Richard Culliton
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Richard Culliton is an American television writer known for his work on soap operas. He has won three Writers Guild of America awards -- including once as a headwriter -- and one Daytime Emmy award. He is an alumnus of Northwestern University. His wife, Carolyn Culliton, is also a veteran writer for American soap operas.
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[edit] Early career
Culliton began his television career in the early 1980s writing for the soap Texas and then co-head-writing, in 1983, the CBS soap Guiding Light (incidentally, the longest running drama in the history of American radio and television broadcasting, having started on radio in 1937). This writing for Guiding Light, with Pam Long as headwriter, included the early period of the friendship between the "Four Musketeers" characters (Phillip, Beth, Rick, and Mindy).
After this, he served as head writer of Another World from 1984 - 1985. The characters of Marley and Wallingford were created during his tenure. In the late 1980s, Culliton returned to the writing staff of Guiding Light for awhile.
Then he served in the writing staff of the soap Santa Barbara; he was a script writer and editor when the writing team won a Daytime Emmy in 1991. After this he served in the writing staff of the ABC soap All My Children from 1991-1993 under the leadership of Megan McTavish and Felicia Minei Behr.
[edit] Mid to Late 1990s
He kept very busy in the late 1990's. He was one of the headwriters for As The World Turns in 1995, and received a Daytime Emmy nomination for it. A major storyline of his at that show was a medical malpractice storyline wherein the character Lisa blamed the character Dr. John Dixon for her husband Eduardo Grimaldi's death. He moved on to head-write General Hospital from the summer of 1996 up to May or June 1997. He received a Daytime Emmy nomination for his headwriting of this series as well. In 1997, he created the General Hospital spin-off soap Port Charles along with his wife Carolyn, and co-head-wrote it with her for a few months, before being fired.
Then from late 1997 to early July 1998, he was headwriter again (as he had been in 1984-1985) for Another World. This was a period of turmoil for the show, with the NBC network demanding significant cast firings. However, Culliton still successfully returned longtime character Cass Winthrop to the frontburner, and brought back the character Marley Love. Culliton stayed with the show until its cancellation in 1999, but from summer 1998 onwards was only a breakdown writer rather than headwriter.
Then he served in the writing staff of Sunset Beach for a few months. Then after taking a short break he briefly joined the writing team of Days of our Lives as a dialogue writer.
[edit] 2000 & Beyond
In the summer of 2001 All My Children head writer Jean Passanante was fired and headed to CBS' As the World Turns after creating many unpopular stories on AMC. All My Children needed a new head writer, and Culliton was chosen to take on this job. After a drug pushing storyline (which was actually started by Passanante) dragged on too long, some fans became frustrated at the show's slow pace. One of his more popular decisions was bringing back the character Kendall Hart (originated by Sarah Michelle Gellar, and currently played by Alicia Minshew) in early 2002. He was fired, however, as head writer in late 2002, and two members of his writing staff took on writing duties for about 4 months until Megan McTavish take over in July 2003. Despite this, he was nominated for Daytime Emmy Awards in 2002 & 2003.
In the summer of 2006, Culliton rejoined the writing staff of As The World Turns, as a dialogue writer.
[edit] Writers Guild Awards
Culliton won the Writers Guild of America Award for Daytime Serials in 1998 for General Hospital, where he been headwriter the previous year. Previously, he had also won this award in 1992 when part of the writing staff of Santa Barbara the previous year. In 2007, he won the award again, as part of the writing staff of As The World Turns the previous year; indeed, he didn't just happen to be on the staff, but had been the credited scriptwriter for one of the three scripts submitted by As The World Turns to be judged for the award. He was also nominated for this award in 1989 as part of the writing staff of Guiding Light the previous year, in 1994 as part of the writing staff of All My Children the previous year, and in 2002 as part of the writing staff of Days of Our Lives the previous year.
[edit] Positions Held
- Head Writer (September 6, 2001 - December 10, 2002)
- Associate Head Writer (1991 - 1993)
- Head Writer (March 1984-June 1984, December 1997-May 1998)
- Co-Head Writer (July 1984-January 1985, May 1998-July 1998)
- Associate Head Writer (1985, July 1998-June 25th 1999)
- Script Writer (1986)
- Script Writer (August 11, 2006 - Present)
- Head Writer (1994-1996)
- Script Writer (2001)
- Head Writer (1996-1997)
- Script Writer (1987-1990)
- Co-Head Writer (1983-1984)
- Co-Head Writer (June 1, 1997 - late 1997)
- Script Editor/Writer (1990-1991)
- Script Writer (1999)
- Writer
| Preceded by Carolyn Culliton |
Co-Head Writer of Guiding Light (with Pamela K. Long) 1983-1984 |
Succeeded by Jeff Ryder (with Pamela K. Long) |
| Preceded by Dorothy Ann Purser |
Head Writer of Another World (from July 1984, with Gary Tomlin) March 1984-January 1985 |
Succeeded by Gary Tomlin |
| Preceded by Juliet Law Packer, Richard Backus |
Head Writer of As the World Turns January 1994-January 1996 |
Succeeded by Henry Stern Stephen Black |
| Preceded by Robert Guza Jr. Karen Harris |
Head Writer of General Hospital (with Karen Harris) September 1996-June 1997 |
Succeeded by Janet Iacobuzio, Christopher Whitesell |
| Preceded by none |
Co-Head Writer of Port Charles (with Carolyn Culliton) June 1997-October 1997 |
Succeeded by Lynn Marie Latham |
| Preceded by Michael Malone |
Head Writer of Another World (from May 1998 with Jean Passanante) December 1997-July 1998 |
Succeeded by Jean Passanante, Leah Laiman |
| Preceded by Jean Passanante |
Head Writer of All My Children September 2001-December 2002 |
Succeeded by Gordon Rayfield Anna Cascio |
