Damn the Man! Save the Empire!

Flying Blind

2009-04-06T11:51:00.003-04:00

So this is going to be one of those random entries that jumps around a bit with no real theme - I've received a few e-mails from people wondering when (if ever) I'm going to update my blog. And now that I'm all caught up on reading breakdowns/scripts and watching air shows, I figured I'd check in and say howdy.

Like everybody else, I'm reeling from last week's Guiding Light news. As most know, Guiding Light and As the World Turns are "sister shows", and I spent many a post-Emmy party and Christmas party with the good folks from Guiding Light. I watched it faithfully from around 1990 on, and as far as I'm concerned Nancy Curlee... although only head writer for a few years... is one of the greatest head writers ever to grace daytime. Her work on that show inspired me to follow my dream and learn as much as I could about the human condition, so I could one day be a part of a team that wrote stories like she did on GL. Those were great years - Curlee on GL, Labine on GH, Bell on Y&R, Malone on OLTL. There was so much thought and effort placed on the emotional beats of a story, rather than the shock-and-awe treatment some soaps are using today. (Plane crashes! Car crashes! Hurricanes! Tornados! Serial killers! Explosions!) I'm deeply saddened by the news, and especially want to mention that I'm pulling for everyone behind the scenes who have invested so much in trying to keep Guiding Light on the air in spite of completely insurmountable odds. They have worked tirelessly to produce something under very difficult conditions, and I have nothing but the utmost respect for them. You have my undying love and support, and I wish nothing but amazing prospects in the future for all the denizens of Springfield, whether they're in front of the camera, or behind the scenes. Springfield has touched my life in more ways than I can count, and I'm so appreciative to have been even a small fraction-of-a-part of it, indirectly, through As the World Turns.

So now we're down to seven soaps, and it's terrifying out there. Everybody I spoke to at the various soaps last week were all affected in one way or another - losing another show means we're all looking our shoulders a little more than we were two weeks ago. The doomsday folks are counting down to the next canceled soap, but if anything, we should be looking to learn from the mistakes of Guiding Light.

How did it end up at the bottom of the ratings?

What caused so many viewers to lose faith in it?

Are those of us still working at other soaps guilty of falling into the same traps?

Can we prevent ourselves from making the same mistakes made over the last fifteen years at Guiding Light, from the highest network level, all the way down to the studio floor?

I worry that the fatalistic, defeatist attitude that has been hovering over soaps like a dark cloud will continue - a mentality of "We're fated to be canceled, so let's just get by until it happens." And it doesn't have to be that way. None of us have to go gently into that good night. Those of us working really need to ask ourselves some tough questions - doesn't matter if you're at the #1-rated show or the #7-rated show. What are we doing that's working - and what are we doing that isn't working? And how do we go about changing that?

I think a lot of us were flying blind last week, still trying to process what happened to our friends in Springfield. But now that acceptance is starting to sink in, it's time to figure out how we can find whatever sliver of a silver lining there is in this, and learn from our mistakes, so we're not doomed to repeat them.

And speaking of flying blind...

Many of you have e-mailed me to ask how things are at Young and the Restless, and I'd love to take this opportunity to say I couldn't be happier. The job is everything I could have hoped for, and more. But at the moment, there is an element of flying blind that I'm currently experiencing that I completely forgot about from my first cycles at previous jobs.

Here's how this works - most breakdowns are written anywhere from seven to eleven weeks ahead of their air date. So when I started at the beginning of February, my first episode would air April 20th (two weeks from today, for those keeping track). Now I've written eight shows - we are firmly ensconced in summer storylines, and in a much different place than the show is in currently on air (in terms of where we are in the stories).

Having not watched any scenes I've written so far on the air is a little strange. I've always said here in this blog that it's so important for writers to watch the show they're writing for. You have to be able to see structure and scene tags and commercial breaks that work... and those that don't, so (like I said earlier) you don't repeat the same mistakes. I wrote some pretty stunted episodes at Days and One Life to Live that taught me some very valuable lessons about how not to write a breakdown, once I saw how they turned out on the air. And I wouldn't have learned those lessons had I not seen the air show (and cringed appropriately).

I am anxious and petrified to see my first few air shows - not to satiate my ego, but to see how what I write translates to the Y&R episodes, and to see what I may not be doing right. I'm curious to see the feedback I get from the fans - about what they liked, but more important, what they didn't like. What seemed out of character, what didn't work for them, where improvement is needed. We may produce this show for the advertisers, but we write this show for the fans. And until that kind of give and take happens with my air shows (April 20th and beyond), it feels sort of like I'm flying blind (at least in terms of fan reaction. I'm well aware of reaction from the show and network, as I write from week-to-week, and that has been immeasurably helpful).

So for the next two weeks, as my nerves continue to be frayed until my first air show, I hope what I'm currently contributing to the process for the summer is strong and entertaining and moving and respectful of the audience. I just know that six months from now - having written for nine months, and watched six months worth of stories I participated in their creation - I will have a much better understanding of what my pros and cons are as a member of the Y&R team. But for now, I continue to work hard to do the best I can. And I wait...

And really, with the Guiding Light news, that's all any of us in the business can do right now. Work hard, go the extra mile, focus on making our product the best it can possibly be... and wait for the reaction.

And saying a little prayer never hurts either. :-)

Back in the Saddle... like Riding a Bike... or Mixing a Metaphor...

2009-02-28T22:25:00.005-05:00

So this is my first entry in a month... weird to be back.

For those of you who are here looking for scoop on The Young and the Restless - you'll have to look someplace else. Sorry, folks... this blog was never meant to gossip, and it certainly was never meant to reveal things I shouldn't. I'll tell you this much - I am three episodes into my trial. I am regrouping, learning, growing, and contributing as much as I can. I adore the team of people I work with, and I am doing the best I know how, and working hard to live up to the legacy Y&R has given its fans all these years. My first episode will air in late April, and I'm highly enjoying myself as I step back into the role of Breakdown Writer. Whatever comes of it, I'm living for the moment and enjoying each week as it happens.

And that's all I'll say about that.

In the meantime, I've also spent a week in Los Angeles, a week in Vegas, and... yes... even a few weeks here at home in Brooklyn. Suffice it to say, it's been a whirlwind month, but I'm keeping my head above water and just trying to keep myself positive and upbeat.

And why, you ask, would I need to try to do this?

I received an e-mail from a friend after I wrote my first episode, that said simply, "How was it, writing again?"

I'll tell you.

It was positively terrifying.

Not because of anything anyone said to me, or because of anything involving the show (Far from it, in fact). But throughout all of 2008, while I was doing other jobs besides soap writing, I had completely forgotten about the internal mental process that I went through when I was writing. It didn't matter if it was on a show that I knew like the back of my hand, like Days, or a show I was unfamiliar with when I started and had to learn so much of the history, like As the World Turns - it didn't matter if it was on a show like OLTL, where I worked for nine straight cycles of thirteen weeks each, or a show like my first trial at Y&R back in 2006, where I hadn't worked there long at all - none of these conditions seem to matter, this writer always seems to go through the same weekly mental process.

You get your assignment. You spend hours either in person around a conference table with other writers, or on a conference call with other writers. You have pages and pages of short-hand notes - where your episode begins, where it ends, all the beats you need to hit in between, and dozens of little notes in the margins of ideas you've had, ideas other writers had that are important and you want to make note of in your breakdown, and numerous arrows drawn (in my case), trying to make sense of the "traffic of an episode" (you need Character A to be *here* by Act Two, and over *there* by Act Four, but in the meantime, they have to cross with Character B in Act Three, so you better make sure their paths... i.e. their "traffic"... aligns properly). You have pages upon pages of notes, and suddenly you need to put it all together and make it a coherent episode.

So you start playing. You figure out, for purely practical reasons, how many scenes you need for each story, where your act breaks are, what the best midbreak tag will be... all of the logistics of the episode. Occasionally you have scenes that say one thing, and one thing alone: "Big Confrontation Here" Gee... wonder what happens in that scene?

But you figure out all of these practicalities, and your brain is kind of in "putting a puzzle together" mode. You're not really thinking creatively, you're trying to fit the pieces together so that no act is longer or shorter than the others, you have good act tags in ALL your stories (not just the front-burner one) and somebody doesn't show up in two places at once.

And then you've finished that, and you have a nice little four-to-seven page "outline-for-your-outline".

And then the "fun" part. Then you get to be creative.

Here's a sample of what happens in Tom's brain during this process (if anyone cares... and really, like most blogs, if you don't care, no worries. I won't be offended. :-)) And let me reiterate - this is my usual weekly process at every show I've worked at - this is in no way specific to any one show. ATWT has a Pro and Five Acts, OLTL and Y&R have a Pro and Six Acts, and Days has a Pro and Seven Acts - so just for the sake of averages, we'll look at a Pro and Six Act show. (This isn't really a trade secret - anybody can figure out how many Acts a show has based on how many commercial breaks there are)

And here we go...

Prologue - "No problem! I'm picking up a few stories from yesterday, and I'm starting a few new ones. Short, snappy scenes. No problem. There! One pro down... another pro down... the last pro down... cut to credits. Wow! That was easy! No problem! I've already written a page and a half, and the scene breaks are really quick, and RIGHT ON... I know what I'm doing! Yes!"

Act One - "Wait, what did I write in these notes? I can't read my own writing. I think that says 'kick'. Or does it say 'kiss'? Hmm.. I'll come back to that later. Oh, here's a good scene. A pick-up from the Pro. Something really emotional. Really important. Lots of history to be mined here. Let me just dig in. And dig in. And dig in. Wait a minute... I just a wrote a scene that's ALMOST TWO PAGES, single-spaced. That's about five times too long. Good GOD, boy... rein yourself in! You can't turn this in. Okay, I'll edit it when I'm done. Leave it as is. Get to your act tag. You can do it. Wow, I just wasted about two hours pontificating on one scene in Act One. How in the world did I get so off-track? Just get through this act. Then you can take a lunch break."

Act Two - "Okay, I wrote for a few hours, then I took a lunch break. Now I don't want to work. Yes, I do. You can do this, Tom. Just dive back in. Pick up where you left off in Act One. Okay, now I've got the hang of it. Oh, wait. This scene is REALLY cliche. I mean, unbelievably typical soap scene. You can't turn that in. And... did you just use the word "soulmate"?! UGH! You know better! Come on, be creative. Think - you can do this! God, you're a hack. This is it. This is the episode where everyone reads it, and realizes you don't have the first clue what you're doing. Okay, now get serious. Give them something original... something powerful... something they've never seen before. (...) Okay, you can't think of anything. There's plenty of time. Just move on. Get to the Act Tag."

Act Three - "Now I have a second wind. This isn't so tough. So you wrote a few cliches in the last Act... you'll go back and fix them later. This is your big mid-break tag! You know what you're building to. So what if you're already running about four pages too long? At least you have something written and you're not staring at a blinking cursor. Wait, the suspense is building... you're actually building anticipation to that great mid-break tag. Oh my God, I can actually feel my heart race as I get to the Act Three reveal! Fingers are flying over the keyboard, everything's coming together... and suddenly... BANG! That's a great tag! Go out to a thirteen minutes long commercial break on something you KNOW will bring the viewer back! Yeah! I did it! I'm not a hack! WOO HOO!"

Act Four - "Oh wait. I'm not done yet. Okay. Deep breath. You've only been writing for about ten hours straight. Maybe you ate lunch, and maybe you watched something on your Tivo for a little bit there. At least you didn't pause to watch a train wreck on The View (today, at least) Just keep trucking along. Wow, I'm running out of steam. And so is this act. Where am I? Oh, right... the 'Big Confrontation Here' scene. Wait, what do they say that these two characters haven't said a million times before? I don't remember. Somebody said something interesting about this, but I can't remember. Is that my stomach growling? Is it already dark outside? Man, my head is starting to hurt. How long have I been staring at this screen? Let me just play a round of Solitaire. Or watch Damages. Or Battlestar Galactica. Screw that, do I have any 90210's on my DVR? I need to get away from this computer..."

At this point, Day One ends. Insert full night of sleep here.

Act Four - Part Deux - "Man, coffee is AWESOME. Okay, where are we? Right, here we are. In Act Four. Wow, these last few scenes are really unfocused. But the solutions are really easy. Just fix *this* and cut *this* line, and change *this* to *that*. Wow, that wasn't so tough. I wonder why I didn't think of that last night? That was the easiest solution in the world! Wow, I'm plowing through Act Four. This is so easy - I don't know why I was freaking out last night. What's wrong with me? I'm brilliant! I'm awesome! I'm the king of the world!"

Act Five - "I'm crap. I'm a dead cockroach trapped in a piece of gum on the bottom of the shoe of a homeless drug addict. I'm a worthless, awful, untalented writer. Have I been writing this episode for about ten days or what? It sure feels like it. Only one more act until I'm done. Who cares that it's either A) four pages too short or B) nine pages too long. I'm almost there. Just keep going. Keep typing. Oh my God - did I just write a line from an old Seinfeld episode? I think I did. Jesus, what a nightmare. It's going to be awful. They're going to note you up the wazoo. It's going to be a disaster of epic proportions. Seriously. This next notes meeting will be the Hindenburg of notes meetings for you. Say adios to your paycheck, buddy. This is just bad. Bad, bad, bad. Are we in Act Six yet? God, if I can just get to Act Six, at least it'll be written. And at this point, that's all I can ask for."

Act Six - "Oh, these are my tags. This is easy. BAM! Cliffhanger #1! BAM! Cliffhanger #2. These aren't so bad. And here's the big finale. The big last scene. Give it all your worth, dude! This is the finish line! You can do it! Holy hell, you did it! You're done! You wrote an entire breakdown! That's right! I did it! I pulled it off!"

"But this is just a first draft. Let's go back, look at what you wrote from the beginning. Oh. OH! Yikes. Really? I wrote that? Was that really me? Ee! Ah! Oh, man... just stop reading. This is just depressing. Stop. Put it down. Before you slit your wrists on paper cuts or something"

Insert second night of sleep here.

Day Three - "Well, this isn't that bad. Okay, so your page count is a little off. And one scene is three times longer than it should be. And another is way too short. But it isn't so awful. Actually, this cliche is terrible - but it's easily fixed. Stop and breathe. Think. Oh, I know of something that will work here, instead of this awful final line. That wasn't so tough. Wow, I can't believe I didn't think of this yesterday! And here's another scene that meanders too long... dude, I can write the same thing in three sentences that I wrote in TWELVE sentences. Pro, Act Three, Act Six - all pretty solid. Just need to make these fixes. Move this here - copy and paste this here... this is actually starting to look pretty normal! My God, the page count is finally right. The scene count is right. Cover page looks good, and I think... dare I say it? As I read it again, I'm really happy with how it turned out. I mean, it's not the most amazing, Emmy-worthy outline either, but there are some nice romantic moments, some nice family moments, some nice history nods... and a little action/suspense. Overall, it's not terrible. I think I might actually be done. Yeah... yeah, I think I'm done."

At this point, after reading and re-reading about nine times, you open up your e-mail program, ready to send it in to your employers and other writers. And then there's one last moment of panic.

"Wait, are you really going to send this? Once you send this, you can't take it back. It's out there. If you want anything changed, you can't change it before the notes meeting. You better be sure. Are you sure? You better be."

And then you stop and take another deep breath. And you realize - yeah. I'm sure. Maybe it's not perfect, but I'm pretty happy with it - and whatever I missed, my colleagues and/or network reps will call me out on it. And they will only improve my episode. And when all is said and done, I'm pretty damn happy with it.

It's going to be all right. Yeah, hit "Send". It's going to be just fine.

And you know what? It usually is. And when it isn't - then you buckle down and you make the changes you need to. Either way, you suddenly realize you actually ENJOYED the process. Sometimes it was exhilarating. Sometimes it was confusing. Sometimes it was boring. Sometimes it was damn near orgasmic. And sometimes it was completely horrific. But you wouldn't trade it for anything. You just went on a journey with 12-20 contract characters, and all of their joys, their insecurities, their travesties and their personalities became part of you. Not every part of the process left you smiling, but you feel like you just climbed a mountain, and you stop and you wonder...

...when can I do it again?

The Blog Entry Fourteen Months in the Making

2009-01-22T18:40:00.002-05:00

If you've been spying on a few soap message boards in the last couple of days (or my Facebook/MySpace pages), you might have heard rumors of my return to daytime.

In fact - I am.

I have accepted an offer for a trial deal on The Young and the Restless. Next week, I'm flying out to Los Angeles to reunite with some old friends, and meet some new ones - including my new head writer, who I'm thrilled to meet and work with.

To be honest, I pretty much said goodbye to daytime at the end of 2008. I was working steadily on my own projects, making some headway networking with other career paths, and was generally resolved to start 2009 with a new lease on life. I never thought I'd ever receive a phone call again from a daytime show, and even went as far as to say goodbye to my agent of the last eight years with a heartfelt farewell in early December when I decided it was time to start over with something else. New year, new dreams, new goals, etc.

And then this came out of nowhere.

Readers of my blog will know that I spent a brief nine weeks at Y&R back in 2006. I said in an interview with SON a few years later that it wasn't a very good fit - and back then, it wasn't. I loved getting to know the writers on that show, but overall, it wasn't working and I could feel that at the time. I didn't understand the vision for the show back then, and it was incredibly frustrating and left me really disappointed in myself and my abilities that I just couldn't get on the same page as the people in charge of the show at that time.

But at the end of the day, it was an incredibly respectful parting of ways, I got to know people I've idolized my whole life, and I had a tremendous fifteen months at Days after that, so I don't regret it at all.

Now, I'm heading back, to work with many of the same breakdown and script writers I worked with back in '06, but under new leadership. I'm incredibly excited and unbelievably nervous, but I can tell you that I plan on devoting my ALL to this show. I love what Maria Arena Bell has been doing this last year, and I've been incredibly invested in the show for a long time now. After talking to the different members of the team I worked with, just knowing I have their support as well, on top of Maria and Hogan and Scott's support, means everything to me. I never want to get a job on my friendships alone, so knowing many of them believe in me as a writer is truly amazing. I can't wait to dive right in.

However, it is a trial deal. That means they have the option not to pick me up after the first few episodes. This is standard in the business, and it just means I work all that much harder to knock their socks off.

It's been a long fourteen months, but I've spent much of that time trying to listen to you guys, take in what everybody loves about their soaps, and what they feel is missing. Hopefully, I can put all of that to good use.

Please understand that my job is to take the head writer's vision (not mine), and assist in bringing it to life. And I plan on doing my damndest to live up to Y&R's history, its characters, and Bill Bell's legacy. I won't have any say in the future storylines of the show, but I will do everything in my power to deliver the kinds of scenes in my episodes that Y&R fans love - those deep, soulful, character-driven moments that make Y&R so unique.

So what does this mean for my blog? That's a damn good question.

Obviously, breakdown writing is a full-time job, and I plan on devoting most of myself to knocking this trial out of the park. So I won't be blogging three or four days a week like I've been doing. But this whole "blogging" thing was uncharted territory in daytime not that long ago. And I don't know the rules because there's never really been any rules. We're all in this together, just trying to figure this out as we go along. I've always been very upfront about the blog, and was writing it for most of 2007 when I was writing for Days. I never gave away story spoilers, I never talked about behind-the-scenes goings-on... although occasionally, I'd suggest tuning in on a certain day because I thought it was a particularly strong episode. But I would never reveal anything I shouldn't.

If people are at all interested, I'll probably touch base once a month or so, let you know how things are going - what it's like to get back into the heads of these characters again. How I find the inspiration for the scenes I'm writing. That kind of stuff. I'm really moved by what Shonda Rhimes writes on her blog, or Jon Robin Baitz and Joss Whedon, for that matter. I'm nowhere NEAR the talent they are, but if folks are still interested, I'm happy to continue along that path.

But for now, you'll probably hear from me less. And if at any point, the Bells ask me to discontinue posting how my crazy little brain works, I'll be happy to do so, and I hope my readers will understand and respect that.

Whatever happens next, if it's meant to be? It's meant to be. And if not? So be it.

What a long, strange trip it's been... and now, a whole new adventure is starting. I hope you'll all share the ride with me.

Set(s) in Stone

2009-01-20T09:15:00.004-05:00

Recently, I've been reading letters in the soap magazines from fans, as well as posts on various message boards, about the constant repetition of certain sets on many of the shows. Many viewers wonder why so many scenes lately take place in the hospital, or in a restaurant. Why don't we see people in other sets?

In defense of the writers on all shows, I hope to de-mystify that a little.

One of the great joys (and great frustrations) of laying out weeks worth of episodes is the constant looming specter of "repeat sets". In many ways, it's like a big puzzle the writing team has to fit together, week after week. When it works, it can make you feel utterly triumphant... and when it doesn't, it can make you feel like you're banging your head against a wall. But this is definitely one of those aspects of a writing job that I am quick to rise to the writers' defense. Because most times, it's out of our hands.

Here's how this works - after taping (and heading long into the night), the crew strikes all the sets from the previous episode not needed, and puts up the sets for tomorrow's taping. Because of the short amount of time they have to accomplish this, most writing teams are required to "hold" a specific number of sets from the previous episode.

In other words, let's say a writer writes his/her breakdown, and there are five sets used in that episode: a hospital, a restaurant, a hotel room, a living room and a kitchen.

The writer writing the following episode is REQUIRED to "repeat" a certain number of sets from the preceding episode. I've worked on shows where you're required to repeat two sets, others (where the budget is tighter) where it's three or four required repeat sets. The more sets you repeat from the previous episode, the happier those financial folks are - it's less work (and less money) they're spending on those over-night crews. (And we like when the money people are happy! Believe me!)

So the next writer has to repeat a certain number of sets. And the beautiful thing about sets like hospitals and restaurants? They're public places - where anybody and everybody can run into each other and share a scene, no matter what storyline they're involved in. So naturally, the writer will try and repeat those sets.

In a perfect world, story would dictate set use, and writers would be able to write any set, on any day, to fit what's happening in the plot. Unfortunately, that's not the case these days (and hasn't been, for quite some time). More often than not, we (as writers) are constantly asked to tweak the stories from day to day to make sure scenes take place in "repeat sets". Ironically, a show like Guiding Light, with its controversial production model, is free from many of these restrictions, with the incredible amount of location-sets and little studio space. (Now you see why there's less money needed for their new production model.)

As a viewer, I understand the head-scratching people have, when sets like bars, restaurants, hospitals and police stations are used day after day after day. I can see that side of it, sure. But in defense of the writers on all of the shows, I can tell you - it's something we all work to keep as natural as possible. Unfortunately, there are times we have no other choice but to play scenes that ideally would take place privately in a set like a hospital corridor, or the docks, or a "main street" set.

All of the teams I've worked on strive to find a middle ground between the storylines, and the financial restrictions these shows are under. I know it can be visually dull to see the same set day after day after day. But during this economic crunch time, I encourage viewers to have patience in this regard. Budgets are being slashed, and repeating the same sets is a relatively easy, painless way to save money without it taking too much of a toll on the show as a whole.

Over the next year, I'm sure we'll see much harsher cuts that will affect these shows we love so much in a more immediate way. If the worst that happens is we see the same public set every day for a couple weeks, then I, as a viewer, will be extremely happy.

Hang in there... the writers are doing all they can. I assure you.

Goin' Down in the Afternoon

2009-01-15T15:30:00.002-05:00

It certainly is a strange week for sex on daytime, isn't it?

Most of the week, soap fans, the soap press, bloggers, mainstream media, and probably a few Conservative Right groups are a-buzz about the Nuke sex over on As the World Turns. Meanwhile, today on One Life to Live? Dorian gave an implied... um... "job" to David Vickers at the end of today's episode.

Okay, so I know what you're going to say. You're going to say "Tom! It's David and Dorian! It's funny! Laugh!"

I love David and Dorian. I can watch Tuc Watkins and Robin Strasser take turns reading computer instructions to each other, and enjoy every minute of it. But never mind the fact that ATWT is fighting to even show a kiss, while ABC is showcasing oral sex. Never mind the whole "Where's love in the afternoon?" argument. Here's what bothered me - Dorian found out David is a Buchanan, and wants to get him back before he finds out, so she can get her hands on the money. So in order to do that? She did... this. In other words, Dorian Lord got on her knees for money.

I may not be the world's leading expert on Dorian Lord, but to me, this negates any dignity and class the character has. Sure, Dorian would do a lot of things to get her hands on that fortune (and she has!), but the implication of getting down on one's knees seems beneath her to me.

When Todd and Marty kissed last summer, I wrote a blog entry about the importance of direction in scenes like this. It disturbed me that Todd was the dominating force in that kiss, going so far as to be standing over Marty when it happened and it would have been less disturbing to watch had Marty been in a dominant position... or at least less reminiscent of the rape.

I had the same issue here. Watching Dorian try and seduce David is one thing, but bearing witness as she got on her knees for him diminished her character so much in my eyes. My issue here had nothing to do with writing - but with the direction of the scene. I understand it was being played for comedy, but Dorian is a far greater icon on this show, who deserved better than to be pushed underneath a Buddhist robe. She is a force to be reckoned with - not a high-class hooker.

There's comedy... and then there's just degrading one of the strongest women on soaps today. There were a hundred better ways to shoot this scene - because my Dorian Lord? She doesn't get on her knees for anybody.

Doin' It and Doin' It... and Doin' It Well

2009-01-13T08:21:00.007-05:00

When I was a kid, I remember distinctly the first time Jack and Jennifer had sex on DOOL.

I remember the years of build-up, the work done on Jack's character to get him from guilt-wracked marital rapist to insecure lost man-child, and finally to leading man. I remember Jennifer fighting her feelings, trying to convince herself she was better off with Emilio Ramirez, until being kidnapped by Jack on her wedding day, whisked off... only to fall asleep before hearing Jack's confession of love. I remember the time taken to reform Jack, and the time taken to make sure Jennifer was no longer a baby-faced, wide-eyed teen - but a tough, sarcastic, witty, caring young adult. And I remember them still not crossing that line, until after one fateful shipwreck, and that cave...

The headlines on Soap Opera Digest, Soap Opera Magazine, Soaps Opera Weekly proclaimed it to the heavens: JACK AND JEN FINALLY MAKE LOVE! And on that day, as millions of fans watched, an entire episode was built around Jack - the man who brutally raped his wife years earlier on-camera, and Jen - Days' version of America's Sweetheart, barely out of her teens... finally made love. In a cave. (With Jen's diaphragm somehow surviving the shipwreck, of course)

Why this walk down memory lane?

Because yesterday, the Nuke fans finally got what they've waited years for. Noah and Luke finally lost their virginity! And it was... not mentioned to the press. And it was... after another one of their Oldtown fights over commitment and their relationship - the same fight I've seen a few times this year through various storylines. And I'm not sure Luke or Noah have grown or evolved in any kind of way since they first met a year and a half ago. Noah's been in and out of the proverbial closet as many times as... well, Brian, the step-grandfather who proved to be the latest obstacle of the week in their relationship. (In fact, I'm hard-pressed to find much of a difference at all between the characters of Brian and Noah, other than thirty years.) They've faced shame, psychos, prejudice... and then, uh... more prejudice and another psycho, and another dash of shame thrown on top. Apparently in Oakdale, homosexuals have three great foils: shame, psychos and prejudice.

Noah and Luke, as daytime's first gay male on-screen couple from a core family (the first gay couple, of course, goes back to Hank Eliot and his lover on ATWT under Doug Marland), represent the first time in years a show has been committed to telling a "long-term love story". This is their way of skirting around standards and practices... they're not "testing the waters with the censors", but rather they're "taking their time, like any great soap love story". It's a fantastic spin on words, but unfortunately, ATWT plows through every other story like they're in a race with the other soaps to see who can fit the most storylines in one year, so I don't really understand why anyone thinks they want to take their time with Nuke, and this isn't (in fact) a struggle with the censors. But let's say, for the sake of argument, that they wanted to wait a year and a half before the boys finally sealed the deal. (And before I go on, let me add that I'm not trying to change anyone's minds. This is just my personal opinion about yesterday's show, but the great thing about television is that it means different things to different people. What I love, you might hate. And what I don't love, you might rejoice at. Doesn't mean one is right and one is wrong. So no need to tell me "I'm wrong", but opinion in regards to art is never about who's right and who's wrong.)

I brought up Jack and Jen before because in their year of waiting, work was spent on getting the characters to where they needed to be in order to take that controversial step. Jack HAD to be, even in just the audience's eyes, forgiven for what he did to Kayla. And Jennifer HAD to be viewed as a woman, not everybody's teen daughter, after her popular teen romance with Frankie. So the writers worked really hard to take what was, on paper, such an improbable couple, and make them the couple you cleared your schedule for.

So based on that super-couple theory, Luke and Noah each needed to have their own steps taken. Luke's journey involved - I don't know. Possibly learning not to make everything about gay activism? And Noah's journey involved getting over a domineering father who tried to kill them, and... well, his possible bisexuality, I guess, although even that's a grey area.

And so once these two character finally faced down their... uh... demons, they finally jumped in the sack/shower on yesterday's air show after... well, a fight. The same fight they've been having for weeks, mind you.

I went to the Nuke boards yesterday, just to get a feel for what the Internet fans were thinking. And they were rejoicing to the heavens. And God bless 'em, they have every right to be rejoicing. They've been campaigning for this hard for years now. It's a small step for two B-characters on a soap, but it's giant leap for disenchanted gay television-viewing men all over the world, who finally feel like America and ATWT have joined the ranks of Hollyoaks as a soap that finally represents their struggle, their joys, their passions, their loves. And for that, I applaud their efforts, I raise a glass to the script-writers who worked their magic to try and make this work, and I give a standing ovation to the advertisers for letting it make it to air.

But what do these characters want? Jack Devereaux wanted to overcome his demons and feel worthy. Jennifer Horton wanted people to see her as somebody other than "Squirt". Whereas in Oakdale, Luke wanted... love? (Who doesn't?) And Noah wanted... I'm still not exactly sure what Noah wanted. He still feels like a plot point to me, after all this time. Losing their virginity was born out of an argument, but it was an argument I've seen so many times over the last year (always in the same set), that when I started to watch the episode last night I half-wondered if I was watching an old repeat on my DVR by accident.

And now what? We send Lau's Brian off into the sunset in a week or two, and hang on until the next external plot point shows up to drive a wedge between them. (Paging Paolo Seganti...)

Lest my vinegary subtext turn everyone against me, I assure you I couldn't be happier that the event finally happened. But after P&G's insistence that this was their "old-fashioned soap love story", I can't help but compare it to other old-fashioned soap love stories where the men battled personal issues to finally consummate their relationship after much hand-wringing. The Nuke fans held their own and campaigned for this in all the mainstream publications. The show gave them what they wanted, slyly and with zero fanfare, hoping not to anger off the conservatives aligned with their show. Anyone who reads my blog knows I campaigned for Nuke just as hard - I published the phone numbers, and gave to the charity, and hoped against hope to see something ground-breaking and beautiful and wonderful and phenomenal happen when Luke and Noah finally consummated their love for each other. Because I've always been in their corner.

But for this viewer, there is no sitting back on his couch, feeling like I've just been on a wildly romantic journey, like those many years ago in a watery cave.

Instead, it just feels like a hollow victory.

SOD Goes Back In Time!

2009-01-12T11:50:00.003-05:00

Hey all!

SOD took a page out of the book We Love Soaps started writing (and I piggy-backed onto with my Marland Long Story Analysis), by pledging to start re-posting old interviews with soap opera legends from their archives!

They're starting by re-printing Douglas Marland's How Not To Wreck A Show Rules... which is a little disappointing to me, only because it's available on pretty much any soap message board these days. But I can forgive them, because there's so much at their disposal, I just know they'll deliver some goodies long-thought forgotten.

