Tuesday, October 28, 2008

As the World Turns Backstage Tour

Yesterday morning, bright and early my photographer and I hopped into a car service (since no taxi driver in his right mind would take us) and headed deep into the bowels of Brooklyn to film a segment on the CBS soap opera AS THE WORLD TURNS.

We met up with Terri Colombino who plays Katie Peretti on the show and had her give us a backstage tour. They have two stages they film on - each filled sets of different rooms, restaurants, and shops. Each had three walls that looked just like a living room or kitchen or coffee shop - with a fourth open wall to film through. It was kind of like walking through a furniture store. I don't know why--I'm usually pretty jaded!--but it struck me as immensely cool. Like a little world existing on a soundstage. They had a huge wardrobe room, filled with outfits - including wedding dresses, of course! (Terri's character has been married six times during her ten years on the show - though only to five guys, she pointed out, since one lucky man got to walk down the aisle with her twice.) I especially loved the prop room - where each character had a basket filled with personal items. Terri rummaged through hers and found her alter-ego's fertility pills from when she'd been trying to get pregnant.


As the World Turns

As the World Turns

As the World Turns

As the World Turns


It was especially cool to tour As the World Turns in particular because my step-grandmother has worked on the show for the last thirty something years. She plays Kim Hughes, a member of one of the original families on the show. Unfortunately she wasn't filming the day we were there - it would have been so thrilling to see her at work! But I'm glad at least I had a chance to check out where she spends her days.

All in all, I found it a fascinating experience - to see how a soap opera works behind the scenes. I'd love to someday write for one. I think that would be the best job ever. I'll post the segment when it airs on Better TV, of course!

Marianne

1 comment:

Leanna Renee Hieber said...

Every time I walk on a TV set I'm still surprised and excited to see how it all works. One of these days I'll get really used to it, but for now, it's just plain cool. I love how they cram like 100,000 lighting fixtures just over the tops of the sets, and then there's the rest of the open sound-stage beyond, like two separate worlds, all in some vague warehouse.