Janice Ferri

Janice Ferri Esser has been writing scripts for "The Young & the Restless" since 1989. Prior to that, she worked in advertising as an art director, senior market research analyst and award-winning direct response television copywriter. Early in her tenure at "Y&R," Ferri freelanced a book for Chicago-area nonprofit HIVCO, the HIV Coalition. "There Is Hope: Learning to Live with HIV," published in 1993, went into three editions; excerpts are still available to read online. Her research on HIV/AIDS was used in several relevant storylines on "Y&R" and figured into the show's winning the TV Cares Ribbon of Hope Award for AIDS Awareness and Education in 1997. Ferri also contributed research used in a prominent domestic violence storyline. After writing scripts for many years, Ferri was promoted to Script Editor. She married Robert Esser in 2006 and her on-air credit changed to Janice Ferri Esser. In spring of 2007, she left "Y&R" and moved over to sister show "The Bold and the Beautiful" (1987) where she worked as a scriptwriter and story consultant. For several months in 2008, she wrote for both "Y&R" and "B&B" concurrently before going back over to Y&R full-time as a scriptwriter. Ferri Esser has won six Daytime Emmy Awards and five Writers Guild of America Awards for her work with the "Y&R" writing team.