Kay Alden
{{short description|American screenwriter}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2015}}
{{Infobox person
| image = Kay_Alden.jpg
| imagesize =
| caption = Alden (left) with daughter, Conci Nelson
| birth_name = Priscilla Kay Alden
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|mf=yes|1946|10|24}}
| birth_place = Hutchinson, Kansas, US
| occupation = Screenwriter
| children = 3
| spouse =
| years_active = 1974–present
}}
Priscilla Kay Alden (born October 24, 1946) is an American television writer and the former head writer for the soap opera, The Young and the Restless.
Career
Alden began writing for The Young and the Restless as a script writer in 1974 while researching her dissertation at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lonna-saunders/chicagos-kay-alden-putting-words-in-other-mouths_b_3386692.html Profile], Huffingtonpost.com. Accessed June 24, 2023. She was promoted to associate head writer in 1987, then to co-head writer in 1997.[https://web.archive.org/web/20130608210240/http://daytimeconfidential.zap2it.com/2013/06/06/huffington-post-charts-kay-aldens-bell-soap-opera-career Career], daytimeconfidential.zap2it.com. Accessed June 24, 2023.
She took over as head writer the following year when series co-creator William J. Bell stepped down from the position. With Alden as head writer, the show lost about two million viewers (most of the loss occurred in 2004 when Alden co-wrote the show with longtime Y&R scribe and producer John F. Smith), but all soap operas during that period experienced a similar scale of massive audience erosion.{{citation needed|date=June 2023}}
She quit The Young and the Restless in late 2006, and was then hired by Brian Frons, president of ABC Daytime, to consult on its serials All My Children, General Hospital and One Life to Live. She left ABC Daytime after declining All My Children's head writer position in Spring 2007, and was hired by Bradley Bell in May 2007 to be an associate head writer for another CBS Daytime drama, The Bold and the Beautiful. On July 18, 2008, it was announced that Alden would be appointed co-head writer of The Bold and the Beautiful in the coming weeks.[http://www.soapcentral.com/bb/news/2008/0721-alden.php Biography], soapcentral.com. Accessed June 24, 2023.
Alden, formerly a member of Writers Guild of America, East, left and maintained financial core status while working for The Bold and the Beautiful during the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike.{{cite web | url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/wga-outs-fi-core-members-109825/ | title=WGA outs fi-core members | website=The Hollywood Reporter | date=April 21, 2008 }}
In 2012, Alden was spotted on the set of The Young and the Restless for the taping of the show's 10,000th episode, leading many to believe she'd re-joined the show as a writer or story consultant.[https://web.archive.org/web/20120829233819/http://www.cbs.com/shows/the_young_and_the_restless/photos/171067/y-r-celebrates-10-000th-episode/171080 "The Young and the Restless celebrates 10,000th episode], cbs.com. Accessed June 24, 2023.
However, this never came to pass. On September 21, 2016, Daytime Confidential reported that after ten years since being with the show, Alden had been hired to be story consultant at Y&R, under Sally Sussman's tenure as Head writer.{{cite web|last1=Giddens|first1=Jamey|url=http://daytimeconfidential.com/2016/09/21/kay-alden-returns-to-the-young-and-the-restless-exclusive|title=Kay Alden Returns to The Young and the Restless as Story Consultant (Exclusive)|date=September 21, 2016|work=Daytime Confidential|publisher=Confidential Media (SAY Media)|accessdate=September 21, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160926000228/http://daytimeconfidential.com/2016/09/21/kay-alden-returns-to-the-young-and-the-restless-exclusive|archive-date=September 26, 2016|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}}
On July 31, 2017, Daytime Confidential announced that both Alden and Sussman would be departing from the show, with Mal Young being named as the new head writer.{{cite web|last1=Giddens|first1=Jamey|title=The Young and the Restless SHOCKER: Sally Sussman and Kay Alden to Retire; Mal Young in as New Head Writer! (EXCLUSIVE)|url=https://daytimeconfidential.com/2017/07/31/sally-sussman-and-kay-alden-quit-young-and-restless|website=Daytime Confidential|publisher=Confidential Media, Inc. (SAY Media)|accessdate=July 31, 2017|location=United States|language=en-us|date=July 31, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170801074043/https://daytimeconfidential.com/2017/07/31/sally-sussman-and-kay-alden-quit-young-and-restless|archive-date=August 1, 2017|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}}
There is a scholarship in Alden's name from Emporia State University, in Emporia, Kansas.
Personal life
She has three children and lives with her husband in Illinois.{{citation needed|date=June 2023}}
Positions held
{{BLP unreferenced section|date=July 2023}}
- Scriptwriter: May 13, 1974–80
- Breakdown writer: 1980–87
- Script editor: 1983–85, 1986–87
- Associate head writer: 1987–97
- Co-head writer: February 14, 1997 –July 3, 1998; February 16 – December 22, 2006
- Head writer: July 6, 1998 – February 15, 2006
- Story Consultant: December 6, 2016 – October 27, 2017
- Story Consultant December 2006 – April 2007
- Story Consultant: December 2006 – April 2007
- Story Consultant December 2006 – April 2007
- Co-head writer: January 2, 2009 – October 2, 2013
- Associate Head Writer: August 13, 2007 – January 28, 2008; April 16, 2008 – December 31, 2008
- Interim Head Writer: February 5, 2008 – April 15, 2008
Head Writing Tenure
{{s-start}}
{{succession box|before=William J. Bell|title=Head Writer of The Young and the Restless
(with William J. Bell: February 14, 1997 – July 3, 1998)
(with John F. Smith: December 23, 2002 – November 10, 2006)
(with Trent Jones: August 21, 2000 – August 5, 2004)
(with Lynn Marie Latham: February 16 – December 22, 2006)
(with Scott Hamner: October 26, 2006 – December 22, 2006)| after= Lynn Marie Latham
Scott Hamner| years=February 14, 1997 – December 22, 2006
}}
{{succession box|
before=WGA Strike|
title=Head Writer of The Bold and the Beautiful|
after= Bradley Bell|
years=February 5 – April 15, 2008
}}
{{succession box|
before=Bradley Bell|
title=Head Writer of The Bold and the Beautiful (with Bradley Bell and Michael Minnis)|
after= Bradley Bell
Michael Minnis|
years=January 2, 2009 – October 2, 2013
}}
{{s-end}}
Awards and nominations
Daytime Emmy Award [https://us.imdb.com/name/nm1003798/awards]{{Dead link|date=April 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
- Nominations, 2008, 2009, Best Writing The Bold and the Beautiful
- Nominations, 1976, 1979, 1986, 1987, 1990–1995, 1997–2001, 2003–2007, Best Writing, The Young and the Restless
- Wins, 1997, 2000, 2006, Best Writing, The Young and the Restless; 2010, Best Writing, The Bold and the Beautiful
Writers Guild of America Award
- Wins, 2002 & 2005, Best Writing, The Young and the Restless
- Nominations, 1999, 2001, 2006, Best Writing, The Young and the Restless
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|1003798}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20080703180855/http://cms.mit.edu/news/2007/05/love_may_not_be_in_the_afterno.php MIT Comparative Media Studies]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20070909002919/http://www.suntimes.com/chicago/know/544387,CST-NWS-this06.article SunTimes]
- {{emmytvlegends name|kay-alden}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alden, Kay}}
Category:American soap opera writers
Category:American women screenwriters
Category:Daytime Emmy Award winners
Category:Writers Guild of America Award winners
Category:People from Hutchinson, Kansas
Category:American women soap opera writers