Veteran ABC soap opera General Hospital is making use of temporary writers during the ongoing writers strike, according to Variety.
What’s Happening:
- News of General Hospital employing temporary writers despite the WGA strike was shared by series writer Shannon Peace on her Instagram, revealing that the last episode of the show that she wrote prior to the strike would be airing.
- “Starting next week, the show will be written exclusively by scab writers, which is heartbreaking,” Peace wrote. “Daytime writers face a unique conflict during strikes. We hate to see our characters and storylines handed over to ‘writers’ who cross the picket line. But we’re also keenly aware that stopping production could spell the demise of soap operas.”
- ABC declined to comment to Variety on the situation.
- Soap operas write and film episodes far in advance, which has allowed shows like General Hospital to stay on the air.
- In addition, soap actors are covered by the National Code of Fair Practice for Network Television Broadcasting, or Network Code, which allows them to keep working even though SAG-AFTRA is also on strike.
- The Network Code also applies to things like game shows, morning news shows, and reality shows in addition to soap operas.
- Soap operas have employed temporary writers in the past, in particular financial core (or fi-core) writers. Such writers resign from the guild and cannot run for guild office or vote on contracts or in any WGA election.