Richard Culliton

Richard Culliton is an American television writer known for his work on soap operas. He has won three Writers Guild of America Awards, including one as a Head Writer and one Daytime Emmy Award. He is an alumnus of Northwestern University. His wife, Carolyn Culliton, is also a veteran writer for soap operas.

Early career

Culliton began his television career in the early 1980s writing for the NBC Daytime's "Texas", and then serving as Co-Head Writer for CBS Daytime's "Guiding Light" from 1983 - 1984.

After this, he served as Head Writer of "Another World" from 1984 - 1985. The characters of Marley Hudson and Wallingford were created during his tenure. In the late 1980s, Culliton returned to the writing staff of "Guiding Light".

Culliton then joined the writing staff of "Santa Barbara"; he was a script writer and story editor when the writing team won a Daytime Emmy Award in 1991. After this, he joined ABC Daytime's "All My Children" from 1991 - 1993 under the leadership of Megan McTavish and Felicia Minei Behr.

Mid to late 1990s

He kept very busy in the late 1990s. He served as Head Writer of "As the World Turns" in 1995, and received a Daytime Emmy nomination. A major storyline of his at that show was a medical malpractice storyline wherein Lisa Grimaldi blamed Dr. John Dixon for her husband Eduardo Grimaldi's death. The storyline received considerable critical acclaim.Fact|date=August 2008

He moved on as Head Writer of "General Hospital" from October 1996 to May 1997. He received a Daytime Emmy nomination for his time on GH. At the behest of ABC Daytime, he created the "General Hospital" spin-off "Port Charles" along with his wife Carolyn, and served as Head Writer with her for the first few months of the show's run.

Culliton returned to "Another World" as Head Writer from December 1997 to May 1998. From May 1998 to July 1998, he served as Co-Head Writer with Jean Passanante on AW. 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 as a breakdown writer until the its cancellation in June 1999.

Culliton then joined the writing staff of "Sunset Beach". After taking a short break, he briefly joined the writing team of "Days of our Lives" as a script writer.

2000 and beyond

In September 2001, Culliton returned to "All My Children", replacing Jean Passanante as Head Writer. 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. His more popular decisions were creating characters Frankie Stone (in 2001) and Maggie Stone (in January 2002)cite news|title=Hendrickson To Return as "Maggie" |publisher=soapcentral.com|accessdate=2007-08-12|url=http://www.soapcentral.com/amc/news/2002/0114-hendrickson.php] and bringing back character Kendall Hart (originated by Sarah Michelle Gellar, and currently portrayed by Alicia Minshew) in January 2002. Culliton was fired in December 2002.cite news|url=http://www.soapcentral.com/amc/news/2002/1028-culliton.php |title=Culliton Out As AMC's Head Writer|publisher=soapcentral.com|accessdate=2007-08-12] Despite this, he was nominated for Daytime Emmy Award in 2002 and 2003.

In 2006, Culliton rejoined the writing staff of "As the World Turns" as a dialogue writer. He was recently fired from ATWT.

Writers Guild Awards

Culliton won the Writers Guild of America Award for Daytime Serials in 1998 for "General Hospital", where he served as Head Writer the previous year. Previously, he had also won this award in 1992 when part of the writing staff of "Santa Barbara" won. 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 script writer 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.

Positions held

"All My Children"
*Head Writer: September 6 2001 - December 10 2002
*Breakdown Writer: 1991 - 1993 (hired by Wisner Washam)

"Another World"
*Head Writer: March 1984 - June 1984, December 1997 - May 1998
*Co-Head Writer: July 1984 - January 1985, May 1998 - July 1998
*Breakdown Writer: 1985, July 1998 - June 25 1999
*Script Writer: 1986

"As the World Turns"
*Script Writer: August 11 2006 - January 24 2008, April 18 2008 - July 22, 2008
*Head Writer: Winter 1995 - 1996

"Days of our Lives"
*Script Writer: 2001, October 2008 - present

"General Hospital"
*Head Writer: October 1996 - May 1997

"Guiding Light"
*Script Writer: 1987 - 1990
*Co-Head Writer: 1983 - 1984

"Port Charles"
*Head Writer: June 1 1997 - December 1997

"Santa Barbara"
*Script Editor: 1990 - 1991
*Script Writer: 1990 - 1991

"Sunset Beach" (hired by Meg Bennett)
*Script Writer: 1999

"Texas"
*Script Writer: 1980-1982

HW History

References