Dagne Crane 89

Peter Galman 79

Jill Andre 90

I'm actually rather relieved there's more living people than I expected.

Oh, I thought of two actors dating back from the '50s!

Nita Talbot, 94

Lee Grant, approximately 97-99

4 minutes ago, Franko said:

Oh, I thought of two actors dating back from the '50s!

Nita Talbot, 94

Lee Grant, approximately 97-99

And they both played the same role -Rose on SFT!

Not to jinx her, but when Lee goes, that's going to be a big chunk of Hollywood history gone. I think she's the last major blacklist survivor.

This was originally posted on the ATWT thread in 2015 thanks to @Paul Raven 
Bringing a copy over here to this "All: General Retro Soap Discussion" thread.
 

https://www.nycitywoman.com/my-life-writing-soaps/

“Welcome to your world as a soap writer,” said the head writer of As The World Turns, when she asked me to join her writing staff in the early 1980’s after two years as her assistant. At the time, there were fourteen soap operas on television and As The World Turns, which had been on the air since 1956, was one of the longest running. I was thrilled! My words would come alive on national television for the millions of viewers who tuned in every day. I thought it doesn’t get better than that.

Meg Ryan, a journalism student at NYU, had just debuted in a small role in the movieRich and Famous and she was was hired to play Betsy as the female lead in what is known in soap speak as a supercouple. It had taken years for Betsy and her beloved Steve, played by Frank Runyeon, to overcome their many obstacles. They were finally about to marry when Hollywood called: They wanted Meg. We had two weeks to write her off. Our head writer was in tears; Meg could go but she refused to kill Betsy. Our executive producer was more rational and explained that soap opera couples usually only get two weeks of marital bliss because happily married couples on soaps are boring. So after the honeymoon, Betsy was in a car crash and presumed dead. (Downton Abbey fans take note.) Several months later a beautiful blond came out of a coma and, when the bandages were removed, our new Betsy, played by Lindsay Frost, was introduced. Of course she didn’t look like Meg Ryan so we made it clear that plastic surgery had been necessary because of the accident. I wrote her tearful homecoming when the “new Betsy” picked up a phone and said, “Grandma, I’m home.” Marisa Tomei was also in the cast playing a waif who married a prince in a Charles/Diana style wedding. Julianne Moore joined the show in the late ’80s playing identical twins, which was interesting for me because I am the mother of identical twins.

I soon learned that developing and maintaining a soap opera is unlike any other type of television show because it is on Monday through Friday all year long. There is no hiatus and no repeats. It’s the novel that never ends and there are some essential plot twists that every soap opera writer learns to respect:

When someone gets in a car, they are usually not going to make it to their destination, especially if it’s raining.

A one-night stand will likely produce a child.

Rarely does a woman give birth in a hospital. Elevators, remote cabins, and the kitchen floor are some favorite places.

Everybody in town is somehow related. For instance: The man is your father, your uncle, and your first cousin once removed and he’s only ten years older than you!

As a soap opera viewer, you will surely witness SORAS (soap opera rapid aging syndrome). For example, a ten-year-old girl goes to boarding school and when she returns home several months later, she’s eighteen, because there are more stories for teenagers than for ten-year-olds.

If a character dies and the body isn’t found, he or she is likely to return. In one of my favorite story meetings, a new executive producer wanted to bring back a character who had been killed by a jealous wife and turned into a shrunken head. The shrunken head had been seen on air, but the producer was adamant. “Make it work,” he said. And so we did.

Painful as it was for me, it was not unusual to be fired when new head writers or executive producers came on board and wanted to hire their own people. Therefore every time a 13-week cycle ended there was a chance you’d be let go. I was fired from As The World Turns the first time after just one cycle when a new executive producer and head writer took over the show. At the time I was a single mother in New York City and it was important for me to stay here and resist the lure of Los Angeles, where there are many more television writing jobs, so my children could have a stable life. I was subsequently called back by As The World Turns in the early ’90s and stayed on staff for several years until the head writer died and a new regime came in. Between stints I wrote scripts for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade and Full Frontal Fashion,introductions for the hosts of America Movie Classics (AMC), and a documentary series for PBS, to name a few.

