General Hospital is trying to make new episodes of television amid the WGA strike by bringing on writers who have crossed the picket line.
According to TVFanatic, General Hospital is hiring a batch of temporary writers to write new episodes of the popular soap opera. This is the first soap to do such a thing, while other soaps have been able to keep going due to a surplus of scripts already written. Breakdown writer Shannon Peace wrote about the show’s decision on Instagram.
“Starting next week, the show will be penned exclusively by scab writers, which is heartbreaking,” she 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.”
According to Peace, storylines by temporary writers will begin today.
“…[F]or the sake of the fans. I hope the show is in capable writing hands. But I have to also acknowledge the pain of knowing that characters we’ve developed, relationships we built and stories we planned are being handled by others,” Peace continued. “Still, my hope is that if you love GH, you’ll continue to watch. You can morally support the writers AND keep the show [on] the air!”
Unionized writers within the WGA have been on strike since May 2. Actors unionized through SAG-AFTRA have also begun striking in the past few weeks.