So please - if you'd like SOD to continue posting interviews with soap opera legends who are long since gone or retired, PLEASE visit this site and drop a line to soaplook@soapoperadigest.com and ask them to continue this feature.

At a time when we're all praying for a return to greatness in daytime writing, it's wonderful to even have a few moments with some of daytime's greats, and I (for one) would love to see further interviews with Labine, LeMay, Curlee, Nixon, Marland, Washam, the Cullitons, Bill Bell and so many others.

I encourage everybody - if you want to see SOD continue this feature, please let them know!

--tom

Thank You, Daytime Confidential!

2009-01-12T05:15:00.005-05:00

Well, I'll be damned...

The good folks over at Daytime Confidential have listed me on their list of Top 10 Writer/Producers of 2008. Not too shabby for someone who actually didn't write for a soap in 2008, huh? (Well, except for those first three weeks of January, when my pre-strike stuffed aired.) I'm in damn good company too, with the likes of Sara, Karen Harris (whom I adore, as most of you know), Susan Dansby (a long-time friend from ATWT) and Chris Van Etten (a guy who still impresses me with the way he's establishing his career early on).

We all expected to see names like Ron Carlivati and Maria Arena Bell and Sri Rao on there. So to be included with the best-of-the-best (whether the Nielsen homes realize it or not) is pretty freakin' cool for me.

Also, their Number One surprised the hell out of me - but their explanation sure made a lot of sense.

Thanks guys and girls! And Bravo on an excellent list!

Great Marland's Ghost! - Part Four (Final Thoughts)

2009-01-08T08:09:00.008-05:00

The last five pages of Marland's proposed long story document are probably the most interesting to me, for numerous reasons. He's already covered most of the canvas - the Hughes Family in Part One, the Walsh and Snyder Families in Part Two, and the Ryan Family in Part Three. But as others have pointed out, there were a few people left on the canvas Marland has yet to cover, and in these last few pages, he not only discusses them, but after a long re-read of his own story, he ends up giving himself notes on what he's written.

First up, he covers Steve and Betsy Andropolous. He immediately points out that at the time of his writing, Steve and Betsy have been off the canvas for six weeks. Due to their absence, he says he has "very few story ideas for them at the time of submitting this document". What I found most fascinating, though, was his follow-up to this admission of writers' block.

However, it is important for us to have at least one happily married couple on the scene as the previously outlined stories unfold so I feel Steve and Betsy who have been front burner for so long are the perfect candidates for this necessary contribution.

This is not to say for a minute that they would have little or nothing to do through the six month time frame. On the contrary, Betsy would of course play a prominent role in the Kim/Bob/Lisa story and one of equal importance in the Sierra/John/Craig triangle. The presence of a happily married, well adjusted young woman will provide a vital story balance as well as a personal sounding board and confidante for the emotionally rattled Kim and the confused Sierra.

Steve has his business to run and with Tucker gone now, it will make it all the more demanding for the ambitious Steve who wants to give Betsy everything he feels she deserves. This will cause some minor frictions even in this happy, stable duo and by the time our other stories have run their course, Steve and Betsy will be ready (and perfectly positioned) to move front and center in a dramatic story of conflict all their own.

First of all, as many will point out, Steve and Betsy did indeed leave the show soon after. So however this course of events transpired, Marland's plan for them didn't come to pass exactly as he worded it here. Whether this was due to the network, the actors, or Marland himself changing his mind... we have no way of knowing. But for the sake of argument, let's say this was truly the plan all along. EDIT: As a commenter just posted, Steve and Betsy didn't leave until 1987, so they survived two years after Marland was hired. My apologies - I thought it was sooner, and I should have looked it up to verify whether or not they were let go "soon after". Sorry! :-)

I love that Marland makes a point of saying not only that you need a happily married couple on the canvas - but that's nothing new. What every soap fan who's read an interview knows is that when a head writer says "They're our happy couple", it usually means you don't see them for a few months. Or when you do, it's in their job capacity and not involved in anything personal. (For years, Tom was just the Go-To-Lawyer and Margo was the Go-To-Cop on ATWT.)

But Marland breaks the mold by pointing out how being close to a happily married couple can affect romantically confused or emotionally lost friends and family. Think about it in your own life - when your personal life is a mess, how does it affect you when you're around people who are seemingly in "perfect relationships". How does it affect your friendship with them, and conversely, how are you affected when your friends are lost, and everything is on the up-and-up with you and your significant other? It has a profound effect, and it's one I haven't seen on a soap in many years. It can make strong bonds, but it can also drive large wedges in friendships, in sisters, in families. It can make a character put a happily married couple on a pedestal as a shining example, or it can jump-start intense feelings of jealousy.

I'm thrilled to hear Marland understood the importance of the Happily Married Couple, both for the viewers and for the other characters on the canvas, and for that, I admire him more.

He then discusses arrivals and departures on an already-crowded canvas. Interestingly enough, Marland planned to write out both Paul (sent off to live with Greta, as detailed in the Barbara long story in Part Three) and Andy (sent off to military school by John as a way to drive a wedge between Andy and Kim at the beginning of the Doug Cummings story). I'm stunned by this, as one of the great legacies Marland gave us in Oakdale was the amazing way he incorporated ATWT's teen characters in two beloved stories - Andy's alcoholism and Paul's unrequited love for Emily and struggle against James for her. I don't know what changed, but it's obvious from reading this that Marland loved both Andy and Paul as characters - he felt writing them out "for now" was more about an already crowded canvas, and both would be important down the road. He also talks about writing out Maggie, Frank, Cal, Jay and Heather (all of whom were indeed written out, with the exception of Cal... and none of whom seem to be missed, even to this day.) EDIT: As another commenter pointed out, I mistakenly assumed he was referring to Cal Strycklyn. My apologies - this is another Cal. So, in fact, all of these characters soon left the show. He makes a point of saying he's only adding Cummings and Holden to the cast for now, so the cast will be leaner. He writes:

I feel this will only add story clarity and allow the writers to hone their storylines to a much sharper (therefore easier to follow) edge, plus force the invention of new ways to make storylines cross over into each other which I feel is missing on current air shows and extremely essential.

Boy, is it ever. Marland is most well-known for the way he stealthily wove stories in and out of each other, crossing characters from one storyline to the next seamlessly. It's something that's missing from most soaps these days, I believe - with the exception of Young and the Restless and One Life to Live (both of which are making an effort to have a sense of community, and not isolate characters in their own storylines). ATWT claimed they don't cross characters into other stories for "budgetary reasons" in an interview in 2008, which is a shame. It's this that makes the art of soap writing so unique.

Those who are interested in directing will especially love Marland's next segment:

In re-reading this document prior to submission, I was struck by how many times I have referred to a character's reaction to another character's stance, a suggested line of dialogue, or even to a certain situation. I believe I've done this because after viewing ATWT for several weeks, I've often felt cheated by not seeing reactions at the end of a scene, prior to a pre-commercial break, or even within a scene itself when I feel a reaction shot is not only called for but essential to the continuing action and audience interest within that episode or a future one. If I feel cheated by this technique, then I have to believe a portion of the audience shares this feeling. I'm certainly not suggesting old fashioned "egg on the face" reaction shots that are held to the point of embarrassment for both the actor involved and the audience, but merely a simple cut to get the reaction before going to commercial or cutting to another scene. We have to remember that reaction is part of the internal action of any dramatic moment. On the stage, the audience is free to simply look to an actor for his reaction, but in television and film, they have to be given this opportunity by the camera and the director. I defy anyone to point out a good film in which the director hasn't either cut to a character's reaction or included it in a master shot to let the audience share the full impact of any major dramatic moment. I urge those in charge of ATWT to give its audience the same privilege.

There's a lot I adore about this paragraph, and love Marland all the more for pointing out the importance of reaction shots. But what moves me most is that last sentence: Marland calls seeing other characters' reactions a "privilege". If nothing else, his use of the word shows a profound respect for his viewing audience.

He then returns to the Doug Cummings story, giving himself more notes upon re-reading what he's written. I won't bother going into details (they're not that important), but he feels he hasn't clarified his purpose for Lisa in the story, and goes into a few sentences explaining how he wants to highlight the "Lisa of old" with where he sees the character heading in the future. He concludes this segment by writing:

My original instinct was to move Lisa further in this direction within the framework of the Bob/Kim situation, but as I tried to accomplish this in seemingly logical steps, it seemed to be over-manipulating the character (as we know and accept her now) for the sake of story, which is a writing technique I'm morally opposed to.

My head is spinning! I love that Marland not only references the problem with plot driving character motivations when it doesn't make sense, but then calls himself out on it. I've tried to express that sometimes we, as writers, get so caught up in the storyline, we forget we have to get the audience there without shoe-horning it in. The laziest writers are guilty of this, but the most meticulous and strongest writers also fall victim to this. Marland takes the time to actually accept responsibility for doing this in his first long story, and adds an addendum to correct it. Outstanding!

And that's not all he corrects. Check this out, regarding the John/Lucinda story:

In regards to this same storyline, I realized as I reread it that I've used an argument with Craig as the story device that propels Sierra into deciding to marry John; the identical device I used for Frannie who after arguing with Kevin, accepts Daniel's sudden proposal to elope. I would therefore suggest that for Sierra, we allow her to uncover for herself some underhanded scheme of Lucinda's to outwit and discredit John so that in this story, it's Lucinda herself (as opposed to Sierra's interest in John) who's unwittingly responsible for Sierra almost marrying her arch enemy.

So he's realized he's repeating a small, minor beat in two different stories, and corrects it, so the audience doesn't experience the same set of scenes with different characters in the same time period. Many a writer has gotten a dirty look in a writers' meeting by saying out loud "Wait - didn't we just do this with [insert character name here] and [insert character name here]?" Admitting that while laying out will pretty much put you on a short list for the unemployment line, so I absolutely love that a head writer can see that before the story even makes it to the breakdown level, and works to correct it.

Marland finishes up his document by urging The Powers That Be to:

...consider carefully the dramatic (but justified) turn around I've suggested for Barbara. In my modest, humble opinion (even after re-reading) I think it would work brilliantly and offer your audience a surprise equal to that of turning Rachel from villainess to heroine on "Another World". While Barbara going from goody-goody to evil is the reverse of this example, I believe it's the kind of shocking, surprising turn-around the show's audience deserves and sorely needs.

Once again, just like earlier when Marland referred to reaction shots as a "privilege", he talks here about what the show's audience "deserves". It's one thing to use words like this when giving an interview with Soap Opera Digest. It's quite another when you're using words like this in a document that only the network executives read. There's a genuine sincerity, a love for the fans viewing the show, that shines through. The man is humble, yet strongly opinionated... without a hint of arrogance. And with every word, expresses his love for the people who tune in five hours a week to watch his program. He's not just paying lip service - he truly means it.

I have enjoyed posting these entries more than I can possibly express in a blog entry. And I truly hope the kind folks at P&G and who represent the Marland estate take no disrespect (or intended copyright infringement) from these entries. I consider daytime to have four true legends in its top tier: Bill Bell, Agnes Nixon, Irna Phillips and Douglas Marland. And Marland is the only one of the four who is most well-known for penning a show he inherited, as opposed to created. Quite an impressive accomplishment, and one I admire him greatly for. He is truly one of the greats, and my intention in writing these blog entries was to share the wonderful man I feel I got to "know" through this document with the fans who, for so many years, still discuss him and his work with great reverence.

He is forever missed, by those who worked with him and those who watched his art unfold on screen. And I'm thrilled to be able to share this with you guys, sixteen years after his untimely death. I hope you guys enjoyed getting inside the mind of this brilliant writer as much as I did.

xo --tom

Great Marland's Ghost! - Part Three (Barbara to the Dark Side)

2009-01-07T07:39:00.004-05:00

So this is my third entry, detailing my thoughts on Doug Marland's 1985 proposed long story for As the World Turns. This is an interesting story, as it involves a major shift in the character of Barbara Ryan, and much of the document is spent on detailing the path to get her personality to morph into an entirely different one, but one much more beneficial to the canvas.

It opens with Barbara breaking up with Brian, because her young son Paul just refuses to accept him in her life. What strikes me immediately about this story is in the intense atmosphere immediately set up between mother and son. This is not a kid whose purpose on the show is to "supply the cute". On Page 113...

One night Barbara goes to Paul's bedroom to say good night and hears the end of a phone conversation in which Paul is saying "everything's okay now, so no need to worry." Barbara questions him until Paul finally admits in an outburst of temper (really reminiscent of his father) that he's glad it's over with Brian, and that he did everythign in his power to put an end to her affair with him! He flatly refuses to tell her who he was talking to on the phone and works Barbara up to the point of slapping him.

The next day she talks to Bob, admitting she doesn't know what to do with Paul and Bob suggests a child psychiatrist. He also advises her that children can be very tyrannical when things don't go their way and warns her against letting Paul rule her life.

Not exactly full of the warm and fuzzies, right? It strikes me as a very real breaking down of the mother/son relationship, but I wonder if today's audience, so used to sensationalism, wouldn't immediately assume Marland is getting ready to tell a "Bad Seed" storyline like Guiding Light just did with Will. It couldn't be further from that - this is a story about a young boy with a lot of Stenbeck in him, and a mother who both loathes that... and respects it. Paul begins seeing the child psychiatrist, and obediently listens to his mother. But the child has plans of his own.

Paul continues to be the little robot and sees his doctor at scheduled appointments but keeps trying to convince him that the real problem is his mother's and not Paul's. When the doctor probes Paul's reasons for saying this, Paul says in a calculated manner that "she's always needed a new man in her life more than she's needed a son."

Meanwhile, Paul's late night secret calls continue, while Brian begins flirting with Shannon, and Barbara tries to regain control of her life as a single mother. But it all comes crashing down around her when Great Aldrin (James' mother) shows up at her door, and says she's taking Paul to live with her in Europe. Marland goes into a three-page confrontation between Barbara and Greta about Paul being the one who will continue the family bloodline, about James' unhappy end and Barbara's dalliances with other men... and...

"from this point on, let's use tears for Barbara very sparingly and begin to see the grit and determination growing within her as she vows (quite like Scarlett in "Gone With the Wind") "Never to be a victim again!").

Barbara, determined not to lose her son (her lifeline, at this point), goes to Tom for help. Tom agrees to represent her in her custody battle with Greta.

The next ten pages of the story once again delve into Marland's talk to subtext, of emotions, what characters are going to experience and feel and react to, as opposed to what they do. The little strains in Tom and Margo's marriage over her involvement in her work (which dovetails nicely into the Doug Cummings case from the first long story, and the Craig/Dusty hit-and-run in the second long story), the ways Greta slowly and insidiously gets ammunition against Barbara to use against her in court, Barbara's increasing doubt and insecurity, and the way it causes her to act out, especially when around her ex, Brian... or even her new lawyer, Tom. Paul is more determined than ever to go live with his grandmother in Europe, and helps the old woman get more ammo to use against Babs. Finally, they back Barbara into a corner, and Barbara is forced to agree to give up her son to his grandmother.

The scenes between Barbara and her young son should truly tear at the heart strings, as she tells him how much she loves him, how much she needs him in her life and tries in every way imaginable to evoke some similar response in Paul, who perhaps almost falters and gives in for a second, then stands firm and dispassionate as he insists he wants to live with Greta and is prepared to tell any judge this. From Barbara's expression, we can tell she's lost and given up but as she holds him close and assures him this decision of his will in no way change her love for him, we should see a tear or two in Paul's eyes which he brushes away before Barbara can see them.

Powerful stuff. But what happens next completely deconstructs the character of Barbara, which is of special interest to me personally, as I was at ATWT when we deconstructed Barbara after the boathouse fire.

Barbara, in typical Barbara fashion, runs to Brian's for comfort and support (and a little nookie), but is stunned to find him with Shannon. (Of course - this is a soap, after all). Barbara is now at the end of her rope, and begins a slow shift in her personality - beginning with leaning on former flame Tom, while hiring a detective to dig up dirt on Shannon. Marland writes:

I frankly believe that this "new Barbara" will be accepted by our audience (of course some of them will at first resist the change from "Mary Poppins" to the "Dragon Lady") because they've seen her suffer as a victim for years and will understand the emotional trauma she's been through as a result of losing both her son and what she had with Brian at the same time (due to interrelated causes which she tried her honest best to deal with fairly). She's a woman who has been manipulated by men and women alike to the point where anyone with any spine would revolt and vow never to be manipulated or victimized again. I believe she could be a "bitch" to equal Joan Collin's "Alexis" if given both the proper material and the justification which our audience would share in.

He goes on to say:

She'd always be on the prowl looking for the man who could, never for an instant believing she could be in any way at fault herself. Because as the down trodden victim she's played for so long, she's been trusted with many "secrets" by our principal characters such as Lisa, Kim and Tom, to name just a few. Armed with these secrets and her new determination, she could easily become a formidable adversary to all of them.

What follows is thirty pages of detailed descriptions of who these characters involve themselves with, but always what their subtext is in terms of the people they want to be with: Barbara's slow seduction of Tom, while always missing Paul, wanting to destroy Shannon, and still thinking about Brian. Meanwhile, Shannon hides her past, Margo struggles with Barbara's duplicity and whether or not she's making a play for Margo's husband, Brian worries about Barbara but makes a go of it with Shannon, and Tom's struggling with his growing feelings for former love Barbara while his wife drowns in case after case at the police station.

I found this interesting in regards to Brian and Shannon:

I feel it's important for needed story contrast to keep their's a light-hearted, semi-serious, offbeat romance (in spite of Shannon's fear that someone from her past will find she's in Oakdale) so we must concentrate in outlines and scripts to keep Shannon as "Holly Golightly" as possible, and see Brian in a new light as a successful, sophisticated leading man who eagerly responds to Shannon's zaniness. Shannon's concern re: her past should come in flashes and disappear as quickly as it appears. She overrides her concern with a conscious effort but this should never be allowed to get heavy handed since we must believe above all else that our Shannon is an optimist in her approach to life in general. So let's consciously go for a Cary Grant/Audrey Hepburn combo in this story that will provide the needed contrast to our more serious and dramatic stories.

I love how Marland always looks at his canvas as a whole. He's already detailed a descent into madness with the Doug Cummings long story, he's covered revenge and lust in the John/Lucinda and Holden/Lily long stories, he's got a the dissolution of a mother/son relationship in Barbara and Paul, and now he's making a conscious decision to focus on the light-heartedness of a couple. (He does this later with Steve and Betsy as well, which I'll get into tomorrow.)

By page 147, Shannon is now an advice columnist, and enjoys a "slightly irreverent madcap romance" with Brian, while Barbara has morphed into a villainess, as she put the final nail in the coffin of Tom and Margo's marriage. And it's just when Brian and Shannon have found happiness, and Tom is now "very much involved with the scheming and tenacious Barbara" that the truth about Shannon's past comes out, and Margo discovers she's pregnant with Tom's baby...

He then sums up where he'd like to see the story go, and unlike the past two stories, in this case he details what he would like to see happen during certain times of the year, specifically Christmas and the following February. (He's a long-term planner, our Douglas.) What impresses me the most is that each of these stories involves some kind of triangle or quad: Bob/Kim/Lisa, Holden/Lily/Dusty, John/Sierra/Craig/Lucinda, Brian/Barbara/Shannon/Tom -- and yet each one feels distinctly different in its tone. I read so many comments on message boards about how tired fans are of quads and triangles, but what these long stories immediately prove to me (and this is just my own personal opinion - feel free to disagree) is that a show can absolutely run on triangles and quads, so long as there is a different tone associated with each. Sierra torn between the manipulative John and the damned-by-his-own-hand Craig is completely different to me than Barbara seducing Tom out of a need to stop playing the victim, while still unable to get Brian's moving on with Shannon out of her head. John discovering he has feelings for Sierra in the midst of his revenge plot is nothing like Brian and Shannon's Grant/Hepburn romance. There are triangles of sincerity, triangles of revenge, triangles of desperation.

It doesn't feel as if he's resorting to cheap soap tactics for lack of creativity, but instead he uses basic soap staples (the mysterious past, the young girl torn between stability and her wild side, the desperate mother who loses her son) and then adds on a layer of history and subtext so that they never feel like they're "been there, done that, bought the T-shirt". They seem individual to the characters themselves, even if it's a storyline that's been used on other shows. He tries to bring something new and Oakdale-specific to each soap device, and constantly refers to ideas other daytime shows are not presenting. He's always well aware of the tones of his other story, and works to keep a constant balance without it seeming as if these stories are happening on different soaps entirely.

Tomorrow - Marland's final five pages, where he talks about the canvas, the characters not needed (and why), his thoughts on Steve and Betsy, and overall concerns about the show going into 1985/1986.

Great Marland's Ghost! - Part Two (The Clem Years)

2009-01-05T23:30:00.005-05:00

So now we're on to the Walsh girls, and Marland's original plan for them. This is the second of three long stories in the document. It starts on Page 57, and picks up dead in the middle of World War Three: Lucinda Walsh vs. John Dixon. Lucinda's won over his hospital board seat, and John vows to destroy her.

From the get-go, there's a whole Armageddon feel to this show-down. Lucinda has taken what she wants, and John is a man who is about to embark on an incredible emotional journey, to ransack everything close to Lucinda's heart.

What's striking to me from the very beginning about this long story is how little happens, event wise. The story ends on Page 112. That's 45 pages - and it's all pretty much spent in emotion, both introverted and extroverted. Who manipulates who over dinner, who then turns around and stabs someone in the back the next morning... this cat-and-mouse that starts close to home, and eventually infests (and poisons) every relationship around John and Lucinda. But there's no party, no wedding, no funeral, no plane crash, no "event", no natural disaster. It's a very personal story about lies and secrets and grudges.

I honestly don't know how it would ever get approved today.

John realizes to get to Lucinda, he must break Sierra, and begins harassing her at the hospital... until he learns there's a rumor she's Lucinda's biological daughter. Now he's interested, and he starts building a friendship with Sierra. Lyla plays the role of John's conscience (considering her son, Craig, is involved with Sierra), but John only cares about ruining Lucinda and shoves Lyla aside.

Lucinda, meanwhile, wants Craig and Sierra destroyed.

And what follows, is thirty pages of Lucinda very subtly trying to destroy Craig and Sierra, unaware John is lying to get closer to Sierra (to destroy Lucinda). So in gloating how she's accomplishing her own needs, Lucinda is inadvertently sending Sierra into John's arms... along with the secret that Sierra is her biological daughter, which will destroy the Walsh family. And as everyone knows, it completely obliterates the Walsh girls - and it's all over retribution for a hospital board seat.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. At this point, Lucinda thinks she's the only one playing cards, and thinks she's totally in the driver's seat, unaware what John is doing with Sierra.

I've been avoiding literally typing out sections, because I don't know at what point P&G will step in. But just read a paragraph like this, and you'll see what I mean:

While she's enjoying the fruits of her manipulative labors, however, Lucinda is still unaware of another problem that's festering under her own roof. The closer she's drawn to Sierra and the happier she is as a result of this, the more her younger daughter, Lily, feels displaced in her mother's affections, and the more jealous Lily becomes toward Sierra, the harder she works at hiding these feelings. There are times when Lucinda senses this new resolve in Lily and questions her about it, but Lily becomes more adept at imitating her mother's natural talent for duplicity and deftly lies her way out of it, insisting that nothing is wrong at all.

Just beautiful. That's not even a real scene Marland's laid out - it's subtext for about a week's worth of episodes!

The entire long story is written in this kind of prose. It isn't building to an event like the Doug Cummings reveal (a fantastic story, but definitely a more plot-driven story than this one - and not in a bad way). The entire chapter of the document is written in these wonderful run-on sentences of emotion and jealousy and doubt and love and insecurity and deception. It's the growth and decline of feelings, as opposed to actions people take.

Don't get me wrong, there are moments of plot in here. Dusty's in a hit-and-run (long-time fans will remember where this is heading), John and Lucinda are individually playing mind games with Craig and Sierra, Shannon and Lyla are floating around, each contributing their own smaller chapters to the Dixon v. Walsh saga.

And Lily's behavior starts getting more and more wild. And into this, in the middle of Page 80, enters Clem Holden.

He is "quiet" and "sullen in manner" (is he now? :-)), and...

...we can tell from his attitude that Lily holds some sort of fascination for him, but from his expressions and his terse, brief verbal exchanges, which Lily teases him about constantly), we should wonder what this fascination is based on and when (if ever) he'll share it with Lily and our audience. Think of Clem as the very young James Dean - quiet, uncomfortable with language, but always with a burning need of some kind reflected in his eyes and sullen good looks."

I love Jon Hensley, the family man, that I worked with at ATWT, and I adore his wife, Kelley. But come on - tell me you don't read that Holden description and not immediately think "Smoldering". That burning between Jon and Martha all those years ago is palpable, even in these words on a page, long before Jon was even cast.

But this next part blew me away. The first half is more of that subtext crafting he did earlier, and the second part... the parenthetical... completely changed my view of Marland's Lily. Check this out...

Lily treats Clem like her personal servant and he never voices a complaint, but Dusty gently reproaches her for it, saying he hates to see anyone act so superior to someone who happens to be working for them. Lily shrugs this off, feeling that Clem is too insensitive to be bothered by her attitude; in fact she gets the feeling he enjoys the implied put-down in her attitude toward him. He's like one of the horses he cares for so; the more tightly you rein them, the more they know who's boss. We see Clem's silent reaction to overhearing Lily's haughty, superior assessment of him and know she's very wrong. (NOTE: I feel we have the possibility to develop a fascinating, incipient young bitch in the character of Lily and one who can supply us with plenty of dramatic fireworks in the years ahead when the characters in her age group move front and center in story focus. Believing she's Lucinda's natural daughter and therefore the "Princess" in line to inherit Lucinda's "throne" and all that goes with it, positions her perfectly to be groomed for the snobbish, arrogant, conniving "Bitch Goddess" every daytime series needs to keep their story kettle boiling. I would therefore suggest taking this direction with Lily now and carefully lay in the foundations for the years ahead.)

There's so much to start with here. First of all, the entire psycho-sexual construct of Lily and Holden's initial "romance" was completely Lily's sexual awakening tied to feelings of power, and I absolutely remember Martha, in her youth, playing that with Jon, the obedient-but-slightly-ironically-so farmhand. Then, you have Marland's plan for the character of Lily - a moment that initially made me gasp when I first read it, but the more I thought about it, the more so much made sense. In fact, look at Lily's reactions all throughout her early years, the Dusty/Holden/Derek years. There's a self-entitled agenda there... a demanding of un-earned respect from everybody. Then look at Heather Rattray as Lily, and the harder edge the character took, even in the writing. In fact, Lily didn't revert to the helpless damsel in distress until much later, in the late Nineties. And lastly, the fact that Marland referred to her, Dusty and Holden, as being front and center, and the focus of story YEARS from now? I suggest you turn on a soap opera... any soap opera... during the summer months. You'll see who the focus is on. Many soaps aren't waiting years anymore.

Later, as the story progresses, we build to Holden and Lily's first love-making during a snowstorm. And it's a doozy, my friends. It nearly stopped my heart when reading it.

Clem in his typical non-verbal style doesn't move but as his fingers linger on her naked shoulder, Lily seizes a riding crop (all due apologies to both Lady Chatterly and her lover) and lashes out at him, still screaming out her orders to the young man she considers her "personal slave". Even the sharp sting from the riding crop across his face doesn't bring a distinguishable reactions from Clem, but he forces it from Lily's grip then pulls her to him and into an embrace so passionate, that even the furious, confused Lily is forced to respond as it continues. He seduces her with a combination of love, passion and near brutality that leaves Lily breathless, excited and more than content to lie in his strong young arms when their mutual passions are spent. At this moment in time, the roles of master and slave are irrevocably reversed.

Holy cow. Talk about love in the afternoon.

The story goes on, Lily torn between Dusty and Holden, Sierra torn between an arrested Craig (who hit Dusty) and John, John torn between his revenge plot against Lucinda and his growing true feelings for Sierra, Lucinda torn between two daughters, all the while the secret of Sierra's maternity looming over them.

At one point, Marland takes a break to talk about Clem and his purpose.

My intention with Clem's introduction (along with using his presence to great advantage in Lily's story) was to introduce a struggling, lower income family of Holdens as a much needed contrast to the upper middle class family units that now dominate the tapestry of ATWT. Since we must assume that the more rural areas that surround Oakdale would certainly include farms and their farmers (and since to my knowledge there's no such family existing on other daytime dramas), I feel the contribution such a family might make to the overall canvas of our series, would be invaluable. In my final notes you will see the list of existing characters I would suggest writing out and my reasons for their exodus. This would afford us the opportunity (and budget) to bring in the Holdens and the added richness to existing storylines I see them contributing strongly to. I don't suggest we suddenly flood the screen with several new characters, but rather introduce them as needed, always keeping other family members and close friends alive off screen as possible antagonists or protagonists for future story complications. In looking carefully at the Hughes family unit, Lisa, Brian, Barbara, certainly Lucinda and her brood, there seems to be no representation of the "have nots" in our society who want the comfort and financial ease that is represented by our more affluent, successful characters. Clem of course is one of those "have nots" who can make a dramatic and sexy contribution to the Lily/Dusty storyline, but I feel the gradual introduction of other members of the Holden clan are necessary in time to allow us to understand Clem better by learning more of his background. I urge your consideration of this point, believing it would add realism to the series and broaden its audience appeal.)

Again, there's so much here, I don't know where to start. In one paragraph, Marland talks about his thoughts on new characters, the pace they should be introduced at, warns of them hogging up air time, the importance of realism and lower-income families struggling to appeal to the audience, and looking for a new audience with the type of family not seen on daytime before. There's his "how not to wreck a show" rules, pretty much summed up in one paragraph.

In the end, the secret about Sierra being Lucinda's daughter explodes at John and Sierra's wedding (okay, there's another event... there are a couple, I admit it).

Marland sums up by talking about Clem torn between his feelings for Lily, and the way he leads her on to show the power he has over her, even though he's in the position of no power, financially. (He was a bit of a scoundrel back then, wasn't he, that Clem?) Marland ponders the idea of Lily getting pregnant "a year from now".

He concludes, and I do as well, with these words... and his final words made me literally giggle.

We still have the bombshell that Lily is not Lucinda's natural child left to explode, and what better time than after Clem has done the "right thing" by marrying Lily and now has his foot planted firmly in the door to the family mansion, to let Lily (and Clem in time) learn that she's not Lucinda's child at all and that indeed Sierra is the only real flesh and blood daughter and heir to the fortune.

By this time we'd know some of the other Holdens and it would be nice if it were Clem's mother who had known Lily's real mother (who should of course reappear on the scene)

Imagine. Clem's mother knowing Lily's biological mother.

Oh, the places Oakdale viewers were about to go...

Last up - Barbara, Brian, Paul, Shannon, Tom, Margo, Lisa, Bob and Greta Aldrin. And some final thoughts...

Great Marland's Ghost! - Part One

2009-01-05T09:06:00.005-05:00

As I mentioned a few posts ago, recently in my cleaning, I've discovered a treasure trove of long stories I've accumulated from different shows over the years. Some of them are long stories that made it to air... some of them didn't. Some of them were written by the head writers who were working for the show at the time, and others were "auditions" by people who hoped to one day hold the title.

But there is one I value more than any of the rest, and that's Douglas Marland's proposed long story from 1985.

I discovered it when I was cleaning out the filing cabinets from the CBS Studios on 57th Street before World Turns moved to Midwood, Brooklyn in 2000. My inner fan in a state of shock, literally salivating over the gold mine I had just discovered, I quickly made a photocopy of it and packed it away with the rest of the documents.

I plowed through all one hundred and fifty seven pages that night, and then sealed it up in an envelope and put it away on my bookshelf, my mind spinning with everything I had read. And there it sat, until last week... when I rediscovered it.

