Y&R Fires Entire Breakdown Writing Staff

[janea4old]

At DAYS, the headwriter writes the big longterm story.  The breakdown writer writes the daily detailed episode description, as in sourceryan's tweet.  At Days, they have one breakdown writer for each day of the week. And then the scriptwriters write the dialogue.  There's supposed to be a continuity editor but I don't know if they currently have one.

Edited February 24, 2023 by janea4old

[Broderick]

[I left two steps out in my dissertation above.  When the "headwriting team" meets with SONY and CBS on Monday morning, the headwriting team presents not only the "long term projections" but also a weekly "thrust document".  The thrust document tells the executives what will be happening in the upcoming week.  The SONY and CBS executives issue their opinions on the "thrust document".  SONY and CBS can basically say, "We don't like your thrust document, Mr. Griffith; go back and work on it some more."  If the executives APPROVE the thrust document, then it's ready for breakdown into 5 scripts -- hence the 5 breakdown writers. 

The headwriters then meet with the 5 breakdown writers and hand them the approved "thrust document".  From the thrust document, the breakdown writers craft the flow of the 5 individual episodes.  

By Friday afternoon, the breakdown writers have completed their episodic breakdowns of the thrust document.  The headwriters edit/change/correct the 5 breakdowns and then present the 5 edited breakdowns to SONY/CBS on Friday afternoon for approval.  If the 5 breakdowns are approved, they're then assigned to a scriptwriter.  The scriptwriter's completed script is then given back to the headwriter.]

In my opinion, the headwriter should SKIP the "thrust document" entirely and simply write the breakdowns.  This constant "pass around" of thrust documents, breakdowns and completed scripts seems to me as though as it's thoroughly zapping the creativity from the writing process.  Instead of being able to write something clever, you're just going over the same crap repeatedly -- first a "thrust", then a "breakdown", and then a script, EACH of which must be edited and approved by a million people.     

[Vee]

Which was a clear directive: To make it look and feel like a Frons-era ABC soap, specifically GH, to try and hook their viewers, come off 'less stuffy' and also cut costs.

There is a reason breakdown writers have been largely in use since the time of the horse and buggy passed us by. It is because HWs attempting to do it all themselves in the modern age generally leads to the HW (and/or their entire personal life) collapsing under the weight of it.

[BoldRestless]

 

You could probably pass legislation with less people approving. Good grief.

[Broderick]

Paul Raven, I guess what I'm saying is that if you're a creative writer -- (and Josh Griffith probably isn't) -- then you're going to shoot your Creative Load all over the long-term projection and all over the thrust document.  After that, your Creative Juice Shooter will go limp.  

The thrust document, which has your Creative Juice spilled all over it, then goes to someone you barely even know (the breakdown writer), who spends a few days on your thrust document creating a more detailed outline of a script, which might ultimately bear no resemblance AT ALL to the way you envisioned it when you first Shot Your Creative Wad on it.  It comes back to you, and you have to edit it, change it, recreate it in the image that you'd originally wanted to present it in the first place. 

Once you've spun your wheels dripping your Creative Juice all over it for a SECOND time, you've got to get it approved by the network and the distributor.

Now it goes to a scriptwriter, whom you might barely know, and that person is going to take it a slightly different direction than you'd planned when you first Thrusted.  It then comes back to you, and you get to change/edit/correct it AGAIN, long days/weeks after you'd originally seen this script in your head.

It's basically taken THREE LONG STEPS to create a completed script that you'd originally envisioned in your own (creative) mind weeks ago.  You've spent days working on it, when you could've just done it yourself the first day, with a small team sitting around you in a "writer's room" where EVERYONE is shooting their Creative Wads all at the same time, in unison, toward a common goal that everyone understands and can discuss face-to-face while they're working on it.      

  

[Vee]

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[Paul Raven]

Broderick, you've sold me (despite the repeated wad references!!)

I would imagine in creating the weeks thrust you would picture the characters, where they are, who they interact with and what they're saying -that would be an intrinsic part of the process.

I remember reading on Jason 47's Days site of correspondence from Bill Bell to Betty Corday about his frustration that scripts he had written had lost his intention due to a director or actor choice.

And that was w/o all those levels of interference we see today.

[Broderick]

Yes, I think the initial creative vision -- if such a vision ever existed -- gets lost in all these (unnecessarily complex) layers of passing around an idea.  I might've had a *great* idea for an episode 3 weeks ago; but now I've had to write a thrust document about it, had to meet with my bosses about it, had to assign it to a breakdown writer, had to edit & change the breakdown writer's work, had to meet with my bosses for a second time about it, had to farm it out to a script writer, and then had to proofread the script, edit it, and change it -- and by that time, I'm on a whole new idea, and I don't even care about the idea from 3 weeks ago anymore.  The mechanics of generating my idea from 3 weeks ago have completely neutered it.  If it could've come to fruition that day, it would've still mattered to me.    

[sheilaforever]

Ain't this the truth. I was shocked. On B&B it seemed like they actually spent some time to polish for the return scripts and stories. Didn't sound like it in Genoa City at all.

