Jump to content

ARTICLE: ‘Beyond the Gates’ Formally Announces Writing Team, ‘Robert Guza Jr. Named Co-Head Writer Alongside Creator Michele Val Jean


Errol

Recommended Posts

  • Webmaster
Michele Val Jean, The Gates, #TheGates

Following up on this week’s announcement that “Beyond the Gates” will premiere Monday, February 24, 2025 on CBS, the network is formally announcing the show’s writing team.

Robert Guza, Jr., who had previously been named an executive producer alongside creator, head writer, executive producer and showrunner Michele Val Jean, will also be part of the show’s writers’ room as co-head writer. In addition to serving as head writer at “General Hospital,” Guza is also best known for his writing work on “Santa Barbara” (writer), “Sunset Beach” (co-creator; co-head writer) and “Loving” (co-head writer). In primetime, his writing credits include “Melrose Place,” “Models Inc.” and “General Hospital: Night.” He was a story consultant for “Port Charles,” the first spinoff series for “General Hospital” early in the show’s run.

Susan Dansby, who most recently served as a writer at “The Young and the Restless” working in various writing capacities, including story consultant, is joining “Beyond the Gates” as the show’s script editor. Dansby’s previous daytime work includes associate head writer at “As The World Turns,” and directing at both “General Hospital” and spin-off series “Port Charles.” She had also served as a consulting producer for “Ambitions” and as an associate producer at “General Hospital.”

Michael Montgomery will serve as the show’s continuity producer, having previously served as a script and story coordinator, breakdown writer and scriptwriter at “The Young and the Restless.”Judy Tate (“Another World,” “As The World Turns”), Danielle Paige (“Days of our Lives,” “Guiding Light”), Jazmen Darnell Brown (“Ambitions,” “Saints and Sinners”), Cheryl L. Davis (“As The World Turns,” “Days of our Lives”) and Lynn Martin (“The City,” “The Young and the Restless”) have been hired as the show’s scriptwriters while the breakdown writers include Ron Carlivati (“One Life to Live,” “Days of our Lives”), Sara A. Bibel (“The Young and the Restless”), Christopher Dunn (“Santa Barbara,” “All My Children”), Gregori J. Martin (“The Bay”) and Teresa Zimmerman (“The Young and the Restless,” “The Bold and the Beautiful”).

The new daytime drama series from the CBS Studios/NAACP Venture will air weekdays at 2:00 p.m. ET/1:00 p.m. PT on the CBS Television Network and will be available to stream Live and On Demand on Paramount+*.

Production on “Beyond the Gates” formally began on Wednesday, October 30 with the cast, crew and producers gathering at the show’s new Atlanta, Georgia-based studio for a ribbon cutting ceremony ahead of the first cast table read. Commemorating the start of season one, the cast also came together and contributed signed scripts and letters to their future selves that would be placed inside a time capsule and encased on the series stages for future retrieval. Physical production for the series began on Friday, November 1.

“Beyond the Gates” stars Tamara Tunie, Clifton Davis, Daphnee Duplaix, Karla Mosley, Alex Alegria, Lauren Buglioli, Brandon Claybon, Timon Kyle Durrett, Sean Freeman, Ben Gavin, Marquita Goings, Jibre Hordges, Jen Jacob, Maurice Johnson, Trisha Mann-Grant, Mike Manning, RhonniRose Mantilla, Ambyr Michelle, Colby Muhammad and Arielle Prepetit.

Set in a leafy Maryland suburb just outside of Washington D.C., and in one the most affluent African American counties in the United States, “Beyond The Gates” is where viewers will find a posh gated community filled with winding tree-lined streets and luxurious mansions that the wealthy call home. At the center of it all are the Duprees, a powerful and prestigious multi-generational family who are the very definition of Black royalty. 

Behind these pristine walls and lush, manicured gardens are juicy secrets and scandals waiting to be uncovered, while those living outside these gates are watching ever closely. For every person who has “made it,” there are always those who have not. Follow the characters as they live, love, work, and play, all while trying to navigate life… some more gracefully than others.

Developed and produced by the CBS Studios/NAACP Venture, led by Sheila Ducksworth, in partnership with P&G Studios, a division of Procter & Gamble, “Beyond the Gates” marks the first-ever one-hour Black daytime soap opera and the first daytime drama series to premiere since “Passions” in 1999.

