Jump Start

DAYS’s Head Writer, Ron Carlivati, Gives The Inside Scoop On Daytime’s Hottest Twist

- Stephanie Sloane

Soap Opera Digest: Let’s talk about the time jump. Tell me about the inception and the execution and getting it approved.

Ron Carlivati: So the inception of the time jump really goes back years before my time on DAYS OF OUR LIVES. I have had the kernel of this idea for a very long time, the idea of moving ahead in time so that things have changed and you, the audience, become aware of what happened and wonder, “How did we get here?” It’s something I thought of back when I was writing ONE LIFE TO LIVE. I pitched it then and it did not get approved. And I pitched it again at GENERAL HOSPITAL and it did not get approved. What I got back as the feedback was, “Look, it’s a high-concept thing. It’s not a typical thing that we do in daytime; it’s outside of the norm.” I get that there’s some hesitation. But the feedback that I got was, “The audience is going to feel like they missed something.” My response is, “Exactly. That’s the whole point. The whole point is the fun that things have changed and you have to watch to see what they are and then slowly find out how did they get that way.” My intention is always to fill in the time.

Digest: So we will see what happened during the year that passed?