Interview with Lynn Latham: Head Writer, The Young and the Restless

EpilepsyUSA staff
Posted: August 29, 2006

CBS's The Young and the Restless (Y&R) has been the number one daytime program, according to the Nielsen ratings, for more than 17 years. The program has won numerous awards for artistic merit and program excellence. It has received 87 Daytime Emmy Awards, more than any other daytime serial, and has garnered a total of 291 nominations. Y&R has also won the Emmy for "Outstanding Daytime Drama" six times.

The Young and the Restless remains as topical and revolutionary as when it began 33 years and more than 8,000 episodes ago. The show entertains and educates its audience daily on a variety of topics, which have recently included date rape, AIDS, sexual harassment, HIV drug testing, illiteracy, alcoholism, drug addiction, internet predators, foster care, and now, epilepsy.

Lynn Latham recently joined Y&R as head writer. Previously, she co-created and executive produced the series Wild Card and Homefront along with Hotel Malibu and Second Chances on CBS. She also spent two years as head writer for the daytime drama, Port Charles, and wrote Knots Landing for six seasons. She has won the prestigious Writers Guild Award for Best Script and the People's Choice Award, along with countless others.

EpilepsyUSA spoke to Latham about the joys and challenges of writing for Y&R, how she researched and developed the storyline for the recently-aired episodes concerning epilepsy, and what twists and turns we can expect in future stories.

What are you working on right now?

Well, I'm actually not allowed to discuss future story lines of The Young and the Restless, but I can say that I'm continuing with the storyline regarding Victor's epilepsy. It gets confusing sometimes because I'm writing for programs that are about two months from airing on television.

What do you enjoy the most about writings for Y&R?

I really enjoy writing for this particular cast of actors. It's one of the most stellar casts I've ever written for because they can perform anything you throw at them. And this story about epilepsy is very different for the character played by Eric Braeden. I enjoy watching him – and all the others – act the part.

What challenges you about this kind of writing?

Anybody who's a head writer in daytime would say the same thing – writing for five hours of programming every week is incredibly challenging. We've got to make every day fascinating and interesting so the audience wants to tune in and see what happens next.

What or who has influenced you as a writer?

Well, my father – John H. Latham – was a Western writer who wrote and published more than a thousand short stories and seven novels. I grew up around writing and I've never done anything else. Writing for me is like drama. It's usually told in three acts. And believe it or not, my influences are not television or film. I try to write from real life, so my influences are real life. Gary Marshall once said if you write from your imagination, you can write for a year. If you write from real life, you can write for a lifetime. And that's what I believe so I observe a lot.

What was the genesis of the storyline with a character having epilepsy?

The answer may not be what most people would expect. Quite simply, I wanted to find an acting challenge for the actor, Eric Braeden. For the last 25 years, he has played a ruthless and driven character on the program. I wanted to find a condition that could alter his personality. During my research, I found a number of conditions that effect behavior such as epilepsy. So I spoke with a couple of my friends who have epilepsy to ask them what they thought. I was struck by the fact that there are so many different forms of epilepsy, so many different types of seizures. It also intrigued me that people can be affected so differently on so many different levels – medically, socially and emotionally. As a storyteller, that's truly why I chose the condition.

How did you research epilepsy in preparation for writing about it?

I started with one of my closest friends, a doctor. He helped me with almost every phase of researching and writing for the character, including the dialogue. I also went on the Internet and continue to spend a lot of time visiting the website of the Epilepsy Foundation where there is a tremendous amount of great information.

When you have a lot of research material on a subject like epilepsy, you can actually make mistakes. We wanted to portray the character's epilepsy as accurately as possible, but still make the story extremely interesting. If we made mistakes in the portrayal, I apologize. We try very hard not to make mistakes, however. I've always been fascinated by medicine and so is my writing partner, Scott Hamner. We actually wrote together on another medically-oriented show called Port Charles.

What did you learn while researching epilepsy?

It's complicated and often difficult to diagnose. Medications may not work and so surgery may need to be an option. And when you're dealing with temporal lobe epilepsy, you’re affecting the behavior center. And that's why I decided to write about it.

What about your personal experience with epilepsy?

The daughter of a friend had epilepsy and she was very difficult to diagnose. At the age of two, this little girl suddenly could not hear a balloon that popped behind her. She didn't respond at all. Soon, she lost her ability to talk because she couldn't hear. So she started seeing a number of doctors and it took a long time for them to diagnose her condition correctly. In fact, she was having continual seizures and could hear perfectly well. And she eventually had brain surgery. But the diagnosis that led to the surgery took a very long time. I learned from that little girl’s experience that the symptoms of epilepsy can vary from person to person.

What were the reactions of your friends that have epilepsy? Did they see the episode?

I haven't spoken to any of them since the episodes about epilepsy aired, but I certainly received a lot of positive response from viewers. In fact, it's been a hundred percent positive. One woman wrote to CBS because she was very concerned about Victor not using his prescribed medication. The woman said she had a child and felt the character's decision to avoid medication made him a bad role model. We assured the woman that we would make certain to show the viewers, through the character's actions, that avoiding medications would have negative consequences. Ultimately, we want viewers to understand that the character made the wrong decision. We're also going to deal with the stigma associated with epilepsy by showing how other people treat the character in upcoming episodes.

Why did you portray the character with relatively rare symptoms of epilepsy, such as a sense of well-being and hallucinations?

It took a long time for the character of Victor and his family to know that he was having seizures. The same thing happened to many of my friends. As I said before, the diagnosis for a lot of people is not always easy. For some people, there can be a feeling of euphoria as well as a feeling of fear. People with epilepsy who don't experience these symptoms may be upset by the portrayal, but some people have actually experienced them. I also knew that some people who have seizures may appear to be angry or violent, but I chose not to have the character experience those. Quite simply, there are many different seizures and reactions. And while Victor's symptoms are extremely uncommon, they are not impossible to experience.

What might happen to Victor during the next months?

Well, you know I can't give the story away but I'll try to give you some hints. Victor's condition is a challenge not just for Victor but for his entire family, his friends and his colleagues. It may impact his entire company. We want to continue to portray his epilepsy accurately, so he either had to find a way to manage or control his condition, or the doctors will have to find another way to end his seizures. He has to find a way to live his life without seizures – the goal of anyone with epilepsy. Based upon my research, I know that the challenges for someone with epilepsy can be great. For example, you may be limited in driving, and you may be told not to swim or ride horses. These are just a few of the possibilities for the story that we may explore.