"I'm sure I don't have to point out that it's a bit tricky attempting to spin out the threads of future story when as an outside writer, I can't be certain where the existing stories or characters now on view will be by the time I've completed this document. However, from what I've seen in the past several weeks of viewing and from certain information furnished to me by the network, I believe the storylines that follow could be meshed satisfactorily with existing material if some basic primary steps were taken to get the characters involved to the proper "jumping off" points. Please bear this in mind as you read further"

And with these words, Sir Marland immediately jumps into a detailed account of his first three long stories.

I am unsure exactly what I am allowed to transcibe legally from this document, but I think the above opening paragraph says nothing that would infuriate Procter and Gamble or CBS. But the first thing I have to point out is the sheer humility of his words, and his tone is one of both respect, formality, and simple conversation all at once.

His first long story is the story that basically ended up being the Doug Cummings long story (although in his original long story, the character is named Daniel Cummings, a change I'm assuming was instituted because Daniel Stewart was an established ATWT character, and there can only be one Dan).

What I found interesting though, is that for the first arc of the long story, the Cummings character doesn't even come into play. Marland instead focuses on the Hughes family dynamic within Bob and Kim's house, and how it will lay the groundwork for what happens down the line. Andy, Frannie and Nancy/Chris are all living with Bob and Kim, and tensions are rising over very simple concepts: Kim feels threatened as woman-of-the-house with her mother-in-law living with them, Andy (a young teen) feels uncomfortable having to deal with the issues of living with senior citizens when you're a self-indulgent adolescent, and Bob's comfort level with Lisa constantly visiting continues to push buttons for Kim's insecurities. In fact, Daniel Cummings doesn't even show up until Page 15 of the long story.

Throughout the document, Marland briefly steps out of the story to leave little author's notes, about family dynamics, the psychology of the storyline, his rationale behind what the "Lisa of old" would do as compared to the "Lisa of now". It isn't all plot points - he actually stops to talk about what teens feel when living in close quarters with their grandparents in a way that doesn't make Andy seem like a jerk... (and in fact, John later uses this discomfort as a way to pull his son closer into his world). It all just seems so... real. Like something any of us would experience growing up in a multi-generational house, with all the pros and cons of that situation.

He also refers to "identification possibilities" and frequently references which perspective he feels the women viewing in the audience will identify with, and why (again, with examples from psychology). Smart move, explaining to the reader why he feels these minor emotional beats are important to play before the plot kicks in. Essentially, he's setting up why Kim is so intrigued when she starts to receive notes from a secret admirer.

Interestingly, Daniel Cummings also owns a restaurant in town... and he's introduced through Lisa, who wants to sponsor fashion luncheons there for her new boutique.

The document covers Kevin and Frannie's break-up, "Daniel's" wooing of Frannie, Kim receiving the messages from her admirer, the threat that maybe it's Lisa doing it to drive a wedge between Bob and Kim, the success of Daniel's new restaurant in town (called "Caroline's", after his first wife... shades of Caroline Crawford later?) It becomes a story about Kim's paranoia - over Nancy taking on the role of alpha female in the house, John's growing closeness with Andy, Bob and Lisa's friendship, and her fears that someone is stalking her.

At one point, another of Marland's constant parentheticals shows up, and I really love this one:

"I feel it's important to let the audience know for certain that it's Daniel about two weeks prior to the actual denouement of our story. Certainly, many of them will suspect him regardless of how carefully he's written and played simply because he's the "new kid on the block" and arrived as the strange happenings began for Kim, but they will wonder how someone so much younger than Kim knew her during her club singer days, what the reasoning is behind his barrage of gifts, what he eventually hopes to gain, where Frannie fits into his plans, is it genuine love on his part, and if so, what is his strange obsession for Kim, how dangerous he really is and if he's Marie's murderer, can he be stopped before he kills again? These unanswered riddles of the mystery will hold audience viewing attention even more, I believe, once they know he's the man responsible for Kim's current torment."

I love that Marland pointed out the audience may already be on to him before the big reveal, but it's okay. It shows he knows exactly how smart the audience is, but there are still a lot of factors to the story, and after the reveal, it becomes more about "Why?" than "Who?". Smart man, that Marland.

And for anyone who is wondering, the reveal of Cummings in his secret room that serves as a shrine to Kim, as "Someone to Watch Over Me" plays? It's right here in the long story, in all its glory, a whole page devoted to that now famous scene.

The conclusion of the story involves a similar showdown, although there is no location shoot. And Cummings' own mother ends up shooting and killing her son. Marland then writes up a page on psychiatric facts on psychotic personalities to explain how Cummings could get away undetected so long, with so many intelligent characters in the medical profession around him (like Bob and John).

The story clocks in at 56 pages, and it's a joy to read from start to finish. The Hughes' seem more fleshed out in these 56 pages than in the entire time I was working on As the World Turns. I felt Bob and Kim and Lisa and Nancy were people, not icons. Three dimensional characters, instead of symbols of flawlessness. And Marland's always present parentheticals where he talks about what he hopes the viewer is thinking/feeling at any given point of the storyline just shows that he was constantly writing with the audience's perspective in mind. he inserts phrases like "I believe" or "The way I see it", in ways that show he's expressing his point of view regarding the canvas, but doing so humbly, and open to ideas and suggestions. (Although that's just my speculation - obviously, I was eleven years old at the time, and have no idea what went on behind closed doors. It's just the subtext I'm reading behind the words.)

And throughout, he talks about the subtext that should always exist between characters like Bob/Lisa and John/Kim. Even if they have nothing to do with the Cummings plot, he never forgets the former relationships that existed on camera before he took over, and references it constantly, even if it means taking a brief break from the Cummings plot points at hand.

At the end of this chapter, I felt like I had a better handle on the Hughes contingent than I ever did when I was writing for them. I'm the first to admit I always had a difficult time writing the Hughes' as three-dimensional characters, the same way I struggled with writing John/Marlena as individual, three-dimensional characters when I started at Days. At some point, these characters get white-washed down to just their iconic nature, and aren't allowed to be portrayed as flawed people. Bob became "The Perfect Father", and Kim became "The Perfect Mother Who Sternly Says 'Kiddo!' A Lot".

These Hughes' are a lot more interesting, I'll tell you that.

Later - Part Two - Lucinda, John, Sierra, Craig, Lila, Shannon, Lily, Dusty, Tom, and a new character by the name of "Clem Holden". This one is FUN! :-)

Thanks, SOS!

2009-01-04T21:56:00.003-05:00

Hey all!

This'll be a short one - heading off to crash, and I'm only halfway through Marland's long story. But I wanted to take a second to say a big

THANK YOU

to the good folks over at Soap Opera Source for naming myself and Sara Bibel as their Favorite Bloggers of 2008!

I still can't believe the blog wasn't even public a year ago. It's insane how much can happen in a year. I'm glad you guys have enjoyed my thoughts and opinions, even when they're rambling and possibly incorrect. It means so much to me. And it's hard for anyone to look bad when they're next to the lovely Ms. Bibel. Can't ask for better company than that!

Thank you, again!!

The Unspooling

2008-12-31T14:49:00.005-05:00

As most of my readers know, much of the last six months here in the Casiello home have been spent turning it from a dust-ridden bachelor pad, into a co-habitable home for me and The Beau. As such, there's been lots of cleaning and digging into old boxes and closets, trying to make room for the crap he and I have accumulated over the years.

In the process, I've come across some real gems - a few long stories I've collected from various shows over the years. Some of them are long stories I've actually told as a member of the writing team - and others are copies of old long stories written by previous head writers and long since buried in the back of a writers' assistant filing cabinet. Some of them were approved by the network and made it to air - and some of them were quickly thrown out, and left to collect dust underneath a pile of old mailing labels and manila envelopes. (One of them was written by Doug Marland, and once I get through all hundred and fifty pages of it, I'm definitely going to blog more about it for all you Marland/Oakdale aficionados - did you all know Holden Snyder's original name was Clem Holden?! CLEM?!)

It's interesting looking at the spectrum of styles used in all of these long stories. The Marland long story is EPIC. I mean, every detail is laid out, meticulously logged from one chapter of the story to the next. As I flipped through it, I was so impressed at the way the stories weaved in and out of each other. I haven't seen a long story written out like this on a soap in years.

And then I started to think about why.

Many fans would say it's due to the fact that head writers now are "lazy hacks". That's probably a vast over-simplification. I don't think writers these days want to devote that much time and energy into writing their long stories, because inevitably you end up with what I call The Unspooling.

Here's how it works:

A) Head writer crafts detailed long story, writes it all out, single-spaced - every move, every reveal, every pay-off, for three months (Thirteen Weeks).
B) Network approves it whole-heartedly. It's "just what we're looking for!"
C) Breakdown writers begin the first few chapters of the story. Everything is great - it's playing out at exactly the pace and the proper tone as the head writers' original document.
D) Somewhere in Week Three, the network doesn't like how something plays. It's "a small section of the story", and they "just want to tweak it."
E) So the scenes get tweaked. Only suddenly, pulling out a thread of the Story in Week Three means you can't play another detail in Week Six, and then the reveal in Week Thirteen has to change slightly. But it's all good. We're professionals. It's what we do. Moving on.
F) Week Four begins, and things are back on track. Only this time, there's an actor vacation that was approved eight months ago. Crap. We don't have our leading lady for the next two weeks. Okay, so we postpone what's supposed to happen in Weeks Four and Five until Weeks Six and Seven, and we'll just highlight another storyline in Weeks Four and Five until we get her back.
G) Oh, but wait. If we postpone Weeks Four and Five into Weeks Six and Seven, then the rewrite that took place (in Step E above) in Week Six has to be changed to Week Eight.
H) Do-able. We'll make it work. It'll take a lot of planning, but we should be able to get everything back on track by the reveal in Week Thirteen during Sweeps. We don't need that beat in Week Ten anymore, so we'll just cut that and move right to Week Eleven, and then we'll still have the reveal by Sweeps. Just pull that thread out.
I) We're writing Week Six now, and suddenly realize the plot movement in Week Six was supposed to be build-up to the beat in Week Ten - you know, that beat that we just erased from the long story from Step H earlier! Well, what's the point now? So Week Six it out the window - Week Six that was originally Week Four, and now serves no purpose to the reveal.
J) Then the executive producer enters the room. Guess what? These two actors hate each other and refuse to work together after a big blow-out a few weeks ago. Damn. There goes your Week Eleven love-making sequence. It's okay though (everyone sighs, exhausted) - we'll play it off camera. Just pull that one thread out, the rest will be fine.
K) Only it's not fine. You're now playing beats from Week THREE in Week TEN, the threads you pulled to appease the network earlier you now realize you need in Week Eleven - because you can't play what you originally wrote in Week Eleven. And crap, we're now two weeks away from Sweeps and you have to rush the story to get to the big reveal. And just then...
L) The network steps in and realizes they don't like how the story's been playing on-screen (since Week One of the story just started to air), and want to completely change the ending. Let's go dark for two weeks and come up with a whole new Sweeps. In the week you're writing the Week Thirteen Reveal.
M) Writing team drinks heavily and throws in the towel.

Okay, this is basically the Perfect Storm of events, and I'm exaggerating slightly. But it's not that far from the truth. The head writer who holed up in his or her house for two weeks straight, drowning in a sea of index cards and dry erase boards, now has watched as one thread after another is pulled out, and the entire quilt completely unspools. As they struggle to pull the pieces together, try and come up with a logical ending to this quagmire they're in that will somehow make everybody happy, it hits them - "This is the story that will make me a hack. Why oh why did I plan this down to the tiniest detail, when there's so much that can go wrong?"

On the other hand, I've seen plenty of head writers turn in "bullet points" for a long story. Two pages (tops!) of half-sentences, with just a list of beats. "Boy meets girl." "Boy loses girl." "Girl sleeps with boy's brother." "Girl gets pregnant." "Baby has mystery disease." "Brothers team up, find out girl has long-lost twin sister, who donates bone marrow to save baby." "Baby lives, boys end up with girls."

Once upon a time, I thought this was just the easy way out. A head writer's net income has six or seven zeroes, all for a two-page beat sheet?!

But after seeing the way so many of these detailed stories have been picked apart, dissected, and ended up un-spooling on-camera? I have to wonder if maybe that isn't the only way to go these days in order to preserve some sanity. This way, if a detail is pulled apart, it doesn't take your whole long story with you.

Don't get me wrong. In my perfect world, the head writer would have an incredibly detailed long story, where all the beats are carefully laid out, and your Sweeps periods for the next YEAR are planned on January 1st. The network has signed off on a year's worth of story, and instead of constantly shoehorning in changes, the head writer is now free to focus on the characters' voices, the smaller (more emotional) beats in each episode, the subtext and working with his/her team of breakdown and script writers to create the best possible show. And sure - life gets in the way, and you'd have to make changes for actors/directors/EP's, etc. But in the end, all the notes were incorporated before the story even hit the breakdowns, and all are happy with the direction of the show for the year.

Ah, yes. In a perfect world... but that is not the reality of writing for television.

The clouds swirl around you, the threads are pulled out one by one, and at the end of the day? You're going to have to make changes anyway. So why spend the energy rewriting a two hundred page document, when you can just rewrite a two-page beat sheet?

Having been away from daytime for the last year, and gotten a little perspective, I can see the pros and cons to both methods. The beat-sheet writers tend to have a much easier time at their jobs... their stories roll with the punches, and they tend not to be as stressed out. And therefore, they tend to stay in their jobs longer. While the ones who detail out their long stories? They tend to get more frustrated, spend a lot more late nights working, and inevitably, end up in arguments with the higher-ups and don't last long. Gone are the days where Head Writers own a part of their show, and had the final say. You can't fight City Hall, so how do you write the perfect long story when you know what inevitably will happen?

In an industry so hell-bent on writing by committee, I've come to realize that my naivete in terms of the auteur's vision on daytime may be wonderfully idealistic (and something MarkH did a really interesting blog about recently) , but it's not the way a show can thrive. Not in this day and age. I marvel at the head writers who somehow manage to find middle ground - who so tirelessly write enough long story for their breakdown writers and script writers to not feel like they're lost at sea, but also write the LEAST amount of story to give to the networks, so the whole process doesn't get picked apart. A breakdown writer once said to me in my younger days "The more you write, the more they'll note you". True enough. Ergo, writers started writing less.

Still though... I read these old long stories stacked up in my bookshelf? And that naive part of me that started in this business ten years ago re-emerges. I get lost in the details of a beautifully crafted long story, and think back to my childhood, watching the way these stories played out on-screen and wondering what it would be like to one day be the one spooling the stories in the first place.

And what it was like to write for the sake of writing, and not to avoid the noting.

Another Soap Writer Joins the Club!

2008-12-28T13:56:00.003-05:00

Hey all!

I hope everyone's holiday was good last week, and you're all chilling out and saving some energy for New Year's Eve in a few days! I just finished my December job (well, almost... two more days this week), and gearing up for what I hope will be an exciting January.

But today's blog entry isn't about me.

As you all know, I've lived through some doubts about keeping the blog going after it went public in February '08. But if anything positive came out of that turning point, it's that other soap writers found their way onto the web. A short time later, Sara Bibel got her own blog over at Fancast. Dena Higley began blogging about her home life over on the Days site. And suddenly, other writers like Karen Harris, Victor Miller, and Thom Racina, found their way onto Blogtalk radio shows like In the Zone, and the Robert Reid show. Just recently, Guiding Light invited Internet bloggers over to Peapack, New Jersey. These aren't people associated with any of the soap press - they're just fans like the rest of us, who began their own commentary. Finally, daytime is catching up with the rest of us on the Internet (although I think we all waited about five years too late), and I think it's fantastic.

Now, another soap writer - one I consider to be a very dear friend, and I adore completely - has joined the rest of us out here. I first met Leslie Nipkow when she was a script writer on One Life to Live - although I didn't really get to know her until she was promoted to Script Editor and began joining us for the weekly Monday morning writers' meetings with the network. Her levity, and ability to find a way to laugh under even the most tense circumstances not only got me through many an awkward notes' meeting, but also through three months of walking in circles last winter during the strike. And this past year, even though we've been traveling on different paths since the strike ended, she's proven herself to be an invaluable friend, and got me through many periods in 2008 where self-doubt and insecurity reared their ugly heads.

Leslie has veered back into essay writing, and earlier this year, had one of her pieces in the New York Times! A few weeks ago, she posted this essay over at freshyarn.com. I loved it - it's bold, blunt, funny, and paints a much different picture of the "Soap Opera Experience" than anybody else currently online, from a very different perspective than we're used to. And fans of Loving and One Life to Live will really get a kick out of it. You'll never think of Randolph Mantooth the same way again!!

I encourage everybody to go check it out - and who knows? I would love to see Leslie's work continue, and find an audience online, only because her sense of humor, love of both writing and acting, and her experiences working on BOTH sides of the camera is truly inspirational and enlightening. So if you like it, let Freshyarn know, or leave a comment here!

Congratulations, Leslie!

And Happy New Year, all!!!

xoxo --tom

Where in the World is Tom Casiello?!

2008-12-22T23:18:00.006-05:00

It sure has been awhile, hasn't it?

I can't remember the last time I took so much un-announced time away from the blog. Believe me, it wasn't planned. Suffice it to say, I've been running around like crazy trying to get ready for the holidays, and get what's left of my finances in order. I'm also way behind on all of my soaps, and my holiday break is basically going to be me and my DVR. The poor Beau will probably forget what I look like. But there's a lot to catch up on, including Heather taking Adam down on Y&R, Todd's trial on OLTL, Alan-Michael and Marina... oh wait, I mean Craig and Dani on As the World Turns, and Annie's reign of terror on AMC. I'm also still waiting with bated breath to see what GH has up its sleeve in the new year, considering I've been hearing some pretty wacky rumors.

In terms of my writing... well, things may or may not be happening. Here's how it works when you're focused on your own projects - since you're not writing for an EP or a Head Writer or a network, you're basically writing with zero boundaries. Which can be totally wonderful, but it can also be tremendously intimidating. You don't know what quirks your eventual reader will have, and you're never quite sure who you can trust and who you can't trust out there in "Reader-Land". I can't say much, but I can tell you that projects thought long dead have suddenly been resurrected (much like many a former soap spouse) and while I've been keeping my fingers and toes crossed for that, I also got a mysterious phone call two Fridays ago that also could prove to be my salvation in 2009 (a great Friday tag, leaving me totally hanging... again, just like a good soap)

So basically, I've been afraid to come near the blog, because the way these things work, the rug can always get pulled out from under you. It's nothing personal - sometimes things work out, and other times, circumstances beyond your control step in and you end up on an entirely different path altogether (Writers Strike, anyone?)

So I've avoid typing anything, because I don't want to give away too much or too little... and not that I'm a superstitious person, but I don't want to jinx anything.

Suffice it to say, things are hopping over here in Tom-Land, and I'm hoping that soon, very soon (in writer-speak, "soon" could mean a few months, by the way), I'll be sharing some wonderful news on these pages.

Who knows? Maybe tomorrow...

But if it isn't tomorrow, I want to say HAPPY HOLIDAYS to all my readers out there. It's been such a crazy year... on January 1st last year, we were all wondering what story the "real Greenlee" would come back to, I was looking forward to the strike ending and returning to work, and NOBODY knew this blog even existed. And here we are, almost three hundred and sixty five days later... and life is totally different. I've got a partner living with me, and new friends I've made all across the Internet (Hi, Kenny! And PR! And Toups! Hi Superposter! And Soap Queen! Hi Ryan! And Jack Peyton! Hi Damon! And Patrick! And Mark! Hi Marlena! And Nelson! And Snark! And Khan! And Luke and Jamey! Hi Na'Vell and Matt! Hi Rhinohide! And MsT! And Crystal! I feel like I should be looking into the Magic Mirror when I type this! :-)) I've got job prospects lined up, and a whole new future that a year ago, I thought would never be possible.

2008 has been a truly terrifying, inspiring, surprising, traumatic, wonderful, educational year for me. And I hope all the little moments that added up to your 2008 somehow make sense in these final days. And as we look into a very uncertain year for daytime, please know that I treasure all you guys out there reading - both the friends I've met and the friends I haven't, but still keep in touch with all the time through the blog. You've made the last twelve months so memorable, and so special, for all of us out here in Soap Land, both current and former.

Without you, we would be absolutely nothing. I would be absolutely nothing. And I hope in some way, some of the words found both on these pages and on your TV screens have managed to light up some light inside of you, given you a little hope in the middle of so much drama, and a little joy in the midst of so much uncertainty.

Have a wonderful holiday and a fantastic New Year's!

All my love,
Tom

A Little Business

2008-12-11T09:15:00.002-05:00

Having pontificated enough, I realize I still have a few myths to bust, and I've gotten some good feedback on the idea of posting some old-Tom-scripts (circa 2001) online and talking about what I would do differently now, but I still don't know how I would get around the legalities of that. (A few networks might have something to say about that. :-))

But it did get me thinking about putting together some "I Wanna Be A Soap Opera Writer" experiment, with people writing scripts off of old breakdowns. Again, I question if I could get sued (not that they could take much away from me these days). But I do know there are a lot of fans out there who dream of one day writing their favorite characters, and if I can find a way around the lawyers, it might be kinda fun. I wish I could offer a job as a grand prize, but they're few and far between these days. Sorry, would-be writers!

I'll see what I can do...

Gluttons for Punishment, Springing Eternal

2008-12-11T08:33:00.003-05:00

Occasionally, somebody will liken soap fans to abused spouses (with apologies and great sympathies to anyone who's ever been abused by their spouse). We may be beaten down, talked down to, and ignored - but many of us keep going back for more. It's a morbid comparison, but one that's not entirely untrue.

After the last couple of days, I'm pretty sure that analogy could apply to soap writers as well. I already wrote about the WGA holiday party the other night, and catching up with everyone who is also out of work in daytime. And last night, I got to spend the evening with another fellow former soap writer - one I've worked with and talked to many times, but never face-to-face.

We spent a lot of time talking about what's right in the industry, what's wrong, the behind-the-scenes stories that aren't really appropriate for repeating, and of course, my favorite topic between former soap writers - the most preposterous stories the fans never saw on daytime. (One day, when all of the people involved are long gone, I'm going to post a list of the WORST ideas that NEVER made it to air, thankfully were killed before they could make it in breakdown - it's a list that I think soap fans would go ga-ga for, and would inspire both laughter and horror. It can always be worse, soap fans. ALWAYS.)

So after all of this fun and gossip over drinks, the inevitable question came up "Would you go back?" And the answer for both of us was pretty much "Yes".

Don't get me wrong - there are a lot of out-of-work soap writers out there right now, ranging from the lazy to the brilliant (most of us are definitely somewhere in the middle), and we're all working on our own projects - some of those projects are satisfying us financially, and some of them are satisfying us emotionally. But free of the early morning network meetings, where phrases are micro-managed and spirits are broken, we love being able to explore ideas and themes and worlds with utter freedom.

We cringe at the deadlines, we cower at the notes, we roll our eyes at some of the decisions. And yet, most of us would go back if given a shot.

Not just because of the paycheck. But because somewhere under all of this vitriol, hope lives on. We remember that moment sitting at our computers, completely lost in the middle of a scene, pounding out the thoughts and desires as if we ourselves are these people, and we love that rush. We love stepping into these fictional characters' shoes, and allowing them to help us discover something about ourselves in the process.

Michael Logan recently talked about hope in the latest issue of TV Guide, and in spite of the low ratings, budgets being slashed, vets being fired - the execs in charge remain positive. Naivete? Maybe a little (okay, a lot.) Denial? (Okay, possibly.) But many soap writers share that hope that there's still a way to turn this around, so I don't doubt that everyone's intentions aren't pure, even if their actions show otherwise.

Because at the end of the day... even if you have two actors in front of a piece of cardboard with a home video camera, if the words are there, if the feelings are evoked, if the writing is solid, people will watch. I've said it before, and I'll say it again - it's all about that kiss. If it's done right, that's all you need.

Memorable Pages

2008-12-10T00:00:00.002-05:00

Wow... what a night.

First things, first - I got back from the photo shoot on Monday night (late, like at midnight). It was quite the adventure - I worked HARD for about thirteen hours a day, but then was able to eat and drink (whatever I wanted) on the company's dime after that. So as long as I went to sleep early, woke up early, and didn't stop working my ass off until the end of the shooting day, it was totally worth it. And I would do it again in heartbeat.

So I got back last night and worked all day today in Job #4 I have right now. While I was there, I received a messengered package (more on this later)... and then I headed to the Writers Guild's Christmas Party. With the Beau in hand, I headed to the hotel, and caught up with numerous people I haven't seen since the picket line. The first thing I noticed immediately is that with the exception of ONE WRITER, every other daytime writer I saw there was currently unemployed. I don't know what to make of it, but with the exception of one, every one I caught up with there goes under the title of "Former Soap Writer". Weird, right?

But back to that messengered package.

For reasons I can't get into, I was in need of some old scripts I wrote YEARS ago, that I had saved on a computer that has long since crashed (years before I truly understood the meaning of "back up your stuff") So a good friend helped me out with the material he still had on his computer, and on the subway ride home, I got to read what Tom Casiello of the early 90's thought to be "good dialogue".

Some of it was bad. I mean, REALLY bad. But some of it - some of it was kinda pretty cool to read. The thing about writing scripts is that it uses a TOTALLY different part of your brain than writing breakdowns. Richard Allen once told me that you use the part of your brain that writes a screenplay to write a script, but you use the part of your brain that solves a crossword puzzle to write a breakdown. And I think he's totally right. Writing scripts is all about detecting the nuances in character's voices, whereas writing breakdowns is all about making sure every scene is about something, while trying to get from Point A to Point B, in accordance with your head writer.

But it's always interesting to read your past work, and reading what Tom Casiello thought of dialogue back then was highly entertaining. In fact, I'm signing off now to read a lot more of Ryan and Kendall, Carly and Alexis, and Craig and Sierra. And what I thought of them back then.

In writing, so much of it, no matter what the show or who the characters are, it's an interpretation of what's going on in your life. And piecing together the style I wrote with the things going on in my life back then - good or bad, right or wrong, it's the kind of thing I can spend all night doing.

So you'll forgive my intense sense of nostalgia at the moment.

In the meantime, I've taken on a whole slew of freelance jobs, and I know I have another six myths to discuss in my blog. It might take longer than I thought, but I will get there. Just bear with me. Unfortunately, the bills have to get paid, and I'm going to try and juggle the jobs and my blog as best I can.

Thanks for hanging in there with me. In the meantime, I can't wait to dig back in to Greenlee being a BITCH to Kendall, and lovin' every minute of it.

xoxo --tom

Mythbusters - ON HOLD!

2008-12-03T10:00:00.002-05:00

Hey all!

I was hoping to continue talking about more myths regarding soap writing, but the time has gotten away from me... and I'm leaving in about 17 hours for IslaMorada to work on a photo shoot. (I know, right? Me? Working a photo shoot?) It's crazy, but it was a great opportunity that fell in my lap, and with daytime headed... well, where it's headed, I'm taking full advantage of every opportunity that comes my way. Time to find a new future, and new doors to walk through.

In the meantime, I've also got my hands full with that writing project that's been floating around my apartment and an outside desk or two for the last six months. Things seem to be happening, but in this biz, you tend to get the rug pulled out from underneath you a lot. If this year has taught me anything, it's that I need to let go a little, when it comes to dreams of the past. But it doesn't make me any less of a fan, that's for damn sure. And I'll keep trying, while I continue on this crazy journey.

I'll be back with the rest of my debunked myths next week... but in the meantime, have a fantastic weekend. Play nice, and I'll talk to y'all next Thursday!

--tom

Mythbusters, Soap Style - Part Four

2008-12-01T08:59:00.006-05:00

So this one is for all the fans out there... and before you jump down my throat, hear me out on this one.

The Plot-Driven Myth

Plot seems to have become a four-letter word around Internet Message Boards these days, and it doesn't have to be. Plot is actually a very good thing. And if a plot drives your story, it's not always the worst thing in the world.

Wait! Wait! Before you all start furiously typing and call me a hack, work with me for a second.

It's very easy for us to divide head writers into camps like "plot-driven writers" (pretty much everybody after 1990) and "character-driven writers" (most of the writers who have long since left the business), and never the twain shall meet. And that's kind of a myth. You need plot. In fact, a great story should be the perfect marriage of plot and character. If stories were all character-driven, chances are, not a whole lot would happen. If it weren't for plot, that accident that killed BJ would never have transpired at exactly the right time to save Maxie's life on General Hospital, and if it weren't for plot, a few frat guys wouldn't have been introduced out of nowhere into Marty Saybrooke's life on One Life to Live. If it weren't for plot, Natalie would have never had a twin sister and Cindy never would have been infected with the AIDS virus on All My Children. If it weren't for plot, a plane crash wouldn't have killed Craig and sent a distraught Lily through the burr-riden woods, ripping her clothes in the process, into Josh Snyder's arms... and Iva wouldn't have thought he was raping their own daughter on As the World Turns.

Plot is NEEDED in a daytime serial. And sometimes, it drives the story. That's not always a bad thing. '

Don't misunderstand - When you get too plot heavy, and the characters get lost under the blanket of the plot, then that's a problem. (I fell victim to that trap a few times at Days of Our Lives - and it WASN'T pretty. I learned my lesson after that year, I'll tell you that much.) A good story should involve both the Fates (i.e. the soaps' writers) throwing in curveballs, much like life... as long as the characters react within the established boundaries of their personalities. If a character is going to do something that the audience doesn't think is within character for them, it's our responsibility to get the character to that life-changing decision in an organic and natural way. The greatest soap writers understood that - the secret is to take the time for the character to become something he or she previously wasn't. (Annie Dutton's slow descent into madness on Guiding Light is a good example of this, or Victor feeding the chickens on Hope's farm for months on Young and the Restless) If you can get get them to that plot point in a way that doesn't turn the audience against the show, then it's okay. Plot and character have to merge in order to drive the whole story.

Don't get me wrong - I still think there are writers out there who rely way too much on plot and end up sacrificing character in order to make their plot work. And when you start shoe-horning characters into storylines to fit a need they shouldn't fulfill, then I definitely think it's a bad thing. But sometimes the plot NEEDS to drive the storyline for a week or two... and then, ideally, the characters need to drive it for another month or two. But if reading drama going all the way back to Shakespeare tells us anything, it's that outside forces raining down on our couple when they least expect it is how great story unfolds.

Plot doesn't have to be a four-letter word on the Internet... believe me, I post on message boards too, and my immediate reaction when I hate something is to say "Enough with the plot-driven crap! Where's my old school character-driven soap opera?!" But then I remind myself about the basic aspects of storytelling, and that sometimes, a storyline needs to be plot-driven. Not for very long... but long enough for our characters to react to what's happening around them... and then they can take the wheel and drive for awhile.

Mythbusters, Soap Style - Part Three

2008-11-30T16:37:00.002-05:00

I'm jumping in and tackling the third myth I think soaps need to bust open...

The C-Story Myth

Even if you don't know the term "C-story", you've seen hundreds of them. They're the least important story on the show at the moment, and it's usually used as a cutaway from the big heavy-hitter storylines. Examples from shows I've worked on include Touch the Sky on Days, Dorian hiring a real stalker to faux-stalk her own daughter on OLTL, and Isaac and Bonnie go to Scotland and get stuck in a castle on ATWT.

Do we sense a trend forming here?

They're usually the stories that involve the characters least important to the canvas at that time. The characters least developed. And they're usually (but not always) the stories that get the least amount of focus by the writers, and have the least amount of depth.

There seems to be a myth that if you just play this story one or two days a week, and just get through it as quickly and painlessly as possible, you've accomplished your goal. I've been as guilty of feeling this way about a C-Story as the next writer, and I'm a lot of fans feel stuck with the C-story, and use it as easy exercise for their fast-forward button.

