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Writers' strike update: Scabs are now writing General Hospital [1]

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Date: 2023-07-27

The members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) are still on strike. Three months in, there are no signs of a resolution coming any time soon. SAG-AFTRA is also on strike, and a stunt double for Harrison Ford set himself on fire on the picket line. But the situation is somewhat different for soap operas compared to primetime TV shows.

Eric Braeden as Victor Newman (left) and Peter Bergman as Jack Abbott in the classic masquerade ball episode of The Young and the Restless from October 2, 1991.

The Young and the Restless on CBS was thought to be the first soap that would run out of episodes and would have to switch to reruns. That soap has a rich library of episodes from its 50-year history. Actors Peter Bergman and Eric Braeden have been on the show so long it’s quite interesting, at least to me, to see their earlier episodes in light of the newer episodes (e.g., the classic masquerade ball episode from October 2, 1991 that was recently reran for New Year’s).

General Hospital has been on even longer, since 1963. But, having ran out of episodes written by WGA members, the show is now airing episodes written by scabs, according to Shannon Peace, a WGA member who wrote the July 20 episode. Peace says that was the last episode she wrote before the strike begun. Sam Barsanti for The Verge:

Peace notes that soaps face a “unique conflict” with this strike, because the real writers don’t want to see their “characters and storylines handed over to ‘writers’ who cross the picket line,” but at the same time, Peace suspects that a prolonged hiatus could spell the end of all soap operas. But there are more reasons that soaps are complicated during a strike like this. For one thing, as a Deadline article from June explains, actors on daytime soaps operate under a different agreement than the SAG-AFTRA members who are currently on strike (it’s the same deal that talk shows, reality shows, and game shows have). That means these soaps aren’t struck projects for actors, so they can keep filming as long as there are scripts… but therein lies the problem, since they are struck for the WGA.

According to IMDb, today’s episode of General Hospital was written by Doris and Frank Hursley, who, also according to IMDb, both died in the 1980s. Oops, sorry, those are actually “created by” credits, not “written by” credits. The Hursleys deserve the former in perpetuity even though they don’t qualify for any more of the latter.

Near the end of today’s episode, a woman goes into a patient’s room, tells him to stop doom-scrolling on his phone and start reading some pamphlets about rehab. Also, a mother tells her two children to stop fighting and clean the house, and forbids them screen time. Point is, this episode couldn’t have been written by the Hursleys, at least not without a contemporary writer updating certain details.

I tuned in to the local ABC affiliate to watch the show just long enough to see the writing credits. After about twenty minutes, I tuned out. But then a half hour later, I thought maybe the credits would be at the end. Yeah. Plenty of producer credits. No credits for writers or actors.

Next, I went on the ABC website hoping that maybe I could watch the July 20 episode, but it looks like I can’t, if I don’t have Hulu. I stopped my Hulu subscription months before the strike. I don’t intend to renew while the WGA strike continues, even if I only were to use it to watch pre-strike content.

So I’m left with the question: Who’s writing the episodes airing this week? Maybe they’re “Fi-Core” writers?

There’s this thing called “Financial Core,” which, as I understand it, is a euphemism for a special kind of scab. Those scabs still enjoy the protections of the union but are relieved from their obligation to picket, and they lose their union votes.

The WGA has a list of Financial Core writers.

Below is a list of writers who over the years have chosen to resign their membership in the WGAW to become “financial core” non-members. By their action, they have chosen to take advantage of the benefits of the WGA contract, won through the sacrifices of Guild members across generations, while avoiding the corresponding obligations. Most fundamentally, these writers have chosen to shirk the responsibilities of following working rules and strike rules that are necessary for a union to bring collective action to bear for the benefit of the entire membership.

The list is in chronological order, going back to George W. Lucas in 1981. I think that’s the George Lucas who also left the Directors Guild of America over a disagreement pertaining to Star Wars Episode V.

Every few years, one, two or three writers leave the WGA. But in 2007, more than a dozen writers left the WGA. George Clooney was the highest profile write to leave the union.

In addition to starring in Good Night, and Good Luck in 2005, Clooney also wrote and directed that movie. Four years after leaving the WGA, Clooney wrote the screenplay for The Ides of March, and then The Monuments Men three years later. His most recent writing credit was for Suburbicon in 2017.

Another six writers left the WGA in 2008, and just two in 2009. In 2013, Larry Amoros was expelled, and five others left, voluntarily, presumably. After that, there were a few scattered departures some years.

But so far this year, as many writers have already left as left in the previous six years combined. As of yesterday, five writers were listed as having left the union this year: Sheri Anderson, Michael Minnis, Mark Pinciotti, Ben Poole and Matthew Sand.

Occasionally, Financial Core writers ask to rejoin the union. Theoretically, such a request could be granted. But that has never happened. And why would it? So they can leave the union again the next time things get inconvenient?

I don’t think I’ll be watching General Hospital again, other than to briefly monitor writing credits. Little risk of me getting sucked into these stories, there are plenty other medical dramas which I find more compelling.

Meanwhile, on The Young and the Restless, they still have a few stockpiled scripts from before the strike, but these episodes haven’t been all that interesting now that Phyllis has come out of hiding and the criminal case against her is in pre-trial limbo. Billy and Jack are planning some kind of corporate maneuver to prevent their sister Ashley from doing something or other with Tucker to the family company.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/7/27/2183431/-Writers-strike-update-Scabs-are-now-writing-General-Hospital

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