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.

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Photo Credit: Sony Pictures Television

At the 2013 Writers Guild Awards, “The Young and The Restless” beat out “Days of our Lives” and “One Life To Live” for their fifth win. The show previously won in 2003, 2006, 2008, and 2010.

“The Young and The Restless” win includes writers Amanda Beall, Jeff Beldner, Brent Boyd, Susan Dansby, Janice Ferri Esser, Jay Gibson, Scott Hamner, Maria Kanelos, Natalie Minardi Slater, Beth Milstein, Michael Montgomery, Anne Schoettle, Linda Schreiber, Lisa Seidman, Sarah K. Smith, Christopher J. Whitesell, and Teresa Zimmerman; CBS

Prospect Park

Prospect Park’s much anticipated online revival of long-running soaps “All My Children” and “One Life to Live” continues to inch closer to reality as both shows are scheduled to go into production in the coming weeks ahead of their excepted launch dates on Hulu (and iTunes) sometime in April.

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Prospect Park

The big news of December 2012 was word that Prospect Park was taking another stab at moving ABC’s “All My Children” and “One Life to Live” to the web in 2013. The news was first reported by Deadline.com‘s Nellie Andreeva. In her initial reporting, Andreeva revealed that Prospect Park had made agreements with the unions SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists)  and the DGA (Directors Guild of America). Previously, while the company had planned on debuting the shows on the web in early 2012, no deals had been signed with either union or the WGA (Writers Guild of America). This hindered the company’s plan to move forward with the shows and resulted in a postponement that was announced in November 2011. In a statement at the time, AFTRA (prior to its merger with SAG) said that they were ”deeply disappointed to read that the executives at Prospect Park have decided to suspend their efforts to produce the long-running and popular daytime serials.” Additionally, the union had said that they “remain hopeful that an opportunity to revive these two popular series will emerge in the future, and remain ready to resume discussions should that opportunity arise.” The future took more than a year, but it appears to have finally emerged. However, although a representative from SAG-AFTRA confirmed that an agreement with Prospect Park had been made when pressed for comment from Soap Opera Network early last week, it remains unclear if said agreement had actually been signed. “Not absolutely certain it had been signed but can check that for you,” said the rep. Due to the holidays, we don’t expect a response on that little detail until at least tomorrow, January 2.

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AFTRA/Prospect Park

(SoapOperaNetwork.com) — After rumblings for the last two weeks and a shocking report by Deadline Hollywood earlier today, Prospect Park officially pulled the plug on plans for producing online versions of ABC’s “All My Children” and “One Life to Live.” Of the key issues, Prospect Park cited its inability to come to terms with the unions including those representing the actors (AFTRA) and the writers (WGA). Shortly afterward, the various unions began issuing statements in response to the production companies decision.

The Writer’s Guild of America (WGA) issued the following to Soap Opera Network, “We were disappointed to learn that Prospect Park’s financing fell through. Prior to the end of last week, we were close to a fair deal for the writers.”

On Monday, November 14, Soap Opera Network spoke with a rep from the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), who stated they were still in talks with Prospect Park. Unfortunately, as noted in the statement  issued to media outlets today, those talks went no where as the production company wasn’t communicating well with the union.

via Press Release

AFTRA Statement Regarding Prospect Park’s Decision to Suspend Production of “One Life to Live” and “All My Children”

LOS ANGELES (Nov. 23, 2011) — The following is a statement from AFTRA, the union that represents actors on “One Life to Live” and “All My Children”:

“AFTRA was deeply disappointed to read that the executives at Prospect Park have decided to suspend their efforts to produce the long-running and popular daytime serials, ‘One Life to Live’ and ‘All My Children,’ via online distribution.

Despite initial progress in our negotiations with Prospect Park toward resolving a fair agreement to cover the performers appearing on these programs, we were perplexed and disappointed that for the past month Prospect Park has not responded to our repeated inquiries to resume those discussions. We now conclude from the press reports that Prospect Park faced other challenges unrelated to our negotiations, which prevented continuation of those discussions.

