Laurie McCarthy interview

American TV scriptwriter, Laurie McCarthy (90210, CSI, Windfall), interviewed by Denis Faye for the Writers Guild of America, west.

Did working in soaps help you as a writer?

It gives you really good muscles in terms of breaking stories, but I think sometimes the execution of the stories [on daytime drama] is slipshod and very hastily done. It has to be because they're facing five hours of television a week, 52 weeks a year. They don't give it that much care… If you do that too long it becomes a habit. I didn't do it that long, and I learned from really good people how to be more meticulous.