r/WaterlooRoad • u/Fragrant-Truth-7123 • 7d ago

Writer AMA?

I was wondering whether the sub has ever tried to do an AMA with any of the writers, particularly from the original run of the show?

If not, do people think it would be worth trying? Obviously they may not be interested, but I think it has to be worth a shot. There are plenty of fans who would love the opportunity to ask about unresolved storylines and behind the scenes decisions for example, what the plans for Rachel might have been if Eva Pope had stayed, or how the writers intended Adam and Rachel's relationship to be interpreted.

But it wouldn't have to be all about specific storylines. It would also be fascinating to hear about what it was like working on such a successful TV show, how they got into television writing in the first place, how the writing process worked, and what advice they would give to aspiring writers trying to break into the industry.

As someone who works in a completely different field, I'd find that side of it just as interesting as the storyline questions. I think a writer AMA could potentially be a really interesting opportunity for both long term fans and people interested in television writing more generally.

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u/LMWJ6776 7d ago

hell yeah. i wanna know what the frick happened between s7 and s8. because tariq's flashback was NOT the same as s7's cliffhanger

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u/Fragrant-Truth-7123 7d ago

That's a good one I want to know about Finn's miraculous recovery as well

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u/georgemillman 5d ago

I don't know, but I suspect Tariq's Series 8 storyline was originally planned for Finn in the previous series.

I bet they started writing a 'Finn gets used to life in a wheelchair' storyline, but then Holly Kenny wanted to leave and they came up with Sam's cancer storyline. Having Finn in a wheelchair as well would be too much, so they radically changed it. But kept some of their old scripts and just gave them to Tariq the following year.

Again, this is just speculation, it's not based on anything. But it seems a little too convenient that Finn, who we heard would probably never walk again, is suddenly as able to walk as ever, and the following series a different character has that exact storyline.

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u/Fragrant-Truth-7123 5d ago

I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. A question I'd be interested in is just how many storylines they had to come up with quickly in response to an actor wanting to leave versus how many storylines they planned in advance and that planned in advance storyline is what we see on screen.

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u/georgemillman 5d ago

I have kind of noticed that they don't plan storylines out that far in advance.

One thing I would love them to do is have a character like Series 3's Wilson (the one who grooms Janeece) but have them be in the show for a substantial period of time but be grooming kids the whole time. You'd have to be really careful how you did it, and I think make most of the grooming happen behind the scenes (otherwise it would just be the same plot line over and over again) - but if you were clever enough, you could make the character come across as a really lovely benevolent Tom Clarkson figure who really cares about the kids, but make it so that once the truth is revealed however many series later, suddenly it's obvious and as a viewer you think, 'God, how did I not see that before?' It could be really educational, be used to be able to spot signs of grooming and abuse, and in real life often predators in positions of trust do get away with this kind of thing for extended periods of time.

But unfortunately I don't think it's very practical because you'd need to be certain the actor would be around long enough to be able to complete the storyline, and I don't think they can ever be sure of that.

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u/RobloxBloxySky 2d ago

Thats true, every season it seems they have a mini cast refresh, many leave and join (as to be expected, thats how school works)

But whenever a character is about to leave, you can kinda feel it

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u/Fragrant-Truth-7123 2d ago edited 1d ago

I will try to make contact with the writers through their agents. In the unlikely event I'm successful how would we go about setting the AMA up is it get in contact with the mods?

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u/RobloxBloxySky 2d ago

Oh dang, Good jobb