In addition to Michele Val Jean and Robert Guza Jr.Julie Carruthers (“All My Children,” “Port Charles”), Leon Russell, Derrick Johnson, Kimberly Doebereiner and Anna Saalfeld as executive producers, along with Ducksworth.

*Paramount+ with SHOWTIME subscribers will have access to stream Live via the live feed of their local CBS affiliate on the service, as well as On Demand. Paramount+ Essential subscribers will not have the option to stream Live but will have access to On Demand the day after the series airs.



Note: The post ‘Beyond the Gates’ Formally Announces Writing Team, ‘Robert Guza Jr. Named Co-Head Writer Alongside Creator Michele Val Jean appeared first on the Soap Opera Network website.

Read More

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 9
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • Members

Honestly, overall, this writing team is solid. Real solid. Michele Val Jean is classic & Robert Guza Jnr, despite all of his faults, will bring some real excitement to Sweeps period, and they both worked together on General Hospital, so that's a promising sign. Susan Dansby is finally getting her due as script editor⏤which means bullshit won't be making it onscreen. And I'm happy they have a continuity producer. I don't believe any other soap has one of those, especially the one with a "historian" as head writer.

The two names I don't like seeing are Sara A. Bibel & the "writer," both of whom I'm at least in comfort knowing are breakdown writers, only. Their roles will be tight and restricted, thankfully. But, I love seeing an all-Black writing team of script writers, which will provide a very unique POV to American daytime viewers. Let's go!!! Bring it the frick on!!!!!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I'll come as Modesta Josefina - the ex-hooker from Another World. 

Please register in order to view this content

 And I think BTG parties is not a "can do it"... but a MUST-do-it. The first new soap opera in 25 years - we should celebrate like there's no tomorrow. Ha! - so many people through the years were saying that it will never happen. It ain't over till the fat lady sings. Nothing is impossible... and BTG is proof of that. A new era for soap operas is beginning and I'm going to be talking about this to my grandchildren one day.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I absolutely love the news about their scripting team. We might finally see a soap airing now that has an identity instead of generic soap which is what we mostly get as far as the scripts go on the others.

Ron should not HW again. I have no issue with him as a breakdown writer. I cannot imagine him and Guza gelling but time will tell.

And as far as Guza goes- if we get 1996-1998 Guza, it’s going to be fine. He still had some fun, there was intrigue, romance, depth, real emotional drama and taking chances. What I do not want to see is unrelenting darkness and misogyny playing out every day for years. Hopeful this team gets the need for balance overall.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 6 months later...
  • Members

The writing has gotten VERY weak!!!!!

Example: The new Ted (weak Ted) makes the statement about his daughter Kat, "Maybe she will convince my wife".  Anyone else would have said, "I hope that she will convince her mother".  The closest relationship is mother to daughter, not her dad's wife.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