The ABC’s of Soaps

Every soap has a Bible written by its creator that outlines the show’s theme. For As The World Turns it was: As the world turns, we know the bleakness of winter, the promise of spring, the fullness of summer and the harvest of autumn. Like other show Bibles, As The World Turns included a description of the core families and detailed back stories of the main characters. The head writer writes long term story projections of up to two years. Following these story lines the head writer maps out the week scene by scene. She (or he) has a staff of six to ten associate writers. Each writer writes one day of the week. There are breakdown writers and scriptwriters. Breakdown writers write the narrative script and the scriptwriter dialogues it. There is also a script editor who makes sure all the days track. It’s like an assembly line that can’t break down and writers can’t miss their deadlines. If you are assigned the script for a Friday episode you know they really like your work because you are writing the script that brings the audience back on Monday. As Agnes Nixon, the creator of several soap operas, once famously said “Make them laugh, make them cry, make them wait.”

On As The World Turns I was a breakdown writer, which I preferred because you got to work closely with the head writer and contribute more to the story. On Loving and Days Of Our Lives, I wrote dialogue scripts. Some soap fans think you only write for certain characters when in fact you write for whoever lands in your day. I’m often asked where I got my ideas for these highly dramatic and often complicated soap opera stories. The answer is simple—from everyday life. And no matter how fantastical the plot might seem, soap stories were very well-researched.

Soap operas proudly used their story lines to cover a variety of issues. Because the audience was so broad the shows reached many people and made a difference in their lives. In the early 1960's a character on Guiding Light had a Pap smear and discovered that she was in the early stages of uterine cancer. Her brush with the disease educated daytime viewers about the test’s value. The show also tackled breast cancer by showing a character getting a mammogram on air. Both Guiding Light and As The World Turns addressed the dangers of teenage alcoholism. Another World aired a daring abortion story in the seventies and Guiding Light had an explosive storyline that brought marital rape to the forefront. As The World Turns introduced a gay character in the eighties and, in 2007, broke ground with the love story of two gay men. Several soaps highlighted story lines on the challenges faced by returning veterans. HIV/AIDS, Alzheimer’s, and multiple personalities have also been addressed.

Today there are only four daytime soap operas on the air. One reason is that game shows, reality shows, and talk shows are cheaper to produce. Also, the massive audience of stay-at-home housewives who thrived on soaps has evaporated. In response to these factors prime time TV converted the soap opera format to once-a-week evening serials with such shows as Dallas, Dynasty, Hill Street Blues, ER, and, more recently, Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, Revenge, Downton Abbey, and The Good Wife. Now cable TV has entered the mix with serials like Homeland, Boardwalk Empire and Girls that are more sophisticated and racy. In the ’50s soaps, married couples slept in separate beds. In the ’60s if a couple was in bed together, one foot had to be on the floor. Today if a couple is in bed, we have what we call the figure eight sheet wrapped around the man’s waist and up to the woman’s shoulders. The advent of cable has loosened the rules because they have fewer restrictions. That goes for the internet as well, where the genre is thriving with numerous web series becoming “guilty pleasures.” So it looks like the ongoing story is alive and well and here to stay!

Julie Poll has written scripts for several soap operas, The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, documentaries and specials. She is the author of the As The World Turns, Guiding Light, and Another World anniversary books.

____________________________________________________
 

I have found Julie Poll mentioned on SON threads
as the author of these books on ATWT and GL.
https://www.amazon.com/stores/Julie-Poll/author/B001IZ1AEQ

I found her on Linked In here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/julie-poll-ab4529a/
with her experience here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/julie-poll-ab4529a/details/experience/

She is on IMDB as "Jill Poll" and "Julia Poll" (as well as Julie Poll).
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2040174/

@JAS0N47  she mentions within the above-quoted "nycitywoman" article
"On Loving and Days Of Our Lives, I wrote dialogue scripts."

