My Exclusive interview with SHELBY HIATT

Shelby Hiatt was a staff writer on Santa Barbara at NBC-TV from 1984 to 1985. Previously she wrote on set between run-throughs while playing Jane Dawson on  General Hospital.  A first novel, Hector's Tapes, sold to Oliver Stone. She worked as a sketch writer for KTWV radio, The Wave and wrote screenplays for a local independent producer. Shelby now lives and writes in Santa Monica, CA.

You wrote from SB from the very beginning: who hired you?

I worked with the Dobsons on General Hospital for years so when I heard they were doing a new show I contacted them about writing for it.  I'd written a screenplay and wanted to try doing a soap.  The show was not on the air yet and Bridget sent me an outline, that's how it's done, each writer on the SB staff is sent an outline for one day's show.  This would be a test to see if they like my writing.  Following the outline I wrote a show and delivered it to the actual studio that was being built for SB at NBC in Burbank.  Bridget and Jerry read the script, like it, and said, "Welcome aboard."  I was a writer for the show.  They used that script, show number 11 I believe.  I wrote many after that and graduated to outlining, coming up with ideas for the final outline the Dobsons would write, the larger storylines were always theirs.

I like the Dobsons because they were not afraid to take risks. Can you make for us a professional and human portrait of Dobsons? Do you have any anecdotes?

Robin Wright

Bridget is the daughter of Frank and Doris Hursley who wrote General Hospital.  I got to know her and her husband Jerry Dobson when they wrote some of the GH shows.  Then when writing SB I often went to the Dobson's house in Bel Air, an impressive home on  an impressive street (Copa del Oro), and got to know them better.  They are a very down to earth, gracious, couple, easy to work with, accommodating. There we sat around comfortably in their living room and talked about the show and the storylines.  I remember once the ratings for the show were lagging and they talked about getting rid of several actors, hoping such a change would increase the number of viewers. One of the actors they discussed dropping was Robin Wright who was so good as Kelly Capwell that I argued for her to stay.  I told them she could never be replaced with anybody better and she was naturally pretty and fit the part so perfectly, why try to fix something that works so well?  I thought we needed to improve the storylines to improve the ratings, not change the actors.  Whether my urging had anything to do with not losing Robin I don't know, but she did stay on and I continued to write scenes for her and the rest of the cast. A few years later, when I was no longer writing for the Dobsons, I ran into them as they were having lunch outside Peet's Coffee Shop in Brentwood, a block from where I lived.  I sat down and we talked a long time.  It was pleasant and friendly.  They're very nice people.

You worked closely with the Dobsons. Can you tell us how were the relations between the network and them? There were a lot of tensions? These tensions had an effect on your work?

You know, I was never a part of network discussions and wasn't included in that part of the show. I'm pretty sure the low ratings and the idea to change members of the cast came from network concerns.  We have to remember the purpose of television shows is to generate revenue for the network through advertising.  As ratings go down so does the price of a commercial on the show which is why an ad during the super bowl costs a heck of a lot more than an ad on a soap opera.  The  Dobsons were savvy negotiators, they had their own show and Bridget had grown up around soap writing and dealings with networks.  I can't help thinking whatever went on with NBC was skillfully maneuvered by both Bridget and Jerry, smart people, tough and decent, in a business they knew well.  The difficulties that came about with them and the network were after my time on the show and I, like everybody else, simply read about them.  I was not personally close enough to the Dobsons to call and chat with them about all that.

How does a storyline was developed on SB? I mean, can you describe the stages through which you reach a individual written dialogue from a vague outline?

I've mentioned this a little above but I'll take it again from the start.  Those of us on the writing staff received one outline a week.  It consisted of each scene outlined (sometimes only 3 or 4 lines), explaining who was to be in the scene, where it took place, what they did including the attitude of the characters.  How the scene ended was clear and unchangeable.  Turning that into dialogue was the job of the staff writer making it as interesting and true to characters as possible.  Bridget and Jerry then went over the delivered script and made any changes they thought might be necessary to insure consistency in style. My method was and still is to visualize the character, possibly myself, each time the character speaks so that it sounds real, the way people might really talk in such a situation.  It's fun and the way I write novels now.

Nic Coster

Have you ever met someone of the cast? Who?

I ran into Robin Wright at Santa Monica beach one day when I was till writing the show.  We sat and sunned ourselves and talked a long time, mostly about the show and the storylines etc.  She is a very smart talented actress and I'm not at all surprised she went on to have a serious career in films.  I also encountered Nick Coster when he was in a play at the Mark Taper Forum at the Los Angeles Theater Center.  We talked mostly about the show and what both of us had been doing since leaving.