  • Recent Posts

    • She was great on there. And Wings. And so many shows. I don't feel like we get those character actors as much now.
    • Cady did have a southern accent as Dixie in her first few years playing the character... but it started to minimize the longer she played the character (which tracks because my aunt had a heavy southern accent when married my uncle and years living in the north has softened it quite a bit). Her initial stint playing Rosanna was partly due to mirroring the previous actress and eventually developing her own take on the character. And the thing about her take as Kelly on Y & R was that she was too sedate when she first took over playing the role (she was supposed to play a woman that had recently lost her child.. and trying to keep things together) and then went OTT crazy and didn't play it well.    And I don't care to remember her attempt at playing Jennifer on Days. I think this Pamela character is the first time she's playing a character from the start and I think she's like a kid at a candy store.  She's having so much fun trying different things... and I hope eventually she decides to settle on a more consistent character for Pamela (perhaps her love of accents is a character trait based on something traumatic that happened to her in the past maybe).
    • That's sad. I remember her mostly from ER and the shortlived, yet very funny, sitcom The Powers That Be.
    • As always loved seeing Ric with Liz. I hope the show forever keeps them in each others orbit even if it’s just platonic. I’m sure she’s going to cut him out when she finds out he’s blackmailing Alexis though. So darn.
    • I have to be honest I’m really struggling with this show. I love everything with Eva/Leslie/Ted/Nicole/Kat and enjoy Dani and Bill’s shenanigans (I’m on the Hayley needs to be recast train now tho), Chelsea is second to Kat as my favorite Dupree grandkid and I loved her coming out to her mom. The show was on a truly great run with the big Leslie and Eva reveal at Nicole and Ted’s anniversary party and the fall out has still been good even with the unnecessary Ted recast and them making Leslie kind of dumb by exposing herself too much unnecessarily. The real problem for me started when they rotated back to way too damn much screen time for Derek/Ashley/Andre (if anyone should have been up first for a recast it was these three IMO). They tried way too hard to drum up drama between Ashley and Derek and the actors were clearly fighting for their mediocre charisma less acting lives to make it work but none of it landed, just horrible. Naomi and Jacob and this weird homeless woman story are also BORING. I can see where its potentially going but IDGAF at all, my only hope for them is that they’re building a triangle with Naomi/Jacob/Kat because Jacob and Kat have stronger chemistry together than their current love interests (Eva is the only one who can make the awful Tomas work). Martin, his secret and still cringe worthy acting got kind of interesting with Bill dropping hints to Smitty but they completely lost me with that lil fakeout scene at the country club. The lame “teenagers” (air quotes because Samantha is no Bianca Lawson and never beating the black Andrea Zuckerman allegations) can get off my screen as well. Joey creeping on Vanessa is grossing me out at this point, I actually quite like Vanessa and Doug now but Joey falls totally flat as a villain and someone we’re supposed to buy Vanessa being enamored with. I’m glad they’ve finally set up something interesting for Vernon and Anita to do with this girl band reunion instead of Anita wringing her hands and telling us she feels darkness coming and Vernon giving a civil rights speech every episode but yeah… People who’ve posted with me for other shows know I’m not one for fast forwarding or hate watching either, if I find a majority of a show is not working I usually just quit but because of what this show represents for me as a Black male soap fan I really want to stick it out. Its just become a challenge lately. I saw Guza has left the building and I REALLY hope we hear about some more BTS changes. The additions of Tracy Thompson and Jamie Giddens don’t exactly inspire a lot of confidence from me tho. Honestly praying hard for a new EP to replace JHC, a lot of the stuff that annoyed about her PC and AMC runs has started to match up here. I’m giving the show through the Summer to rectify some things but IDK how long I can hold on tbh. Its been a struggle to even finish some of these episodes lately.
    • I agree. I liked the episode but it felt jarring to suddenly return to a bunch of plots that had been put on pause since the Nurses' Ball started. Although I did like Laura popping in at the end to tell Alexis that millions of dollars have suddenly disappeared from Ace's trust fund. One set of scenes that made me feel optimistic for the next few months were between Sofia Mattsson and Rory Gibson. While Rory has been good as a darker, colder Michael this week, I was worried that he might not have much range. But he really warmed up with Mattsson, and I thought that (for the first time) Michael and Sasha had some genuine chemistry.
    • Next week is going to be such a sad time... I just feel it based on what was shown today. I'm wondering if the whole John being bandaged thing being a throwback to how he first arrived on the show was a Ron C idea since it just seems as though this would be something he would come up with.  If so, it's good that Cwikly/Ford are in charge with the implementing of the idea instead of him. Just a delayed thought from the Ciara scenes earlier in the week, or last week.. and how she had an odd way of dressing/acting.  I chuckle because little Ciara did say that she admired and wanted to be just like Kristen when she grew up.  So the fact that her outfit choices are so odd/off beat and her manner is a bit OTT just fits.. especially since Eileen's Kristen had an odd sense of fashion and that frantic OTT undertone to her delivery. With that said, a part of me wonders how Eileen's Kristen would have handled the scenes being done this week in regards to John's situation.   
    • My god the smirking was back in full force today. He almost started smiling after Johnny mentioned he wouldn’t be there if EJ hadn’t raped Sami. I will say I did like seeing him with Dee as they’ve always had great chemistry.    They really are giving a lot of false hope with John getting better. I wish they hadn’t done that. Monday is going to be devastating. I really liked all the characters mixing and mingling today.  Nu-Rachel is still too sweet for me. Loved all the flashbacks. Everyone looked so young. Really enjoyed Brady’s scenes with John today.  
    • Valerie Mahaffey Dead: ‘Northern Exposure,’ ‘Dead to Me’ Actress Was 71 Loved her. I've never seen her Doctors work. 
    • Valerie Mahaffey Dead: ‘Northern Exposure,’ ‘Dead to Me’ Actress Was 71 I just loved Valerie on my early '90s TV shows. This one gets me. 
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy