NEW SOAP - IN DEVELOPMENT (need input)

[garrettgam]

I am an aspiring soap opera writer. I have been developing an 8-year soap opera for the past 5 and a half years. I wanted to get everyone's suggestions on what you would like to see. I have written the entire first year and felt I should stop to see about soap viewer opinions. Suggest something GENERAL, not specific. By general I mean the following examples:
-When a character dies, they really die
-More romance
-Better shockers

Etc....

Have fun....

Garrett

[iloveTV]

I'd like to see characters who get together, romantically, stay together.

[Brandon]

i like:

love triangles
slapping enemies
evil woman

[garrettgam]

Thank you two for your input. I am bumping this up to get some more feedback. I hope more will respond cause I have everything all planned out and I am in the final stages of writing it and I was hoping to get some last minute suggestions.
Garrett

[garrettgam]

How do you all feel about the following:

-Strong Gay couples/characters
-Coarse Language
-Permanent Deaths(in other words, when a character dies, they ACTUALLY die)
-Slower pace or Faster pace
-Shockers vs Love Stories

Please respond.
Garrett

[Christopher]

Originally posted by garrettgam
How do you all feel about the following:

-Strong Gay couples/characters
-Coarse Language
-Permanent Deaths(in other words, when a character dies, they ACTUALLY die)
-Slower pace or Faster pace
-Shockers vs Love Stories

Strong gay couples are okay, what is wrong with them? Coarse language is fine, along with permanent deaths. It is sad that Passions first major character death had to be because the actor, Josh Ryan Evans died. That was horrible. Slow pace is dumb, you need to move it fast. Shockers are a lot better then love stories imo.


One thing, do not put teens in it. Teens ruin soaps. They should stick with the adults, the REAL major characters. They started the show, they should still be able to continue in it imo

[garrettgam]

The "teen scene" is very limited. More than half the cast are adults. I focus on them more but of course the teens intertwine. I want a diverse group of viewers, teens and adults. Oh and I agree with all that you said.
Garrett

[Christopher]

So you written a soap opera? May we read it, or may I read part of it please? I love reading soap opera novels.

[garrettgam]

I am working on it. I have been for 5 and a half years. I am keeping it private because I am working on the scripts and intend on proposing it to a network in the future. That's why I want viewer input. I want to please the viewers.
Garrett

[Christopher]

Originally posted by garrettgam
I want to please the viewers.

Okay, I don't know about some soap fans, but it wouldn't hurt to have humor in it. Make some scenes funny. Juliet Mills does it great on Passions. Try to had humor, but also serious drama. I don't know it is your soap, but look at Passions. This was my favorite soap of all, but then Josh died and I lost interest, and Juliet just doesn't play her part well right now. In the beginning it was the best, now it is dragging storylines and closed storylines we never know what happen. Also if you are going to add supernatural stories to it, do it right. Don't follow Passions, they don't do supernatral stories well. They did in the beginning but not anymore. Like I said, Passions was great in the beginning, but do you see what happened to it? It is dumb.

[garrettgam]

I DO have supernatural stuff but it all fits together. My soap is 8 years long and the storyline is a huge 8-year supernatual journey where everything is leading to something and there are pieces to fit together through the entire thing. It's not like Passions at all! Way different. And I do have a comic relief character. Also there are a lot of characters and storylines do not drag at all. I have limited everything to 8 years long so it is pretty fast paced to cram everything in.
Garrett

[garrettgam]

Just checking my new signature with the image I made. Hope it works.
Garrett
Please continue to discuss.......

[Christopher]

Originally posted by garrettgam
Just checking my new signature with the image I made.

That is the BEST picture anyone has made of Buffy so far. I love the back ground, you do great work.

[garrettgam]

Thanks. I am a little disappointed in the slant effect of the "Buffy" and "The Final Hours." It isn't exactly like UPNs. But I guess it turned out ok. I have the same image in regular color but I liked it one solid color. It looks better.
Garrett

[factsoflife]

As a long-time soap viewer here's what i like-

Romance, Roman, Romance- I like strong romances with couples that had to struggle to find thier way to each other (Ei- AMC's Mateo and Haylee) and i DON'T like it when a couple gets together and then they just dissapear from the show (Ei- AMC's Janet and Trevor), if i watch a couple struggle together i want them to be happy, but not to the point that they have nothing to do. i find you can get convincing reality-based drama with a strong couple. (EI- AMC's Ruth and Joe circa the 1970's)...

Fueds and Rivals- One of the best parts about soaps is watching two characters that hate each other go at it on a regular basis, and if written correctly a good fued/rivarly can sustain over years and years (EI- OLTL'S Dorian and Viki or AMC's Brooke and Erica).

Social Relevance- I like my soaps to be rooted in reality, at least in part, i believe that soaps are a unique medium because they are on every day of every week of every year and they can educate and inspire people like no other medium... And i love watching a soap that is telling stories rooted in the issues relevant to the society we live in. The example i cite for this is "One Life To Live" in the 1990's and "All My Children" in the 70's, 80's and 90's.

Shocking Twists and Turns- The one thing i truly believe that soaps are missing today are the stunning shocks and twists that once made them so unique... I remember back in the late 80's/early 90's watching soaps and being stunned every friday because of a shocking twist that would happen at the end of the episode and keep us wanting more and saying "I can't wait until Monday"... This is missing from soaps today because in todays world we know whats going to happen weeks sometimes months before it happens, if an actor or actress is returing/leaving we know in advance, we didn't know this years ago, and to tell the truth it was better that way... I mean if we had known that Gwyenth was going to be the Cornith Killer on "Loving" or Maria was going to die in a plane crash on "AMC" would it have been as effective and memorable as those stories were? I think not. and that is why recent returns like "OLTL's" Dorian or "GH's" Tracey were ruined because we knew and there was no surprise. I truly miss the days when i would tune into my soaps and be like "Oh My God" througout the entire episode... Anyway that's my advice to you...

Good luck on your soaps.