Jason, She doesn't list DAYS in her IMDB or Linkedin.  Can you find any mention of her under any of her professional names listed at IMDB (Julie Poll, Jill Poll, Julia Poll).
(I realize that IMDB is sometimes inaccurate).

Edited July 24Jul 24 by janea4old

2 hours ago, janea4old said:

This was originally posted on the ATWT thread in 2015 thanks to @Paul Raven 
Bringing a copy over here to this "All: General Retro Soap Discussion" thread.
 

https://www.nycitywoman.com/my-life-writing-soaps/

“Welcome to your world as a soap writer,” said the head writer of As The World Turns, when she asked me to join her writing staff in the early 1980’s after two years as her assistant. At the time, there were fourteen soap operas on television and As The World Turns, which had been on the air since 1956, was one of the longest running. I was thrilled! My words would come alive on national television for the millions of viewers who tuned in every day. I thought it doesn’t get better than that.

Meg Ryan, a journalism student at NYU, had just debuted in a small role in the movieRich and Famous and she was was hired to play Betsy as the female lead in what is known in soap speak as a supercouple. It had taken years for Betsy and her beloved Steve, played by Frank Runyeon, to overcome their many obstacles. They were finally about to marry when Hollywood called: They wanted Meg. We had two weeks to write her off. Our head writer was in tears; Meg could go but she refused to kill Betsy. Our executive producer was more rational and explained that soap opera couples usually only get two weeks of marital bliss because happily married couples on soaps are boring. So after the honeymoon, Betsy was in a car crash and presumed dead. (Downton Abbey fans take note.) Several months later a beautiful blond came out of a coma and, when the bandages were removed, our new Betsy, played by Lindsay Frost, was introduced. Of course she didn’t look like Meg Ryan so we made it clear that plastic surgery had been necessary because of the accident. I wrote her tearful homecoming when the “new Betsy” picked up a phone and said, “Grandma, I’m home.” Marisa Tomei was also in the cast playing a waif who married a prince in a Charles/Diana style wedding. Julianne Moore joined the show in the late ’80s playing identical twins, which was interesting for me because I am the mother of identical twins.

I soon learned that developing and maintaining a soap opera is unlike any other type of television show because it is on Monday through Friday all year long. There is no hiatus and no repeats. It’s the novel that never ends and there are some essential plot twists that every soap opera writer learns to respect:

When someone gets in a car, they are usually not going to make it to their destination, especially if it’s raining.

A one-night stand will likely produce a child.

Rarely does a woman give birth in a hospital. Elevators, remote cabins, and the kitchen floor are some favorite places.

Everybody in town is somehow related. For instance: The man is your father, your uncle, and your first cousin once removed and he’s only ten years older than you!

As a soap opera viewer, you will surely witness SORAS (soap opera rapid aging syndrome). For example, a ten-year-old girl goes to boarding school and when she returns home several months later, she’s eighteen, because there are more stories for teenagers than for ten-year-olds.

If a character dies and the body isn’t found, he or she is likely to return. In one of my favorite story meetings, a new executive producer wanted to bring back a character who had been killed by a jealous wife and turned into a shrunken head. The shrunken head had been seen on air, but the producer was adamant. “Make it work,” he said. And so we did.

Painful as it was for me, it was not unusual to be fired when new head writers or executive producers came on board and wanted to hire their own people. Therefore every time a 13-week cycle ended there was a chance you’d be let go. I was fired from As The World Turns the first time after just one cycle when a new executive producer and head writer took over the show. At the time I was a single mother in New York City and it was important for me to stay here and resist the lure of Los Angeles, where there are many more television writing jobs, so my children could have a stable life. I was subsequently called back by As The World Turns in the early ’90s and stayed on staff for several years until the head writer died and a new regime came in. Between stints I wrote scripts for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade and Full Frontal Fashion,introductions for the hosts of America Movie Classics (AMC), and a documentary series for PBS, to name a few.

