His full birth name was Mark Wayne Sheffer; his nickname of Hogan came from younger brother Craig, who thought he looked like pianist/composer Hoagy Carmichael.
He was in charge of developing screenplays for films like My Dog Skip, Galaxy Quest, Home Fries, and What Lies Beneath.
ATWT's loss in 2003 was blamed on technical difficulties with their Emmy reel, as the clips judges watched had either bad or no sound and were tinted green.
[citation needed] Sheffer's writing style alienated a number of longtime fans of ATWT, who complained that he rewrote characters to suit the purposes of a given storyline.
Some of the veteran actors on the show (most vocally Eileen Fulton who played longtime heroine Lisa Grimaldi) also complained that their characters' airtime diminished dramatically during Sheffer's tenure.
In March 2005, Sheffer took what was referred to a "17-week sabbatical" from ATWT, at which time other writers like Leah Laiman, Christopher Whitesell, and Jean Passanante took over.
Passanante thanked Sheffer for "his big heart and brilliant imagination" and said the entire writing staff at the show would "miss him".
[8] In late July 2012 due to the firings of Maria Arena Bell and Scott Hamner, it was announced that Sheffer's contract was up as of that November, and it wouldn't be extended.