I’ve
had the opportunity to work on four different Soap Operas, "Passions,"
"Days of Our
Lives," "Sunset Beach" and a recurring role on "The Bold and
the Beautiful." General Hospital
is one Soap I grew up watching and always wanted to be on. I would race
home from High School everyday to watch the show with my mom. And wouldn’t
you know, I’ve been on every Soap that tapes in Los Angeles except General
Hospital. I was offered a part on that show once but it was taping the
next day and I missed the phone call because I was at an audition and didn’t
check my messages. To this day, I still kick myself over that. Hopefully
someday I’ll get the chance to work on it.
Working on the Soaps, I’ve seen incredibly talented actors that were starring on a particular show and I’ve also seen lousy actors. Sometimes I wonder how they ever got hired.
Deidre Hall is a phenomenal actress. I worked on “Days of Our Lives” just after the last big Los Angeles earthquake back in 1994. We were still having aftershocks quite frequently and in the studios you have lots of sets around you and many lights above you. So, to play it safe Deidre was walking around with a hard hat on. She would take it off to tape a scene but it was always within arms reach and as soon as the scene was over, on went the hard hat.
Then I saw another actress and star on a different Soap that was quite the opposite. First she couldn’t remember her lines. She kept apologizing but there is no excuse because that’s what she’s getting paid the big bucks for and every time she blows it, it costs the show money because they have to keep going back on until she gets it right. And time is money, big money with these shows. The sad thing is, I was told she did that all the time.
This actress had some crying to do but she couldn’t cry. So they blew something in her eyes that would cause her eyes to tear up after a minute or so. That way she could start her scene and then in the middle of the scene it would look like she was crying. The problem is, you can’t lie to the camera. On tape you could see the tears but it looked so phony because nothing was going on inside of her. She wasn’t really feeling anything and even though the tears were there, it looked fake.
Here’s how it’s set up in the studio where they tape a show. When you walk in, there are different sets on your right and on your left with the center pretty much empty. Think of it like a city street. As you drive down the street you see one shop after the other side by side on your right and a whole different set of shops on your left. That’s how it is with the Soap’s. If you were to walk down the center of the sound stage, on your right you may see a restaurant set and next to that would be living room set and next to that a police station set and on and on. Then on your left side would be a bunch of other sets used in the show all side by side. They tape an entire show each day using three cameras. The boom mics are above the heads of the actors just out of the camera’s view.
I
had the opportunity to be on "Days of our Lives" twice, four times,
playing a doctor, on "The Bold and the Beautiful," two episodes of
"Passions" and one episode of
"Sunset Beach" at NBC on stage 11, a show that has now been
cancelled. I'll tell you about my day when I worked on "Sunset
Beach."
My scene was with a couple of the stars, Cole and AJ. My make up call was at 7:30am and so I arrived at 7:20am so I’d have time check in and find my dressing room.
After make up, I went to the wardrobe department to see what exactly they wanted me to wear. They decided I should be casual but dressed nice and had me wear a sports coat with an open collar shirt.
Once I was ready to go, I just waited until they called me. I decided to go into stage 11 where we’d be filming to see what was going on. Not much was happening, they were just setting up and getting ready for the day, so I decided to get some coffee and something to eat. Just outside of the sound stage, in another room they have craft services, a place with lots of food and drinks for the actors and crew. After getting a few things, I decided to go back to my dressing room and relax.
A short time after I got to my dressing room, I was called on the intercom system and asked to report to stage 11 for blocking with the director. This was dry blocking with just the director and all the actors in the scene. The director had us read through the scene and walk through the blocking as he gave it to us. Once my scene was blocked, I was told to just hang out until it was time to tape.
Rather then go back to my dressing room, I decided to go hang out with the extras so I’d have someone to talk to. While in there, over the intercom system, I was asked to go back to make up. Since I was wearing an open shirt they wanted to put make up on my chest and since my hands would probably be seen more then usual in this scene, they decided to put make up on them as well.
It was about 9am when I got the call to come on back to the studio to tape the scene. I walked on over and everyone was there, the actors, the extra’s and the crew. A prop guy came over and handed me the props that I would be using in the shot and we did a dress rehearsal for the cameras. During the dress rehearsal, the camera men set their shots, the extra’s are told what they need to do and it gives us actors one more rehearsal before the real thing.
Once everything was ready, it was time to tape. The director and producers are in the control booth watching everything through the eyes of the camera. They don’t usually come out on set very often. If they have notes, they usually use the speaker system in the studio. Sometimes if an actors not getting it and the director wants to talk to the actor privately so as to not embarrass them in front of everyone, then they’ll come on out to the set.
On set, there’s the stage manager with a head set that is the mediator between the actors and the director. Sometimes they'll give the actors notes for the director. If there are any problems or questions from the actors, then the Stage Manager talks to the director on the headset to get it solved. He also directs the extra’s, does the count down to start taping and cues us on our entrances during taping.
In the scene I was in, the stars had about four pages of dialogue before I entered. The scene took place at a bar in a nightclub. The actors started the scene and I was on the set but off camera waiting to get my cue so that I could make my entrance. I was given the cue, made my entrance brilliantly, (I’m a little bias) and did the scene. It went well.
Normally, that would have been it. But in this case, there was a problem and the director needed to do a pick up. So we went back a couple of pages to the middle of the scene and started over there. Once again I waited for my cue and then made my entrance and did the scene one last time. Again, it went great.
They all thanked me and said I was done. I signed out with the stage manager, returned my costume, signed my contract up in the production office and was out of there by 9:30am. Another fun day in Hollywood!
It’s always a thrill anytime I’m able to work on a television set. And soon, I hope it to be General Hospital.
"Wunnerful, wunnerful!"
I had a great time
in BRANSON working at the Lawrence Welk Theater. That's the..