The ABC’s of Soaps

Every soap has a Bible written by its creator that outlines the show’s theme. For As The World Turns it was: As the world turns, we know the bleakness of winter, the promise of spring, the fullness of summer and the harvest of autumn. Like other show Bibles, As The World Turns included a description of the core families and detailed back stories of the main characters. The head writer writes long term story projections of up to two years. Following these story lines the head writer maps out the week scene by scene. She (or he) has a staff of six to ten associate writers. Each writer writes one day of the week. There are breakdown writers and scriptwriters. Breakdown writers write the narrative script and the scriptwriter dialogues it. There is also a script editor who makes sure all the days track. It’s like an assembly line that can’t break down and writers can’t miss their deadlines. If you are assigned the script for a Friday episode you know they really like your work because you are writing the script that brings the audience back on Monday. As Agnes Nixon, the creator of several soap operas, once famously said “Make them laugh, make them cry, make them wait.”

On As The World Turns I was a breakdown writer, which I preferred because you got to work closely with the head writer and contribute more to the story. On Loving and Days Of Our Lives, I wrote dialogue scripts. Some soap fans think you only write for certain characters when in fact you write for whoever lands in your day. I’m often asked where I got my ideas for these highly dramatic and often complicated soap opera stories. The answer is simple—from everyday life. And no matter how fantastical the plot might seem, soap stories were very well-researched.

Soap operas proudly used their story lines to cover a variety of issues. Because the audience was so broad the shows reached many people and made a difference in their lives. In the early 1960's a character on Guiding Light had a Pap smear and discovered that she was in the early stages of uterine cancer. Her brush with the disease educated daytime viewers about the test’s value. The show also tackled breast cancer by showing a character getting a mammogram on air. Both Guiding Light and As The World Turns addressed the dangers of teenage alcoholism. Another World aired a daring abortion story in the seventies and Guiding Light had an explosive storyline that brought marital rape to the forefront. As The World Turns introduced a gay character in the eighties and, in 2007, broke ground with the love story of two gay men. Several soaps highlighted story lines on the challenges faced by returning veterans. HIV/AIDS, Alzheimer’s, and multiple personalities have also been addressed.

Today there are only four daytime soap operas on the air. One reason is that game shows, reality shows, and talk shows are cheaper to produce. Also, the massive audience of stay-at-home housewives who thrived on soaps has evaporated. In response to these factors prime time TV converted the soap opera format to once-a-week evening serials with such shows as Dallas, Dynasty, Hill Street Blues, ER, and, more recently, Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, Revenge, Downton Abbey, and The Good Wife. Now cable TV has entered the mix with serials like Homeland, Boardwalk Empire and Girls that are more sophisticated and racy. In the ’50s soaps, married couples slept in separate beds. In the ’60s if a couple was in bed together, one foot had to be on the floor. Today if a couple is in bed, we have what we call the figure eight sheet wrapped around the man’s waist and up to the woman’s shoulders. The advent of cable has loosened the rules because they have fewer restrictions. That goes for the internet as well, where the genre is thriving with numerous web series becoming “guilty pleasures.” So it looks like the ongoing story is alive and well and here to stay!

Julie Poll has written scripts for several soap operas, The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, documentaries and specials. She is the author of the As The World Turns, Guiding Light, and Another World anniversary books.

____________________________________________________
 

I have found Julie Poll mentioned on SON threads
as the author of these books on ATWT and GL.
https://www.amazon.com/stores/Julie-Poll/author/B001IZ1AEQ

I found her on Linked In here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/julie-poll-ab4529a/
with her experience here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/julie-poll-ab4529a/details/experience/

She is on IMDB as "Jill Poll" and "Julia Poll" (as well as Julie Poll).
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2040174/

@JAS0N47  she mentions within the above-quoted "nycitywoman" article
"On Loving and Days Of Our Lives, I wrote dialogue scripts."

