Head Case

Chris Van Etten Traces His Path From GH Fan To Co-Head Writer

- Mara Levinsky

When Jean Passanante retired this summer, Chris Van Etten was named as the show’s new co-head writer (he’ll be working alongside Shelly Altman). It’s the first head-writing gig for the longtime viewer and writing team member, who discussed his ascension with Digest.

Soap Opera Digest: When did you first get into soaps as a viewer?

Chris Van Etten: I’ve been a fan since I was too young to have been a fan. My earliest recollection of soaps is watching them on a family reunion vacation when I was a kid with my Aunt Joan, a big GENERAL HOSPITAL fan. I remember Anna being held in a cage guarded by a Doberman named Satan with Grant Putnam. It was so riveting that I couldn’t look away. That was a beach vacation, but I spent every afternoon up in the condo watching GENERAL HOSPITAL. Then I became a ONE LIFE TO LIVE fan; I remember Tina, played by Andrea Evans, being in direct conflict with Cord’s mother [Maria], and that also riveted me.

Digest: Did you aspire to a career in soaps as you came of age?

Van Etten: Well, as I got older and was in high school, I made no secret of my fandom as a soap viewer, but I wanted to be an actor. I didn’t know how people became soap opera writers; it just seemed like a magic job. But it was not unknown to my friends and the faculty at my high school that I was a soap fan. In fact, I took an AP history class and before the school year ended, for that three or four weeks that we had leftover between taking the final and the end of school, my teacher — who was also a GENERAL HOSPITAL fan — let us bring in movies. One day it was my turn and I forced the entire class of 10 or 15 students to watch the GENERAL HOSPITAL GREATEST WEDDINGS video, hosted by Jackie Zeman [Bobbie] and Brad Maule [ex-Tony]. But I went to New York to go to school to be an actor.