Y&R Fires Entire Breakdown Writing Staff

[Contessa Donatella]

@Toups Do you know the names of the 5?

Edited February 23, 2023 by Tonksadora

[Bright Eyes]

When does the show's contract come up for renewal? Isn't it sometime next year? So we'll have at least a year of this clownery. 

Edited February 23, 2023 by Bright Eyes

[mikelyons]

Breakdown writers (as of December 2022):

Natalie Minardi Slater (Second most senior writer on Y&R after Janice Ferri Esser, who's still writing dialogue.)

Jeff Beldner

Michael Conforti

Marin Gazzaniga

Simone Hawthorne

 

 

[Vee]

I'm not defending Griffith, but we have no idea if this is a mental health thing so much as clearly cutting costs to the bare minimum and Griffith being foolish enough to think he can do it all himself. Or it could be CBS/Sony pushing for it as well.

I remember Gazzaniga from working on the PP soaps (I think they ended up one of the final de facto HWs near the end as PP kept cutting people to save their dwindling funds). I think Michael Conforti was one of the guys credited for the early youth writing for Dillon and Georgie at GH, though I may be wrong. I know Jeff Beldner's name but not from where.

[dragonflies]

Honestly I can see SONY/CBS pushing for this

[BoldRestless]

Are breakdown writers full time positions? Why don't they just make it a contract gig with no benefits? Or is that against the union's rules?

I'm assuming Griffith isn't taking on the extra work for free, so he's being paid something, but not as much as the invidual writers would make? And that's allowed by the union? 

[mikelyons]

Sara Bibel confirmed on Twitter she's one of the fired breakdown writers.

[Soapsuds]

I feel the same. YR lost its luster long time ago. The show is so cheap now in ever way.

Edited February 23, 2023 by Soapsuds

[dragonflies]

The writer of the article is correcting it to add BOLD since they didn't list them as one of the soaps on the air lol 

[Soapsuds]

Beldner was on AMC for ages. He then went to ATWT.

Michael Conforti use to appear on ATWT as an actor during the Dawn Wheeler story.

[mikelyons]

It's a bit muddled. Breakdown writers take the long term story from the head writer and create daily outlines of the show which the dialogue writers turn into scripts. Usually, there are five outline writers because one writer works on one outline per week. Some soaps have had one or two outline writers; others have had six or more... It just depends on the budget of the show. If the breakdown staff is eliminated, then the HW would - in theory - receive a check for each breakdown they write.

Is Sony/Josh allowed to do this? Well, yes. If their contracts were up - or their contract cycles were up - then it's a totally legal move. Smart? No. Legal? Yes. 

[dragonflies]

 

 

 

Edited February 23, 2023 by dragonflies

[janea4old]

 

 

 

[soapfan770]

Fair point on Griffith. I just remember he does have a long history of reckless decisions ie see his Days work or previous Y&R stints. That said I wouldn’t be surprised at all if CBS/Sony was pushing for this as well. 

Isn’t Griffith still not in good standing with the WGA after going Fi-Core in the 2007 strike all those years ago?

I mainly remember Conforti from his GL days in the 90’s as a writer and then later briefly co-HW to clean up McTavish’s run. 

[Contessa Donatella]

I bet you're right & if you're wrong, I bet a lot of people will be wrong with you.