Jason, She doesn't list DAYS in her IMDB or Linkedin.  Can you find any mention of her under any of her professional names listed at IMDB (Julie Poll, Jill Poll, Julia Poll).
(I realize that IMDB is sometimes inaccurate).

We don't have a full record of script writers from the mid 1980s to 2001, since they didn't run the credits every day. So, it's possible she wrote maybe a few scripts but was never in the credits. At most, she would have been a freelance writer, not on staff.

Is anyone here knowledgeable about laws and rules regarding set design on soap operas?

Specifically, when a set designer designs a series of sets for a soap opera, does he/she receive royalties weekly or monthly as long as those sets appear on the show?  Or does the designer get a one-time payment for the designs, and that's the end of any payment?

Another question, if a designer creates a series of sets for a soap opera, and one or more of those sets are later used on another soap (as has happened a few times through the years) -- does the designer receive any additional payment at all because her/his creations are now being used on a second show?

Edited August 2Aug 2 by Tisy-Lish

I am not an authority on set design for television, but AI helped us, and verified the information.  The answer was logical, but informative (the TL:DR version is in the conclusion)🤖

**1. Royalties or One-Time Payment for Set Designs in Soap Operas**

Set designers for television, including soap operas, typically do not receive royalties in the traditional sense, such as weekly or monthly payments for the ongoing use of their designs on a show. Unlike actors, writers, or directors, who are often covered by union agreements (e.g., SAG-AFTRA, WGA, or DGA) that include residuals or royalties for reuse of their work, set designers generally work under different compensation models. Here’s how it typically works:

- **One-Time Payment or Contracted Salary**: Set designers are usually paid a flat fee or a contracted salary for their work on a soap opera. This payment covers the design, creation, and implementation of the sets for the production. For soap operas, which often involve long-term, ongoing production, designers may be hired as staff or on a per-project basis, receiving payment for their work upfront or over the course of their contract. The payment structure depends on whether the designer is a freelancer or an employee of the production company, but it is not tied to the frequency of the set’s appearance on air. In other words, there’s no royalty stream for set designers based on how often their sets are used in episodes.

- **Union Considerations**: In the United States, set designers may be members of unions like the United Scenic Artists (USA) Local 829, which represents designers in theater, film, and television. Union agreements typically outline minimum rates for design work, but these agreements do not provide for residuals or royalties for set designers in the same way they do for other creatives. The designer’s fee compensates them for the creation and use of the set for the original production, and no additional payments are made for the set’s continued use within that same show.

- **Why No Royalties?**: Sets are considered part of the production’s physical assets, owned by the production company or studio once created. Unlike intellectual property such as scripts or music, which can generate royalties through licensing or reuse, set designs are typically treated as work-for-hire. The designer relinquishes ownership of the design to the production company, and their compensation is complete upon delivery of the work, barring any specific contractual provisions to the contrary.

Thus, in most cases, a set designer receives a one-time payment or a series of payments tied to the production schedule (e.g., weekly or monthly during the design and build phase), and there are no ongoing royalties for the sets’ appearance on the soap opera.

**2. Additional Payment for Sets Used on Another Soap Opera**

If a set designed for one soap opera is later reused on a different soap opera (or another show), the original set designer typically does not receive additional payment or royalties for this reuse, unless explicitly stipulated in their contract. Here’s why and under what circumstances additional compensation might occur:

- **Ownership of Sets**: Once a set is created, the production company or studio typically owns it outright. If the same production company produces both soap operas (e.g., both shows are under the same network or studio, like ABC or CBS), they can repurpose sets across their productions without additional payment to the designer. This is because the set is considered a physical asset of the company, and the designer’s original contract covers its use for the company’s purposes.

- **Contractual Provisions**: In rare cases, a set designer’s contract might include clauses that address reuse of their designs in other productions. For example, if the designer retains some intellectual property rights (highly unusual in work-for-hire television production), they could negotiate additional compensation for reuse on another show. However, this is not standard practice, as set designs are generally treated as fully owned by the production company.

