Page 645 - Demo

Brooklyn, ______ im cAt Brooklyn%u2019s NBC Studios, Business Is %u2018Another W orld%u2019BY TRACY GARRITYIt%u2019s raining in Bay City. Sheets of waterwash down the windows of the Cory Housewith a soft hiss. Rachel and Mitch arguetersely over their son Matthew until Feliciaand Quinn are shown into the room. %u201cIs itraining out?%u201d asks Rachv.!, as several setsof fingers point to the rain-flecked window.%u201cNo, I mean in real life.%u201d No one knows theanswer because this is not real life. This is%u201cAnother World%u201d and Bay City %u2014 thesprawling Chicago suburb that is home tothe Corys, the Loves, the McKinnons, andmillions of daytime television viewers %u2014has been built into an airy room on the firstfloor of the NBC studio in Midwood,Brooklyn.In fact, Brooklyn is basking in crisp fallsunshine as the rain falls inside the studio.It was damp and cloudy on Tuesday whenmost of the actors arrived at 7am to runlines for the day%u2019s taping, foreshadowingthe Bay City weather, and some of themwon%u2019t get out before dark to enjoy the %u201creallife%u201d weather. Bay City is their work-a-dayworld, controlled by a veritable army oftechnicians, producers and directors whokeep the studio humming from take to cut,creating a realistic fantasy from roughhewn boards, well-used furniture, and acast of characters who run into moremishaps than Job.%u201cThe show has changed a lot over theyears,%u201d says producer Karen Stevens. %u201cWeare trying to reach out for a different audience, but still keep our old audience happy.%u201d Stevens has worked on %u201cAnotherWorld%u201d in several capacities for roughly adecade and is now responsible for the dayto-day production of the daytime drama.%u201cI think all soaps have changed,%u201d shesays. %u201cWhen I started here, the stories tooka lot longer to finish. Our audience is influenced by the nighttime dramas wherethe action moves quickly. They want thesame from us.%u201d One thing hasn%u2019t changed,however. %u201cThey still want romance. Theywant to know who is in love with whom andwho%u2019s cheating. You can have a shootoutevery week, but nothing will ever take theplace of romance.%u201dCHEATING HEART DEPARTMENTThe romance department on the show %u2014or more appropriately the cheating heartdepartment %u2014 has been roguishly handledby Steve Schnetzer, who now plays thereformed cad, Cass Winthrop. WhenSchnetzer joined the show four and a halfyears ago, Cass was a womanizer, the sortof man women long to write about in theirmemoirs, but someone who never staysaround long enough to finish the chapter.Cass%u2019s libido has been calmed down overthe past year as the story line has linkedhim to Kathleen McKinnon (Julie Osborn),a bring-home-to-mother-type character.%u201cLove has ruined Cass,%u201d he sighs, sitting inhis dressing room and waiting for a call tothe set that probably won%u2019t come until earlyafternoon.%u201cHe%u2019s easier to play this way,%u201d saysSchnetzer, %u201cbecause I really had to act tocome on to the number of women the scriptcalled for. But good characters have a shortlife on these shows. It%u2019s easier now becauseI%u2019m really not a cad.%u201dAlthough Schnetzer does have some inputinto what happens to Cass, his ultimatefuture is up to the writing staff, currentlyheaded by Maggie DePriest. She is theninth head writer since Schnetzer joined theshow in what is a high turnover business %u2014especially when you%u2019re reaching for a newand different audience.BEST COMBINATION WE%u2019VE HAD%u201cI%u2019m hoping they%u2019ll bring an edge back tohim,%u201d says Schnetzer of Cass. %u201cI think thenew writers and the new executive producer are the best combination we%u2019ve hadsince I%u2019ve been here. People aren%u2019t all goodor bad, and I think they realize that.%u201dThe fact is that on most soaps charactersare defined as good or bad, and %u201cAnotherWorld%u201d has had its share of nasties. According to Stevens, the writers are now lookingto add some spice to female characters%u2019personalities. %u201cWe have developed some%u2022#****(Brooklyn,Inc/Kirk Photo) Brooklyn.lnc/Kirk Photo(Brooklyn,Inc/Kirk Photo) (Brooklyn,Inc/Kirk Photo)very st ong male characters,%u201d she says.%u201cAnd now we are going to start working onthe women again.%u201d Rachel Cory, in fact,was something of a Queen Bitch when shestarted on the show, but has reformed tobecome one of the Queen Bees. %u201cWe%u2019vehad other characters with an edge,%u201d saysStevens. %u201cAnd there will be more soonenough.\While the cast relaxes upstairs in dressing rooms, or in make-up chairs as they aretransformed into their characters, the reallife-blood of the studio is occurring severalfloors beneath them on the set. A smallhandful of actors pace around the Corydrawing room waiting for the director tosignal them. A short line and blockingrehearsal is followed by a taping, andusually another taping, but the actionmoves quickly. Unlike weekly shows ormovies, the actors must get the show in thecan quickly so that tomorrow%u2019s shooting canbegin. There is still time, however, forsmall conferences to get the characterizations down pat.%u201cDo I have the body language righthere?%u201d asks Bill Espry (Mitch) draping aprotective arm around Daniel Dale whoplays Matthew Cory. %u201cHe%u2019s just met me.Would I act like this?%u201d In the next take,Espry holds off a little on the affection, andthe scene works.%u201cMake-up,%u201d calls Victoria Wyndom(Rachel Cory), and a make-UD artist rushesover to powder her nose and re-applylipstick for the next scene. She pushes upthe sleeve of her blouse only to have it falldown again. %u201cWhat is this?%u201d she points toC on tinu ed on P a g e 22Page 21, The Phoenlx/Brooklyn.lnc Section Two, September 18,1986