Wella was always all smiles on Monday mornings, most of the staff only found it mildly annoying. “Good morning everyone.”
She ignored the groans and the half-hearted replies and barreled ahead with energy. “Right off the bat, I’d like you to meet our two new interns. This is Sparky Jarvis, she comes to us with a background in journalism.”
Sparky grinned from ear to ear and waved, matching Wella’s energy and enthusiasm ounce by nauseating ounce. “Hi, ya’ll. I’m so excited to be here.”
Daryn leaned over and whispered in Sean’s ear. “One more ya’ll and the cheerleader dies.”
“And this is Clark Yancy.” Wella pointed to the ‘incognito’ Yancy Barrow, who slurped his coffee and tried to hold his eyes open. “Clark is starting over with us…”
“Where did he end?” Someone asked.
“Downsizing…” Yancy mumbled. “Have a degree in broadcasting I thought I’d never use. It’s finally coming in handy.”
“I have a degree in animal husbandry.” Sean snarked. “You’ll fit right in.”
Wella picked up a donut and leaned against a desk. “They’ll be shifting around to a few departments until we find the right place for them. For today, they’re a member of our team. First on the agenda, Ian is concerned about “The Best of Everything”. The ratings are up, but he wants us to take a good look and see if there may be some suggestions we can come up with to sustain the ratings.”
“The ratings are up, but the quality just isn’t what it used to be.” Sean popped up.
“Exactly. Now, how to we improve that quality?”
“Isn’t the show runner retiring? Won’t that help?” Daryn asked.
“That’s on our to do list, find a new show runner, so we need to have in our heads exactly where we think improvements can be made and find the person who can best implement them.”
“May I say something?” Sparky asked.
“Of course, everybody has equal input here.” Wella assured her.
“The main problem in the writing. Believe me, I have watched that show since I was little, and everyday, like it or not, for the last three years. There’s a huge difference.”
“And that would be?” Wella smiled as Sean encouraged her.
“Well, daytime has come full circle.” She smiled. “It started out about emotion and relationships, then in the seventies went to big plot driven expensive stories and now has come back to smaller, intimate tales driven by heart.”
“It’s the only way for them to survive.” Daryn concluded.
“Absolutely.” Wella agreed.
Yancy looked up from his coffee. “So your saying the writer’s now aren’t good at telling smaller stories.”
Sparky scrunched up her face. “Not exactly. They’re very good writers, I mean character is there, great dialogue and plot but I don’t think the writer’s like what they’re writing. It’s almost as if they hate the characters and the sweet little town.”
The team all looked at each other and began to talk among themselves. “Did I say something wrong?” Sparky got nervous.
“Oh no, honey.” Wella patted her on the shoulder. “You said something right. We’ve been knocking our heads together trying to figure out exactly why the show just wasn’t quite gelling together and you walked right in and put your finger on it.”
Sean turned to Yancy. “Have you seen the show?”
Yancy shrugged. “Couple of times, have to admit soap opera really isn’t my cup of tea, but that one I don’t hate.”
“Why?” Daryn encouraged.
The question at first threw Yancy, but he took a sip of coffee and thought about it. “Well, I think I don’t hate it because its the story my mother watched when I was a kid. We had to be quiet for the half hour it was on, so I guess it stirs memories of my mother and simpler times.”
“Have you watched it lately?” Wella asked.
He nodded, sipped his coffee again and pointed a finger at Sparky. “She’s right. The characters have been written into a corner and it’s as if the writers don’t really care to find a way out. Take a good look at the staff, starting at the top and work your way down. Somewhere there’s a person or two that are either very unhappy or bored out of their skulls. Change that, change the quality.”
Wella nodded. “Okay, Sean you take a look at the tenure of the production staff from execs to dialogue writers. Let’s see what that information yields.”
“There may be one or two from Baxter Reilly days, he was actually the godfather to the out of left field plotlines that changed things in the seventies. There may either some bad blood or lack of quite understanding how the genre has evolved.” Daryn told Sean and he began making notes.
“Daryn you start looking at possibilities when it comes to replacements we might need, show runners being a definite.”
“Are we looking for someone from daytime or new blood?” She asked.
“Either.” Wella nodded. “For show runner, we definitely need the experience, but we also need someone who understands our vision, a traditional soap with modern heart that moves at today’s pace.”
“They still do those things in thirteen week cycles?” Yancy asked.
“Contracts yes.” Wella smiled. “Story wise we are still playing with that. Trying to cut back on flashbacks that make it easy to skip a few days or weeks and still know what’s going on.”
“It still should be important that you can join in at anytime and not be lost though.” Sparky jumped back in. “That’s the problem with some of the cult prime time stuff. They’re good, but unless you’ve watched from moment on, you are either completely lost or miss all the rich texture.”
“Exactly.” Daryn smiled. “Can she work with me today?”
Wella nodded. “Yep and Yancy you’re with Sean.”
Sparky took an effervescent hop to a seat next to Daryn. Yancy wadded up his cup and grunted as he neared Sean, who looked up and asked. “Aren’t you a little old to be an intern?”
Yancy looked at him. “Aren’t you a little short to be getting on my bad side?”
“Now on to the next item on our agenda…” Wella moved things right along.
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