- **Union Guidelines**: The United Scenic Artists union does not typically mandate additional payments for the reuse of sets in different productions, especially if the reuse occurs within the same production company or studio. If the set is sold or licensed to a completely different production company for use in another show, there might be a case for additional compensation, but this would depend on the designer’s original contract and is not a common occurrence.

- **Practical Examples**: Historically, soap operas have reused sets due to budget constraints or studio space limitations. For instance, shows produced by the same company (e.g., Procter & Gamble Productions, which owned multiple soaps like *As the World Turns* and *Guiding Light*) might repurpose sets to save costs. In such cases, the original designer would not receive additional payment unless their contract explicitly required it. Similarly, when a show like *All My Children* or *One Life to Live* used sets from another soap, the production company’s ownership of the set meant no further compensation was owed to the designer.

- **Exceptions**: If a designer is particularly prominent or has significant leverage (e.g., a high-profile designer with a unique artistic contribution), they might negotiate a contract that includes provisions for additional payments in cases of reuse across different shows. However, this is rare in the cost-conscious world of soap opera production, where budgets are tightly managed.

**Additional Notes**

- **Soap Opera Production Context**: Soap operas are unique in television due to their high episode output and relatively low budgets compared to primetime shows. Sets are often reused extensively within a single show to save costs, and this reuse is anticipated in the designer’s initial compensation. The fast-paced production schedule also means that designers are often focused on delivering practical, reusable sets rather than expecting ongoing royalties.

- **Comparison to Other Creatives**: Unlike actors or writers, whose work is directly tied to the airing of episodes (triggering residuals under SAG-AFTRA or WGA agreements), set designers’ contributions are not tied to specific broadcasts. This distinction explains why royalties are not part of their compensation model.[](https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/calculating-sag-residuals-17706/)[](https://www.wga.org/members/finances/residuals/residuals-survival-guide)

- **Cross-Show Reuse Trends**: The reuse of sets across soap operas has occurred occasionally, often when shows share studio space or are produced by the same company. For example, sets from *Another World* were reportedly reused for other NBC soaps after its cancellation. The lack of additional payment for designers in these cases reflects the industry’s view of sets as production assets rather than licensable intellectual property.

**Conclusion**

In summary, set designers for soap operas typically receive a one-time payment or contracted salary for their work, with no ongoing royalties for the sets’ use within the original show. If those sets are reused on another soap opera, the designer is unlikely to receive additional compensation unless their contract specifically includes such provisions, which is uncommon due to the production company’s ownership of the sets. The economics of soap opera production and the work-for-hire nature of set design mean that designers are compensated upfront, and any reuse of their work is covered by the initial agreement. For specific cases, designers would need to negotiate unique contract terms to secure additional payments for cross-show reuse, but this is not standard industry practice.

Edited August 2Aug 2 by j swift

1 hour ago, j swift said:

I am not an authority on set design for television, but AI helped us, and verified the information.  The answer was logical, but informative (the TL:DR version is in the conclusion)🤖

**1. Royalties or One-Time Payment for Set Designs in Soap Operas**

Set designers for television, including soap operas, typically do not receive royalties in the traditional sense, such as weekly or monthly payments for the ongoing use of their designs on a show. Unlike actors, writers, or directors, who are often covered by union agreements (e.g., SAG-AFTRA, WGA, or DGA) that include residuals or royalties for reuse of their work, set designers generally work under different compensation models. Here’s how it typically works:

- **One-Time Payment or Contracted Salary**: Set designers are usually paid a flat fee or a contracted salary for their work on a soap opera. This payment covers the design, creation, and implementation of the sets for the production. For soap operas, which often involve long-term, ongoing production, designers may be hired as staff or on a per-project basis, receiving payment for their work upfront or over the course of their contract. The payment structure depends on whether the designer is a freelancer or an employee of the production company, but it is not tied to the frequency of the set’s appearance on air. In other words, there’s no royalty stream for set designers based on how often their sets are used in episodes.

