Exclusive: ‘All My Children’ Names Co-Head Writer

Monday, February 18, 2013 @ 3:27 PM

Thomas A. Montalto/Montalto Photos

When we reported that Marlene McPherson (pictured right, with former “DAYS” co-head writer Darrell Ray Thomas) had been hired on as head writer of Prospect Park’s version of “All My children” back on January 23, it was unclear at the time as to whether she would be joined by a co-head writer. Soap Opera Network has since learned that it’ll be a “Days of our Lives” reunion of sorts for “AMC” as McPherson will be joined by Elizabeth Snyder, who was an Associate Head Writer at “DAYS” from 2011-2012.

Just this past weekend Snyder, and the “DAYS” team consisting of Lorraine Broderick, Carolyn Culliton, Richard Culliton, Rick Draughon, Christopher Dunn, Lacey Dyer, Janet Iacobuzio, David A. Levinson, Ryan Quan, Dave Ryan, Melissa Salmons, Roger Schroeder, Christopher J. Whitesell, and Nancy Williams Watt, lost out to CBS’ “The Young and the Restless” in the category of Outstanding Achievement in Writing for a Daytime Drama Series at the “2013 Writers Guild Awards,” which were held last night at the JW Marriott L.A. LIVE in Los Angeles and the B.B. King Blues Club in New York City.

Snyder’s previous writing experience includes stints at “Another World,” “The Bold and the Beautiful,” “General Hospital,” “Port Charles” and “Sunset Beach.” Snyder was nominated a total of seven times for a Daytime Emmy Award from her work writing on daytime dramas. She won in 2010 for her 2009 work on “B&B” and again in 2012 for her 2011 work on “DAYS.” She shared the award wins under “B&B” head writer Bradley P. Bell and “DAYS” co-head writers Whitesell, McPherson, Thomas and Dena Higley.

Production on both “All My Children” and “One Life to Live” is expected to begin on Monday, February 25. Susie Bedsow Horgan and Thom Racina are the head writers of “One Life to Live.

mike

a week from production and still less than 10 actors reported for the AMC cast. Wow.
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1228128 Jim Fung
  
  It’s a 30-minute show. They only need a cast of about 15-20. With the apparent recasts of JR, Miranda, AJ, Petey, and Cassandra, plus the unofficial official announcement that David Canary and Julia Barr will be part of the cast, combined with the officially announced cast, that’s a full cast.
patsyq

Why couldn’t they use unemployed OLTL & AMC writers? DAYS never had the great dialog or the modern women stars or the comedy of either. Now I’m worried.
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1228128 Jim Fung
  
  I do wish the co-head writer was someone with AMC experience. But DAYS writing has gotten more character-based the past few years, and the McPherson era was part of that. Under the writing regime after her, the dialogue has actually sparkled every day, and most of the dialogue writers now (Richard and Carolyn Culliton, Melissa Salmons, Janet Iacobuzio — Salmons and Iacobuzio were added to the writing team after McPherson left) are Procter and Gamble-trained. DAYS also does have strong women leads, including Marlena, Sami, and Kate.
http://twitter.com/hotpink25 JC

You probably are not going to see major numbers for these web based series. I’m not positive but I don’t think they will be as long as a network show (which ends up being 36-38 minutes after commercials .
- cindercity12
  
  I actually think you will major numbers, at least by Daytime television standards. The beauty of web based shows is that you can watch them anytime. With Daytime network television, your audience pool is limited to whomever is at home at a particular time during the day.
  
  The audience pool for a web based shows is whomever is online at any point during the day or the entire week.
  
  Professional web based shows have been known to post an average of 5 million views per episode. That’s a lot more significant than current soaps on television.
  
  Being on the web gives these shows a better chance at success than they would have had on television. You have multiple ways to watch them. You can even watch them anywhere, as long as you have an internet accessible device. If they were still on TV, you’d have to be at home, in front of the TV, when they air.
  
  There’s also the fact that advertisers are willing to pay more for an online show than a Daytime show, simply because the amount of people who are on line and on Hulu or iTunes is greater than the number of people who are at home during the day. More people are likely to see your ad online than they are on television during the day.
mike

they will be 30 minutes not far off network running time

Exclusive: ‘All My Children’ Names Co-Head Writer

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