I've been thinking a lot about C-stories lately, and how usually plot-heavy they are, usually involving day players from outside the show's regular cast of characters. Forgettable villains, stories with a beginning, middle and an end, and no real evolution in the character's lives to spin them off into their own B-or-maybe-someday-A-stories. But not always. Look how well Ron Carlivati moved Rex and Adriana from C-story-land to A-story-land, and pretty organically as well. Sometimes they're with characters no one's able to get a handle on, and other times they're characters the audience loves, but the show doesn't have a long-term plan for them.

So while the writers are focusing on the show's big umbrella A-story that's building to a climax, and kick-starting the B-story into its second act... there's the C-story. Getting only a quarter of the attention it should, and usually falling like a lead balloon to the ground.

I wonder if maybe instead of inventing some non-sequitur of a plot for a show's C-characters, maybe the idea should be scrapped in favor of some good old-fashioned character moments for them, while the show's writers find a way to incorporate them into the other stories better. Frankly, I'd rather learn more about a character's dreams, desires, fears and regrets, then wonder if they'll escape the day player prostitute holding them hostage on a plane over Las Vegas, or if Isaac will beat the Scottish Duke in his sword dual.

These stories almost never work, so instead of the writers beating their heads against a wall trying to make a story like this work, and the fans scratching their heads wondering what in the hell the writers are smoking, maybe the C-story should be retired for awhile, and these characters just given room to breathe, and the audience time to see how three-dimensional they can be. Their deepest insecurities, their ambitions, their quirks... these are the moments that make us fall in love with characters, as flawed as they are. These moments make us want to keep watching them, because they feel more like us - like human beings. Not when they're being picked up by Bruce, the Psycho-Stalker on the side of the road.

We want to fall in love with all of these characters, so maybe instead of filling their guaranteed episodes each week with cookie-cutter stories meant as throw-aways, we can better use those scenes to give us real human moments with the characters who need them most. We understand the Carly Tenney's and the Sami Brady's and the Todd Manning's of these shows. We've been given an unending wealth of information about who they are. It's the C-characters who need the most work, and that work can't be accomplished when we're playing them in stories with little emotional depth as a plot filler for a summer teen story, or a comical adventure meant to balance a dying baby story.

C-stories don't have to be meaningless. In fact, they should be the exact opposite - they should surprise us be getting us to care about characters in ways we never thought we could.

Tomorrow, I'm throwing one at the fans - the biggest myth fans need to overcome, as opposed to the executives. (Crikey! Get your flame-throwers ready, kids!)

Mythbusters, Soap Style - Part Two

2008-11-29T07:18:00.003-05:00

I'm taking a look at a different myth in the soap industry every day, and today, I'm focusing on a rampant trend in daytime that only seems to be getting worse...

The Quick-Cut Myth

Ten years ago, there were approximately twenty to twenty-five scenes in each episode of a soap opera. I remember the episode where Grant Harrison died on Another World had about thirty scenes in it, and that was considered a LOT at the time.

Fast-forward to 2008, and it's a completely different story. Most shows these days have about thirty-five to forty scenes, and some shows are even flirting forty-five or fifty scenes per episode. Why? Because there's this myth that in this fast-paced, "MTV-style" age of editing (and frankly, I don't understand what MTV has to do with any of this, and I think they'd be happy if the phrase "MTV-style" disappeared from our buzz word lexicon forever... but I digress...) ...there's this myth that viewers these days don't have the attention span beyond anything longer than a two-page scene.

Now here's the thing - anybody who's taken Screenwriting 101 knows that quick scenes intercut with each other is a really cheap, easy tool to build suspense. So when you're talking about something like the tornado sequences on AMC, or one of General Hospital's famous shoot-outs, or John's plane crashing with all the Bradys inside on Days of Our Lives, then by all means - quickly cutting from one section of a set to another, in fast-paced scenes underscored with tense music - well, it's a great way to build to something. Something like this probably goes without saying... but I want to make it clear that I'm not always against this style of storytelling. I wrote the day the prison riots broke out at Statesville on One Life to Live, and even though I wasn't a fan of the storyline (it's a soap opera - why are we writing prison riots?), I remember really wanting to do it justice. If The Powers That Be want a real prison riot, let's give it to them. I watched action movie after action movie the weekend before to get my head in the right place, and devised a "24-esque" count-down in the episode, where it unfolded in real time, and Carlo, John, Hayes and Cristian were all moved like chess pieces to various locations inside the prison, when the lights went out and all hell broke loose. I think I had about fifty scenes in that show, and I remember lots of intercutting between Carlo looking at the clock on the wall, Hayes setting the tripwire on a bomb detonator, the dirty corrections officer downstairs taking an axe to the circuit box, Cristian desperately trying to stop it in time, but trapped in his cell, and John trapped in the warden's office as it unfolds around him. It was an undertaking, and while I still have issues with the fact that we spent three weeks in that crazy riot, I do think the kick-off worked, mainly because there was so much cutting back and forth to different locations in the prison, quickly and without time to catch your breath. (Let's not talk about where we were with it two weeks later...)

But what's disturbing to me is that this approach seems to be taken with emotional moments... like, say, Lily confronting Holden about sleeping with Carly on As the World Turns, or any number of women losing a baby on General Hospital (Pick any of 'em - it's not like there's a shortage of miscarriages on that show), or hell, Reva cleaning her fridge on Guiding Light.

Big emotional pay-offs, as far as I'm concerned, should involve excruciatingly long pauses. The kind where you're hanging on every word, every reaction, every emotional beat in a scene. And when there's only one beat to a scene before you cut to someplace across town? It kills all momentum. One of the things I really appreciated about Ed Scott's production at Days is that he knew when to play a three-to-four minute scene (i.e., Marlena and Belle saying goodbye to John as he died in the hospital), and he knew when to play a forty-five second scene (i.e. the afore-mentioned plane crash). You have to give a viewer time to get invested in a moment before you cut away, and it's damn near impossible when you keep cutting away from it.

There's a time and a place for quick-cutting, and when it's used effectively, it creates its own kind of suspense. But there's a myth that you can't build suspense in a scene of two people just talking to each other (or crying or arguing or throwing things at each other or pointing a gun in each other's faces)... and that's just ridiculous. Not only is it possible to write a four-minute scene that builds suspense between two "talking heads", but it's the foundation this genre was built on.

We watch five days a week to be invested in ALL of these moments - whether it's an action movie, or a melodrama that tugs on every heart string we have. But you have to let us feel it. And it's hard to feel much of anything when we're getting whiplash as we hop across town forty times in thirty-seven minutes.

Tomorrow... Myth #3. And it's another screenwriting lesson I think some executives should pay more attention to...

Mythbusters, Soap Style - Part One

2008-11-28T20:43:00.003-05:00

My latest trip up to Cambridge for the Futures of Entertainment conference was enlightening in a lot of ways, but none more so than breaking a few misconceptions people had about the soap industry. I've been thinking over the last few days about everything I've learned from taking this year off and learning all I can from the fans. There are a lot of myths out there in the soap world - and even though my silly little blog might not change any minds when it comes to the higher-ups, I wanted it stated for the record that we... and I say we, as I have been a part of it for the last ten years, and in one way or another, contributed... we are completely wrong about.

I'll be taking off for the Florida Keys next Thursday, but over the next five days, I'm going to take the time to dispel the five myths The Powers That Be have convinced themselves of.

First up?

The Teen Story Myth

Somehow, The Powers That Be have convinced themselves that viewers under the age of twenty-five only want to watch characters who are under the age of twenty-five.

I have spent many months trying to figure out where this started. I can look back to characters like Jeff and Penny on As the World Turns, as well as the Dusty/Holden/Lily triangle. I can also look back at Luke/Laura/Scotty on General Hospital, Leo and Greenlee of All My Children, or Frankie and Jennifer on Days of Our Lives. These are all immensely popular love stories told with young people.

These are the examples people in higher positions at soap operas use to convince themselves they need to showcase young people in order to get young people to watch. I don't believe this is true. First of all, I speak from personal experience - I adored watching Cass and Frankie on AW, as well as Mac and Rachel... or Mason and Julia on Santa Barbara, or Robert and Anna on GH (and later, Duke and Anna). They made me look at adults I really admired and respected, and jumpstarted my imagination to show me the kind of man I wanted to me, the kind of love I wanted to experience - and that I shouldn't settle for anything less in life.

I do think back in the late seventies and early eighties, viewers did want to see people their age, because for so long on soaps, middle-aged characters were the centerpiece of every show (not that there's anything wrong with that).

But times have changed, and here's the biggest change in 2008 - young people WANT to be older now. They see themselves as mentally twenty-five when they're physically sixteen. Whether it comes to fashion, romance, sexuality, social issues - they're basically growing up far faster than anybody wants them to.

So here's a suggestion - perhaps we should be showing these young people that characters in their twenties and thirties make mistakes, but learn from them and grow from them and evolve from them. Seventeen year olds will want to watch them because they like to think they're indicative of the people they are in spite of their age, they'll see them screw up and become better people (and maybe learn a few lessons in the meantime), and viewers in their forties and fifties won't feel like they're watching ungrateful, one-note, one-dimensional teens played by inexperienced actors.

Balance those characters out with the kind of older couples young viewers wish they had as parents, and play these families interacting with each other and encountering the same problems these young viewers experience with their families (in spite of the fact they're much younger in real life), and suddenly you've got a multi-generational drama that maybe gives kids something to look forward to, and titillates them in ways eighteen year olds with in bathing suits can't, no matter how many push-ups they do.

Don't get me wrong - men and women of all ages don't mind the eye candy. But it needs to be organically incorporated in, as opposed to the central hub the "spokes of the wheel" turn around (to coin a popular phrase on the blogosphere these days.

Young viewers know what it's like to be around other young people. They live it all day long. That's not what they're interested in watching on television. I promise you. Give them older people to entertain them, to model themselves after (in positive ways), to laugh at, and cry with, and learn from - and I promise you. They'll watch after class.

The rest of us did. They will too. No lie.

Tomorrow - Myth #2.

Happy Turkey Day - A Walk Down Memory Lane

2008-11-27T13:21:00.007-05:00

As I sit here at the Beau's family's house, I can't help but remember one year ago, sitting at this same computer, after watching the Days Thanksgiving show I was so honored to write.

It really was a special episode, to sit here and watch with the Beau's family, as I filled them in on the Shelle wedding, and the beginning of the Stefano/Marlena showdown. My heart still starts to race when I think about it, and I just had to take a walk down memory lane, one year later.

Special thanks to our friends who upload these at YouTube. They're really beautiful...

Happy Turkey Day!

(To those of you who would like to see the whole episode, it starts here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndS_Z0qiABM. That's part one, and the rest are linked on the right. Embedding was disabled upon request of the uploader.)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Love, Tom

For a Good Cause

2008-11-26T01:56:00.005-05:00

Hey all!

I wasn't planning on writing again before Thanksgiving, but something's come to my attention that's really important to me.

I received the following press release tonight. Before you skip past this and blow off the post, please read it, and give me at least two seconds to pass on my thoughts:

"Nuke" fans launch 2nd Annual Project Holiday Spirit campaign in honor of Van Hansis and Jake Silbermann

November 25, 2008—As a tribute to "As the World Turns" actors Van Hansis and Jake Silbermann, fans at vanhansis.net announce the second annual "Project Holiday Spirit" campaign (PHS) in support of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. For 2007's campaign, "Nuke" fans set a fundraising goal of $500, but raised well over $6,000! Bolstered by the success of PHS, fans continued to work together, ultimately contributing over $35,000 to 10 different charities in less than 12 months.

The first campaign was launched on December 1, 2007 (World AIDS Day) and was originally inspired by a blog by Hansis about the holidays. Fans decided to embrace the true spirit of the holidays by helping others, and the campaign became a meaningful way for them to acknowledge the positive impact Van and Jake have had on so many lives.

Fans have decided to kick off another year of charitable giving by making this very special tribute an annual holiday tradition. This year's PHS campaign once again begins on World AIDS Day, December 1, 2008, with the goal of surpassing last year's total. Fans invite everyone to join them in honoring Van and Jake by donating to this very worthy cause.

For additional information or to donate, visit http://phs.vanhansis.net or email

ProjectHolidaySpirit@vanhansis.net.

About the organizers:

Vanhansis.net is a fan-run site with over 1700 members, dedicated to the support of actor Van Hansis and his work. Many of Hansis' fans also offer their support to Jake Silbermann, his acting partner on CBS daytime drama "As the World Turns", in appreciation of Hansis' and Silbermann's portrayals of Luke Snyder and Noah Mayer, daytime's first gay super-couple, affectionately known as "Nuke". PHS is also supported by the members of lukeandnoahfans.com, a 1300 member website dedicated to the couple.

Van Hansis and Jake Silbermann are in no way affiliated with Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, or the PHS campaign. PHS was originally conceived by, and is solely managed by, the fans at vanhansis.net. All donations are made directly to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

Additional Information:

To see a breakdown of "Nuke" fans' charitable giving visit http://forums.vanhansis.net/pages/charity/

To see Hansis' original blog about the holidays which inspired PHS visit http://forums.vanhansis.net/topic/231847/1/

Right... so here's the thing. Two things, actually...

1) This is an amazing country, America. We're all allowed to have free opinions and free speech, and that should hold true whether we agree with others or not. If you have a personal or religious bias against the pairing of Luke and Noah, that's totally cool. I may not personally agree with it, but freedom to think and feel what we want is what this country is founded on - it's what we fought a war over back in the 1700's. And as much as I'd love to change your mind, that's not my responsibility. We live in an independent world. But having said that, this isn't about whether or not you want to see two men kiss at two o'clock in the afternoon on network television. This is about supporting a cause to keep people from DYING. People of all races, all sexual orientations, all worthy of life.

And...

2) Money is tight right now for everybody. It's a crappy situation out there, no two ways about it. I don't know how much money I'll be able to give to this cause, but over the next few weeks, I'm going to try and find some way to donate SOMETHING - even if it's twenty dollars. And if you really, truly can't afford to donate anything to this charity? That's okay too. All I ask is that you please forward this to people you think might still be fortunate enough to donate even the tiniest amount. This economy is hitting all of us hard, and many of us (myself included) are unemployed right now. But there are still people out there who have the ability to help somebody less fortunate than themselves. And I can't think of anything that embodies the holiday spirit more than helping out those in need.

I won't lie - my contribution won't be momentous. But over the next couple of weeks, I will do my best to give even the smallest amount, if it means being able to help somebody... anybody... from this dreaded disease. Whether they got it from unprotected sex, or from a horrific transfusion, or even through their genetics - whatever your political or religious affiliation, there's no reason why somebody who has something to spare can't give ten or twenty dollars to help somebody who is incapable of helping themselves.

I *ALMOST NEVER* throw my personal beliefs outside of the soap industry into this blog - but for this, I will. There's too much at stake for too many people whose lives count for something not to.

Thanks, and I appreciate you taking the time to read this and check it out.

xoxo --tom

Turkey Soap

2008-11-25T07:52:00.002-05:00

Hey all!

It's been a crazy week, and it's only Tuesday morning. To be honest, I have yet to fully catch up on the soaps from last week, and have no idea what's been going on. Between the trip to Cambridge, helping a friend of mine out at her store for the holidays, and preparation for a photo shoot I'm working on next week, I feel like I haven't had a minute to myself to enjoy a good thirty-six minutes of daytime drama.

I'm especially looking forward to Thanksgiving, and seeing how the soaps treat the holiday. In recent years, it's been getting harder and harder to really deliver an original, moving, heart-warming Thanksgiving episode. Not because we don't want to - quite the opposite. It's just that every year, so much time and care is put into the Thanksgiving and Christmas episodes, and it gets harder and harder to do something that's never been done before. The first year I worked at One Life to Live, Thanksgiving was all but ignored, for example, in favor of rushing the Santi story to its climax with Tico's shooting. When I was at As the World Turns, there was always this struggle trying to deliver something fresh and innovative (words Chris Goutman was a fan of, and I don't blame him for it), while still holding true to traditions such as the Hubbard Squash at the Snyder farm. Last year on Days, Hogan wanted to combine a Thanksgiving toast/dinner with the wedding of Shawn Brady and Belle Black (DiMera). It's always a struggle - everyone knows viewership is generally pretty low this week, as people are traveling and spending time with their families. So you don't want to advance story too much - but at the same time, you want to try and find people who are home a reason to watch. Some soaps feel like they don't want to put a hold on the momentum their stories are gaining - while others encourage their writing teams to write something people don't need to watch, even if it's a little slow.

Me, personally? I love me a good old fashioned Thanksgiving episode. I want to see people around a table, coming together, sharing scenes that may not advance the plot, but remind me who these people are, and why I want to spend Thanksgiving Day with them and their families. I don't need a "special" episode where the actors all play other characters, and I'm not really looking for a big Sweeps-stunt. I want to be reminded that in spite of all the trials and tribulations my favorite romances, families and friendships suffer through all throughout the year... that somehow, that's able to be put on hold for a day. That people can still come together and be grateful for each other... and maybe find forgiveness in these troubling times.

Of course, with our luck, someone will get shot and someone else's baby will die.

I truly hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and the usual family dramas that take place around ALL of our dining room tables (real or fictional) are both enlightening, AND entertaining. And I look forward to seeing how the soaps treat this holiday come next week, and learning who embraced it and who wrote against it... and why.

In the meantime, eat up! And have a wonderful holiday week!

Much love,

Tom

MIT Panel Transcribed

2008-11-23T20:58:00.002-05:00

Hey all!

The good folks at MIT have transcribed the panel I was on (as well as all of the other panels). It's called "Franchises, Extensions and Worldbuilding". They were typing AS we were talking, so occasionally, you might come across something that doesn't sound like a real sentence. :-) Rest assured, it wasn't because I was speaking like a moron - I was probably just talking faster than they could type.

The podcast and video should be up later, but for now, if anyone's interested, here it is: http://www.convergenceculture.org/weblog/futures_of_entertainment/

Cheers!

--t--

The Road Back to NYC - What I Learned at MIT

2008-11-23T08:36:00.004-05:00

Let's face facts - I'm not an academic. I went to film school in New York City - I studied screenplays and film theory... and while I could probably still tell you in great detail how Die Hard is a prime example of perfect three-act structure, I didn't have a clue on Thursday night how in the hell I was going to dissect the theory behind transmedia properties and their metrics.

Are your eyes glazing over yet? Because mine sure were.

But something wondrous happened on Friday morning. I got over whatever was holding me back - whatever those demons of insecurity were infesting me with - and just threw myself into an experience like none I've ever had.

I listened to film producers, screenwriters, primetime showrunners, agents, sports marketers, scholars, founders of online social media sites, and online game organizers - all of whom had so much to teach me about where all of these businesses are going in the next year. Daytime is struggling, but it doesn't have to be. The way all of these industries treat their superfans, the way they've thought outside the box and allowed them to be part of the creative process, part of the storytelling, is monumental. And no, I'm not talking about I Wanna Be a Soap Star or InTurn or Shop the Soaps.

I'm talking about Web-series shot to give niche fanbases what they're begging for from the main show, but cannot receive due to advertisers concerns. (I can't imagine Nuke fans would complain about a twelve-part Nuke series on their very own official show website where they can kiss whenever they want, until the rest of America catches up with the times) I'm talking about interactive games where you followed the Salem Serial Killer... and just as you're about to click on the mask to remove, YOUR PHONE RINGS IN YOUR HOME, and a masked voice tells you that you could be next. And when you try and close the window on your computer screen? Your cell phone rings, and a voice says "Where are you going? I'm not done with you yet..." WOW! That's creepy! Or how about helping Lucky follow the clues to solve a crime simultaneous to airing said crime on General Hospital, on LuckySpencer.com? (That's IF they ever allowed Lucky to solve a crime on GH)

There's such a world of possibilities in our future that every other genre is already leaping on. And guess who they're aiming at? Young people. Women. Men. Established long-term viewers. New audience members. EVERYBODY soaps claim they want. And yet - all they seem to getting online are behind-the-scenes gossip and celebrity news.

Soap opera is the greatest form of immersive storytelling I've ever seen. Hardcore fans can throw themselves as deep into the fictional lives of these characters as much as they want. And whereas every other genre is trying build up their worlds, make these stories as immersive as possible... daytime is firing its favorite actors, pulling back on long-term storytelling, and SHRINKING their fictional worlds. At a time when soaps should be offering a UNIVERSE of an online community, it's nothing but a little hamlet of behind-the-scenes actors basically reading off press releases... while fan message boards are expanding the known soap universe new galaxies - what's going on at Oakdale High, Llanview Memorial, Downtown Salem, Pine Valley University. The fans are building these worlds because nobody else is doing it for them.

Now imagine if they were.

Imagine if these shows took the time to build cross-platform medias that weren't just "See what Thorsten Kaye's dressing room looks like". Not that there aren't fans who appreciate that - hell, I appreciate it once in a while. But imagine if the fictional towns you spent five hours a week in didn't go away when the show ended. What if they kept going, albeit in ways that weren't required to enjoy the show (i.e. NuAlison and Amber's drug and porn adventures in Los Angeles for Y&R and ATWT), but rather were optional - but still focused and creative and bold nevertheless. Not online diaries written by interns and writer's assistants, but more immersible branches of storytelling written by teams of WRITERS, working closely with the head writer to create a larger world, a realm of infinite possibilities where Port Charles becomes a working, growing mechanism. Fans can create avatars and travel around Genoa City themselves, interact with characters WHILE THE SHOW IS ON THEIR TELEVISION SETS. Where these shows become organisms that cross all kinds of media.

Can you tell how fired up I am? But let's get this back down to Earth for a second before my head explodes. Let's face facts - only a very small percentage of the audience would take advantage of this. It's true. They say only three percent of the YouTube users actually upload videos, and only seven percent are actually responding to them. So we're not talking about revolutionizing the soap viewing audience.

But what it does do is create buzz. One hardcore fan throws themselves one hundred percent into this, and then they post on a message board how awesome it was to try and escape from the MetroCourt crisis in an online game. Instead of bitching about rapemances, they're competing to see who can sell more papers online - The Llanview Banner or the Sun. And some people won't want to take part in it, and that's fine. But the people that do... they're the ones who will bring in new viewers to your show. People that maybe thought of soaps like fluff that didn't cater to them... and then discover it through another avenue. People like the MILLIONS of Nuke YouTube users who follow their storyline without watching the actual aired show. Maybe if you give them a reason to check out your site, they'll then find a reason to check out your air show. You generate positive buzz, as opposed to the negativity soaps have been saddled with since the strike ended.

Did you know that forty percent of thirty year olds are actively online while they watch their TV shows? Think about that for a second...

Soaps can move into the 21st century, older viewers get to see their vets every day on television, and younger viewers are engaged in deeper aspects of the soap viewing experience by being a part of the Springfield Social Networking Site. You don't need new camera techniques, green screens, or ratings stunts. These viewers are craving SERIALIZED STORYTELLING, and a CREATIVE EXPERIENCE. They want their favorite characters, in gripping storylines. They don't care how good your CGI is, or whether or not you're jumping forward or back in time. They want to see good old-fashioned human drama, and you can offer it in real-time, on both the Web and their television sets. And get some GOOD press (for a change) in the process.

Every other genre is on board with this. And as I head back to New York City, I worry daytime is heading so far down the wrong path, it'll be too late to turn back.

I encourage anybody in a network position to check out the panels at MIT's Future of Entertainment website. There's an entire online community that wants to be part of the STORY. You want them to be part of the SALE. Both can have their way - but not without making it organic to the story, making sure the audience is included without being manipulated, and you start looking at your Superfans like they're the ones who are going to work FOR you to create buzz, instead of scoffing at them and looking down your nose at them.

A new world is coming - in fact, it's already here, and no matter how many times you say it doesn't affect daytime... the truth is, you're going to be saying that right onto the unemployment line.

MIT - LiveBlogging

2008-11-22T08:47:00.002-05:00

For those of you interested, MIT has live blogging of all the days' events, starting with a panel on Comics (and the Watchmen adaptation coming out next year), and later, my Worldbuilding panel.

The link is here

The Loss Soap Fans Don't Know They're Experiencing

2008-11-21T23:54:00.004-05:00

Color me stunned.

Today, I sat through seven hours of panels that were HIGHLY entertaining and fascinating to me as a writer. Whether or not your average fan would be interested in some of it, I'm not sure.

But something was pointed out not once... not twice... but at least four or five times in three different panels that blew me away. And this isn't a case of people telling fans something to humor them. This is about people in the industry telling academics and other people in the industry, as a way to explain their point.

This will be up in a few weeks on MIT's website, but I had to share it with you guys first.

Did you know that True Blood rewards their "Superfans" (as in, the ones writing fan fiction, etc) with prizes? Or that The Ghost Whisperer producers will seek out those who make Claymation animation of Jennifer Love Hewitt and use their craft to promote their show?

Is this for real? Are there actually industries out there that are REWARDING the Superfan?

For years, I have witnessed the eye-rolling in daytime, the assumption that we're writing for the lowest common denominator, the belief soap fans will swallow anything you throw at them, and any model as a recast, because they don't know any better. Hell, we even have executive producers saying "I don't care what they say on the Internet"

And today, I WATCHED THE EXECUTIVE PRODUCER OF GHOST WHISPERER tell me the exact opposite. That yes, those people who are that hard-core are only ten percent of their audience - but they're an incredibly vocal and persistent ten percent that gain their show good buzz, ergo good ratings. And Gail, an academic next to her, said "The fans like to feel like they're part of the process - that by participating, they're fellow workers in the industry with the rest of us. And by empowering fans, they've seen ratings increases."

OH.

MY.

GOD.

For years, I have been looked down on in writers' rooms for even mentioning fan's opinions. But tonight, I watched prime-time refer to the "Super Fan" as someone they not only cherish, but they REWARD. And they ENCOURAGE. They know not everybody will devote that much time to the a show, but if they find somebody who's extremely talented, they'll pull them into the transmedia they're putting together to cross-promote the show.

WHY IN BLAZING HELL HAS DAYTIME NOT LATCHED ON TO THIS?!

Why are they so insistent that it doesn't matter how many times we see a Who's the Daddy? story, or a baby switch story, or a love triangle, fans will just accept it... and the ones who debate it on the Web are a bunch of loonies? I don't mean to generalize, because not EVERYBODY behind the scenes in daytime thinks that. But a lot of them do. They have a disdain for the fans that's incredibly frustrating.

And here are prime-time showrunners, talking about these fans like they're on the payroll. (They're not, by the way - but the showrunners feel that even though they're not paying these fans, they are spreading the word about their art form, be it fan fic or fine art, and that in and of itself is a form of payment)

These shows see the value in fans like this. And daytime shoves them aside like they're psychotics.

This whole MIT experience has been wonderful so far, but I am truly moved by how much they respect their fans. The way they talked about how "Superfans" are at the center of buzz for low rated shows, and can make all the difference? It's something I always believed (having been one once upon a time), and something I was also beaten down for all ten years I wrote in soaps.

I never use the word "flabbergasted". But there is no other word to use. True Blood sends T-SHIRTS to their favorite fan fic writers. I mean, it's just a T-shirt... but STILL! They ACKNOWLEDGE IT!

I knew soaps were not having their brightest moment these days... but I had no clue just how far off the mark they were. Today was truly eye-opening for me, and I can't wait for tomorrow now.

Unbelievable...

The Road to MIT - Part Two

2008-11-21T10:23:00.002-05:00

I love waking up in hotel rooms. I don't know what it is about it, but the anticipation of seeing a new city out your window in the first moments of daylight always gets my juices flowing.

I'm off to the conference, for some pretty interesting topics today. I'm especially looking forward to Making Audiences Matter. Here's the rundown from the website:

2:30 PM - 4:30 PM - Session 2: Making Audiences Matter

Audiences seem to present a constantly moving target. Migratory, skilled at avoiding advertising, and increasingly looking like producers, working out who the audience is and what they are doing is an evolving challenge. How do we create better relationships with audiences who look less like "consumers"? In a media landscape that looks to increasingly value broad distribution over concentrating attention, how do we uncover audiences and connect them with content? What does an "engaged" audience look like, and how do you know when you've got one? What do you do once you've found one?

Panelists include: Kim Moses, Executive Producer, The Ghost Whisperer; Gail De Kosnik - UC Berkeley, The Survival of Soap Opera: Strategies for a Digital Age; Kevin Slavin, Area/Code; Vu Nguyen, VP of Business Development, crunchyroll.com.

Moderator: Joshua Green, MIT

I can't wait to hear how they discuss strategies for soaps in the digital age. Should be very enlightening.

I'm off to the Bartos Theatre! Catch everyone up later!

--tom

The Road to MIT - Part One

2008-11-21T00:30:00.002-05:00

If you ever need a guaranteed cure for self-doubt? I have discovered the secret.

Get in your car (or if you don't have one, find someone who does).... find a fairly empty highway, and drive down it at 70 miles an hour singing the chorus to Pink's new song "So What" at the top of your lungs.

Cheesy? Sure. But it sure made me want to take on the world by the time I got to Cambridge! The economy is tanking, the daytime industry is crumbling down around us and my career is in question - "So what! I'm still a rock star! I've got my rock moves, and I don't need you! And guess what? I'm having more fun. And now that we're done, I'm gonna show you that tonight? I'm all right. I'm just fine. And you're a tool. So what?

Thank you, Pop Bubblegum Music - you gave me one hell of a road trip tonight.

Tomorrow morning - Day One of the conference! In the meantime - find a fun little song you're embarrassed to say you love, dig it out, blast it as loud as you can - and sing as off-key as you want!

Cheers!

--tom

Rediscovering the Lost Fan, Llanview Style

2008-11-20T00:34:00.004-05:00

This will be a quick one.

First up - I have some business to take care of.

A soap fan on here - and one I also follow on message boards and love their posts - posted a comment tonight that while truly flattering, also corrected me on a point of history from a previous entry - that Nadine on Guiding Light was never pregnant in the first place. She did not miscarry and then wear the fake pillow under her shirt - but rather she had been wearing the fake-belly all along.

I'll admit, my hindsight may have been incorrect. In my mind, I remember Nadine originally being pregnant, then losing the baby... but finding herself too paranoid that Billy would leave her for Vanessa if he found out she lost the baby, decided to fake the remaining months until her due date. Perhaps I am wrong, and my early Alzheimer's is somehow confusing Nadine's story with Kristen's on Days (both involved Jim Reilly in their creations). Hopefully, some Guiding Light fans out there can shine a light on this (no pun intended), because now I'm wondering if I'm remembering it wrong. Was Nadine EVER pregnant with Billy's baby? If I'm wrong, then I humbly stand corrected.

EDIT: I stand corrected. Nadine was NEVER pregnant. My hazy memory confused Nadine on GL with Kristen on Days. My apologies to the late Jim Reilly, the much-missed Nancy Curlee, and all the GL fans out there I left scratching their heads. MY BAD! :-)

Also, one other piece of business. I've received a few e-mails from fans who have said they've written in to their favorite soap in an effort to get me hired there. I am truly, TRULY moved by this. It means the world to me. But I have to tell you, much of the reason I don't have a job right now is because the skill I've practiced and concentrated on for the last decade - that of writing a "breakdown" and being part of an associate head writer "team" - is a position that doesn't exist any longer at many shows. It has nothing to do with me personally - there are dozens of talented breakdown writers out there out of work right now for this very reason. And they all deserve jobs, some much more than I do. I am deeply touched there are people out there who would go to bat for me, but the truth is, that's not why I continue this blog. Your support means everything to me, but sadly, pitching me to come to your show is probably not the best way to get me employed. I do have an agent, and he is on the hunt for new employment - but unfortunately, there are other writers out there with seniority and tenure who come first. As much as we don't want to admit it, this is a business, first and foremost - and there s a certain code of rules we must follow, just like any other job. If I'm meant to return to daytime, then I will - and if I'm meant to seek a new career path, then I definitely will. But pitching me in your fan letters is probably an exercise in futility. I encourage you, instead, to write to the head writers and executive producers about their stories and characters. At the end of the day, that's much more important to me than whether or not I find employment in the near future. Having said all of that, I do thank you. It means the world.

