‘The Young And The Restless’ Head Writer Details Big Changes Soap Made Due To COVID-19
The Young and the Restless shut down production amid the coronavirus pandemic in mid-March, and it resumed shooting new storylines in July. The CBS daytime drama’s head writer and co-executive producer Josh Griffith sat down with Soap Opera Digest recently and detailed many of the considerations and changes the team made due to concerns over COVID-19.
Griffith said that when the show stopped filming new scenes, it had about a month’s worth of storylines already written. However, during the furlough, the production team had to figure out several strategies to use for tweaking the stories in order to allow for new guidelines to help prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.
“There were a lot of adjustments made, taking out physical contact, adjusting scenes so they could be blocked with social distancing in place. It’s working incredibly well in the studio. We’re focusing on the emotions between the characters, and how they can display them without the possibility of contact. It’s heightening the dramatic intensity in the scenes,” he explained.
The head writer also explained that the silver lining in the whole shutdown is that the cast and crew returned to The Young and the Restless with plenty of stories written for the upcoming weeks. They also took the time to examine the characters and storylines so that they were able to figure out the true identity of the sudser, and for Griffith, it was a stimulating process.
How that hard work translates to the small screen remains to be seen, but the soap returns with all-new episodes on Monday, August 10, after several months of special themed weeks repeating some of the best parts of The Young and the Restless history.
While viewers appeared to enjoy the flashbacks, many are excited to see the return of new shows every weekday. Throughout the pandemic, Days of Our Lives, which films several months ahead, never ran out of new episodes.
Both The Bold and the Beautiful and General Hospital already returned with new ones, leaving Y&R the last of the four remaining daytime dramas, and it seems like everybody involved with the soap was ready to return. Griffith explained the feeling from the production crew when it got back into the studio.
“Tears and joy. Not just for me, but for the entire production team. This furlough has been trying for all of us on so many levels. To be able to return to what we all love to do is something we can never take for granted,” he said.
