28 minutes ago, Noel said:

Sorry, but can someone breakdown the roles and responsibilities of a breakdown writer vs. a head-writer? O*Net does not help at all. I would say going down the titles, the head-writer writes the stuff while the breakdown writers polishes it up a little bit??? 

Like I said ... I tried O*Net. I'm coming up a dollar short. In my field of expertise, it would be interesting to hear about the R&R's. Not so much about the KSAO's.

From what I've heard, the head writer creates the general outline for the storyline and how long it's going to be seen onscreen, and the breakdown writer adds in the filler to the story in order to stretch it out to that projected length. 

I was saying that Days needed new breakdown writers even before Jamey showed up and now I think they need them now more than ever.

Edited March 15, 20223 yr by AbcNbc247

I always thought that Head Writers write the story in form of a prose. Breakdown writers then break that story into episodes, creating episode outlines. And then script writers take those outlines and turn them into dialogue/scripts. 

Christopher Dunn rejoined the breakdown team in December 2021; his episodes will air this summer. Never thought I'd say this but maybe having a straight male in the room will help balance the extremely childish camp.

1 hour ago, Manny said:

I always thought that Head Writers write the story in form of a prose. Breakdown writers then break that story into episodes, creating episode outlines. And then script writers take those outlines and turn them into dialogue/scripts. 

That's correct - but given the current climate and everyone cutting corners as much as possible, no idea if things have been altered a bit to produce things quicker. 

Edited March 15, 20223 yr by BetterForgotten

5 hours ago, te. said:

I think the main issue with Renée is that while she was popular during her original run, she's also a character that kind of existed in a vacuum for three or so years of the shows run. They've literally made no efforts with keeping her alive since then, unlike let's say Addie, Isabella, even Paige etc. Alex Marshall is another character that's just lost in the mists of time despite a fairly long run of eight years. It's not like they're going to bring back 85-year-old Quinn Redeker, so what's the point?

This is why flashbacks would be helpful.  Even just to give us a hint of some context or interactions.  There have been none of Renee.  If the show can't afford flashbacks of PS or these actors then the story should have been scrapped.  Even the Possession story got a great deal of flashbacks to set it up and the devil possession is much more famous, more recent, and objectively much easier to understand. 

The Renee story isn't very easy to understand and the show is using a few moments of exposition from a select group of characters to try to explain it.  And Jamey Giddens is filling in the gaps poorly on twitter.  I don't know the median age of Days viewers anymore, but I assume at least a good portion (like myself) weren't born when Renee was on the show.  I can't see them being able to understand it without having to look up the character on the internet.  I don't think a viewer should have to do homework to be able to enjoy a story.  Outside of it being awful, the name dropping (Don, Alex, David, etc) isn't very relevant and like you said a bunch of characters lost in time for the most part.

In the grand scheme of things, Renee is barely a blip on the radar really. I don't understand why these people expect a pat on their backs for dredging up character names that anyone who can use Wikipedia can do. 

Renee died on screen in 1983, expecting the audience to know a character that has not been mentioned for nearly 40 years is a big ask. I was alive then, but my shows of choice were on PBS for kids. If Peacock would have classic Days to watch from that era would be different.

2 hours ago, RavenWhitney said:

Christopher Dunn rejoined the breakdown team in December 2021; his episodes will air this summer. Never thought I'd say this but maybe having a straight male in the room will help balance the extremely childish gay camp.

Fixed!

31 minutes ago, carolineg said:

This is why flashbacks would be helpful.  Even just to give us a hint of some context or interactions.  There have been none of Renee.  If the show can't afford flashbacks of PS or these actors then the story should have been scrapped.  Even the Possession story got a great deal of flashbacks to set it up and the devil possession is much more famous, more recent, and objectively much easier to understand. 

The Renee story isn't very easy to understand and the show is using a few moments of exposition from a select group of characters to try to explain it.  And Jamey Giddens is filling in the gaps poorly on twitter.  I don't know the median age of Days viewers anymore, but I assume at least a good portion (like myself) weren't born when Renee was on the show.  I can't see them being able to understand it without having to look up the character on the internet.  I don't think a viewer should have to do homework to be able to enjoy a story.  Outside of it being awful, the name dropping (Don, Alex, David, etc) isn't very relevant and like you said a bunch of characters lost in time for the most part.