Now on to my night. This is a weird entry for me to write, as I don't wish to betray any confidences and I don't want to single anybody out or put them on the spot. I had a surreal One Life to Live experience this evening, to be perfectly honest.

I've said many times before, I had quite the roller coaster in Llanview. I wrote episodes there I'm extremely proud of, but I also faced some of my darkest times as a writer in those two years. It was definitely all over the map. While I was there, though, I built an extremely special bond with someone who works high up in production there - somebody with the same drive, the same passion, the same love of the genre I have. On top of all of that, she has an incredible work ethic and is talented in many areas across the board. In the short time I've known her, she's become quite important to me.

She is leaving Llanview to carve a new path for herself, and tonight, many of us said goodbye. I was cautious walking into the goodbye party, as I haven't seen many of these OLTL folks in years, and have never really known where I stand with them now that the dust has settled. The party-goers were, for the most part, behind-the-scenes people around my age, with a few actors scattered about. I tell you this not to gossip or name-drop - but to say that through my conversations with so many people tonight, I realized there are many more kindred spirits out there than I was ever aware of. Young people who, like myself (and many of you reading), grew up on soaps, along with the Internet, and are driven to see this genre succeed. Is there despair and pessimism? Absolutely. The death knell looms quite low over all of us. But there was also a lot of hope. A lot of ambition. A lot of names most of you don't know unless you follow the credits closely, talking about all the ways daytime influenced them and, in some ways, made them who they are today. Daytime taught them about family, about romance, about the consequences of lies and deceit, and about the kind of person they wanted to be, and the kind of person they never wanted to be.

It gave me hope. Truly. Even if these people never move up the corporate ladder within the genre as it stands now, it made me feel much less alone. These shows are populated with young faces who have heard the fear, have felt the paranoia, and have been troubled over whether or not they chose a career that has no future. And yet, they still wax nostalgic, they still go to work every day, and they still do whatever they can within the very small parameters of their job description to continue the legacy these shows left them with in their adolescence.

There is hope out there. You, as fans, may never truly see it or feel it, because these incredibly dedicated employees may never have the opportunity to call the shots. But they are there, buried underneath the closing credits. And they care.

I can not stress this enough. We are not alone. For whatever that's worth.

An Early Thanksgiving

2008-11-19T00:07:00.004-05:00

So it's been kind of a downer around these parts, huh?

Let's throw some positivity into the mix, shall we? Here's five things right now that currently have me bouncing on my couch... the five things that have inspired me lately, as we head into Thanksgiving next week.

In no particular order…

1) The New Blog - So far, I've gotten numerous e-mails saying how glad people are that they don't have to join MySpace in order to leave comments for me. And my stat counter is much higher here than it was over there. (Sorry, MySpace! I still love you! You gave me a hundred thousand hits!!) PLUS, I got my first (drum roll, please) HATE MAIL just today! I love it! Not once over on MySpace did anybody leave a comment shooting me down - and within a couple of days, I've officially got a dissenter! No, I'm not being sarcastic - I kinda like it. It reminds me how many different perspectives there are out there, and who doesn't need that kind of kick in the teeth every so often? I know I sure do. Sure, I haven't worked all the kinks out yet, but I do feel like the last few days have felt like starting the blog all over again. I'm digging it - and I welcome any and all soap fans who want to critique me. After all, if I can't take criticism, than what the hell have I been doing in the entertainment industry all these years?

2) The Last Two Weeks of Young and the Restless - Okay, I know. Truth be told, I owe MUCH more than just a paragraph to this show right now. And I will get to it next week, I promise. But I just have to say that Kay's funeral has been nothing short of genius. Any show can bring back a bunch of old-school characters for a couple episodes, but to play them IN CHARACTER without making them glorified extras is something you don't see every day. It's soapy, it's moving, it's historical, it's nostalgic, and I'm totally on the edge of my seat. Whatever combination of writers were a part of this - from Maria and Hogan, to the breakdown writers, to the script writer, to the script editor, I salute you. I will have more to say on this come next week, but unfortunately, I've been busy preparing for Reason #3...

...3) The Futures of Entertainment Conference at MIT - I'm alternating between excited and petrified out of my mind for the conference this weekend. But no matter how I end up coming across, just the fact that this school has enough faith in me to include me with so many fascinating and amazing people who hold positions all across the industry spectrum blows my mind. Whatever comes of it, just to be in the same room with such a myriad of talented and intelligent people is enough to make anyone full of glee. It's an honor, and I'm just thrilled to experience it - even though at the moment, it's terrifying to even think about what Saturday will be like.

4) The Many PodCasts of both BlogTalkRadio and Daytime Confidential and Marlena Delacroix - What a strange, wonderful world world we live in. Never before have online fans been so vocal, been so eloquent, so cerebral and ground-breaking. Lately, I've been spreading the word to colleagues and friends about the many PodCasts being led all over the web, as well as some of the discussions on SON and Daytime Royalty. They've been nothing short of stunned at the back-and-forth conversations going on regarding all the soaps. (And no, they're not posting, as far as I know) Clearly, there is a bit of a revolution going on - the fans who crave story and character and passion are flocking to these boards, are studying nuance, are analyzing motivation. They’re asking the questions many others won’t ask, for fear of rocking the boat. They’re debating each other intelligently and calmly (for the most part) and they’re proving just how strong the daytime legacy is. Even when I don’t necessarily agree on a personal level with the things they might be saying, I love the Art of the Great Debate. And I salute them - I only wish some of the shows were taking it to the next level the way a lot of these fans are.

And finally…

5) Bianca and Reese on All My Children - Okay, I’ll admit that I have many issues with the plot surrounding these two. The Baby-Out-of-Thin-Air, the Off-Screen Coupling, the Completely-Out-of-Character decisions Bianca has made. But putting all of that aside for a second, I am completely enthralled with what Tamara and Eden are accomplishing on the screen, not to mention how far AMC is pushing the envelope. I think this is one of the only times in my life I can say there’s a touch of sexism from the networks… only here, it’s in favor of the women. Because I can’t for the life of me figure out why it’s okay for Bianca and Reese to be as affectionate as they are, when Luke and Noah are still struggling for anything over in Oakdale. But in any case, these two actresses are embracing it whole-heartedly - and what can easily be misconstrued as an attempt to shock-and-awe the audience for no other reason than a ratings spike, is being played beautifully, passionately, and damn near perfectly.

No matter what you may think, I do think it’s important to balance the positive and the negative, especially in these troubling times. If you look back at my past entries, you’ll see the most embittered posts are usually followed by ones full of praise. It’s not back-pedaling - it’s more about not drowning in the dark. Millee Taggert always encouraged “Write towards the light”. Sometimes, we in the industry forget that. And when we get bogged down in any kind of somber writing - be it dead babies on the air, or dying soaps in our blogs, it’s important to remember why we’re all in this business. We write stories about families coming together in times of tragedy, friendships falling apart but always resurrected stronger than before, true love always finding a way, and good always triumphing over evil.

That’s a lesson I never want to forget - no matter what I’m writing. We write for the light, and you watch for the light.

Even if some days we have to look a little harder for it than others.

One Straw Too Many - The Second-to-Last Days Blog

2008-11-18T08:01:00.011-05:00

I've never really had a plan when it comes to the blog.

Sometimes, it's a critique... other times, it's therapy. Occasionally I feel like I'm on a pedestal, and sometimes I feel like I'm in a ditch. Although it seems like the last few times I've made mention of Days of Our Lives in this blog, it's like a re-opened wound. There's a personal edge, a lack of objectivity, a razor-sharp slice through my creativity and integrity that almost always draws the equivalent of blood in my soul.

And frankly, I'm tired of it.

Last night, I took part in another round-table discussion with the guys over at Daytime Confidential about the firings of Drake Hogestyn and Deidre Hall. It just went up online (follow the above link), and you'll listen to it and hear the usual stuff - Jamey and Luke are excellent moderators, Mike was a welcome addition, Nelson is sarcastic and blunt... and I'm kinda sullen. I just don't have any rant left in me. I'm not calling for anybody's head on a platter, and I'm calling anybody any names. The whole scenario has a feeling of "Been there, done that" to the nth degree.

So this is my last Days blog. Well, almost my last Days blog. It just seems like an exercise in futility to question where the business acumen is, or common sense... the respect for your audience, and the artistic skill to inspire fans to return to their television sets in the afternoon. Other shows are trying things - and sure, they're failling a lot of the time, but occasionally they're succeeding. And at least they haven't given up. But Days - I just feel like it's existing from day to day with no real drive. And why bother analyzing it, or studying the situation, or questioning how to fix it? It's Soap-By-Numbers - a renewal fans received, but at what cost? (Talk to Guiding Light fans - they'll tell you)

One of two things will happen in eighteen months - a miracle will occur and the show will feel like home again for millions of fans, or it will shrivel up on the vine and disappear from our lives forever. Once that final decision is made, then I'll come back and revisit Days one last time - I'll look at everything that's transpired and give my thoughts on it.

But in the meantime, I'm tired of devoting this much energy, this much thought, this much typing, and this much caring into a show that's more concerned with hiding its desperation and masking its more-than-apparent behind-the-scenes politics by pretending it's just "business as usual". This isn't business as usual. This is scraping and clawing your way to an inevitable cancellation.

I wish nothing but the best for Days. I grew up on this show, I was thrilled and inspired by so many of its stories. But this is like that insane ex whose antics you get wrapped up in for too many years, and one day you just realize, "Enough. I have better things to do with my time." It should make you sad. But it doesn't. You just don't care anymore.

I look at Marlena Delacroix's latest OLTL blog and I am so moved by the passion she has for the abomination that was Todd and Marty's "love-making" on One Life to Live. In the midst of typing this about Days, I am so touched by the drive she has to right this wrong. There was a time not too long ago I had that same cry for change when it came to the residents of Salem. But they do not welcome it, nor do they agree with me, in terms of that change. They do not learn from their mistakes, nor do they learn from the mistakes of other shows that air around them.

I pray One Life to Live... and All My Children and General Hospital and As the World Turns and Guiding Light and Bold and the Beautiful and Young and the Restless, for that matter... all take a moment and realize that in their quest to lower costs and anticipate which action sequence will thrill their fans more or which shocking headline in the press will bring in more ratings, realize that as they build up new characters played by younger actors struggling to make it through an episode in this fast-paced machine... they're alienating the people who indirectly keep them employed.

I continue to root for the genre. I will go on to write much, both positive and negative, about what's transpiring out there. But Days - there's nothing more to say.

Drake and Dee - I wish you nothing but the best. And I hope to see you back on our screens soon. Days will continue on the path its on - it's time to focus on other shows that aren't repeating the mistakes of the past.

This twenty-five year viewer? He's just not that into you anymore...

(Special thanks to Daytime Royalty and Daytime Confidential for alerting me to this video clip!)

A Show In Search of a Clue: DAYS Podcast Head's Up

2008-11-17T17:09:00.002-05:00

So I've been getting all sorts of e-mails from people wanting to know my thoughts, now that the official announcement of Drake Hogestyn and Dee Hall's firings have come out.

I'm trying to piece my words together (Really... who can?), but in the meantime, I'll be on Daytime Confidential's PodCast to... I don't know. Not rant - it's a little late for that. Not cry - I've wasted too many tears on this show.

I don't know what I'll do, so I guess we'll all find out together...

More to come...

You Sure Don't Make It Easy, Do You, MySpace?

2008-11-17T11:45:00.002-05:00

So turns out all the links I attached to my last blog didn't work in the transfer.

I've fixed it, but it's sure gonna make my transfer more difficult.

Thanks, MySpace. :-)

Looking for the Last Two Years' Worth of Posts?

2008-11-17T10:43:00.002-05:00

If you're looking for any of my previous posts, you can still find them over at my MySpace page.

I will keep them up there permanently, in case anyone's interested.

In the meantime, I'm working on moving as many posts as I can from MySpace over to BlogSpot. The comments won't transfer, so I won't delete them from over there. So far I've got just November moved... but hopefully if I do a month's worth every day, I can have everything logged by early 2009.

Don't forget to change your bookmarks!

xo --tom

I Love the Eighties (Strikes Back!)

2008-11-17T10:09:00.002-05:00

Hey all!

So yeah... crazy weekend, right? Rumors persist that more Days stars are being cut loose in favor of less expensive, less experienced, less interesting actors. And Guiding Light is bringing back more people from its past (Welcome home, Eleni!). If history continues to repeat itself, we should see a big John/Marlena return in July of 2010 just when they decide shooting all of their characters in one set isn't working, no?

In the meantime, I'm trying to remain a little brighter than I was on Saturday. Don't get me wrong, I'm still slightly climbing the walls over the bizarre choices being made across the board. (Don't get me started on what General Hospital did with Luke and Laura... oh wait! I don't have to! Sara already did for me!)

So I gave myself a weekend to mourn, as yet more nails were hammered into a coffin, and no more. I've got some mental jumping jacks to get ready for the MIT conference this coming weekend, and lots to do with my own personal projects (not to mention two days of part-time work thrown into the middle of it) so I'm turning my rant-mode off to focus on other things.

With morning coffee in hand (topped with Hershey's syrup and whipped cream - how's that for a good Monday morning?), I started going through my mail - and as I flipped through Soap Opera Digest, wouldn't you know it it, but there I am! I was interviewed awhile back for an article about whether or not the 80's were the heyday of soaps, by the wonderful Mara Levinsky (a gal I can talk soaps with FOREVER). I had completely forgotten all about the interview, but it's in the latest issue with Eric Braeden on the cover. (Oh wait - that's all of them!) It was a fun interview, and I find it highly ironic that the persisting rumors of two Days 80's icons being fired coincided with this issue showing up in my mailbox.

I'm curious what you all think. Do you think the 80's were soaps' shining decade? The 70's? The 90's? The 00's? (I'm so curious if anybody thinks it's that last choice, and why)

What do you consider to be the greatest soaps era? And as we head into the "aught-teens", what stories do you think will become instant classics from this decade?

(Twice) Dead Men Tell No Tales: A Days Rant in Three Parts

2008-11-16T13:54:00.000-05:00

Okay - first up - yes, this is a Days rant. Soap fans who don't know the show, I apologize.

Second - yeah, I'll admit. This is a slightly personal entry. How can it not be? Anybody who follows my blog or has listened to my BlogTalkRadios knows how I feel about DOOL. So yeah - I'm inserting my own two cents into this one from my soul.

PART ONE

As of this writing, word has leaked that while Days has been picked up for eighteen months, severe cast changes are in the works. The first of those was felt this week: Jay Johnson (Philip) is gone, Drake Hogestyn is rumored (with a strong foundation for that rumor from numerous sources) to have been fired, as well as Blake Berris. And the grapevine is telling everyone this is just the beginning. In order for Days to survive, more cuts will be made in the cast.

And here, I pause for a deep breath... bear with me, this will all come back to Days, I swear.

There are four stories from my childhood that inspired me to seek out a career in daytime drama: 1) The story of Jack/Billy, Kayla's rape, and Jack's redemption through his struggle with ghosts Harper and Duke, and Jennifer's love for him, 2) the Who Shot Jake? mystery on AW that led to the Jake/Paulina romance, 3) Marty's vicious attack and its aftermath on OLTL (as well as her struggle to overcome it), and lastly... and the point I'll eventually get to... 4) Nancy's Curlee's years on Guiding Light, and her incredibly epic Nadine/Bridget pregnancy story that eventually led to the Roger/Hart/Peter story.

Those who know it already, understand what an incredible journey that was. Those who don't? Here it is in a nutshell - a young rebellious teenager gets pregnant and is drowning in shame. Meanwhile, a middle-aged woman across town is trying desperately to hold on to her husband, who still has a bond with his ex-wife. Second wife gets pregnant, but miscarries. After a chance meeting, she agrees to house the pregnant teen in her attic (and wear a fake pregnancy stomach)... and then adopt the teen's baby when she gives birth... so she can hold on to her husband. The tension builds for nine months. The teen's family wonders - where is our girl? Will the husband and/or his first wife discover the deception? Will the teen decide to keep her baby once it's born and ruin the second wife's plans? The drama builds until she finally gives birth.

One would think that's the end of the story - but it isn't. Because once all of THOSE secrets are revealed, there's a whole other layer: the man the teen had a one-night stand with? He's the illegitimate son of GL's greatest, most complex villain. (Think James Stenbeck or Stefano DiMera, but much more layered.) Once all of the secrets are revealed with the middle-aged husband and his former and current wives... only THEN does it get out that this baby is also the heir to one of the most dangerous, notorious, powerful men on the canvas. And the story takes on a whole new layer for yet another year as this man attempts to get his hands on his future bloodline for his own nefarious purposes... drawing afore-mentioned illiegitimate son, the teen girl, the love triangle of the man and his two former wives, AND the woman who has (in the meantime) fallen in love with the baby's biological father and will do anything to keep him into this web.

This is an umbrella story that defied all expectations, carried on for years, and was the seed that eventually led to Jim Reilly writing the Susan/Kristen story on DOOL. It's also the reason I will always love Guiding Light...

...and it's the reason why I can't recognize the show that calls itself Guiding Light to this day. It's why it seems like an entirely different show, and as far as I'm concerned, the Guiding Light I fell in love with went off the air years ago.

I only explain all of this because after the news of this weekend regarding Days? I worry the same will hold true with my first love (that still remains on the air, that is) - Days of Our Lives.

PART TWO

The budget is being slashed in Salem. There's less than two years left on its contract. Major characters are being cut. And I'm petrified that when Days finally says its goodbye - be it two years or twelve years from now - it won't be the show I've loved through so many incarnations, and over so many decades.

And the knife cuts even deeper, when it comes to Drake Hogestyn.

Anybody who's kept up with this knows I poured everything I had into the death and funeral of the character of John Black last year. It wasn't until I was practically finished writing his funeral that I learned something had changed behind the scenes, and we were required to bring John Black back to life, brainwashed. Did I agree with this? Not really... but I was only a breakdown writer, and I had to write what I had been given.

John Black's funeral wasn't the greatest funeral ever presented on daytime. In fact, it was pretty standard, in terms of the bar set by other soaps. But it had been so long since Days had tapped into such raw emotion, that I felt those were important episodes for the fans... for the actors involved... and for us writers. Dee Hall, Martha Madison, Kristian Alfonso, Ali Sweeney - they were all allowed to go to a place as actors that they hadn't been allowed to go for many years. And even though I love John Black, and I missed him the second he was gone - I felt we were doing the show a great justice by allowing them to explore deep, unresolved, conflicting emotions that added up to powerful storytelling. It wasn't ground-breaking, but it was real. And Days needed something real.

I know Ken Corday let Drake go, and then he hired him back. Whatever happened between them... whatever tale transpired on that phone call between Ken and Drake... it's between them. I wouldn't dare to surmise how it played out. I just know that everything changed, and that was the beginning of the eventual end for our team at Days of Our Lives. John was brought back from the dead as "Jawn", the strike hit all of us like a two-by-four between the eyes, and three months later, there was a new writing team in place, and chaos was reigning supreme.

Now it's only eleven months later... and everything that was undone - every moment we worked so hard to make real and powerful and heartfelt - was all a waste of time. Because John Black is leaving the show AGAIN, and Days' credibility slides just a little lower. As far as I'm concerned, he should have stayed dead. Would it have upset Jarlena fans? Absolutely. But they would have gotten their stronger, more determined, more three-dimensional Marlena... and instead they got a year of backstage tug-of-wars, only to end up in exactly the same place they were in last year. And I ask: what is better? To have John exit in a story that tugged every heart-string? Or to have Jawn exit in another way a year later? In the end, there's no more John Black either way. And fans have been through a roller-coaster ride in a year (a year that should have been spent rebuilding this once-great show) for absolutely nothing. Their emotions have been toyed with, and they're almost unanimously exhausted. And I don't blame them.

PART THREE

I look at Guiding Light... or The Show Formerly Known As Guiding Light... and I think to myself "Self? At no point did any of the major mistakes in story written with the intention to end up where the show is now. Nobody wants to see this show canceled." And yet, clearly nobody at Days watches Guiding Light, because they're heading down the same road. Maybe not with the new production model, or the new cameras, or with all the location shooting. But in terms of firing the people we *WANT* to see in favor of the much cheaper newer characters nobody's spent the time developing.

I watch shows making the same exact mistakes other shows are making, and I wonder if anybody is even paying attention to what else is going on out there in genre. Are they paying attention to what's working and what isn't, or are they just plowing ahead with what they think is right, and inevitably doomed to repeat the same mistakes? Are they so blind they think they won't befall the same fate as so many shows before them? That they're unique... and special.... and can tread the same ground so many other have passed over and fallen on, without suffering the same fate?

A week ago, I felt a little better about the industry. Not much - but slightly better. But now I hear this news, and all I can think is that Days will never have the final year it was meant to have - where the newer (i.e. cheaper) characters taking a back seat to give the people we care about, getting front-burner, powerful, intricate stories that give fans some kind of closure. Instead, they'll limp into cancellation, the way I see Guiding Light limping into cancellation. And it horrifies me.

I am not a savior, and I'm certainly no Claire Labine or Agnes Nixon or Douglas Marland. But even I can see how used and taken for granted the fans of these shows are... and even though I've dealt with my own budget issues while writing for these shows, I also know that in the end, you can take your Melanies and your Dans and your Rafes and you can sacrifice them (maybe not happily, but definitely necessarily and essentially) for the characters your fans care about. The characters that will somehow bring back your audience if you use them correctly.

Instead, they seem to be fading into oblivion. Like the Julia Barrs and Michael Zaslow's before them - carelessly tossed aside without an exit worthy of their strength and power on the screen - they just wither away.

And with them, go the viewers. And with the viewers... goes the genre.

"Damn the man, save the empire", while a silly quote from an absurd movie, held some weight in my eyes when it came to daytime. No more. The empire is heading towards the darkness, no matter what we, as fans, have to say about it. There is no more writing towards the light. There is only making due with whatever we have until somebody eventually has had enough and pulls the plug.

It's a sad day for DOOL fans. But it's a far worse day for fans of the genre.

Welcome to the new empire. The one that's crumbling.

I wish those of us whose hearts break with yours could do more than just write blogs that let you know we feel your pain. But sadly, the empire has turned its back on all of us. It isn't "The Man" who ended up damned... it's those that kept "The Man" employed - the viewers. The fans. The ones who care.

For whatever I contributed to this over the last decade - you have my apologies. I know I tried to do right, even when inevitably, I was part of the problem. And somehow, this is the sad legacy we left you with. One that has no meaning at all. In the end, we may lose our paychecks, and our careers. But you've lost part of your extended family, and are left with a void that makes you wonder why you even bothered to invest your time in a show that had such little respect for the people who kept it alive for so long.

And that emptiness we've all left you with? It's the greatest crime of all.

A Momentary Reprieve

2008-11-13T13:57:00.000-05:00

What a strange, strange week it's been.

I've been a bit out of touch, as I've been doing some odd jobs just to pay the bills - some involving creativity, and some not involving creativity. But it's getting me back out in the world, and introducing me to all sorts of people - which as a writer, I always appreciate. And I'm biting my nails down to the cuticle over this MIT conference next week. In the meantime, I'm catching up on very few soaps, sadly. (Although my obsession with Young and the Restless is growing, story-wise)

But keeping up with the events behind the scenes this week, I'm stunned at the sudden positive vibe spreading over soaps. First up? Grant Aleksander is coming back to Guiding Light. Then we find out that Days got picked up until September, 2010. And finally, we've got gay men AND gay women kissing all over As the World Turns and All My Children. So what exactly is going on here?

Cynics all over the Internet will tell you exactly what's going on - it's the end of an era. Phillip Spaulding is only returning to Guiding Light in an act of desperation to save the show from cancellation. Days was only renewed until the next fall season because NBC has nothing to replace it, but come Fall of 2010, it's as good as gone. And as for the same-sex kisses? Both are haunted by the looming spectres of bisexuality (a writer's backpedaling dream come true when you have controversial subject matter) and whether or not said new love interests have screws loose. (Seriously, what's the dependancy on psychotics throughout daytime? Can we get a moratorium please?!).

But I don't know if I necessarily agree with the doom and glooom. Not entirely, at least..

Sure, there's a big ol' pessimist in me (and the farther he gets away from the soap opera industry, the more he sees the forest through the trees). And I can see why all of these jaded fans are saying these things.

But then I try to look at the other side of the coin - and I think "Hey - at least somebody is giving it a shot" For most of the summer, I felt like there wasn't one soap on the air that wasn't TRYING to get canceled. Seriously. One Life to Live was playing Back to the Future, Young and the Restless was in French most of the time, Days centered on a new young girl and a cliched two-month viallain nobody cared about, General Hospital turned their most promising heroine into a snot-flinging, murdering lunatic, As the World Turns was introducing day player villain after day player villain, All My Children became the Rylee show (and completely insufferable in the process). Overall, it was tough for me to get through any hour of a soap opera this summer.

And that's BIZARRE. Truth be told, soaps are cyclical. I was talking to a friend of mine in the industry the other day, and even he said it was strange right now - at any given time, you can always look at one soap and see it's in a "low cycle" while another one is firing on all cylinders. But for a long time there, it felt like EVERYBODY was making the SAME mistakes. No original stories. Backstage egos dictating characters. Day players becoming the focus on the show. Vets relegated to glorified-extra status. Every show was a mess.

I'm still a little jaded - don't get me wrong. But for a second, whatever the reasons, I feel like these shows are starting to give a damn again. They're not relying on the same old, same old (well... some of them aren't at least. Others are still a little lost...) Could it all backfire? Sure. Phillip's Return on GL may be too little, too late. Reese might end up being no more important to the Pine Valley canvas than Ava was on the DOOL canvas. Brian may end up going psycho like every other recurring character on ATWT does (paging Adam Hughes, Eve Coleman, Colonel Mayer, Rick Decker...) And once again, we'll all be left sitting here, shaking our heads in disappointment.

But at least we're seeing a little inspiration. Something's being jump-started. Will it work? Nobody knows, and only time will tell. But for a few days, I didn't cringe when I went through my daily soap-news.

In this climate, I'll take what I can get.

The Llanview Conundrum

2008-11-07T13:59:00.000-05:00

They went there.

I didn't think they would, but they did.

They went there, and one of daytime television's shining moments of the last twenty years - a ground-breaking landmark storyline that not only helped thousands of women, but also inspired some young viewers to pursue a career in writing for daytime? It appears to now have a stain that is spreading so fast, there's no wiping it away.

And I am speechless.

The blogosphere has lit up over the last two days with talk of the story beat finally unveiled this week - that an amnesia-stricken Marty had sex with the man who once tied her down and let his fraternity brothers take their turn and have their way with her in a monstrous, evil gang rape.

People come here when they want to hear a former soap writer's take on the writing going on at various shows. But I have no take on this. No explanation. No other perspective.

I know these writers. I worked very closely with them for two years - from 2004 to 2006. I do not speak to them on a regular basis, but I consider them my friends - and I consider many of them to be the best in the business. I do know that at the end of the day, even the ones who hated the storyline have no choice but to turn in their breakdown or script. But I can't even bring myself to ask them one simple question... two basic words... "What happened?!"

How did this get approved? And if it wasn't part of the long-story pitch in the first place, who was the person who even suggested this was a good idea? And what was the response from the women I know are sitting in that writers' meeting - both on the writing team, AND on the network end of things, AND on the production end of things - where were they when this breakdown passed through their hands?!

You can tell me it's building to a pay-off. You can tell me no judgment can be made until the story has played out. But honestly? It's officially over. There's no pay-off great enough to make what happened on One Life to Live "okay".

I really adore this team, and I still watched this show faithfully for two years after I was let go. Because I grew attached to those characters, and I believe in somebody like Ron Carlivati. It gives me hope that this industry hasn't turned its back on the people who genuinely love what they do, and aren't just collecting a paycheck. The writers who grew up with daytime, adore daytime, want to see it succeed, to entertain a whole new generation of viewers.

This is not how you do it.

I try really hard to be objective on here - in spite of the fact I adore some of these names you see on the credits (and not so much, with others). I have personal relationships with them, but I try and write this blog from the standpoint of a long-time fan of daytime first, and a daytime writer second. But I can't be objective here. All I can so is sit here in silent stun, trying to imagine the notes meeting in my head. Trying to imagine the conversation around the table. Trying to wrap my head around who it is that truly doesn't understand the sheer devastation of rape in any form, never mind a sadistic gang-rape. And I can't. I can't be impartial, and I can't give you another perspective, because having worked with the women in that room, I find it difficult to imagine any of them were okay with this decision.

It was a bad call. Whoever it was who wanted to do this, it was a mistake. I look up to Ron greatly - I have since I first started working with him. And I learned so much in that breakdown room. But this - this, I just want somebody to admit was a mistake. I don't care who.

What's written is written... what's taped is taped, and what's aired has aired. There's no going back, so there's no reason to pick it apart now. Against all protestations, the show went there and we can't change that.

Right now, I just want somebody to say publicly "We were wrong."

And to all those people who somehow found strength in Michael Malone's original story... in Linda Gottlieb's wondrous production of a graphically despicable act... in Susan Haskell's portrayal of a very flawed woman who suffered unimaginably the way so many women around the globe have and came back from it stronger than ever... to all of those women (and men), all I can say is that the power of hope and friendship and strength we all took away from that original storyline, and that legacy it's left with so many of us almost two decades later? It still holds up.

I only wish present-day daytime held up as well. . It won't. What happened this week, it will not be revered in twenty years. Not even close.

Waking from One Nightmare, Heading into Another

2008-11-05T14:00:00.000-05:00

For a brief moment last night, all was right with the world.

The streets were packed with people, Flatbush Avenue was filled with horns blasting, and people hugging, and (literally) dancing in the streets. Lying in bed, listening to the revelers, re-playing moving words from a speech long overdue... everything seemed perfect. I try not to get too political in these blogs - I know much of the soap-viewing audience are conservatives, and I have nothing but respect for them. I have patience and an open mind for conservatism, but I have little for ignorance, something that ran rampant for so long in the White House these last few years... and for myself and many, I feel like I'm waking from an eight-year nightmare.

Which is why waking up this morning, it was such a crash-and-burn to see this.

So all the major networks have passed on the Daytime Emmys. Soapnet... the channel launched FOR SOAP FANS... wants nothing to do with it. (I really wish they'd just change their name already. I love them over there, but just stop misrepresenting yourselves.)

This is such a wake-up call, for the fans and for the casts and crews of these shows. As far as I'm concerned, this is the pronouncement that the networks just don't care anymore - they don't care to honor the best daytime has to offer, and they're just biding their time until the inevitable.

It makes me wonder - whether you're an Obama-fan or not, you can't deny for a second he isn't a great inspirational speaker, who moves his audience to be better people. How he is as a president remains to be seen, but he makes everybody sit up and face their day stronger... more determined... better. Where is Daytime's Obama? Where is that Executive Producer or Head Writer, or hell, even the Network Executive... who is going to stand tall, and talk to the fans like they're not a bunch of morons, and be honest and upfront and look the people they represent in the eye... the leader who is going to make us turn on the soap we grew up with, and believe again.

