I honestly think JFP just didn’t like women standing up to her, or asking questions, or demanding parity with the men. Wendy Riche is who all the extended leaves happened under. The only thing with Jill was she wanted to be gone the same time Geary was for his summer vacation, which was allowed, but she had to give more notice than he did, which pissed her off. Jill told her no, and then told her she was going to enforce her contract to deny it. Genie, like a lot of the bigger soap names back then had her own out clauses, and threatened to quit. She has said that JFP basically fired her. In the end the story was disrupted anyway and had to be changed.
She said in her exit interview that she had fought hard for parity in their contracts, including the same pay, time off, etc. And that he wasn’t required to give the same length in notice for time off. This was before he was gone every quarter btw, which he negotiated in the 2000’s. He had a noticeable annual vacation and was usually gone several weeks and pre-taped. Now her maternity leave was ridiculous. And they did give her a first out filming schedule, which ruffled feathers and isolated Laura. But I also know that it touched a real nerve with her about ABC treating her differently or as expendable, and I get that even with the other issues on her part.
Another post bashing JFP from me lol. But the damage in her wake, especially with strong women is just too hard to ignore. I also think she doesn’t like featuring women that are not thin or fit her definition of beauty, and Genie has struggled with her weight repeatedly. Reminds me a bit of Ellen Parker in that way. To me the issue shouldn’t have even blown up the way it did, and that rests on Jill’s inability to manage talent. She drove off Genie, Amber Tamblyn, Sarah Brown, and wouldn’t work with Vanessa in 2002. None of these women were as difficult or prone to throwing fits like Maurice and Geary. Plenty of stories of them acting out, yelling, kicking trash cans, etc. Steve Burton refusing to play love stories, nasty to scene partners. These men get away with being so awful and she listened to their demands.
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titan1978 ·
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