We remain hopeful that an opportunity to revive these two popular series will emerge in the future, and remain ready to resume discussions should that opportunity arise.”

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About AFTRA
The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, AFL-CIO, are the people who entertain and inform America. In 32 Locals across the country, AFTRA members work as actors, broadcasters, singers, dancers, announcers, hosts, comedians, disc jockeys and other performers across the media industries including television, radio, cable, sound recordings, music videos, commercials, audio books, non-broadcast industrials, interactive games, the Internet and other digital media. The 70,000 professional performers, broadcasters and recording artists of AFTRA are working together to protect and improve their jobs, lives and communities in the 21st century. From new art forms to new technology, AFTRA members embrace change in their work and craft to enhance American culture and society. Visit AFTRA online at www.aftra.com.

AFTRA/Prospect Park

(SoapOperaNetwork.com) — It was Tuesday, October 4 when Soap Opera Network first reported on the current status of union discussions between the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) and Prospect Park following word back in July that Prospect Park would be launching “All My Children” and “One Life to Live” on the web. Now more than a month later, and with news that “AMC” is being delayed for various reasons, an AFTRA rep tells Soap Opera Network that they are “still in discussions with [Prospect Park].” This at some point could place a damper on the company’s plan of launching “One Life” online in January if a deal isn’t reached in the next several weeks.

The latest the soap could go back into production, following the end of production later this week of its ABC run, would be towards of end of December. This all hinges of course on a hoped for deal with the unions including AFTRA, the Writers Guild of America (WGA), the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and the Producers Guild of America (PGA), among others. Prospect Park previously signed a deal with Disney/ABC to rent out the soaps current New York studio at the ABC Television Center for the programs initial run via Prospect Park’s Online Network (TOLN).

Soap Opera Network will continue following all aspects of Prospect Park, the Online Network (TOLN), “One Life to Live” 2.0 and “All My Children” 2.0 as details become available.

JPI

(SoapOperaNetwork.com) — ABC renews its commitment to keep “One Life to Live” on the air and a part of their daytime schedule through at least 2014.

Last Saturday, a story by the Denver Post left fans of the show feeling a sense of hope and confusion, stating that “ABC owns its soaps, unlike the CBS relationship with P&G. ABC’s ‘One Life to Live’ is soon to announce a deal to live two more years.”

Since the network does maintain ownership of all three of its daytime serials, an announcement that they they were planning to “renew” “One Life” for at least two more years does not and would not apply.

However, TVGuide‘s Michael Logan attempted to clarify the story Wednesday by reporting that he has learned from sources at the network that ABC’s commitment to “One Life to Live” has more to do with behind-the-scenes actions involving the show’s staff.

According to Logan, “OLTL” Executive Producer Frank Valentini, who celebrated his 25th anniversary with the show just yesterday (September 28th) has signed a new two-year contract to remain with the soap, while Head Writer Ron Carlivati, who has been with the show for 14 years (including the last three in his current position – with the exception of roughly three months in 2008 due to a writer’s strike) has penned a new three-deal to remain with the show.

Before replacing Gary Tomlin as Executive Producer in 2003, Valentini had worked in several positions on the show including stage manager, producer, and music composer. During his tenure with the show, “OLTL” has been either won or been nominated for several Daytime Emmy Awards, including nods for Directing, Outstanding Drama (which it won in 2002), and Best Original Song. The show has also been earned GLAAD Awards in 2005 and 2010.

Carlivati held the positions of writer’s assistant, script writer, breakdown writer, and co-Head Writer before assuming sole head writing duties in 2007. Carlivati and the rest of the “OLTL” scribes won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Daytime Drama in 2008. They were nominated in the same category in 2002 and 2006. In addition, the writing staff was also nominated for WGA (Writer’s Guild of America) Awards in 2003 and 2006.

Look for a post-deal interview with both Carlivati and Valentini to be posted on TVGuide‘s website sometime next week.

“One Life to Live” airs Weekdays on ABC. Anytime on ABC.com.