Believe we're not investing two hundred and fifty hours a year in something that's just going to be pulled out from under us with little or no integrity... something that will just wither away slowly and painfully, limping into non-existence. Where is that Power That Be that's going to stand up and say "We have everything against us, I know we have little money and little support, but I promise you, as long as I am here, we will work hard to deliver you a quality project... we will forego ego and backstage politics and shame and negativity, and band this cast and crew together to go out with our heads held high, with stories that move you, and choices that inspire you, and a belief that we should not be ashamed to be fans of this genre."

Okay, so maybe I've taken the analogy too far. Maybe I'm still so swept up in the enthusiasm and hope of last night. Maybe I'm just delirious.

If we're going down, we shouldn't go down like this. And if somebody can make me believe in American politics again after the last eight years, then why the hell can't somebody make me feel the same about an industry I've devoted so much of myself to over the last decade... that so many of us both in front of the cameras, behind the cameras, in front of our TV screens have devoted ourselves to over the last century?

We are a small little microcosm in the American Entertainment Industry, but we are important nonetheless. We have Hope for Change now everywhere else... I would love to find a little piece of it in our corner of the world as well.

The Powers That Be have been saying "You're doing a heckuva job, Brownie" in daytime for far too long, while viewers are turning out in droves. Indeed, it is time for change.

Election Battles, on-screen and off

2008-11-03T14:02:00.000-05:00

So I think political stories on soaps are usually not very interesting.

Months spent on Kevin Buchanan's run for... Lieutenant Governor? Will Blake be mayor of Springfield? Somebody kills a never-before-seen mayor on Days of Our Lives? Meh. I like my stories to cut under the surface, to study characters' actors and reactions, and to explore them in a world I can relate to. Whether or not Tico Santi used blood money to fund Kevin Buchanan's career is not something I can relate to.

But this has been a stellar year in politics (unless you've been living under a rock, I don't need to elaborate on that), and in the next twenty-four hours there is potential for a lot of hope in this country... and consequently, the world. It's on my television twenty-hours a day, I don't really need to see it on my soaps.

Except As the World Turns is doing something really interesting with politics... and it's definitely caught my eye.

Moving a study of characters into a gubernatorial world usually leads to viewers' eyes glazing over, but Luke Snyder's run for president at his college instantly makes it young, fresh, and interesting. Part of the quagmire of older characters in politics is that nobody wants to write scenes of characters meeting with lobbyists, or fighting small-town politics, or taking part in debates, or disappearing for months on end while "the House is in session". (I loved Grant Harrison, but his move from Congressman to Senator was pretty much the most un-realistic take on politics I've ever seen.)

But with Luke's run in college, we don't need to worry about real scenes of Luke in his personal life being sacrificed for endless scenes of politcal hot bed issues - because it's a COLLEGE, not A STATE. There are no trips to the capital between commercial breaks, no visits by day-character governors to slap you around. He's running as a liberal to represent his student body.

And then ATWT really fanned the flame - they put him against his high school crush, Kevin. NOW I'm really paying attention. Some fans really want it to be revealed that Kevin is secretly gay now, but frankly, to me, that's a cop out. I know this is probably a personal preference, but having numerous straight male friends, I'm always constantly fascinated by the psychological dynamic between gay and straight men. Very few writers have been able to bottle that kind of energy - Armistead Maupin did it beautifully between Michael Tolliver and Brian Hawkins in his Tales of the City series. Christopher Rice started to do it with his book, Density of Souls... until in the third act, he decided to relive some high school fantasy and the "straight" guy became the gay man's lover.

Watching Luke try to keep his integrity in the election while struggling with the self-esteem issues Kevin left deeply embedded within him years ago has been really great to watch. Suddenly, Luke feels like he's in high school again - and who among us hasn't felt that emotion, once or twice or twenty times? Kevin isn't a gay-bashing homophobe, but of course he's struggling as well - with Luke's coming out to him, and subsequent reveal of his feelings for him. There's so much inherent drama there, between these two HUMAN BEINGS, that whether gay or straight, it can be great television.

And this week, Luke gets in touch with his inner Grimaldi, and rigs the election. I love this idea - let's not forget Luke's paternal bloodline, and the psyhoses that run through THAT genepool. I love exploring Luke's dark side, and I love that it's truly driven by something that happened years ago that scarred him for life - THAT WE SAW ON-CAMERA. (When did seeing things happen on-camera suddenly become uncool in daytime?) How this will affect his relationship with Noah, and his friends and family, is yet to be seen. But I'm ecstatic that there's a storyline being developed here that I haven't seen before on daytime - a young male gay character is driven to the dark side because of something we saw occur on-screen years ago, that has both personal and political ramifications for the viewers.

That doesn't mean I don't have concerns. As the World Turns is known for racing through stories at break-neck speed. (How many weddings have Katie Peretti and Jack Snyder had in the last few years?) I prefer my soaps to take their time, to explore all the emotional beats. But ATWT has a tendency to get impatient and move on to the next story. (I still can't believe the Holden/Carly fallout is all but non-existent these days.) So I really hope they take their time and really dig under the surface of Luke's character, reveal new shades of him and explore what this means for the people he loves the most... and in the process, hopefully find something new and intriguing in the characters of Luke, Noah and Kevin.

As we head into November 4th, I have a renewed sense of hope for this country - but also a renewed sense of hope in a storyline that came out of nowhere, and is quickly becoming the only non-Genoa-City-related story the daytime landscape is presenting me these days that's making me think. One part fluff (Allison's kooky kidnapping), two parts social issue (homophobia, whether real or merely projected), two parts real-world (the election), one part romance (Luke and Noah), and it all adds up to quite possibly the most intriguing character study short of Victor Newman's depression?

I vote yay.

I just hope, like certain politicians, I don't feel let down when all is said and done.

One Year Ago Today...

2008-11-01T14:05:00.000-04:00

One year ago today...
Current mood: contemplative

One year ago today, I was in California.

I laid out a Days of Our Lives episode where a hospitalized John sees Sami, believes she's Colleen, and tries to strangle her. I sat on a back porch with my head writer, gave a "Welcome" embrace to my new co-head writer, had productive meetings with both my executive producer and Corday Productions, and headed back on a red-eye to finish my episode before the Monday morning "Pencils Down" strike clock started ticking, saying a silent prayer that cool heads would prevail and the strike wouldn't last any longer than it had to.

I questioned my own union, and consulted with peers over issues I had never considered before. Words like "fi-core" and "scab" became as common as exhaling, and a part of my vernacular I wish I could erase.

I walked in circles in snow and freezing cold, questioning my industry, questioning my employers, questioning my own beliefs.

I watched colleagues with an equally fiery passion for this industry kicked to the curb.

I wondered if a private blog that suddenly went public did more harm than good.

I questioned my own talent, pondered my own future, and studied my behavior.

I rediscovered the joy of writing without boundaries, and then learned I am not defined by my dreams. The dreams of my youth do not encompass me, and there is so much more than my goals that can make me feel alive.

I've reached out to fans, hoping to reconnect with the energy I feel is missing from so many writers' rooms.

I've been told that I've moved from "fresh, new blood" to "the same old, same old".

I've been told I've been missed, and I've also been told I'm "unpitchable".

One year ago today, I was a different person.

I have contemplated so much this last year. Times I have felt found, and times I have felt more lost than ever before. Part of me can't believe it's been a year already, and the other part of me feels like an eternity has passed and I've gone through three lifetimes since November 1, 2007.

I've doubted my future in a genre I have to wonder even wants me anymore. They say you should never be the last one at a party, so maybe this is my time to move on. And in some ways, I have. But in others, I can't say good-bye. Not yet. Because I went back, and read this - my very first blog entry I ever wrote on here:

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

11:43 PM - 6 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

DAYS like these I feel like I could change the world...
Current mood: ecstatic

...to quote Asia. (Whatever happened to them?)

So I love my job. Everyone knows that. I get to shape and mold the lives of an entire fictional town. Sure, it can be campy at times. But it can also be inspirational. Scary. Romantic. Heart-warming. Tear-jerking. Triumphant. Defeating. Hysterically funny. The gamut of emotions. And I love that.

Unfortunately, we have three days (sometimes less) to write an episode. And with writing 52 episodes a year myself, they can't all be gold. Sometimes you have to force yourself to really sit down and write something, even if you're not "connecting" with the material. And other times... well, the words flow on the page like you're actually living it yourself.

Such was the case with Days Of Our Lives, Episode 10,566...

Ten weeks ago, I wrote the breakdown for this show. It was a big deal, to put it mildly. The wedding of two characters who've been together on and off for FOURTEEN YEARS. (And they're only 30!) The entire cast was in it, which means making sure everyone "has something to do", so they're not glorified extras. There's a huge twist (of course! It's a soap!) And some serious melodrama. Plus, millions of fans who are all looking for some serious pay-off for a couple they've wanted together for almost two decades.

So I sit down to write this episode, and MAN... it was like I'd waited my whole life to write it. It all just poured out of me... and by the end of it, I felt like Kathleen Turner in the opening scene of "Romancing the Stone". Including the tears and glass of wine. (The only other time I experienced that was when I wrote Bryant's death on As the World Turns in 2001... same head writer, so special thanks to the big guy himself!)

Today, the episode aired. Now as anyone who knows anything about TV knows, a lot can happen in the ten weeks of production. Things might be edited, cut out, misinterpreted. You never know what you're going to get. But today... today surpassed all my expectations. They "GOT IT". Nailed every emotion, hit every beat... watching today's episode not only restored my faith in a genre so many people insist is dying, but it reminded me how much I love what I do.

I am not a blogger... but here I am, in my living room, feeling like I'm ready to burst as the closing credits rolled. So this is me... bursting.

I got to give Sami Brady the wedding of her dreams, and the reception of her nightmares. And I'm on top of the world.

***********************************************************

I re-read this for the first time in a year and a half, and I realized: that's the Tom I want back. It's the Tom I want to be again. I don't know where I'll find him, or the road I need to take to get there - but I do know the guy who wrote this blog entry had a lot of faith. And deep down, he still does.

Oh, what a difference a year makes.

Swept Away

2008-10-17T00:45:00.000-04:00

Swept Away
Current mood: impressed

Let's get this right out of the way - I think a lot of people in entertainment are a little too trigger-happy with the CGI. I loved the way it was incorporated into movies like The Matrix or Terminator 2, but sometimes they tend to go overboard and it removes all traces of humanity from a project (see: Speed Racer or the last Indy movie)

Which is why I was so surprised in May when the CGI used for Jesse and Angie's wedding on All My Children didn't take away from my enjoyment of those episodes, but added to it. I still remember Jesse's leap off of the roof onto the helicopter, and the way my heart leapt up with him.

So to be frank, I headed into yesterday's episode of All My Children with optimism. So far, Julie Carruthers has managed not to take away from the soul of the show with the computer generated images. And the set-up is solid. JR and Babe facing off with Adam at the Chandler mansion, with Erica stuck in the middle; Annie and Aidan trying to beat some much-needed sense into each other; Zendall locking themselves away at the beach house where they think they're safe and sound, cut off from the outside world; Opal crying doom and gloom before collapsing at the Comeback -- everything's falling apart, so it's definitely the perfect time for a tornado to hit Pine Valley!

It started small - with minor background images of rolling clouds in various sets. And I had high hopes. But then the clunker: Half the universe is flying around Ryan and Greenlee, and Ryan's saying "the heavens are celebrating that he and Greenlee are together" (Wonder if he would feel that way if a stop sign suddenly slammed into his head?) I fear we're heading into the soap opera cliche of "the world falling down around them, so there's nothing else to do but get naked". And I was a little bothered by Natalia thinking Jesse screaming "There's a tornado outside!" was some excuse that he didn't want to go see her mother. Gee, Natalia - do you think Jesse set up those air raid sirens outside in a grand scheme to procrastinate facing his past?

But enough venting - because on the flip side, the reveal of the Chandler Estate Stalker was really well-done (and any scene with Lucci and Canary is gold in my book). And the ongoing transitional moments (the bench, the windchimes) added much-needed suspense to the build-up. This is also one of those times when I can forgive two-page scenes, because you need that kind of fast pacing to build the momentum of the oncoming tragedy.

And then we get to Friday's episode… and if you believed ABC's marketing, all hell was going to break loose.

And they did not lie.

I'll admit it - this boy's got lots of testosterone, and I literally jumped up in awe when Zach's car got swept up in the twister, left the ground, and got slammed back down again. WOW! I don't know where they got the budget for this, but I've got to say, I am impressed. The JR/Babe wedding is a bit much, if you know what's down the line - but I'll forgive it because let's face it - a little bit of cheese used as foreshadowing is a classic soap device. And it certainly got me teared up a little. Across town, we went back to the Ryan/Greenlee lovefest -- and I know this couple has their fans, but I'll never understand this "walk down memory lane" that happens during natural disasters. It worked for DOOL's 25th anniversary in the cave-in, because a character had a concussion, and they were trying to keep them from falling asleep by reliving old memories. But sucking face when the town is literally being decimated around you? It's not THAT romantic. At least as far as I'm concerned.

Thank God for the return of the twisters, because the destruction of the Comeback was devastating, and Zach's rescue of Ian and Spike were just beautifully done. Whatever you think of the character of Krystal, Bobbie Eakes can break my heart with just a whimper. And JR's discovery of Babe - well, it's no secret that I wish the character had been written out when Alexa left the show. But the discovery of her shielding Little A, the little hand reaching out from the rubble? Just extremely well-executed, and really wonderfully acted. Amanda Baker and Jacob Young stepped up to the plate, and really delivered. And then, just when you thought it couldn't get any crazier, Thorsten Kaye, silhouetted against a terrifying night sky, finds a pregnant Bianca.

Congratulations, All My Children! The cast, the crew, the writers, the post-production guys - overall, you delivered a fantastic two episodes. Sure, I could have done with a little less of the sappiness (or at least wished it was done from a more frenetic place, as opposed to so "time-out-of-time") But I think you have two phenomenal shows that both look spectacular and felt like they came from the heart.

Can't ask for much more than that…

Daytime's Shift Into the Night - And Where It Could Go

2008-10-15T00:48:00.000-04:00

So upon numerous plugs from soap columnists, fans, and colleagues alike, I finally decided to check out General Hospital: Night Shift. I recorded the entire marathon this past weekend on Soapnet, and right now, I'm only a few minutes away from the halfway point.

Its fans are not incorrect. This writing team has done nearly the impossible in six short hours:

1) They've made me care about Jagger Cates again. When I first heard Sabato, Jr was on his way back, I didn't really understand why. Jagger served a great purpose in the nineties, in the story with Karen and Brenda (and later with Stone). But I just didn't understand what role he would play this time around. I couldn't have been more wrong. His relationship with his newly-discovered autistic son, his slow journey to acceptance that isn't mired in plot devices (THIS is how you tell an autism story!), his talks with Robin about both Stones (AND his reaction to Karen's death... on another soap, Port Charles!) all ring true and with authenticity.

2) And speaking of Karen, can we talk about HISTORY?! Because GH:NS sure is. And it's not being whacked over my head either. When the time is right in the scene, a reference is made to a General Hospital long since gone. Whether it's Robin and Robert's long-tortured relationship, or the death of Epiphany's son, it warms my heart. And while I'm talking about heart-warming...

3) WOW, did this show get GH back on track in terms of humor and friendships. The scenes in the stairwells (possibly the most boring set any of us writers ever have to write in, believe me...) are so full of rich characterizations, little tidbits into these characters private lives, quippy one-liners that don't sound like they're ripped from last night's canned-laughter sitcoms. Even if they're not solely focused on the plot, it makes me want to know more about who these people really are, and that rarely happens anymore on soap operas.

4) I haven't seen Tristan Rogers this strong, or this focused on his work, since the Eighties. You can just tell these actors are eating it up with a spoon.

5) NO EXPOSITION! I don't have to sit through scene after scene after scene of two characters talking about who they are to each other, or what happened on the last episode. Could it be? A show that actually TRUSTS its audience to know what's going on? And yes, I know this is primetime, and daytime has five hours a week to fill -- but instead of filling it with explanations of what happened in last week's air shows, why not fill it with those characters moments I talked about earlier that make us fall in LOVE with these characters!

6) It's proving to me you can take cheap soap opera sets, actors who are already overworked on their other show, and STILL produce a quality product. It's all about the writing, folks... if that's there, the actors will dive in head-first, and it doesn't matter how small your budget is.

7) There are day players who make me care about their one-episode subplot within seconds. And they're not cast with models, either. Why do we continue to cast non-actors in these roles on daytime soaps? It's insulting, and pulls us out of the moment. GH:NS, while providing the occasional shirtless man, or scantily-clad woman, never relies on the "buff" to get you to watch. It relies on your heart.

Yes, I know GH:NS has been compared to a poor man's Grey's Anatomy, but let's face facts -- Grey's Anatomy is actually a rich man's Port Charles (or at least PC's original premise). I'm really glad I gave it a chance - it's been revelatory. Ground-breaking, steeped in history, respectful, intelligent, tightly plotted -- I'm really glad I gave it a shot this season. This show definitely has a fan in me.

I have to wonder if maybe we all aren't better off exploring this option. Would you watch a 13-week prime-time Another World reunion on Soapnet? How about a 13-week Ryan's Hope re-imagining? Or 13 weeks of A Martinez and Marcy Walker in one final adventure?! Maybe this is where we, daytime fans, writers, and producers alike, need to go, because this little marathon is pretty inspiring.

My wheels are already turning...

James E. Reilly - 1948-2008

2008-10-14T00:48:00.000-04:00

There are many legends in daytime history -- Irna Phillips, Agnes Nixon, Bill Bell, Douglas Marland, to name only a few.

But in my mind, there is only one myth - and that is James Reilly.

To many, he was a complete mystery. A head writer who worked his way up at various soaps through the years. From the stories I've heard through the years, he (like any of us who work behind the scenes) had those who loved working with him, and those who didn't. In fact, before 1992, I'm not sure Jim Reilly the "Man" was any more or less important than any of the rest of us.

But 1992 changed everything.

It isn't even necessary to write the kind of obituary that details his successes or failures because they are so well-known and well-documented in the soap community. Ask one person, and he's the man who saved Days of Our Lives; ask another, and he's the man who destroyed daytime. And yet no matter who you ask, very few people actually knew this man. The words "Jim Reilly" became at once a target, a bullseye, and a symbol of a genre savior, all at the same time, as impossible as that sounds. His tale of demonic possession will forever be discussed, dissected and analyzed in daytime history books, and his Secret Room saga still resonates to this day. (Just ask anyone in Llanview.) His return to Days of Our Lives in 2004 with the Salem Serial Killer heralded a storyline just as impressive... as it was monumentally panned in its third act in Melaswen. His work process only hinted at in various interviews over the years, he was known as a recluse - almost the anti-Bill Bell, in the sense that he never knew his actors, or collaborated with them. He never wanted his knowledge of their personal lives to interfere or distract from the tales he was crafting. He brought a new approach to storytelling in daytime that was both innovative and detrimental, brilliant and flawed, beloved and loathed.

The myth of Jim Reilly will forever be discussed and analyzed by soap fans all over the world… and yet so few of us knew the "man". And never will.

Jim Reilly has passed away, and with him, goes so many questions, so much praise, and so many disturbed soap fans who waited to see what wonders he gave birth to next, what new twisted visions spun out of his future endeavors.

I wish I knew this man personally. I wish I was one of the rare few who were close to him - who understood his process - who learned from his innate talent. Somewhere over the last twenty years, Jim Reilly stopped being a man in the daytime world, was never allowed to be a "legend"… but remained this singular myth. He was synonymous with a writing style that proved itself impossible to be ambivalent towards. He incited emotion and (if you'll forgive the pun) passion in as many of his fans as he did his critics.

Say what you will about Jim Reilly, he most definitely will never be forgotten. I will miss this reclusive, uncannily creative talent - the man who changed daytime forever. And at this horribly tragic, sudden, sad time, I hope everybody mourns the loss of this powerful influence to the daytime industry, and sends their prayers and respects to his family, friends, and legions of fans everywhere.

The man may be gone, but his myth will always live on…

Viewing Habits of a Soap Writer

2008-10-13T00:49:00.000-04:00

"Do these writers even watch their own show?!"

I read that a lot on message boards. It comes up all the time, for all eight soaps. It's a good question to ask, as there are times when it certainly seems like we don't. Truth is, most of us do. I don't know if we always watch it with the same magnifying glass day-after-day-after-day as we should - but I know most of us TRY to. (If we don't, it's not out of laziness or regret -- it's more about life getting in the way, and hours upon hours of episodes pile up on the DVR, and... what can I say? Sacrifices have to be made.)

But this morning I found myself watching hours and hours of daytime television, and wondering why I still do this. Well, the honest first answer is: I enjoy it. I do. Mock all you want, but I find it interesting, even when it's being completely ridiculous. The second answer, though, is that it's such a barometer as to what daytime audience is left out there, who they're made up of, and what it is they want (or don't want) in their television shows during the day.

You ask if we even watch daytime television? I can't answer for everybody, but here's what I watch - and how and when I watch it...

WHEN I'M WORKING:

Unless I just got back from vacation, and there are too many episodes for me to catch up on, I always watch every episode of the soap I'm working for - sometimes two or three times if there's something really interesting. This should go without saying, but watching dynamics between actors, the scene and act tags that work (and those that don't) and the way production has restructured your episode (if they have at all) is so necessary to grow and become a better writer.

I also try to watch the other shows on the same network that I work for. When I was at ATWT, I watched the whole CBS line-up, and when I was at OLTL, I watched the whole ABC line-up. Why? Well, to be honest, the other shows tend to come up in meetings. Sometimes in casual conversation, other times in relevance to what you've written in your breakdown. Also, the networks aren't too happy with coincidental similarities in two shows at the same time. And that does happen a lot. Once, on OLTL, Nash was going to "kidnap" Jessica and being her onto a boat to woo her... at the same time Zach was doing the same thing to Kendall on AMC. Total coincidence, but we had to change it because nobody wants to watch the same scene on two different soaps in the same week. You'd be surprised how often this happens. So I like to pay attention to the other soaps on the network I'm writing for so I don't end up writing something on OLTL that GH aired three weeks ago.

I also like to keep track of the soaps that air on other networks the same time the soap I'm working for airing. At this point, I'm already watching 3-4 soaps daily, so I can't really watch five hours a week of the competing shows too. So I keep up on daily recaps, and try to watch two-three days a week. Why? Because they're my competition, and I want to know what stories they're writing for their audience - and what story they're NOT writing for their audience, so I can try and fill that void in the show I'm working for. Sometimes this gets me into trouble (I'm very close to both ATWT and OLTL, and many of their employees to this day, yet they compete in most markets. Yikes!) but the truth is, most of the people I've worked with can separate business and personal (I said "most", not "all"), and they know if we're at a bar, and I ask how things are going, I'm genuinely asking and not digging for dirt. I'm not that kind of guy, believe me.

But what about when I'm not working?

I've been really blessed in that up until November, 2007, the longest I ever went without work was about six weeks. This is the first time I've been unemployed for an extended period of time, something many of my fellow soap writers have experienced once or twice before in their careers. So what am I watching now? And how often?

Truth be told, I try to keep up on all eight soaps when I'm not working for one reason and one reason alone -- at any point, my agent may call me and say "_______ is interested in you, and want you to start in two weeks. Are you up on the show?" And if the answer is "no", chances are you'll be in for a lot of sleepless nights in your first few weeks.

But watching 40 hours of daytime television a week is a tall order for anybody. So here's my rundown of what I'm watching right now.

ALL MY CHILDREN - I've always tried to watch two or three episodes of AMC a week, but with the addition of Chuck Pratt to the team, I'm trying to watch more. It's always interesting when a new head writer takes over, but especially so here. I've never met Pratt, but when I first heard he would be the new head writer of AMC, it seemed like an odd match to me after watching his GH for so long. So I'm fascinated and intrigued to see what he does with it.

AS THE WORLD TURNS - A cast and crew I've long considered my second family, I try and keep up on three to four episodes of ATWT a week. It just feels like home to me in so many ways, and I have an affection for those characters that I haven't had since I was a kid and watching AW and Days every day faithfully. Even when I'm not thrilled with what I'm seeing, I still feel an attachment to them, and it's hard for me to turn away, even when it's in a down swing.

BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL - I'll be honest - I've never really been interested in the fashion world. So B&B was never high on my list - and it has nothing to do with the acting or writing, it's just a world I never really understood or had any interest in pursuing. (Ask the Beau - he'll tell ya! :-)) When the Storm's Gift story started, I watched four days a week because it seemed like a real character piece, but lately, sad to say, I only catch one or two episodes a week.

DAYS OF OUR LIVES - Oh, my Days. I won't feed you some B.S. line... I'll be honest here. Days is the show I grew up on, but I still have a hard time watching it more than a day a week. I follow what's going on, but as immature and unprofessional as it may sound, I'm only human, and the Days firings still leave a horrible taste in my mouth. The show could be firing on all cylinders, but everything about my last dealings with Days feels way too personal, and it's hard for me to watch it and not relive the strike. I'm sure over time that will pass, but for now, it's still kind of an open wound. Sorry, DAYS and Days fans... I'm still holding out hope I can turn on Days one day and just enjoy it as I used to.

GENERAL HOSPITAL - I watch GH about three days a week, more so during Sweeps. I don't particularly enjoy a lot of the mob stuff, but GH still remains an important show on daytime, and a vital institution in the eyes of its fans. I also find myself studying their dialogue intently, as I feel they have one of the strongest script writing teams in daytime. I also find there's a lot less exposition in their words, and I really appreciate that.

GUIDING LIGHT - Actually, I end up watching GL usually two days a week. Whether you like what they're doing or not, I try to go into with an open mind. I find some of what they're doing structurally in each episode to be interesting, but I find a lot of their transitions a little too jarring. But it's this kind of "weighing the pros and cons" viewing that I think will help me wherever I end up next - studying what's working and what isn't, and why.

ONE LIFE TO LIVE - I still watch OLTL three to four days a week, mainly because I'm still incredibly undecided as to where I stand on the changes. Never have I seen a show that can be so polarizing within each episode. I also have tremendous respect for that writing team, and always have. So even when I don't like a story decision, I still find it interesting to see how those people are telling the stories, as opposed to the stories they're specifically telling - if that makes sense.

YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS - I try to watch Y&R four to five days a week, only because I think you're crazy if you're a soap writer who DOESN'T watch the Number One rated soap opera on television to understand what they're doing right and what they're doing wrong. And if we're really being honest, I have a soft spot in my heart for their new co-head writer. :-) But come on - this is the cream of the daytime crop. To not pay attention to what they're doing is foolish, especially in this age when all shows are trying to hold on to their viewers, and Y&R seems to be doing a better job of that over the years than most soaps. Even when they were at their "worst", they were still beating everyone ele in the households by a landslide. A writer can learn a lot from a show like that.

So how do I watch these shows I don't work on? First and foremost, as a fan. If you're not a fan of the genre, I'm sorry - you shouldn't be working in it. But secondly, and almost as importantly, I watch each scene and wonder if I would have done anything differently, and why. Then, once the show's over, the message-board-lurking begins. Now I know you shouldn't take every fan's post to heart because people have a lot of different opinions out there. But if a hundred people are saying the same thing... and I thought differently? Then maybe I don't have the right hand on the pulse of the viewing public and I need to understand where they're coming from. Because the last thing I want to be is the kind of writer who plows on with something that isn't working just because it's what I want. Looking at something from all angles is what makes soap writing so interesting - because the heroes think of themselves as flawed, and the villains usually think they have good reason to do the things they do.

Plus, there are so many lessons to learn from watching other shows. I remember I worked on a soap that was about to do a boxing storyline - and the second I heard it, I went back and thought about all the boxing storylines I'd ever seen done on other soap operas (There were three of them) And then I thought about how many of them are considered successes in hind sight by each show's fans. (Answer: None of them) So it wasn't really a big surprise to me when the boxing story I had to write wasn't exactly a smashing success.

I've been called a fanboy by some people I've worked with... and occasionally, if I reference a previous similar story from another soap in a writing room, I get a few dirty looks. But I honestly don't understand how you do this job unless you know what else is out there. Fashion designers focus on their styles, their choices, their inspirations - but they also know that they need to keep an eye out on what their competitors are doing, and whether they're succeeding or not. I'll never understand why some soap writers don't feel that way about their industry.

I'm all for a singular vision from a head writer, and I fully support the idea that you can't please everyone all the time, so sometimes you just have to stick to your gut instinct as a writer. BUT... If you don't know what's working and what's failing on other shows, how can you learn not to repeat the mistakes of others before you?

Another Great Loss to the Soap World

2008-10-09T00:50:00.000-04:00

According to Superposter's site, Eileen Herlie passed away today.

I am sitting here in total stun - first from Irene Dailey's passing, and now this incredible loss. Myrtle Fargate has been such an important part of the All My Children canvas for so many years now. Even in her later years, Myrtle's appearances were always warm, welcoming, and with the same fire in her eyes as she had twenty-five years ago.

The soap world has lost so many greats this year, but this one has really left me stunned, especially since I've been gearing myself up to face the tears and tragedy that will likely take place during next week's Pine Valley tornado. I can honestly say, my potential enjoyment of those episodes is tainted, knowing Myrtle has left the Kane Women, and our television screens, forever.

She will be sorely missed.

What I Did on my Summer-Slash-Fall Vacation Across the USA (CHARACTERS WANTED!)

2008-10-06T00:52:00.000-04:00

Just when you thought it was safe to venture into the blog-o-sphere...

Guess who's back?!

What a crazy few weeks. First up, there was Austin, Texas - where I participated in an annual music festival that is easily one of my all-time favorites - the Austin City Limits Music Festival. One hundred and thirty different bands from Gospel, Folk, R&B, Pop, Rock, the Jamband world... pretty much every genre over eight stages and three days. All the money goes back to the city of Austin, the food court there contains booths from all the local restaurants (no cheap flimsy burgers here), it's about the most well-organized and cleanest music festival I've ever been to, and the average age of the concertgoer is someone in their thirties, so you avoid all of those "kids-who-just-want-to-run-around-all-weekend-messed-up" crowd. This year, the head-liners were Beck, Robert Plant, David Byrne, Alison Krauss, Erykah Badu, Gnarls Barclay and the Foo Fighters. A great time was had by all!!

And in the middle of this, at 4:04 on Saturday (right around the time Erykah Badu began the second half of her set), I turned thirty-three. A *huge* thank you to everyone who wrote me on my birthday. You guys are just amazing - it was a fantastic birthday. Low-key, with the Beau and our good friends, good food, good music - just a great vibe, and early to bed for the final day of the festival. I couldn't have asked for anything more.

Then it was off to Orlando - to check out Halloween at Universal Studios. My best friend knows somebody who does a lot of the art department work for these stunning haunted houses, so we got an "in" with the park, and I got to experience all the fun this million-dollar park alteration has in October (and believe me, what they do to this park is really spectacular -- I highly recommend it). And for those of you who are "Buffy" fans out there, there's a great haunted house devoted to the "Gentlemen" from "Hush" (the only Buffy episode, I believe, that ever got Joss Whedon a Writing Emmy nom, and deservedly so... ironic since there's almost no dialogue in the episode).

Then it was off to see my parents' new house... except maybe not. Turns out their car wasn't picked up from Connecticut in time to arrive in Florida to get me back to the airport. And a one-hour cab ride would really hurt everyone's wallets. But they were cool with it (since most of the house wasn't even set up yet), and to be honest, it was such a crazy couple of weeks, I was glad to have the last two days to lounge around in Brooklyn and recover from all the traveling and running around.

In the midst of all of this, the job hunt continued - from script rewrites to wrestling (!!!) but nothing with my name on it. Which is either God's way of saying She's not done with me in daytime yet, or the perfect job outside of daytime is just around the corner, and She is saving me for that one. (Although a sign would be helpful, Lovely Lady Upstairs!) And I've been away from soaps for two weeks, so I came home to a full Tivo, and three issues of SOD and SOW each that I need to catch up on. So I'm a little rusty with my Soap-Talk these days.