[Broderick]

I actually wondered if the Writers Guild of America had forbidden them to work during the shutdown, because they clearly did nothing to improve the quality of their scripts, although they'd had weeks & weeks to rewrite and improve.  I wouldn't have been able to stand it.  If I'd written material for television under a time constraint, and suddenly the time constraint was lifted, I would've redone mine.  Every word of it.  

[ma746]

I don't know if it's of any interest, but in Australia, the soaps are written in a very similar way.

The department normally consists of the following in this order of hierarchy:

• Script Producer - has overall control over the story and script
  • Associate Script Producers - one oversees story room, one oversees scripting
    • Storyliners - two or three in the story room with the Associate Script Producer
    • Script Editors - two or three, rotating weekly, overseen by Associate Script Producer
      • Script Coordinators - the cogs that keep the admin turning

Every few months, the team have a story conference with the Series Producer who oversees the day-to-day production. They're on the same "level" as the Script Producer. In that story conference, the overall arcs are discussed, working with the stories that the Script Producer wants to tell.

On a week to week basis, the following happens:

• Week starts with a fleshing out of the stories and what/who will appear in what episodes (only so many sets/locations allowed per week, and cast are contracted to 2 or 3 eps a week);
• The story team then plots the episodes scene by scene into 'plot notes', which are sent to freelance writers. This process tends to use coloured post-it notes to identify the stories and the process can take up to 2 days. Process normally involves running all the 'story beats' (ie. the scenes) and then weaving them to get the best flowing episode. This process can also see short-run stories conceived by that team - the script producer normally delegates this process to their associate and the storyliners;
• When the writers come in for their meetings, they are briefed scene by scene and then go away and write a 'scene breakdown' (SBD) which is a 10 page document, that puts into prose what will happen in the episode, using the plot notes that have been plotted by the in-house team;
• Once the SBD comes in, the Associate and the Script Producer both edit it, before it goes back to the writers to write their scripts. They have two weeks to write the scripts. The 'block' (the 5 episodes for the week) are then edited by a script editor and 'over-edited' by the Associate and Script Producer, before being released to production through the Script Coordinator.

Overall, seems like a similar process to the US model, but the 'breakdowns' (scene by scene) are actually written by the freelance writers themselves and edited by the 'head writer' (our Script Producer).

Edit: The Script Producer normally has meetings with the Head of Drama/Network Script Executive where their long-reach story arcs are approved or denied. They all get to read/comment on the SBDs. However, my understanding is that it never normally reaches a network level when it's been scripted.

Edited February 24, 2023 by ma746

[titan1978]

Another thing to point out- other than what Bill Bell did, soaps used to actually write a bible of story projections, and had less meetings/interference with network execs.  I cannot imagine how bland and short Josh’s 6 month projections are.

The process of having other writers in the mix, like breakdown writers, also allowed for fine tuning and was another step to get the temperature of what was working or not.  Allowing the HW to make changes based on that week’s filming scripts easier because they were looking at the air shows, near future scripts, and long term. To move the ship relatively smoothly instead of just dropping things abruptly.  It’s a hard job, made harder now by budget constraints, very tight schedules, etc.

What I keep coming back to is who actually thinks he is doing good work at Y&R?  There is no going back to the Bell days.  But at least try something!

[Faulkner]

That’s the thing too. Most of the social media response to this show is VERY negative. And that goes for the people who we’d perceive as Y&R’s core viewers. Clearly they just don’t care and are just managing for margins/running out the clock.

[Contessa Donatella]

Naturally, as is usually the case, fan do not know who behind the scenes is actually exerting power & influence over what happens on their screens. When they look for someone to blame for their frustration & dissatisfaction with what is & is not happening, its easiest to blame JG. The buck tends to stop with the HW. Sure, it could be CBS. Sure, it could be Sony. Sure, it could be that the process no longer serves effectively even if it did in the past. But, the very fact that so many fans are so unhappy & so many echo the same concerns, that it is likely that something is very wrong & needs fixing. There is a tendency among execs to be suspicious of fans online because they think they're driven by negativity, that it's more cool to post complaints than satisfaction but I recall that in the past Y&R fans stood out in their positive posts & compliments. I believe that this traditionally #1 soap is at a crisis point & that the show needs to find something to try & I don't think this week is an example of constructive action. I've always been suspicious that the writing process was flawed. Many people at many times have spoken of the difficulty of writing by committee. We only have 4 soaps left. I think everyone is afraid of the possibility of that changing to 3. Personally I think that they need a new HW & a new EP & that they be separate, two individuals. 

[titan1978]

It makes me sad for the folks that have stuck it out watching daily during the last 15 years or so.

I was truly rewarded as a longtime GH fan for their 50th- lots of returns of familiar faces, a sense of fun injected back into the show.  I’m not saying everything they did was a success, but it was fun to watch again.  RC and FV were trying to save the show, and they did knowing they might have more eyes during the special anniversary. This feels different, mostly because JG has tanked more than once as HW here.