‘General Hospital’ to Employ Temporary Writers During WGA Strike

Daytime soap opera General Hospital is using temporary writers while the WGA remains on strike, Variety has confirmed with sources.

News that the soap was employing writers despite the ongoing strike was brought to light by General Hospital writer Shannon Peace, who shared the news on her Instagram account, 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 were also keenly aware that stopping production could spell the demise of soap operas.

ABC, which airs General Hospital, declined to comment.

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 can 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. In the aftermath of the 2007-2008 writers strike, the WGA identified 28 writers who had chosen the financial core route during the work stoppage.