But that doesn't mean I don't have something to say, dear friends...

In my travels, I was exposed to all sorts of people I don't have access to in New York City. And it got me thinking - what has happened to the soap archetypes? It seems these days, if you're a guy on a soap? You're either an A) doctor, lawyer, cop or businessman, who is either B) the strong, brooding, sullen type, or the wise-cracking, sarcastic, omniscient type. And if you're a soap teen? Forget about it. You're either A) angry and tortured with a great chest, or B) rich and angry and tortured with a great chest. And the girls don't fare too well either. Unless you're a comedic character, you're pretty much either the soap heroine, or you're the bitchy vixen (who will inevitably be sanitized and turned into Choice A)

Where are all the characters? And I'm not talking about comedic characters relegated to the sidelines. I'm talking about all the different kinds of people who exist out there in the world, and why they aren't represented in leading man/leading lady status? Where's the rugged outdoorsman, rough around the edges, who is more comfortable in the wild, camping and fishing and listening to country music, while not villified as a "country hick"? (And why isn't he the one romancing the spoiled-brat rich heroine?) Where's the prankster... the man who covers up the pain in the his past with jokes and flippant remarks (Calling all Jack Devereaux's!)? Where's the lovable geek, with a passion for all things comic booky, but still has that Seth Cohen-lovabillity that women find adorable? (Too bad Adam Munson/Hughes turned into a date-rapist, huh?) Where are the small-business owners, struggling to save their Mom-and-Pop shop? (And no, I'm not talking about characters rotating who owns the local nightclub/coffeeshop, depending on which characters need a change of scenery, like Crimson Lights on Y&R or Metro on ATWT).

Why is the "popular" guy in high school always the one who ends up being a rapist? Where is the girl who rebels against her conservative parents by going a little punk, or a little Goth? Heck, where are the Alex P. Keatons - the kids who rebel against their liberal parents by being ultra-conservative?! (Thank God for Langston on OLTL, and River on Y&R - two characters who break the soap opera mold)

There are so many different kinds of characters out there in the universe - so many worlds not represented on soaps. Maybe part of the reason teens never really take off with older viewers is because they're so one-note. Besides Langston on OLTL (who started off as just a talk-to with very little future on the show, and only got more interesting once they cast a good actress), teens are either male or female... and that's about it. One of the most interesting and life-changing phases we go through, adolescence is relegated only to various Romeo and Juliet scenarios on soaps. And that's so old and tiresome, the soap audience immediately lashes out at these teen newbies. Why? Not because they're taking over the show... but because they're taking over the show with stories they've seen done a hundred times! You can't tell me star-crossed lovers is the only interesting story to tell with two sixteen year olds. I can think of ten more off the top of my head.

There's a reason why characters like Langston and Henry Coleman are so popular with fans. Because they're a breath of fresh air. If only the lifeforce writers latch on to so easily in these characters could be transferred to our vets, the shows would be in much better shape. Imagine if Bo and Hope on Days, or Zach and Kendall on AMC or Holden and Lily on ATWT or Jason and whomever his soulmate is this week, were built up with such gusto, and given that same spark of life? Imagine how attracted we'd be to them as heroes and heroines if their personalities were delved into in the same way. If they were seen just as unique and individual as their C-story counterparts?

There are so many different kinds of people out there in America - so many more archetypes still unexplored in the daytime canvas. It's time to explore those possibilities. Because police officers are more than just brooders or perfect heroes. And doctors are more than just brooders or perfect heroes. And businessmen are more than just brooders or villains... or perfect heroes. Family drama in primetime stopped relying on these stereotypes a long time ago. When will daytime do the same?

I wonder if maybe the majority of us who aren't writing from our homes in other parts of the country are so surrounded by the urban hyper-reality of New York City and Los Angeles, that we've lost touch with what's going on in the rest of the world? It's no secret that many NYC'ers and LA'ers have a different view of life than someone in, say, Ohio or Tennessee or Texas or Florida. And I'm not talking about the whole blue state/red state thing. This isn't a measure of politics, just a measure of being in touch with who your audience is... or who the audience is that you don't have yet. I sometimes wonder if we don't rely on the same-old-same-old because we're so entrenched in our city lives, in the lifestyle of the big coastal cities, we've lost touch with the kinds of people that are out there. The kinds of people we want to enthrall in the ongoing dramas surrounding the human condition.

There are so many wonderful, vibrant, exciting characters out there. Why aren't they represented in here?

The Sound of Silence

2008-09-18T00:53:00.000-04:00

So this is one of those blogs that isn't necessarily inspired by something I saw on soaps this week. It's something I've kept tucked away in the back of my mind for awhile now, but recent events in my life brought it to the forefront this week (more on that later).

And before I continue, I know that a lot of writers I used to work with read my blog, so please know before you continue that this is not aimed at any one writer, or any one show directly. It's just an observation of the genre as a whole.

Which brings me to my point...

Exposition.

(insert giant sigh of exhaustion here)

This is the cross every soap writer must bear. We can never truly write scenes or dialogue in the most natural of ways, because there's always a network executive whispering in our ear "But what if I didn't see yesterday's episode? How will I know what's going on?"

I totally get that. I really do. It's one of those things you wish didn't exist, but unfortunately, it's the double-edged sword we have to live with. There's the argument that if you don't recap the last five episodes in your dialogue, then that forces people to tune in every day, as opposed to only on Fridays or during Sweeps. Then again, there's the other argument that you want to capture new viewers, and by not recapping the details of the last five episodes, you make it difficult to draw new viewers in. So either you sit through half a scene of exposition and risk alienating viewers who don't want to be talked down to... or you don't, and risk losing viewers who tune in for the first time and might potentially tune in again if it wasn't so damn confusing to keep track of who's sleeping with whom. Either way, we, as writers, have to find a way to somehow, as organically as possibly, recap everything that's already transpired.

So we have to do it. It's the way soaps have always been, it's the way they probably always will be.

But I think at some point, we went too far (and I include my own contributions in this as well)

Recapping previous episodes, at some point, turned into characters talking to themselves in order to explain their actions. And characters talking to themselves (and to other people) suddenly turned into scenes that so full of words, so full of explanation, there's no room for reaction... the only time we ever don't have words is the obligatory "Final Act Music Montage", when an affordable B-side of a hot single is used to enhance the mood.

I think that's part of the reason I loved that episode of Y&R a few weeks ago (the one I blogged about)... so much of its strength was in what wasn't said. The script writer knew that sometimes, you don't need that over-written moment. Don't get me wrong - I'm an over-writer by nature... can't you tell by my blog? But sometimes the sign of an excellent script writer is what they choose not to write. As cliché as it is, silence does speak volumes. And maybe we should give our actors room to explore their quieter sides as well.

In last week's Mad Men, uber-secretary and sex-on-a-stick Joan fired an underling. (played delightfully suspiciously by Peyton List! Congrats, Peyt!) Said underling then went over Joan's head and poured out her sob story over getting fired to Joan's boss… who promptly hired her back (mainly so he could continue to watch her "assets" at the office) by telling her to come back on Monday - Joan will be over it by then. Come Monday morning, Joan was at the other end of the office - when she saw the fired secretary at her desk. With a smile that would melt butter, she made her long, slow strut towards the desk… and when she got there, the smile morphed into barely contained rage as she said "What in God's Green Earth are you doing here?!" in a tone that I'm surprised didn't kill the poor girl.

That one line of dialogue is not a mind-numbingly original line that will blow you out of the water. But the silence as Joan walked across the office to confront her rival… the slow simmering of her rage underneath her office-cordial grin… it spoke VOLUMES. I wish we had the opportunity to give more of that to our actors. Moments they can savor, where they can explore their character, without a Top 40 song playing, or forced to talk to thin air as they explain what they're thinking.

My parents are moving next week… they finally sold the house that I grew up in. I'm heading back there this weekend to say good-bye to the home I learned to walk and talk in, the home I learned to read in, the home I graduated middle school and high school in, the home I returned to when my first bout with college didn't work out the way I had hoped… in short, this place holds all sorts of memories. Both good and bad. It's definitely the end of an era, and I'm sure I'll end up reliving every one of those moments in a span of eight hours as I say goodbye for the last time. Something tells me I won't need to talk about it though. I won't need to explain myself. I'll travel from one end of the emotional spectrum to the other, without a word. It'll all be right there on my face.

That's the way life is. It's a shame we have so few of those moments in our soaps. It's those moments that really make us connect with a character. It's those moments that consider them our family. It's those moments that caused so many of us to think of them as "home".

When I'm Wrong...

2008-09-15T00:59:00.000-04:00

...I like to know.

Thank you to the approximately four thousand people (or the people who stopped by twice) who read my little mini-meltdown on Friday. What can I say? It was a rough week, and I felt pretty cynical about the whole genre by the time I heard Victoria Rowell's interview. The post I wrote on Friday was a little... um... dark. And not very hopeful. And since I started this blog, I've tried to instill a bit of hope into those who feel the situation is hopeless. But I failed slightly in that on Friday, and a few days sleeping on it has proven that to me. As a friend pointed out to me, it all might have seemed a lot worse out here on the Internet - but we still don't know if the "average soap viewer" who doesn't surf the web even notices these behind-the-scenes changes. Perhaps I was wrong - perhaps the onslaught of web-based scandals this year isn't having the effect I think it does.

Which got me thinking - what else have I been wrong about? Lest you think I sit here on my couch in Brooklyn, passing down judgment from my elite pedestal of unemployment (), assuming I know more than others, I wanted to take this opportunity to say: I'm wrong. A lot. And I have no problem admitting it.

In no particular order, the list of things I was completely wrong about.

1) Steve Johnson gets Asylum-ed: I was thrilled with the idea of our "Patch" abandoning his family by locking himself up in a mental institution, for fear he'd hurt Kayla and Stephanie because of what the DiMeras had done to him. Throw in a return visit from Adrienne to help break him out, and I thought it was going to be a gold mine. Instead, it was a lead balloon that plummeted to the ground, amidst a group of extras that acted so silly, so ridiculous, it was an embarrassment to the mentally challenged. LESSON LEARNED: Never use camp to deal with a serious situation.

2) Bryant Montgomery's death: Okay, I give in. I've been hit with argument after argument about why Bryant shouldn't have been killed off. I admit it - you're right. He shouldn't have been. Given that I knew from Second One that killing Jennifer Munson off was a mistake, there really is no way I can defend Bryant's death. You all were right. I was wrong. :-) LESSON LEARNED: You better have at least a two-year-long planned story if you're going to kill off a legacy character.

3) Craig and Carly - My favorite couple that never actually happened, I really believed in those first few months that if anybody could rival Jack Snyder as the be-all, end-all love of Carly's life, it would be Craig Montgomery. Their fast-paced banter would easily give the self-righteous Jack a run for his money... and we were sure to sway a segment of the Carjack fans over. Did I "misunderestimate" (I love using that word! Oh, Dubya.... HAH!) the adoration Carjackers have for their couple? Hell yeah, I did! The triangle was quickly kiboshed... and thank God for Cady McClain. Her Rosanna made a much better partner to Hunt Block's Craig, and heartily approved by the fans at the time. But I was wrong to think we could even put a dent in the Carjack legend, and I learned a valuable lesson about fanbases during that time. LESSON LEARNED: If you need a storyline for your Number One couple, don't fall back on the old "Love Triangle" cliche that's been done so many times.

4) Rewriting Jessica's back story - Of all the things that transpired during my time at OLTL (Antonio being a Santi, GLAAD breathing down our necks about the Colson story, the ickiness of finding a dead fetus in the Llantano River, Dorian setting up her daughter to be stalked), the last thing I worried about was finding out Niki Smith used to take Jessica to bars when she was little. I thought it could easily have happened off-camera, so when I was told that's what the story was by the higher-ups, it didn't really phase me. Oh, how stupid I was. The fans still bemoan that as one of the worst ret-cons in OLTL history. And no matter how hard we worked to sell it, no matter how much Bree Williamson worked her ass off to make Tess as real as possible back then, the fans would not accept it. They saw little Erin Torpey grow up on that show, and there was no way they were going to accept that Viki OR Niki did this. After all, why didn't Lois watch little Jessica? Where were Kevin and Joey? Nope. They weren't buying it. LESSON LEARNED: Never assume the tiniest retcon will be accepted. Even if it gets you great story for a few months, it also shows a great disrespect not only for the head writers and EP's that came before you, but for the fans who invested so many decades watching the show.

5) Scotland, Teens on the Run on College Campuses, the Third Visit to "Cooley Island" (all ATWT), Tinda Lau (Days) - What do all of these stories have in common? They all isolated a couple characters in stories with a bunch of day players, away from their families... and they're all stories I initially liked when I read the long stories. LESSON LEARNED: Never isolate your characters in other places across the globe, where you're forced to play them with people no one cares about for a few months. The audience wants to see them interact with their loved (and hated) ones.

And this is just a sampling - I have many more in my list, trust me. A lot of them are from shows I never worked on, but I wanted to learn from the mistakes others made on other shows, should I ever end up working on those shows. I won't print them here, because having not worked on those writing teams, I find it a little presumptuous to try and guess what happened behind the scenes when a story was being written. But I think learning from other's mistakes on other soaps is just as valuable to us, as writers.

I keep a copy of Doug Marland's soap rules open on my computer whenever I'm writing, and have since I discovered them working as a writers' assistant on ATWT. (If you haven't read them, welovesoaps.com recently reprinted them, and they definitely need to be upheld as the Commandments of this genre) But I continue to add to those rules every time I learn a lesson from a story that flops. I've added the lessons above to Marland's rules, and I know that as I continue to watch the remaining eight dramas on the air unfold, I will continue to add to it. We who do not learn from our mistakes, are doomed to piss off even more fans by repeating them.

I'm wrong. A lot. But I think (I hope) I learn my lesson from these fumbles, from these missteps, from assuming I know what's going to work and it ends up falling flat. And I hope if I ever get work again, I can use this ever growing list of what to do (and what not to do) to serve you all better as viewers. That's the best promise I can think of to make to you guys and gals. And it's a promise I hope to keep.

Darkest Before the Dawn

2008-09-12T01:00:00.000-04:00

So I'm sure by now you've all heard about Victoria Rowell's lambasting of backstage antics at Y&R on Daytime Confidential.

The usual disclaimer - I don't know this immensely talented and ground-breaking actress personally. I got to write nine episodes for her at Y&R when Devon first went deaf. It was a story I stumbled with, trying to find the emotional through-line for the entire Winters family, both individually and as a unit. And I never had an opportunity to really explore those characters the way I wanted. But I did not meet her, and was pretty much isolated out here in NYC while the show went on in Los Angeles.

To be honest, I don't know what I think. I can't exactly argue with her. Is Hollywood sexist, racist and ageist? Uh... hi, have you been to the movies recently? Or turned on the television? (Although TV's been doing better by women than film, I'll give them that... but in terms of race and age, not so much.) As many people speak out about it daily, it still hasn't managed to affect the jobs or the thought process of the higher-ups.

But here's what's interesting... after the strike, and the Days firings, and the "Real Greenlee" and Guiding-Light-Wants-to-Be-The-Hills, and the Bryce/McClain/Byrne firings, and the Nuke Ban, and the Higley/Scott/Corday debacle, and the Y&R Is-He-Or-Isn't-He-Still-EP mess, and then the Carolyn Hinsey firing... honestly I hear a scathing interview like Ms. Rowell's? And all I can do is shrug.

"Really? The wheels are coming off? I had no idea..."

Oh, wait. Yes. I did.

So then my brain went to this question: What's really going on here? Why does it seem like the year Two Thousand And Eight is just one implosion after another. Some fans are all giggly over the scandals, but honestly, it's almost starting to be expected. Every morning we wake up and learn somebody else was stabbed in the back, somebody else did something unethical to satisfy their own ego, somebody else got spit in their face.

Here's my theory, for whatever it's worth.

When I started at Another World in 1998, I was told by many employees there that they only foresaw maybe another five years of soap opera - at best. When I went to As the World Turns seven months later, I heard the same thing (some there had even lowered it to three years). But everyone kept their heads down and their mouths shut and kept doing their jobs.

Now it's ten years later. Passions and Port Charles and my dearly departed Another World are gone. Eight soaps are left - and six-to-seven of them are below the 1.0 mark in the 18-34 demographic. The shows have lasted longer than many of my friends and colleagues even predicted. More people were fired... more colleagues stooped to even more desperate attempts to hold on to their livelihoods.... and a lot of people were left in the dust with hurt feelings. Actors, writers, producers, journalists, and most importantly - the fans. All left behind while the shows become smaller and smaller, and skeleton crews end up trying to hold on to every shred of dignity they possibly can.

That's many, many years of hurt feelings. But those left behind repressed it (except for the fans who frequent message boards. Nobody was going to tell them to keep their mouths shut, and God bless 'em for that!). They swallowed the bile because they hoped one day to find work again. To reunite with their friends and their cohorts and their shows. But it never happened.

Writers were fired during the strike. People quit or were fired from the magazines. Actors were callously let go and characters were shuffled off for purely personal reasons against the actors playing them.

And I think a lot of people finally see that it's time to just come clean. To be upfront and honest and the hell with where it leaves them. Because there's a good possibility that everyone who even has a job now will be looking for a new career before the next decade is over.Even long-time fans who hoped one day to work in the industry are instead channeling their passion into standing up against what's happening to the genre, instead of trying to break in and forced to create something they want no part of.

Cheerful, isn't it?

Actually, yes. It very well could be. If history has taught us anything, it's that eventually, you get that Renaissance. You get the Roaring Twenties, the Summer of Love, so to speak. Does this mean these shows will magically gain four million viewers? I don't think so. But the possibility of the genre living on in another formats exists, as well as coming back in a similar format down the road after the dust settles.

If all of these people (myself included... God knows I've written more than my fair share of frustrated blog entries in the last two years) finally feel like it's time to stand up and say "Wrong. This is wrong", then so be it. You piss off enough people, and eventually, there will be a revolution. I wish I wasn't around for it, to be honest. But I can't really argue with somebody's right to rise up, declare that they don't like something. It's the whole reason our country exists in the first place.It's not exactly fun to read/listen to this. If anything, it just leaves me even more frustrated, and completely unsatisfied. We should be creating entertainment, not decimating the art form.

Somewhere out there, there must be another William Bell - a man who can take all of these artists, all of these differences of opinion and creative disagreements, and channel them - funnel them into one driving force that can create the number one daytime drama for over two decades without compromising anyone's artistic integrity. I wish he or she would show up - we're long overdue.

Shows are imploding, but much like Stefano Dimera rising from the ashes, I'm hopeful that once this sad downfall finally reaches its end, and the people who view this as just a job (instead of art) have long since moved on, the long-standing institution of cutting-edge serialized drama can return. Writers with integrity, actors with passion, stories with heart... where gritty realism and Cinderella fairy tales can converge and take root in one world, interweaving socio-economic studies with affairs of the heart... where powerful women of color run major corporations, where an upper-middle-class girl can bring out the best in a lower-class boy who's given up on hope without going to the extreme of raping or murdering anyone, where those with emotional disabilities are able to find love and new life, a world where men and women of different sexual orientations experience lives that don't revolve around "coming out" and "homophobia" as their only two options... a world where your stories can finally be told -- the stories you have lived, and the stories you wish you could live. And I'm not speaking of fantasy - the large castles and royalty whisking you off your feet. I speak of the stories you wish you could live that are within your grasp. That you just need that one burst of inspiration - of hope - that spark that motivates us. Matt Cory and Dean Frame wanted to build a music studio from the ground up, and they did it... and in turn, inspired me to follow my dream to move to New York City and become a writer. Drucilla Barber was an angry young woman, who found redemption in the beautiful art of ballet... and in turn, inspired women all across America to break free of the chains they believed bound them.

If they're so insistent on allowing their own stubbornness to bring about the end of the current daytime dramas, then maybe we need to prepare ourselves to say good-bye. Because from what I've seen of this calendar year, I'm not so sure 2009 will be the saving grace we all want it to be. But they say it's always darkest before the dawn, and I truly wish that if the events of the last nine months have taught us anything, it's that if you push enough people down, they will eventually find each other, and rise up again.

And it won't be pretty.

Wherever you are, future Bill Bells, and future Agnes Nixons... please let yourselves be found. Because the Titanic is sinking, and we're all too busy beating each other over the head with deck chairs to do anything about it.

Remembering

2008-09-11T01:01:00.000-04:00

I wrote a whole blog last night about the Victoria Rowell interview at Daytime Confidential, with the intention of posting it this morning. But I'm putting it on hold for twenty-four hours, because as I started editing, the somber beat of drums outside my window gave me pause... the marching of so many New Yorkers through lower Manhattan, across the bridge, and down Flatbush Avenue outside my window... it brought me back to seven years ago this morning, and where I was at this exact time.

Yes, it's a 9/11 blog. If you're not interested, by all means, stop reading. I won't be offended. And no comments are necessary. This is one of those "I need an outlet" blogs. If you guys wanted to comment, by all means, go ahead. But this isn't really one of those "We need to have a discussion" entries. Part of me wanted to flip the switch and turn these feelings off on here, but the other part of me that had something to say won out. As I watched the march outside my window, and the reading of names on my television screen, I was overwhelmed by the feeling of love and friendship that surrounded me, in spite of the fear that morning, out at the Midwood studio where As the World Turns is shot. So instead of blogging about Rowell, I wanted to write about the amazing spirit that helped support me on that morning, in Oakdale.

My apartment is directly across the water from lower Manhattan... so when I woke up alone that morning to sirens, and faced a growing mound of ash on my fire escape, all I could think was that I had to get to the studio. It was a Tuesday morning, which means we were having our weekly breakdown meeting where the network gives us notes on the outlines we wrote last week. My assumption at 9 AM was that there was no possible way we were going to have our meeting, but all I cared about was getting to the studio. Mainly because I remember thinking if this was an all-out attack, and if I couldn't be with my family, it was the good folks at As the World Turns that I wanted to be with if it happened. I can't explain the logic behind it, but as I was leaving I grabbed my laptop and my keyboard. The "eighty-eight keys" kind of keyboard, not the "typing" kind. I have no clue why. At the time, I wanted it with me.

When I got to the studio, a handful of production folk and actors were there - only the ones shooting their scenes first up that morning, and were in the middle of dry rehearsal when it happened. Hogan was visiting a sick friend in Los Angeles and was supposed to fly back that morning, but obviously he didn't. Jean Passanante, Tom Reilly and a couple other writers were there. And one representative from Procter and Gamble/TeleVest was there.

Once we were out there, no one knew how any of us were going to get home. The D-Train (which is now the Q-Train) stopped running by mid-morning. I spent about an hour trying to track down two friends who worked at the World Trade Center (one of whom hadn't gone to work yet, the other whom we thought was lost, but was found twenty-four hours later huddled in the doorway of a West Side bodega, in a state of shock), and then we crowded into the writers' room. The television set in the room, usually tuned to the studio feed so the writers can watch what's being taped, was now on the news feed. And in the middle of all of this, our Execustive Producer and the representative from P&G... they decided to go ahead with the notes meeting.

Reilly, Jean, myself... we sat there completely floored, as they flipped breakdown pages, giving us notes on Paul persuading Carly to help come up with new designs for the NYC fashion show, since his mother Barbara, driven insane by the disfiguring burns on her face, had failed to deliver. We sat there stunned, as pages were flipped, notes were given, we hastily scribbled the changes in the margin, and the towers fell on a muted television above us. At the time, I remember thinking how cold and insensitive it was... but now, I realize people deal with tragedy differently. I needed to carry a forty-pound piano with me, and they needed to pretend like it was business as usual, and note our breakdowns. Strange, but true. I was angry then, but we all did strange things to deal that morning. Who am I to judge?

But what I remember most from that day, above and beyond anything else, was the feeling of love and support from everyone else in that studio. We didn't know how long we were going to be there... we were all either going to end up walking hours back to our apartment, or we were going to sleep in the studio. And I remember thinking if that's what ends up happening, it's okay. I can't think of a group of people I'd rather spend the night with than the good people behind the scenes at Oakdale. The Production Coordinators, the the Production Assistants, the Directors and Assistant Directors, the Hair, Make-Up and Wardrobe folks... everyone in that studio that morning.

When I finally did get home that night around eight o'clock, the mound of ash on my fire escape was now a mountain. I called whichever writers I could get in touch with to give them the notes on their breakdowns - but their first concern was for whether or not my two friends had been found. And I remember trying to hold it together - for Chris and for Hogan. After all, the show must go on. But Carolyn, Susan, Courtney, Judy... they were all too quick to tell me not to worry about it. This came first. Life came first. I then proceeded to sit on the bathroom floor with my roommate, sob my eyes out, and promise not to sleep, in case there was more to come and this was the last night for both of us.

This day has a powerful meaning for so many of us. But for me, seven years later, when I look back on it? I remember the amazing people who work at As the World Turns. In the midst of global tragedy, in the midst of being forced to take notes on a week of episodes about a fashion show, what I remember the most are the hugs I got when I walked into the Midwood studio. The cleaning woman... the security guard... the boom mic operator... the few remaining writers and the handful of actors trapped there. I remember sitting on my floor in the office and consoling (and being consoled). I remember Tom Reilly saying to me "What the hell are you doing here? Why didn't you stay home?" And I remember saying "Because I didn't want to be alone. This is where I wanted to be."

Grabbing my keyboard was a bizarre reaction I look back on now, and think "Huh?!" But finding a way to get to Midwood? I don't regret it for a second.

This morning, I salute the thousands who were lost that day... I salute the millions of New Yorkers, all of whom have similar stories to tell, similar remembrances... and on a personal level, I salute the friends who were there for me, the bonds strengthened that day. Michele and Alex, Jessica and Gloria, Jenn and Jen, Brett and Lamont, Mary Clay and Kate, Theresa and Kevin, Chp and Maggie, Vivian and Carole, Pete and Chris and Tommy... and the most incredible, down-to-earth, friendliest cast and crew I've ever had the pleasure of working with.

Tomorrow is another day. For today, I thank you for indulging me and letting me go down the old "Where were you when it happened?" path. I'll get back to the soap world's latest scandal in the morning. Today is about remembrance.

To the NYPD.

To the VNYFD.

To the souls we lost,

And to the souls who lifted us back up,

I shed a tear and raise a glass to you.

Thank you..

Speechless

2008-09-10T01:02:00.000-04:00

You know what would really be classy?

If a soap opera chose to honor the anniversary of September 11th by having a known terrorist (who held an entire hospital hostage at one point and got away with it), blow up a clinic with people trapped inside the day after our Day of Remembrance.

That would be really amazing. And so touching. What a tribute.

Really, GH?

Really?!

Therapists and The Rapists

2008-09-08T01:04:00.000-04:00

I suspect this won't be the only soap blog you read today that touches upon this subject. I also suspect there will be a ton of people going on the offensive this week.. not to mention some defensiveness.

I'm not sure why rapists became such complex character studies on soap operas - but at some point, it became common practice in daytime to delve into the psyche of these men who commit this atrocious crime. Practically every soap on the air contains at least one of these male characters: Starting with Bill Horton on Days, then moving on to Luke Spencer on GH and Roger Thorpe on GL... then Jack Devereaux on Days, Jake McKinnon on AW, Todd Manning on OLTL, EJ DiMera on Days (Geez, Days... somebody just can't seem to stay away from this story, huh? )... the list goes on and on.

I grew up on soaps in the 80's, so for awhile, a rape storyline to me just meant good drama. Once I hit late adolescence, and I understood the sheer viciousness of this crime in reality... the horror it inflicted, and the scars it left behind... the "deliciousness" of a rape story quickly dissipated in my mind. This was not subject matter to be treated lightly. If you're going to make a commitment to tell a storyline where the rapist is a contract player and not a faceless, nameless monster (i.e. Liz's rapist on General Hospital), then you damn well better make a commitment to your audience too - because far too many (far, FAR too many) in our audience have either been a victim of this crime, or is close with someone who was a victim of the crime. A commitment to not only make sure the story isn't whitewashed... but that the man who committed such a heinous crime not only pays the consequences, but goes through years of guilt, shame, self-loathing, and eventually, redemption... but never forgiveness. It's not an ideal story to tell. I'm seriously over the lightning-speed one-eighty with these guys from rapist to hero. It's unbelievably irresponsible, especially to young girls in this day and age. But if you find yourself in the position of writing this kind of story, you damn well better not shove it under the rug, and you better play out all of the crucial emotional beats. And in situations like this, you absolutely are obligated to take a second or third look at every word you write, and make sure it's exactly the correct language. Because one misstep, and you can turn a ground-breaking story into a firestorm of rage from an audience that feels betrayed.

Just ask One Life to Live fans who were left heading into their weekend with the final mind-searing image of Todd and Marty in a passionate kiss on Friday.

I'll be honest - I have been thoroughly intrigued by this storyline from the beginning. Because even though WE know a woman is falling in love with her rapist, the woman herself (a victim of amnesia) does not know. And the rapist in question - after losing his wife, his children, his whole life - is desperate for a "do-over". To prove he's not this horrible person everyone thinks he is. And somehow, by winning the respect and affection of the woman he brutally attacked fifteen years ago, he thinks he can somehow wipe the slate clean... and by "erasing" the one event that sent his life into a downward spiral, maybe he can be validated at last as a worthwhile human being. So in a character sense, it's both horrific to watch... yet the viewer is unable to turn away. There were so many levels to play here, so many interesting angles, the kind of psychological warfare and subconscious emotions that make us all rant and rave and scream and yell... and still keep us tuned in day after day. Todd is looking for a therapist, and Marty is looking for her savior, and the reward we get (one hopes) is that when her memory finally does return, hell will seem like a vacation compared to what Marty will do to Todd. I may feel slightly queasy at their scenes now now, but the soap fan in me believed that all would redeemed when the explosive reveal finally happened. (Perhaps in time for the all-important November Sweeps period?).

So when early spoilers (and a somewhat exploitative TV promo from ABC) revealed there would be a Todd/Marty kiss on Friday, there was definitely a lot of buzz in the air... and not all if it good. But can you blame the dissenters? It's well known Roger Howarth had issues with the romanticizing of Todd Manning, and fans screaming "Rape me, Todd!" gleefully at a fan event only cemented that distaste. Other previous head writers also toyed with the idea of a Todd/Marty pairing (without the conceit of amnesia though)... and were shot down everytime. So for Ron and Company to take this plunge - it's not like they didn't know they were in for a world on controversy. But this is a show that has succeeded (ratings-wise) telling stories about gay serial killers, and Scott Peterson-esque murders of pregnant women, so the jaw-dropping audacity of this story, combined with the psychological possibilities and strong actors being able to play emotions that are both stomach-churning, and truly fascinating from an actor's standpoint -- it all adds up to a storyline arc that could wind up being voted the worst story of the year... or the best. Unfortunately, there's no way any of us can make a decision at this point, because we have no idea how this story will play out. If Marty ends up pulling a Sami Brady and puts a bullet in Todd's family jewels, thereby making sure he can never sleep with or impregnate another woman again? This could all be turned around quite nicely.

In any case, we all knew Friday's tag would happen sooner or later, so it wasn't so much a question of "Are they going to go there?" (Of course they're going to go there!), but "How will they handle it?" It's not what you're doing, it's how you do it. And in the end, it boils down to the last three words in the script of Friday's show - three words that will make or break it.

"Todd kisses Marty"

or

"Marty kisses Todd"

Because there is a vital difference between the two. And OLTL had me glued to the TV until Trevor moved in for the kiss before Susan did -- and suddenly the rapist was making the first move agains the woman whose life he so severely violated. Had Haskell moved in for the kiss first? The whole tag of the scene would have changed from a man taking advantage of the helpless woman he once tied down to a bed and raped, to being about a frustrated woman expressing gratitude to the kindness of a stranger. Two entirely different tags, both ending with a kiss that implies two very different things.