- **Union Considerations**: In the United States, set designers may be members of unions like the United Scenic Artists (USA) Local 829, which represents designers in theater, film, and television. Union agreements typically outline minimum rates for design work, but these agreements do not provide for residuals or royalties for set designers in the same way they do for other creatives. The designer’s fee compensates them for the creation and use of the set for the original production, and no additional payments are made for the set’s continued use within that same show.

- **Why No Royalties?**: Sets are considered part of the production’s physical assets, owned by the production company or studio once created. Unlike intellectual property such as scripts or music, which can generate royalties through licensing or reuse, set designs are typically treated as work-for-hire. The designer relinquishes ownership of the design to the production company, and their compensation is complete upon delivery of the work, barring any specific contractual provisions to the contrary.

Thus, in most cases, a set designer receives a one-time payment or a series of payments tied to the production schedule (e.g., weekly or monthly during the design and build phase), and there are no ongoing royalties for the sets’ appearance on the soap opera.

**2. Additional Payment for Sets Used on Another Soap Opera**

If a set designed for one soap opera is later reused on a different soap opera (or another show), the original set designer typically does not receive additional payment or royalties for this reuse, unless explicitly stipulated in their contract. Here’s why and under what circumstances additional compensation might occur:

- **Ownership of Sets**: Once a set is created, the production company or studio typically owns it outright. If the same production company produces both soap operas (e.g., both shows are under the same network or studio, like ABC or CBS), they can repurpose sets across their productions without additional payment to the designer. This is because the set is considered a physical asset of the company, and the designer’s original contract covers its use for the company’s purposes.

- **Contractual Provisions**: In rare cases, a set designer’s contract might include clauses that address reuse of their designs in other productions. For example, if the designer retains some intellectual property rights (highly unusual in work-for-hire television production), they could negotiate additional compensation for reuse on another show. However, this is not standard practice, as set designs are generally treated as fully owned by the production company.

- **Union Guidelines**: The United Scenic Artists union does not typically mandate additional payments for the reuse of sets in different productions, especially if the reuse occurs within the same production company or studio. If the set is sold or licensed to a completely different production company for use in another show, there might be a case for additional compensation, but this would depend on the designer’s original contract and is not a common occurrence.

- **Practical Examples**: Historically, soap operas have reused sets due to budget constraints or studio space limitations. For instance, shows produced by the same company (e.g., Procter & Gamble Productions, which owned multiple soaps like *As the World Turns* and *Guiding Light*) might repurpose sets to save costs. In such cases, the original designer would not receive additional payment unless their contract explicitly required it. Similarly, when a show like *All My Children* or *One Life to Live* used sets from another soap, the production company’s ownership of the set meant no further compensation was owed to the designer.

- **Exceptions**: If a designer is particularly prominent or has significant leverage (e.g., a high-profile designer with a unique artistic contribution), they might negotiate a contract that includes provisions for additional payments in cases of reuse across different shows. However, this is rare in the cost-conscious world of soap opera production, where budgets are tightly managed.

**Additional Notes**

- **Soap Opera Production Context**: Soap operas are unique in television due to their high episode output and relatively low budgets compared to primetime shows. Sets are often reused extensively within a single show to save costs, and this reuse is anticipated in the designer’s initial compensation. The fast-paced production schedule also means that designers are often focused on delivering practical, reusable sets rather than expecting ongoing royalties.

- **Comparison to Other Creatives**: Unlike actors or writers, whose work is directly tied to the airing of episodes (triggering residuals under SAG-AFTRA or WGA agreements), set designers’ contributions are not tied to specific broadcasts. This distinction explains why royalties are not part of their compensation model.[](https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/calculating-sag-residuals-17706/)[](https://www.wga.org/members/finances/residuals/residuals-survival-guide)

- **Cross-Show Reuse Trends**: The reuse of sets across soap operas has occurred occasionally, often when shows share studio space or are produced by the same company. For example, sets from *Another World* were reportedly reused for other NBC soaps after its cancellation. The lack of additional payment for designers in these cases reflects the industry’s view of sets as production assets rather than licensable intellectual property.