Why and when you left the show?

I'm  wasn't with the soap for much longer than a year so I missed much of the excitement.  I was there for the earthquake.  It may have been just about the time we had a big one in Los Angeles which could have inspired it.

Which SB storylines was your favorite? And which ones you did not love and would not have wanted to write?

I loved writing the eathquake.  Now, in novels, I enjoy writing adventure and real danger scenes.  They have inherent energy and excitement and I found all that in writing them for SB too.  I did like writing for Jade (Melissa Brennan) and Bridget delibarately gave me the kids' scenes to write.  My own sons were young so I had the knack for it, I guess.  I wouldn't have like to write the contentious scenes between the adults and I rarely had to.

The first big plot of SB was Channing  jr ’s murder. It lasted nine months before coming to the shocking truth. Did you know from the beginning that the murderess was Sophia? Or the story might change during construction? The final revelation was exceptional: Sophia kills her own son. Classical Greek tragedy!

This sounds awful but I don't remember about knowing Sophia was the murderer.  As I recall, I was not so involved yet in discussing story lines at the Dobson's house and was simply receiving the script outlines at my home and writing the teleplays.  I'm pretty sure I didn't know.  And for the most part the staff does not always know how a story line will go.  I think often the head writers don't know either or they change what they've planned since they monitor audience response and try to gauge what will keep the viewers most interested.

SB Original Cast

In the beginning  there were four families protagonists: the rich Capwells, the eccentric Lockridges, the poor Perkins, and the Mexican Andrades. A wonderful and representative microcosm. After two years, the Perkins were gone, the Andrades and Lockridges were decimated. Why? Do You think it was a right choice?

I don't know why and honestly I don't think it was a good choice.  My guess is, the noble effort to show an ethnic mix on a soap and make the difficulties they might cause a part of  the story lines wasn't working well and the Dobsons were smart enough to make a change.   Moreover, they had to do whatever was necessary to keep the ratings up so if the ethnic mix idea wasn't working they had no choice but to drop it.  It is a business and that comes before art in this case.

After about three months from the beginning of SB, the ratings were low and so the earthquake came. A real drama, but it also told the comic side: Minx is hidden into a sarcophagus and she is saved, Danny Andrade sleeps all the time and he did not notice anything. How was born the idea of the earthquake?

I really think it came from the quakes we have in Los Angeles.  We often have tremors and at had just had a very large quake causing a lot of damage so that was on everybody's mind.  It is good when writers write about something they know and of course Santa Barbara experiences quakes along that same San Andreas fault line that runs beside Los Angeles.   If you want excitement without warning you can't do better than an earthquake.

Robin Wright originated the Role of Kelly. What do you think about her and her relationship with the character?

I think Robin was perfect for the role.  It's as though she was designed to play it.  First of all she was a natural beauty and a natural actress, I mean by that she did not seem to be working at being real and truly envolved.  That is quite an acting accomplishment and as I've said, it's no surprise she has gone on to have an impressive acting career.  She seemed to be the character by way of her subtle, authentic acting, she was not pretending so much as inhabiting the character.  SB was lucky to have her.

Walker and Wright

Robin Wright left the soap in 1988. She was forced to extend her contract to filming The Princess Bride. In fact at the end she seemed very bored and tired. Do You have noticed a change after her return? Is it true that she was on bad terms with Marcy Walker? Do someone was jealous for the success of Robin?

I was not working on the show at that time but  I can't imagine Robin being a trouble maker.  I can image her standing up for her rights though.  I know nothing about her contract which may have made her obliged to SB for longer than she wanted.  That's always difficult for an actor as well as the producers.

Last question about Robin Wright. (sorry, I'm a real fan). In a recent interview Robin seems ashamed if they asked about SB. According to you, she really ashamed of that period?

I don't think she's ashamed of Kelly.  I'm much more inclined to think she's not proud of working on a soap and here's why:  Soaps are the lowest rung on the acting ladder.  I would rather keep quiet about my years acting on General Hospital (I kept it only a mention on my website).  As wonderful as Robin was, it does not enhance her career to have been on SB.  Films and TV are the credits actors need to advance their careers.  That's just how it is.

Can you tell us something about “Panama”, please?  Are there some connections with some SB’s  situations?

I will say I am sure soap fans would like PANAMA.  It is a love story with quite a bit about life in the canal zone during construction, the danger, the difficulties, the wild beauty of the place.  The main character is very much like me when I was growing up in Indiana and looking for adventure, her parents are definitely my parents.  The opening can be read on the home page of my website, www.shelbyhiatt.net Thanks again for your interest and congratulations on your blog and its success.