NBC/Days renewal contract

THAT is hysterical. So NBC drastically cuts the licensing fee, causing Days to reduce costs, cut salaries, reduce cast, change the production schedule by cutting rehearsals, filming 1.5 shows per day, sometimes making the actors films scenes from 3 shows the same day...........and NOW NBC wants Days to go back to production schedule that they had previously? LOL
I would love it.....as would tons of viewers, probably the cast as well. I remember them getting 2-3 months ahead, then it was 4, 5 and now 6. Fans have complained loudly for years already, and NOW the network says being so far ahead makes the show unable to "fix" things not working, whether story or casting. LOL.
So how do they slow down, without having to pay contract players while not filming? Or go on a slower schedule without getting an increase in licensing fees? Ah, what a dilemma.
 
It is interesting that it took TPTB this long to figure out that this ridiculously long lead time is hurting the show. Like Poirot mentioned this has been going on for years and has only gotten increasingly worse. At this point, I don't see a way for them to ever get back to a "3-6" week lead time like the Michael Fairman article indicates without basically taking the next 4-5 months off of filming/writing. That will never happen. While it is possible for them to continue paying actors/writing staff/directors/producers during a shutdown time (whatever the length), what about the crew? Those folks would just go look for work elsewhere and then Days would probably lose them for good. What they need to do is do this incrementally. Take some more dark weeks, tape no more than one episode per day, maybe even go to a Mon-Thurs workweek. Over time they could get back to a more reasonable schedule, say 8-12 weeks.

FYI, from what I understand, they are currently taping August and most if not all of the September scripts are written. That is just downright scary.
 
Yep. But the biggest trouble goes with the unions/crew. I would agree that what they need to do is really slow down filming.....like......1/2 show per day. This would mean 2 1/2 shows a week, for a while, in comparison to the 7 they do now. Plus they are getting 2 extra weeks off for Olympics this year. They could cut the hours per day, perhaps, but the unions have fits if their criteria is not met.
 
I don't think the show will reshoot, if that's what you mean. The advanced shooting isn't a problem if they have better writers. The shows feels disjointed and a lot of the plots are just FF for me.
 
No matter how good the writers are, having a six month lead on stories is bad. Because even the best writers can write clunkers that aren't working. And being six months ahead gives them no way to fix what's not working on-screen now.
 
Exactly. for instance If they hire an actor who is not right for a particular role, they are unable to quickly change (as in years back when they had someone recast for the role of billie, or Jennifer, and were able to change the actor after just a couple dozen appearances. Or a story, that may have sounded good on paper, or a fabulous idea for shock value, boost ratings, etc. Such was James Reilly's idea to kill off a whole slew of MAJOR characters. He got told, in no uncertain terms, Fix this, we don't care how, but fix it! (This is what led to Melaswen, and an entire town having been hynotized or some such, into believing it all really had happened).

The present writing team had a lot to "clean up" when they came aboard, in addition to doing the 50th, so their work was cut out. My personal opinion is that, while initially, the co-headwriters were on the same page as to what they had to do, and wanted for the future, they eventually were not in agreement as to the "how". So, the difference began to show, one took a leave of absence, Sony pulled in a writer from another soap.....(we have yet to see the result of that, although it happened months ago).
NBC is going to have to make some concessions, is my guess here. But.....we will just have to wait and see. :)
 
In reading the article I noticed another one in the corner about Rebecca Herbst (GH). I clicked because I watch GH and am not a big Liz (GH) fan and lo and behold the article says Sony (Days) wants her. :rolleyes: I don't know how true it is could be just a rumor. But how would getting this (I assume) high priced actress for Days fare for a dwindling budget?

Please forgive me if I didn't word this correctly or if it should have gone elsewhere.

http://daytimeconfidential.com/2016...ral-hospital-contract-negotiations-hit-a-snag
 
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