**Conclusion**

In summary, set designers for soap operas typically receive a one-time payment or contracted salary for their work, with no ongoing royalties for the sets’ use within the original show. If those sets are reused on another soap opera, the designer is unlikely to receive additional compensation unless their contract specifically includes such provisions, which is uncommon due to the production company’s ownership of the sets. The economics of soap opera production and the work-for-hire nature of set design mean that designers are compensated upfront, and any reuse of their work is covered by the initial agreement. For specific cases, designers would need to negotiate unique contract terms to secure additional payments for cross-show reuse, but this is not standard industry practice.

Wow, that's a thorough response.  Very interesting.  Thank you!

So, I'm guessing -- if a soap opera used one set to represent three different locations (three different homes, for instance), the designer of the set would be paid for designing one set.  I'll make up an example: Suppose Katherine Chancellor, Phoebe Tyler, and Lucinda Walsh appear on the same soap opera, and all three ladies buy large condos in the same condo building.  The production company could pay a set designer to design one basic set, and then the producers could redress that set to represent three different homes (the condos of Katherine, Phoebe, and Lucinda).

Interesting.  But that does seem a bit like cheating the set designer.  Hmmm. Maybe set designers need a new union.  LOL. 

Edited August 2Aug 2 by Tisy-Lish

9 minutes ago, Tisy-Lish said:

Suppose Katherine Chancellor, Phoebe Tyler, and Lucinda Walsh appear on the same soap opera, and all three ladies buy large condos in the same condo building.  The production company could use one basic set, and redress it to represent three different homes (the condos of Katherine, Phoebe, and Lucinda). Interesting.  But that does seem a bit like cheating the set designer.  Hmmm. Maybe set designers need a new union.

Well that's set dressing versus set design.  

The set designer is paid once, like an architect.  The set dresser is paid every time they need to re-dress the set like an interior decorator, who is also in charge of consistency, like which family photos go on which tables.  But, that also means that your “shared condo” idea would not be a cost savings, because you'd need to use a set dresser (no other union worker would be allowed to touch the set), every time you shot with either Phoebe, Lucinda, or Katherine.

Also, they are all union jobs, so no need to be concerned about benefits and insurance.

1 hour ago, j swift said:

In the United States, set designers may be members of unions like the United Scenic Artists (USA) Local 829, which represents designers in theater, film, and television. Union agreements typically outline minimum rates for design work, but these agreements do not provide for residuals or royalties for set designers in the same way they do for other creatives. The designer’s fee compensates them for the creation and use of the set for the original production, and no additional payments are made for the set’s continued use within that same show.

 

Edited August 2Aug 2 by j swift

12 minutes ago, j swift said:

Well that's set dressing versus set design.  

The set designer is paid once, like an architect.  The set dresser is paid every time they need to re-dress the set like an interior decorator, who is also in charge of consistency, like which family photos go on which tables.  But, that also means that your “shared condo” idea would not be a cost savings, because you'd need to use a set dresser (no other union worker would be allowed to touch the set), every time you shot with either Phoebe, Lucinda, or Katherine.

Also, they are all union jobs, so no need to be concerned about benefits and insurance.

 

Thank you for the great information.  When I originally posted my question, I didn't expect to learn so much so quickly.  Thank you for engaging.  

Another round of the 1987 mixtape episodes (h/t to @DRW50 for that turn of phrase) has been uploaded. These are from November.

@Vee, @Khan, @Kane, @EricMontreal22, @j swift, @slick jones, @Soapsuds, @All My Shadows, @alwaysAMC, @beebs, @dc11786, @kalbir, @Maxim, @P.J., @Paul Raven, @robbwolff, @Reverend Ruthledge, @Tisy-Lish, @Wendy, @Xanthe

 

Thanks @Franko!

Just adding my thanks, as well, @Franko!