed friends. Donna was none too pleased but eventually they drew close. At Jake and Marley's wedding, Reg revealed that Michael slept with Donna' mom .Donna, upset got into a car crash and was comatose for months.

 

Cass and Kathleen dealt with Cecile's return but finally married. Kathleen got the opportunity to work on a movie screenplay and Cass was jealous of her success but eventually agreed to move to LA to pursue her dreams. When they were due to return months later,Cass arrived alone as Kathleen again got a great work offer. Alone and vulnerable, he slept with Joel, who after failed relationships with Michael and Mitch decided to become a single mother. Sure enough she became pregnant with Cass' child. Kathleen did return and befriended Joel whose pregnancy was now evident, She assured Cass he was not the father but Cass was not totally convinced. When the truth was revealed, Kathleen left Bay City and Cass.

 

Joel was revealed to be Sara's sister. Joel had left years before to escape their abusive father and now realized she had left Sara vulnerable to him. Sure enough Sara remembered the abuse-hence her inability to make love to Ben. Sara and Joel went back home to confront their Dad , who was then killed by their mom, who had suffered for years under his control. They agreed to keep the crime quiet and buried the body.

 

Vicky was set to marry Dennis when Jake returned - Marley had gone to France to do an Art course. Vicky and Jake spent a night together but he insisted that he was committed to Marley, so Vicky went ahead withe wedding. Iris of course was none too happy with Vicky as a daughter in law. Vicky found herself pregnant and was sure the baby was Jake's. She confided in Donna and they decided termination was the best option. Before that could happen, Vicky was in an accident and Dennis was informed she was pregnant so Vicky went along with the lie Dennis was the father.

 

More to come...

[Jermsie]

Several years ago I decided to write my own soap, but then read about an old canceled soap called WHERE THE HEART IS which was written and created by Margaret DePriest.  Later, Claire Labine drove the ratings up with her writing.  Anyhow, the original series centered around the wealthy Hathaway family with the first episode centering around the funeral of Judge Hathaway.  I decided to start a continuation of it by having the first episode center around the funeral of Julian Hathaway.  Thats how I got the whole Hathaway family back to the fictional town of Norcross.  

 

I delved into a psychological story where one of the characters, Dr. Carolyn Reynolds, is a therapist to the late Julian's sister, Kate, who has a split personality.  Carolyn uses Kate's alter, Betty, to plot the murders of all the Hathaways.  Carolyn states to her sister that Judge Hathaway was the one that sentenced their father to prison resulting in his death in a prison fight and thereafter theiir mother was so distraught that she committed suicide.  That led to the govt taking the children and they were all adopted by different families.  She wanted to destroy the Hathaway family like the judge destroyed her family.   Another storyline was one of the younger characters, Jonas, being gay and sleeping with an older man he met at a bar.  That older man turns out to be his uncle.  

 

Sometimes I still want to write it, but I dont know

[Manny]

I really miss my writing. I just never have the time anymore even though I constantly think of new ideas and new stories and characters.. but just no time

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[AbcNbc247]

Sounds pretty good!

Lmao I got the same problem. I was writing so much during the pandemic, but even though I'm glad that things are getting back to normal, it really has cut into my writing time lol

[Gray Bunny]

I used to write a lot and came up with many synopses and character write-ups.  Only 2 projects ever amounted to anything noteworthy. In highschool I wrote a script called "The Young and the Helpess" and ended up shooting it, using friends from highschool and my friend's camera. I edited it on my own software and basically did everything except the actual acting portion. (look it up on YouTube, haha). You could call it a parody, although everything was portrayed seriously. Main character names included Bo, Hope, and Gina. Presumed-dead evil twin returns and takes over the good twin's life. Yada yada yada, all the main soap ingredients, complete with DAYS' original background music from their 1999 soundtrack. 
 

EDIT: forgot to mention. I submitted Young and Helpless to my future college for a scholarship. A good half dozen or so of us at my high school were trying out to get it. Surprisingly, after being an underdog all through highschool, not doing many tv/film projects, I was able to snag the scholarship. I had some haters when they found out I beat them

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The other project was a complete bible I wrote in college for independent credit coinciding with my semester in L.A. interning at a certain soap. The bible was called "Forces of Love" and featured 5 main families. I can't remember all of them, but there were the rich Penningtons, the upper-middle Sterlings and middle class Barrys. I know I modeled the Penningtons similar to GL's Spaulding family. The Sterlings were similar to DAYS' Horton clan. One of the Sterling sons and Barry sons were both gay and ended up together (both highchool aged).  My college professor, a huge All My Children fan, absolutely loved the bible. Alas, it was far too late in the game to actually submit to a network as soaps were already starting to die. 

Edited June 17, 2021 by Gray Bunny

[AbcNbc247]

Well, there's always primetime lol

 

What soap did you intern at?

[Jermsie]

My sister has tried to get me to write something -- ANYTHING!! -- each day...even if  it is minor.  Maybe we should encourage one another