2024 was a yr of behind-the-scenes modifications at Basic Hospital. In January, the present introduced that it had changed co-head writers Chris Van Etten and Dan O’Connor and appointed longtime GH scribe Elizabeth Korte and veteran author Patrick Mulcahey to interchange them. Months later, Mulcahey’s title was faraway from the credit, and the present confirmed he was out. The group was reshuffled once more and Van Etten returned as co-head author alongside Korte.
Right here, for the primary time since they have been paired, Korte and Van Etten share their imaginative and prescient for Port Charles in 2025.
How do you’re employed collectively as co-head writers? What’s your collaboration model?
Elizabeth Korte and Chris Van Etten: We’ve a collaboration within the truest sense. Cleaning soap opera requires producing such a quantity of story that we by no means cease riffing. One in every of us could throw out an thought and the opposite will construct on and embroider it. One instance is crafting Kristina’s [Kate Mansi] fall. Within the means of bouncing round concepts, we discovered plenty of methods to increase the fallout past these characters instantly concerned.
Most significantly, we hold the environment secure for voicing any thought, even the ludicrous ones. Generally after we rein it in, the ludicrous thought is essentially the most thrilling one. There are occasions when our concepts are in battle; however in these circumstances now we have area to speak it via and discover widespread floor such that we are able to proceed in a route that speaks to the characters and to the bigger canvas. We hear each other out and by no means really feel dealt with.
Disney/Bahareh Ritter
How would you describe the Port Charles you’re writing?
Korte and Van Etten: Risky and attractive.
Elizabeth, you might have been on the present for 30-plus years. What does it imply to you to carry this place? How does your historical past with GH inform your writing?
Korte: Co-Headwriting GH is an honor and a problem — daunting at occasions however I’m loving it. I couldn’t ask for a greater collaborator and writing accomplice than Chris, who brings a lot creativity, enthusiasm, and expertise to the duty. I hope that my historical past with the present allows me to grasp the characters, to listen to their voices clearly, to honor their advanced historical past, and to trace off that historical past as we transfer them ahead. The viewers invests their time and keenness within the present, and we need to honor that funding — what they watched, what they care about — as we construct new story.
Chris, what does it imply to you to be again on the present?
Van Etten: I’m grateful for the chance. I’ve [loved] GH since Frisco [Jones, Jack Wagner] wooed Felicia [Scorpio, Kristina Wagner] and Anna [Devane, Finola Hughes] danced with Duke [Lavery, Ian Buchanan]. Writing for GH is a dream twice come true, and I thank Frank [Valentini, executive producer] and Nathan [Varni, executive director of drama programming, ABC/Hulu] for his or her generosity, and the solid, administrators, producers, and crew for his or her belief and derring-do. And it’s an honor to work with our group of writers, and particularly Elizabeth. She has a gentle hand, considerable empathy, and an superior creativeness.
Wanting again on 2024, what are the story highlights for you?
Korte: The returns of Jason [Morgan, Steve Burton], Lucas [Jones, Van Hansis], Ric [Lansing, Rick Hearst], Fortunate [Spencer, Jonathan Jackson] and Lulu [Spencer, Alexa Havins]. The arrivals of [Jack] Brennan [Charles Mesure], Isaiah [Gannon, Sawandi Wilson] and Gio [Palmieri, Giovanni Mazza]. Kristina’s fall and the aftermath. Sam’s [McCall, Kelly Monaco] demise and the aftermath. Willow [Corinthos, Katelyn MacMullen] and Drew’s [Cain, Cameron Mathison] affair and all of the messy fallout. Curtis [Ashford, Donnell Turner] and Drew’s rivalry. Gregory’s [Chase, Gregory Harrison] tragic demise. All of the drama on the Quartermaines.
Disney/Bahareh Ritter
Van Etten: All the above! Moreover, the heartbreaking activity of bidding goodbye to Bobbie [Spencer, Jacklyn Zeman]; seeing Fortunate and Lulu reunited with Laura [Collins, Genie Francis], their households, and loves; Anna getting her groove again; [Hamilton] Finn’s [Michael Easton] spiral and redemption; increasing the Scorpio household and giving Robert [Scorpio, Tristan Rogers] and Holly [Sutton, Emma Samms] their Casablanca second; something Heather [Webber, Alley Mills], every part Tracy [Quartermaine, Jane Elliot]; watching Rena Sofer [Lois Cerullo] and Amanda Setton [Brook Lynn Ashton] develop their on-screen mother-daughter relationship.
The GH followers are very engaged on-line. Do you try the posts?
Van Etten: I don’t, however there are a couple of trusted followers in my circle who’re glad to offer me their two cents when solicited — and infrequently when not. [Winks]
Disney/Christine Bartolucci
What does it imply to you each to be writing a present that has been on the air for over 60 years?
Korte and Van Etten: It’s an unimaginable accountability. We should honor the present’s historical past and the viewers’s love for it, in addition to the work of all those that preceded us — all whereas creating new story to problem and develop its characters. We’re privileged to put in writing for such a gifted solid, lots of whom have embodied their roles for many years. It’s humbling. We work day by day to earn and keep the belief of our viewers and colleagues.
Basic Hospital, Weekdays, ABC, Verify Native Listings