Casiello has been with Y&R since 2009 and held writing positions at ATWT, OLTL, and Days, as well as interning at Another World. He was also a contributor to Sam Ford's "The Survival of Soap Opera" (review coming soon!). During the 2008 writers strike, Casiello became a fan favorite in the soap community after starting a blog discussing soaps and his experiences as a writer and a fan.
That's when I discovered Casiello - his blog and subsequent interviews on various podcasts allowed fans to get a glimpse at what goes on behind the scenes at their favorite shows. No juicy gossip or snarky b*tching, just an explanation of things from the perspective of a soap industry insider. He humanized TPTB (shaming me into not calling them "TIIC" anymore), making it clear that everyone wants what's best for our shows. During one interview, Casiello explained a story decision that was made for Days' Hope (I've forgotten the exact story/plot), and while I still didn't like it, I finally understand why it was done and that TPTB weren't "dumb" for doing it but in fact had a good reason for going in that direction. While the details of that interview are vague, one thing has stayed with me - that I should try to see things from TPTB's perspective instead of demonizing them.
Through his blog posts, interviews, tweets and facebook comments Casiello has proven himself to be not only a talented writer, but a thoughtful, kind and fair minded human being. Casiello has a love of the genre and a genuine affection and respect for the fans, and that was appreciated by all of us. While I'll be sad to see him leave the daytime soap world, I wish him much success in his future endeavors!
**Btw, one particularly awesome blog post of Casiello's was Soap-Opera Writing 101. If you want to write for soaps or are just curious about the process, I highly recommend you check this out. It's a step by step example of how it's done (using an aired Sami/EJ scene as a guide). Read it here.
Update: Since this was posted, it has been announced that Tom Casiello has been hired as part of the WWE writing team. Good Luck Tom!
-Melanie/SoapOperaBabble/daisyclover