I mean, I've been a viewer of the show for 25 years - almost 30 if you take into account that 1993 episodes started airing here in 1997, and I literally have no idea who Renée is outside seeing a few clips on YouTube. It would definitively help to do flashbacks at least, if only so that viewers could enjoy high-quality clips of when the show had a budget. Now it's just random names; unless they're intending to re-cast Renée and bring her back from the dead (why?!), I don't see why we shouldn't at least be thrown some bones.

16 minutes ago, ~bl~ said:

Renee died on screen in 1983, expecting the audience to know a character that has not been mentioned for nearly 40 years is a big ask. I was alive then, but my shows of choice were on PBS for kids. If Peacock would have classic Days to watch from that era would be different.

That would've been a great idea since Peacock seems to be floundering a bit - upload classic DAYS featuring Renée and the Salem Slasher on there while this storyline is running.

9 minutes ago, te. said:

I mean, I've been a viewer of the show for 25 years - almost 30 if you take into account that 1993 episodes started airing here in 1997, and I literally have no idea who Renée is outside seeing a few clips on YouTube. It would definitively help to do flashbacks at least, if only so that viewers could enjoy high-quality clips of when the show had a budget. Now it's just random names; unless they're intending to re-cast Renée and bring her back from the dead (why?!), I don't see why we shouldn't at least be thrown some bones.

That would've been a great idea since Peacock seems to be floundering a bit - upload classic DAYS featuring Renée and the Salem Slasher on there while this storyline is running.

Even if they took a character that died years ago, it should have been someone that has strong connections to the current cast.   Someone like Samantha (could you imagine LG pretending to be DH's twin lol) or Isabella that are mentioned and are easily tied to the current canvas.  I am not advocating for those characters or anything, but it would have been much easier to use those characters across the show than Renee.  Who's even met Renee on the current show-Tony, Anna, Marlena, Julie, Doug, Roman, and Maggie?  Renee has no children, Tony and Stefano never mentioned her, her parents aren't alive, she has no connection with her siblings, and, frankly, no one seemed to miss her at all.  This has to be one of the most random characters to fake bring back ever on a soap and then she starts name dropping people that haven't been mentioned (outside David/Neil) for decades.  When's the last time someone mentioned Don?  The Reagan Administration?  Marlena doesn't even name drop Don lol.

 

How he got hired I'll never... oh wait, he kissed the Writer's backside.

15 hours ago, DRW50 said:

Who can forget the glories of "black rabbit Jack Abbott" and "cut the crap!"? And IIRC, Jamey's toxic site DC was among those pushing that line. Over and over, star writers and star personalities, and their sycophants, have put the final nails in the coffin of this genre. The current gruesomely untalented, thin-skinned HW of DAYS being one of the best and worst examples. 

LMAO! I had to put all that to the very very back of my memory Carl 🤣. Giddens and DC really gave Nelson Branco’s ultra trashy Suds Reports a run for the money in 2008-2010 didn’t they? I had paid no attention to DC for years and ignored Giddens so of course here we are now with him actually attempting to write a soap. 

3 hours ago, Liberty City said:

How he got hired I'll never... oh wait, he kissed the Writer's backside.

That’s the thing: so many writers/journalists/critics who ostensibly cover the industry are secretly angling to worm their way in themselves. They’ll pull their punches on the people they want to work with eventually. Can’t burn those bridges with negative coverage.

5 hours ago, ~bl~ said:

Renee died on screen in 1983, expecting the audience to know a character that has not been mentioned for nearly 40 years is a big ask. I was alive then, but my shows of choice were on PBS for kids. If Peacock would have classic Days to watch from that era would be different.

I agree but that's what flashbacks are for.

Interesting, so I sort of had it right with the roles and responsibilities. Sort of. Despite one's writer position, it's still a group effort. Overall, it needs to be cohesive. I don't feel that whenever I watch the show in general.