Is this a writing decision? A directing decision? An actor's decision? I have no idea, so the purpose of this blog isn't to point fingers. I've been a part of way too many of these kinds of polarizing storylines to start placing blame. These shows are produced by committee, so you can't always assume you know what really happened. It's too late now - the scene has aired and the best you can do is find a way to salvage it... and what do I know? Maybe it will be salvaged in the pick-up of today's episode! But that's not really why I wanted to write this.

The top two shows for most of the summer in the Girls 12-17 demographic were One Life to Live (Number ONE for over seven weeks!) and Days of Our Lives -- the two shows featuring women falling for their rapists as their front-burner storylines. I congratulate both shows for having such astounding rises in their ratings, but when you're at the top, don't you have a responsibility to your young, impressionable teen viewers, to not subconsciously imply that this kind of behavior is acceptable? That one or two scenes of somebody expressing guilt and shame for a mistake they made one night years ago makes it all right to give in to their desires? That it's okay to go jump into bed with someone as long as they say they're sorry? Wracked-with-guilt apologies does not erase such a monstrous crime. There's a fine line between telling a fascinating character study of this kind of brutality, and just throwing something on the air for shock value. It's not that these stories are being told that's the problem - it's how they're being told.

Soaps are passed down from generation to generation - everyone I know who watches soaps got into their routine because of their parents and grandparents. But what mother would want to encourage their daughter to watch a show that might plant the suggestion in their minds that the bad boy can always change, and sometimes all it takes is one or two moments of "I feel terrible for what happened for you" to make everything okay? EJ and Sami's struggles to be around each other, in spite of the positive and negative parts of their pasts, supplies story for years... not to mention that EJ's sexual crimes should definitely have an effect on the other object of his affections - Nicole, who herself is a victim of men taking advantage of her sexually for their own selfish gains. Even more story possibilities if it was taken advantage of! Todd, the rapist, looking for a therapist in his victim, has endless possibilities as well. And even though he's not a rapist, I'm also looking at Grady and Daisy on Guiding Light. He's a murderer, but he's "really, really sorry", so it's okay?

In stories like these, every sentence... every word.. needs to count. One wrong move, and your audience will revolt. Only time will tell how these stories play out, and it won't be for another year or two, when fans can look back in hindsight at these stories as a whole from beginning to end, that we all will be able to say whether they were successes or failures. But at the moment? They're tottering dangerously close to the abyss.

And a simple change from "Todd kisses Marty" to "Marty kisses Todd" can make all the difference in the world.

Tread carefully, my friends. No one can afford to lose more viewers at this point.

Continuity Police Reporting for Duty (One Life to Live - Part 2)

2008-09-08T01:03:00.000-04:00

Yeah, I'm posting twice in one day. This is an addendum to the earlier post, Therapists and The Rapists.

Call it a continuity error, or a miscommunication between directors, or just a small snafu that unfortunately changes everything.

In Friday's tag, Todd caught Marty, and was looking down on her (in a position of definitely being superior to her, and leaving her underneath him)... and then made the first move to bend down and kiss her.

In today's pick-up, Todd caught Marty, and then lifted her up to his level. (A very different tableau from Friday's tag.) And then they both came together into a kiss.

I see myself typing up these words, and I realize how ridiculously nitpicky I'm being about blocking and actor positions. Man, I used to hate when I got these kinds of notes on my breakdowns - when every little detail gets picked apart. But this is a story that every fan will hold a magnifying glass up to. It's so small and subtle - the physical positioning of Todd and Marty for this kiss.

Maybe I'm being anal. Maybe I'm being caught up in a detail that doesn't mean anything to anybody else. It wouldn't be the first time I was in the minority when it comes to my opinions... . But the image of Todd standing over Marty and leaning over to kiss her passionately on Friday left such a bad taste in my mouth... whereas today's pick-up seemed like they were both willing participants. And they both made the first move at the same time.

Tiny, minute differences... but when you have a rapist kiss his rape victim, I think you need to pay attention to these things. But maybe that's just me.

Not yet...

2008-09-06T11:33:00.000-04:00

At the moment, my blog is still up here. But keep checking back - I'm in the process of moving it.

--tom

Baby Therapy!

2008-09-06T01:05:00.000-04:00

Baby Therapy!
Current mood: excited

Hey kids!

I'll make this quick and easy on the brain, since the last few blog entries have been pretty heavy. And really, who wants to ponder the difficult questions of life and love on the weekend?

Got up early to go down to Jersey... The Beau and I are visiting his cousin, and her twins (one year old in two weeks!!). They're adorable... the boy (Brendan) is that baby shown in my default MySpace photo for awhile there. Blond hair, big blue eyes... and his twin sister is dark hair, HUGE beautiful brown eyes... and they're just fantastic. I'm head over heels in love with both of them, and can't wait to spend the day playing "Uncle Tommy".

But it got me thinking today - between packing up all sorts of toys to bring to them, and the recent news that peri-menopausal Reva is about to have a baby on Guiding Light - when was the last time a baby brought tons of joy and hope to a couple on a soap opera?

You'll have to forgive me - I haven't showered or had my coffee yet, so I might forget somebody in all of this. But I was thinking about baby Sarah on GL, or twins Johnny and Allie on Days, or Katie and Nick's baby on B&B, or all the fights and tears over the ATWT baby switch (where ONE baby and the mother of the OTHER baby both ended up dead in the end), or Cane and Ka-loe's baby on Y&R, or Nash finding out about ten seconds before he kicked the bucket that he was going to be a father again on OLTL, or the never-ending saga of Tad and Dixie's daughter Kate on AMC, who's had, at last count, at least eighteen or nineteen different sets of parents since she was born to a dying woman. (I exaggerate... kind of)... Or even the saga of baby Tommy/Starr's baby on OLTL - all of these babies these last few years, and not a single one one of them conceived and/or born into love and hope - but instead, scandal, deceit and/or tragedy. Or any combination therein.

I remember growing up, there were plenty of juicy unplanned pregnancies on soaps. You need those on a soap opera. An unplanned pregnancy, or a baby born out of wedlock? Always good for a few decades of story. But at the same time, I also remember babies born into loving homes - nine months of nervous fathers, and expectant mothers, and then a beautiful child coming into the world and brightening up everyone's life. Sure, Stephanie was kidnapped about a second after she was born to Steve and Kayla on Days - but wow, that pregnancy was beautiful, and did wonderful things for the character of Steve Johnson. On Another World, the nine months leading up to Charlie's birth to Cass and Frankie Winthrop were adorable (which is good, since Frankie's first pregnancy was overflowing with tragedy). And who delivered the baby? Not the "other man fighting a husband for the wife's affection"... but the baby's uncle and his girlfriend. An adorable family affair... really sweet. Yeah, these pregnancies all carried their own inherent drama. It's a soap opera - it can't all be perfect and happy and wonderful. But what happened to showing us some happiness? Some hope? The joy a baby brings into the world?

It just occurred to me as I was typing (don't you love these stream-of-consciousness blogs? I told you I'd forget somebody) that the only pregnancy being told with any kind of uplifting message is the Scrubs baby on GH. Sure, there's been plenty of drama - between Patrick's fear of fatherhood, Robin's fear of Patrick's committment, and the whole HIV aspect, there's been plenty of drama. But that's the only example I can think of right now where where we're treated to human and relatable scenes of parents' hopes, their fears, their insecurities, and the joy that comes from the personification of two people loving each other. (Oh wait! I forgot about baby Finn on Y&R, who manages to show a softer side of Michael Baldwin I always enjoy seeing... just as long as he continues to show us the more devious side at the office. Who didn't crack up at the sight of shirtless shark Baldwin folding freshly washed onesies from a laundry basket. See? You can tell the caffeine's kicking in - my memory is returning. )

I love a good custody battle or a baby switch as much as the next soap fan. But sometimes, it's also really nice to believe in the future - to feel warm and mushy inside after an episode, rather than ripped up at watching families fall apart. I hope our shows can find ways to find a balance between the joys of parenthood, and the struggles. Because when it's all a struggle, it's just exhausting for the viewers. A baby should bring people together, not evoke more tears and tragedy than a viewer knows what to do with.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to play peek-a-boo for a good six hours straight. And I couldn't be happier about it.

Truth in Blogging - Wikiality in the Soap World

2008-09-05T01:06:00.000-04:00

Have you noticed that lately I tend to be couching my opinions with statements like "This is only my opinion" or "This person is a friend of mine, but that doesn't mean I like all of their storylines?" or "Yes, I may be biased, but I'm trying to look at this objectively?"... some preface that makes it seem like I'm petrified of what I'm about to type.

That's because I am. But not for the reason you might think.

It's probably assumed I don't want to piss anybody off in the industry, for fear of never getting hired again. That's a fair assumption. It's also not my biggest concern. Why? Because any head writer or executive producer could google my name, and find numerous posts from the 1990's, where a young Tom graduating high school and going to college, debated the hiring and firing of head writers and EP's, griped about stories he thought were stupid, and made assumptions about behind-the-scenes goings-on based on what the magazines printed. (I recently found a long exchange between me and DonnaB from RATSM where upon learning Roman was returning to Days right around the time Susan showed up on the canvas, we pondered if Roman was the father of Susan's baby! HAHAHAHA!!!!)

Back then, I dreamed of one day working for soaps, but you never know if it's really going to happen. But yeah - all of that stuff is on the InterWeb someplace, archived away, and I can pretty much guarantee I probably made some incorrect assumptions about writers I never met, based on absolutely nothing... and one day ended up working alongside them and really digging them as people. If I could go back, I don't know if I would censor myself - I was a fan, a web surfer, and I did what the rest of you do every day on here.

But the times, they are a'changin'... and sadly, none of us were given the rulebook.

We live in a world now where primetime television showrunners like Shonda Rhimes and Joss Whedon blog all the time - about their experiences working on their shows, and what other shows out there impress them. Diablo Cody and Stephen King write monthly columns for Entertainment Weekly about other authors and screenwriters they like (amongst other things). Maybe they're talking about their friends, maybe they're talking about people they never met. But the fans are reading every word. Sara Bibel posts a soap blog three days a week where she interviews actors, gives her opinion on what's going on out there on various soap canvases... and all the while, juggling her future endeavors with her love of all things soap (I can relate... hoo-boy, can I ever!) Dena Higley opened up her personal life to Days fans everywhere a few months ago, letting them in and showing them a side of herself the fans never had access to before. Internet poster "MarkH", a longtime fan of the genre, regularly posts his thoughts. I'm on MySpace anywhere from three to six days a week, doing the same. And it expands to other genres as well - Harry Knowles over at AintItCoolNews was the subversive element in "geek Hollywood" for years. AICN was one of the first movie sites I discovered years ago on the Internet, and back then, he was like this mysterious figure in the entertainment industry, leaking secrets right and left. Fast forward to today, and he's well-known as a guy living in Texas who schmoozes with all sorts of big Hollywood types. Suddenly, the subversive element is hobnobbing with the L.A.-elite, but that doesn't stop him from running a site that thousands of people flock to every day to get scoops on what's going on in the Lucas/Spielberg/horror/sci-fi/superhero pockets of La-La-Land. He's commenting on the people he might now consider friends.

I was discussing this with a friend of mine recently, who has long made their career in journalism. It's a touchy subject, but you guys know me - I love trying to look at a situation from all sides, and try not to jump to conclusions until I hear all the angles. And this person expressed concern, especially after the Hinsey incident and that vile thread on jossip, that when soap writers/bloggers like me and Sara give an opinion on a soap, we have an inherent conflict of interest, as we have so many personal relationships with these people. And therefore, we have a difficult hurdle to overcome - and you, as readers, have a difficult challenge: To understand that just because we say something, it doesn't mean it's the truth. The same way somebody posts something under a pseudonym on the web, and it might not necessarily be the truth. And yet... somehow? It automatically becomes the truth to so many people, just because it was in written on the Internet - and my friend isn't wrong. That's not a good thing.

Stephen Colbert refers to this as "wikiality". Meaning if you write something on Wikipedia, no matter how untrue it is, to a large segment of the population it just becomes canon... a tidbit of information tucked away in your brain, and you don't know where you heard it, but you're at a bar, talking to somebody, and you say "I read somewhere that...", and suddenly it's out there in the world. Colbert and his writers actually did an experiment on the Colbert Report, where they said elephants in Africa were no longer an endangered species on a wikipedia page... just to see how far it would go before people thought it was "The Truth"... and within hours, Wikipedia had to lock down that page on elephants because so many people logged on. I'll admit - part of me giggled at the time, but it's fascinating how much people really do want to make their own Truth, that may or may not be the reality. It's gleefully rebellious to many people, but to others who built their careers on true journalism, it's disheartening and dangerous. More and more people read a sentence in Times New Roman Size 12, and it becomes The Truth, whether we want it to or not. Tabloids and Reality TV have turned the entire world into "Heroes" and "Villains", "Cliffhangers" and "Reveals".

I've pondered this for a while now, and honestly? This is an issue, and one that probably needs further discussion. I don't want to contribute to this kind of mentality, but I don't think that's really in my control. People are going to take away from my blog what they're going to take away. Somebody on SON that nobody's met posted a rumor about a head writer installing a bar in their office, and suddenly, months later, people are still referring to this writer with quips about their drinking. Now I've never written anything in this blog even remotely personal about any of the writers I've worked with, but I certainly said some things during the strike about power plays and back-alley deals, and while that may not be as "scandalous" as the rumor that somebody built a bar, it still contributes to that mentality - and not in a good way.

So obviously, the best thing to do would be not contribute - to close the blog down and never post again. But selfishly, I don't really want to do that. I've been able to make a connection to a lot of people through this blog who want to work in soaps themselves one day... who want to have intelligent discussions about storytelling... who genuinely care and aren't this "lowest common denominator" TPTB tend to gear their shows towards. And I love responding to the e-mails I get from you guys, and building this network online of writers, journalists, fans and bloggers who don't want to see this genre die, but instead discover a newfound renaissance! But I also know that anything I say, I can read on a message board a year from now "Tom Casiello said this....", and they may have gotten what I said completely wrong.

I don't know the answer to this problem, but the more I think about it, the more I see that there are whole new worlds opening up that have no rules, no guidelines. We're making it up as we go along, folks... and sometimes we drop the ball and we screw it up. But it's an interesting debate to have, and one I think is important to view objectively (if that's even possible for us, anymore).

This is a discussion worth having, and one that involves all of us, whether you're a blog writer or a blog reader, whether you're a print journalist, or you faithfully follow print journalism. I didn't shy away from money issues or race issues on daytime, and I certainly don't think I should shy away from this. I'd like to open the floor and hear what you guys think!

Do you think we're all helping or hurting?

Are our inherent conflicts of interest as we write about the shows we once worked on revealing the truth, or twisting it?

In the long run, do you think people will remember this trend of treading into unknown Internet territory as ground-breaking and important, or gossip-mongering and harmful to an already dying industry?

Are we contributing to the light of hope and fondness for our soaps, or contributing to the dark world of rumor-spreading and tabloid journalism?

Where should we draw the line as bloggers, and where do you need the draw the line as readers?

As you surf and read, how do you decode the Truth?

Soap Art

2008-09-04T01:07:00.000-04:00

Remember that week in May I ran to my MySpace page day after day, praising the one-two punch of the BE takeover and Nash's death on One Life to Live?

This is going to be one of those blogs.

Last night, I caught up on about four episodes of Young and the Restless that I came this close to deleting (only because, as Sandy Cohen said in Season One of the OC "A Clear Tivo is a Clear Mind")... but a sudden case of insomnia left me sprawled out on the couch, immersed in Genoa City.

All was good - cliffhangers all around - Chloe is Kate! Nikki finds Victor! Just your average, run-of-the-mill Friday episode, filled with gorgeous men in tuxedoes, great veteran divas, and enough secrets revealed to get you back after the weekend.

But then... then there was Tuesday's episode.

There were three different threads running through the episode - Nikki confronting Victor after finding out he's alive, Victor's children reading the letters he wrote them back in Genoa City, and Jill, Kay, Cane and Esther reeling from the news that Chloe is really Kate.

First up, the structure of this episode was beautiful. I don't know who wrote the breakdown, but the seamless flow from Victor and Nikki in Mexico to the reading of the letters back home (alternating from one letter to the next in Victor's voice-over flawlessly, even though all three letters held very different messages), and then somehow folding into the juicy scandal of the Chloe/Kate story without it being jolting... just perfect.

And those letters! Look, if I was writing scripts, and somebody handed me a breakdown where half of my scenes were letters being written in voice-over for the entire scene... now that's a challenge! How do you make that compelling? How do you keep it suspenseful, when it's just a person standing there, reading a letter? When we wrote the Santo/Colleen letters on Days, we always cut away to Ireland. Trying to pull off a whole scene of just reading a letter is deadly. Y&R pulled it off though, and did it so theatrically, I really thought I was watching a play performed on stage. Intricately cutting off the voice-overs at just the right moments (Sharon interrupting Nick by bringing Noah in, Heather surprising Adam when he was in mid-sentence), only whetted my appetite to hear the rest of the letter further in the episode. They also managed to break up the letter-reading by giving some of the most important moments to Victor's voice-over... but then at just the right time, Victoria read a passage out loud to JT (the passage about her strength and her graciousness), or Heather sneaking Adam's letter out of the trash and reading aloud the passage that angered Adam so much earlier in the episode and made him throw it out in the first place - that Adam should inclue Victoria and Nick as part of his family. And these moments... Victor's soul opened up and left raw, revealing things his children have always wanted to hear... their quiet, wordless reactions, as they hung on each and every word their father wrote. It struck me on so many levels, moved me to tears frequently.

To intercut this with the terribly sad and frustrating scenes where Victor told Nikki he will continue to remain "dead", and no longer feels his home is with his family... after you've heard how much he loves his children in these letters? It gave me shivers. What was so magical about Eric Braeden and Melody Thomas Scott's scenes was how little dialogue was involved. There was so much focus on the silences... on the reactions (Victor's stone-cold stare into the distance when Nikki admitted she fell off the wagon over her guilt was terrifying)... it wasn't about exposition, or melodramatic scenes being over-written. And book-ending the episode with two location scenes - the first when Victor found Nikki lying in the sand, and the last where Victor left her in the exact same place, as she cried and screamed his name, only to get no response from him at all as he walked away with his head held high... it was just simple, gut-wrenching, elegant, masterful.

But lest anyone think this all sounds too heavy and too morose... there was just enough soap with Kay, Jill, Cane and Chloe to bring a smile to your face. Jess Walton fired barbs right and left in her evening gown, while Jeanne Cooper tapped her carefully manicured nail against her cheek, absorbing the news that Chloe was her maid's daughter, and may or may not have carefully orchestrated the plot to get Jill's son pregnant. (EDIT: Okay, I have to keep that last sentence as I originally wrote it this morning before my coffee because it's just SO DAMN FUNNY. Obviously, you all know what I mean. I can't stop laughing. Thanks, Rashad, for pointing it out! No wonder I'm an unemployed writer!) For the first time since Cane was introduced I almost... almost ... forgave them for resurrecting Phillip. I still think it's a retcon that's nearly as bad as Erica's Reverse Abortion on All My Children... but the possibilities of Jill and Esther's kids sharing a child almost makes up for it. Almost.

There was such a sense of balance in this episode - of soapy camp that reined itself in and wasn't too over the top on one side of town, and gut-wrenching honesty and realness over on the Newman side. It was theatre at its finest.

Thanks, Maria and Hogan... and the entire cast and crew of Young and the Restless. When Tuesday's episode ended, I felt like I'd just been moved by an incredible painting in a museum. I encourage everyone who didn't see it to check it out on Soapnet this weekend during the marathon. Even if you don't know the show, and don't know its history, you'll still be affected. The Kay/Jill story is one any soap fan can connect with (let's face it - it's a soap story that's been done before many times, although I can't remember the last time it was done this well)... and the Newman story is about emotions we all understand - whether you're a Y&R fan for thirty years, or just for thirty seconds.

In a month where most soaps are throwing out purple gas, killer black bears, demons in swimming pools, and gay scandals in made-up foreign countries, it was refreshing to see thirty-nine minutes of entertainment that can only be described as art - plain and simple.

UPDATE: I've just learned Tuesday's breakdown was written by Maria and Hogan themselves, and the script was written by Janice Ferri Esser (Welcome back to Genoa City, Janice!) Congratulations to everyone on a truly beautiful episode, and on a stunning display of just how wonderful the art of collaboration can be in this industry. It's definitely one that will be remembered when 2008 is all over.

UPDATE 2: In case there was any question, I give praise when something really hits home for me. Be it Nash's death on OLTL, Jesse and Angie's wedding on AMC, or Tuesday's episode of Y&R. Again, this is just my personal opinion, and I do try and remain as objective as possible. However, you guys also know that I've worked with a lot of these people and know them as friends (and some, not-so-much-friends). So while that can certainly color one's opinion, I do try and keep an open mind. And none of these entries where I praise a show should be taken as me kissing ass so they'll hire me. In fact, to be fair: 1) On OLTL, I don't like all the camp going on, 2) On Y&R, I think Victor came home WAY too fast and we missed out on a lot, and 3) I didn't like AMC's musical beds sextet that dragged on during that great Hubbard wedding. See? I don't necessarily like every storyline my friends write. :-)

You'll Never Work In This Town Again!

2008-09-02T01:08:00.000-04:00

Okay, 'fess up -- is there anyone out there who hasn't googled their own name to see what comes up?

I used to do it once every few months, just for fun. In the last year though, I've been doing it more often. Not to satiate my own narcissism. (Hardly.) But mainly because sites started popping up with my name where fans would "quote" something I said in an interview or online... and they either didn't quite understand what I was trying to say, or I didn't phrase my meaning clear enough in the first place. And it's given me an opportunity to correct myself, or explain what I truly meant, but couldn't find the words in the moment to explain satisfactorily.

For example, I helped my friend Superposter on an Emmy Nominations review back in the spring for his AMC page, and made a comment about Van Hansis winning because of all the press surrounding his storyline. (I was wrong, by the way. Van didn't win. Goes to show how often you should listen to me. ) A Google search a few days later brought me to Van's message board, where some of his fans had taken offense, assuming I meant he didn't deserve the nomination on talent alone. Re-reading the three sentences I had written originally, I could totally understand where they got that impression - I had not explained myself properly. So I registered for their board, apologized for not being clear, and explained that I thought Van was extremely talented, and certainly did deserve the nomination, and I was just pointing out the somewhat flawed thinking Emmy voters can have sometimes (especially when they publicly announce that many of them didn't watch the tapes and were voting on other criteria). The Van fans couldn't have been more respectful, nicer, or more understanding... and never once backed down just because I responded to them directly (and big thumbs up to them for standing their ground as a fanbase!). In the end, I learned a valuable lesson about how I word things on the Internet, and I think (I hope) the Van fans stopped building an effegy in my likeness to set on fire in front of my building. And no harm was done - it opened the lines of communication, and I couldn't have been happier with the end result. What do you know - actually talking to a fanbase got me a step closer to understanding what they love about their favorite character, and got them a step closer to understanding where I come from as a writer. Everyone wins. Shocker. Thank you, vanhansis.net, and thank you, Google.

My last google search this weekend brought me to a message board (SON) where people were talking about one of my blog entries (I believe it was the "Drinking the Kool-Aid" entry), and one fan wrote a simple two line response:

"He's still at this? Wow, he really doesn't want to work again, does he?"

That stopped me pretty much dead in my tracks. I honestly had to think about that, and in fact, it's been weighing on my mind for a few days now (in a good way).

I have received numerous e-mails from my colleagues since I started this blog, congratulating me on having the guts to come forward and say the things they've wanted to say for years. I have yet to hear any negative feedback from anyone that this blog threatens my future employment (although I'm not stupid - I don't think for a second it's actually helping my job situation) - either from network friends, or from agents, or from anybody else. I don't feel I use this to rake anyone over the coals, or spill any secrets I shouldn't. I congratulate those I feel are trying to bring greatness back to daytime, I defend those I think are getting a raw deal behind the scenes, and sometimes, I constructively criticize from a fan's perspective, the same way anyone does on a message board.

But do I ever want to work again?

I've asked myself this so many times in the last few months. The savings account is running low, unemployment is running out, the residual checks have slowed down, I finished putting the final polish on my bio and resume last week. At some point, I may have to say goodbye to this dream, and move on to the next one.

I have a lot of issues with how soaps are run right now. Being able to just get the job done without rocking the boat takes precedence over being an artist. Flying through repeated storylines is more important than building long-lasting character arcs and evolution. A sense of total community is ignored in favor of isolating three or four storylines from each other. (Thanks and a shout-out to Y&R, GH and OLTL for still finding ways to interweave their storylines... and Pratt's AMC looks to be taking a cue from them as well, based on the handful of his epsiodes that have aired.) But let's face reality - if one of these shows called me tomorrow and said "We'd love to have you on the team!" - come on. I'd be insane not to say yes.

This is in my blood. It's what I do. It's when I'm up to my eyeballs in scripts and breakdowns and research and old episodes on DVD that I feel the most alive.

But if it never happens again? That's okay too. Because then I'll do something else. I'll write a book. Or I'll go back into production (I always loved editing in film school... I had no idea it would interest me until I was forced to take a class in it... but it truly is a form of "writing"). Or maybe I'll go to culinary school and learn how to be a chef, or law school to be a lawyer (The Beau knows how much I love to argue.) Does it make me a failure? Hardly. I spent ten years living my dream, and have two Emmys and this blog (and all the friendships it produced) to show for it. I drank a glass of wine with Harding LeMay, had a brainstorming session with Carolyn Culliton, exchanged e-mails with Thom Racina and been given a welcome bear hug to Oakdale by Tom Eplin, got to write words for Stephen Nichols, Mary Beth Evans, and Judi Luciano, stood on stage at Radio City Music Hall and given a chance to write with Bill Bell's proteges. I've accomplished more in ten years than I ever thought I would in thirty years. If this is the end, I have absolutely nothing to complain about.

I'll never stop writing. I'll never stop hoping I can make a career at it again. But there is a possibilility that life will take me on a different path for awhile, and that's okay too. I always look to my dear friend's blog for inspiration. Now there's a woman who spreads her wings and flies!!

So I started to put my ears to the ground last week... I start wondering "What Do I Want to Be When I Grow Up?"... and in the meantime, I try and keep hope alive. I continue working on my personal projects, hoping something good will come from them. And in the meantime? I hear rumblings about friends of mine... writers I respect and feel are the best in the business... people who have been away from daytime far longer than should be legally allowed... suddenly getting job offers again. And it renews my spirit.

Is this blog doing me any good? Absolutely. Is it doing you guys any good? I hope so. Once it doesn't, I'll stop writing it. Is it doing the industry any good? I don't have a clue. Is it doing my career any good? Probably not. But that's okay. Maybe this is exactly the path I'm supposed to be on.

So to answer the fan's question: Yes, I'm still at this. And yes - not only do I want to work again, I consider what I'm doing right now as "still working". And I'll continue to work, whether it involves my name in credits or not, whether it involves working in this industry or not, whether you see me as a success or a failure, I will continue on the path, play the hand that was dealt me, mix as many metaphors as I need (Hee!!!) to become the person I'm destined to be.

There's been a lot of anger and betrayal and frustration this year... but out of all that, comes growth and education and evolution... and finally, peace. Until the next crisis. And in the end, isn't that what really good soap opera should be all about? Isn't that what life should be all about?

When did we say we weren't interested in a long-term relationship?

2008-09-01T01:09:00.000-04:00

I've been tossing this one around in my head for a couple of weeks, but an e-mail from the divine "MsT" really got me thinking about it.

One of the joys of the daytime genre (as a viewer or a writer, or both!) is the slowly evolving, gradually simmering interweaving of the stories. That feeling of walking alongside a character you grew up with, as they reveal new aspects of the personality, amidst new challenges for them to overcome in their lives - some of which are really over-the-top (Who among us hasn't been trapped in a Secret Room by her arch-rival?), and some of which we can all relate to (Heartache, A New Baby, beating back a debilitating disease). But whatever they're suffering through or reveling in, we (as viewers) know we're in it for the long haul. For their triumphs and for their failures, we are in this relationship. We are ALL IN. And we knew our soaps felt the same way. They were in it for the long-haul, mapping out a year of story at a time. And we were secure in the knowledge that every scene we watched served a purpose - maybe it wouldn't be clear now, but it would be clear down the line. And we would be rewarded for our careful viewing.

So at what point did we ask for some space? When did they decide that all we wanted were a few flings?

At some point, many soaps rejected that idea of plotting out any storyline longer than 13 weeks (the length of your standard contract cycle). And no, I'm not talking about the Port Charles telenovela experiment (although that might have contributed to it). I'm talking about soaps and Head Writers/Executive Producers deciding they're only going to think a few months in advance, in terms of storylines. I look at GH's Mafia-Villain-of-the-Season, that seems to change once every three months (usually around the end of Sweeps), or ATWT's Psycho-of-the-Season (Eve Coleman! Colonel Mayer! Rick Decker!) and think to myself "This is just a fling - why should I settle in long-term, when I know this is all going to be over in a few months?"

Now that isn't to say stories can't change midstream, or characters can't take off in ways you didn't expect - Alicia Coppola on AW and Trent Dawson on ATWT are prime examples of characters that were created to serve a brief purpose, but developed such fan followings, that they stuck around. And sometimes, story needs to be rewritten to accommodate that. There's nothing wrong with it - happens all the time. But you don't bring Scott Bryce back to the role he created... only to put him in the same merry-go-around with three other actors for a few months and then fire him. And you don't cast a heavy-hitter like Vincent Irizarry on a show to play a nobody... and then rewrite who his character is every few months to suit your storyline purposes. I'll cut Y&R a little slack because of the numerous writer transitions that took place while David Chow was on the canvas - but still, it never would have come to that had he been introduced with a firm, network-approved long story that could be adhered to. Why else cast such a strong actor, unless you have plans for him?

Don't get me wrong. I strongly believe that EP's and HW's need to pay attention to the ratings, and change stories if they're not working. I worked with one head writer who actually had three different game plans in their head for the second arc of a storyline, depending on which coupling the audience liked the most. Now THAT'S long-term planning. Three different laid-out endings to a story based on audience reaction. Brilliant! (Not to mention that all three different endings then launched into brand new organic storylines... which is what soap should be!) You should always have a back-up plan, under the assumption the storyline doesn't play out the way you wanted it to because of actor chemistry/maternity leaves/etc. But that's why you get paid the big bucks - to have a few different plans in place, depending on your ratings, your actors, the storyline potential in each choice. I've also worked with a head writer who summed up a year's worth of story in three sentences. I'll give you one guess how well that "long term planning" worked out for the show.

This isn't to say that all soaps are making it up as they go along. I know of a few head writers who are thinking six/eight/sometimes twelve months in advance with some of their storylines. But I've also heard of head writers who are given the order that they are to write quick, neat, three months stories from above because "that's all the audience has the patience for". And that's when my blood starts to boil. To imply we're all a bunch of lazy, hero vs. villain morons who can't appreciate nuance and clearly have television ADHD doesn't exactly endear me to a soap. In fact, it makes me want to change the channel. Gee - I wonder if that's one of the reasons for falling ratings?

I keep hearing over and over that these shows want long-term viewers, who invest in the future of their shows. But how can they invest in the future - when the shows aren't thinking past thirteen weeks from now? Take away your long-term plans to entertain the viewer... and we might as well take away our long-term plans to keep watching.

(And thanks, Ms. T! You really inspired me on this one!)