Soap opera writers becoming more issues-conscious

September 6, 1996
Web posted at: 10:00 p.m. EDT

From Correspondent Bill Tush

NEW YORK (CNN) -- As the winds of social change blow through daytime TV, writers of daytime melodramas can no longer simply churn out wild plot lines.

Viewers are watching with a sharper eye, and that means more responsible portrayals of issues are going on the storyboards.

"We just did a huge story line on adoption and so we had to research exactly what happens in an adoption, how the process goes and make sure we realistically (portray) what happens," said Lorraine Broderick, co-head writer on ABC's "All My Children."

Writers for the long-running, Emmy-winning daytime drama meet daily to discuss marriage, divorce, illness and death. Story lines aren't always easy to come by.

Broderick, who has been in the soap-opera game for 16 years, mostly with "All My Children," says soap-opera writing is a 24-hour job.

"Every writer I know keeps a pad by the side of the bed in case you wake up in the middle of the night -- in case you think of something new for Erica."

Erica is Susan Lucci's character who has been with "Children" for more than two decades.

Like soap opera actors, many writers jump from show to show.

"You'll find that writers who leave one show turn up on another show," she said. "You can actually take your skills and transfer them to another show."

She says the writing process is "a little bit like that game where you tell a story and you leave it hanging, and the next person keeps the story going. We do that all year long."

And the writers manage to keep their personal lives separate from the soap opera stars'.

"I'm happily married and have two children," Broderick said. "You couldn't put this on a soap opera. Nobody would watch."

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