Jill Farren-Phelps

Phelps studied at Carnegie Mellon University, where she received a BFA in directing. She stage-managed at New Jersey's McCarter Theater before becoming a production assistant for various New York stage productions, including shows directed by Mike Nichols and Bob Fosse. She began her television career in 1974 as a production assistant on Guiding Light (1952). From 1977-84 Phelps became an Emmy Award-winning music director on the ABC Daytime drama General Hospital (1963). In 1984 she joined Santa Barbara (1984) where she ultimately rose to the position of executive producer. During her tenure the show garnered three consecutive Emmy Awards for Outstanding Drama Series. From 1991-95 Phelps returned to her first stomping grounds, taking the helm of the longest-running Daytime soap Guiding Light (1952) where viewers riled several of her casting decisions. Then, she served as executive producer of Another World (1964) where she split viewers opinions but along with the creation of a dynamic new opening and innovative new sets she managed to achieve a sharp ratings increase. Afterwards Phelps returned to ABC Daytime serving as executive producer of One Life to Live (1968) from December 1997 through December 2000 before switching to General Hospital (1963) in the same capacity where she stayed till January 2012, making it one of the longest tenures of an executive producer in all of daytime television. The show received numerous Emmy awards - but after an initial ratings upswing suffered a dramatic loss of viewers during the middle and end of her tenure. She was quickly hired by Sony Pictures though to oversee teen family drama Hollywood Heights (2012) and eventually got installed as executive producer of the number one daytime soap The Young and the Restless (1973).