James Wlcek (Ben Shelby)

Excerpt from the book - An Actor's Guide: Your First Year in Hollywood

by Michael Nicholas

published in 2000

Interview with Jimmy Wlcek

Could you tell me a little about your background?

I got my first agent in 1984 in New York and I didn't get my first gig until 1986, which was a Tales of the Darkside episode. That gave me some confidence. In the meantime, I was always auditioning for commercials - never got one.

In 1987, I auditioned for All My Children. When I met the casting director, she didn't think I had a womanizing quality. She told my agent, but my agent convinced her to let me read for the part, and she liked it. Then I screen tested, and all the feedback was "You did it! You hit your mark!" I was excited. And I thought I got it.

In the end, I didn't get it because I wasn't old enough. I was devastated. I went to Texas to visit my mom and sisters, and I figured I wouldn't bother with acting any more because I was never going to get that close.

When I came back, I got a call saying they sent my tape over to Ryan's Hope, and then they just gave me the role. And that is how I got Ryan's Hope.

So, for instance, if you're auditioning for Day of Our Lives, and they don't take you because you are too young, too old, too blonde, too short, but they liked you and they know somebody in their network is looking to fill a certain role, they'll submit that tape over to that show. So that is how I got Ryan's Hope. It was pretty easy. I just went in there, and they pretty much wanted to give it to me.

At the time, I was working for Keebler Cookies in a New Jersey warehouse loading trucks - mostly graveyard shift. It took me three months to get adjusted to my new job in television and feel like I belonged and deserved getting paid for it. I just felt that I should still be loading trucks.

In the beginning, I just wasn't that good. My confidence was nowhere. Then I got adjusted very well. I love the show, and it's been my favorite experience ever since.

After the show was canceled, One Life to Live created a role for me. I wasn't too happy with One Life to Live. In nine months, I asked to be let go because I was up for another series called True Blue, which was canceled after thirteen weeks. Grant Show got my role. I had to ask to be let go before they would screen test me.

Then I did a play Off-Off-Off-Off Broadway. Eight months later I got As the World Turns and I did that for two years. Then a whole years after that, I came out here to L.A. for pilot season. I've had the chance to do several really good commercials.

If you had a little brother who wanted to start an acting career, what would you tell him about Hollywood?

Well, first I think you've got to give it at least three years. They say if you can get one pilot in three years, you're lucky.

You have to study too. They say that New York actors are usually better actors -- more serious - but I find that untrue, because in any class I've audited or been in out here, the actors are phenomenal and hard-working. So you really have to be in class, and reading play, and doing scenes, and working on your craft very hard.

And don't ever take any rejection personally. You have to be tenacious. You can't let people sidetrack you. There are a lot of people who want to mess your head up and try to discourage you. I had one experience when I was starting out where somebody in a office said, " Why do you want to be an actor? Do you really want to be an actor? " He really wanted to see how much confidence I had with that question. And I think I gave it to him. I didn't back away, saying, " Well, gees, maybe I shouldn't be an actor." You've go to know that you want to do this and that your willing to give what it takes.

Tenacity is the key word. Time and hard work. You can't think that you are going to here and be a star. Think craft. Think, "I just want to be a good actor. How can I grow as an actor." Take each thing as a stepping stone - an episode here, a commercial here, a soap, whether an under-five or a day-player. That all comes with the territory. You can't think, " When am I going to get my next big movie or be on Jay Leno? " Those are few and far between.

The only thing that is really different about Hollywood from New York is the amount of actors. It's just overpopulated with actors in L.A. But I heard someone say recently, "There's not a lot of competition out here, just a lot of people."

At auditions, you see a lot of faces, and a lot of guys better looking than you or taller than you, and you think, "They're going to kick my ass." But really they are some of the worst actors or most unprepared.

So whenever you are at an audition, don't ever get discouraged by somebody seemingly better - better looking than you are, more character-y, taller, or someone trying to psyche you out. Don't let that throw you. It doesn't mean squat.

The big thing is just the amount of people. There are probably six times as many actors here for your part as there are in New York. But this is where you've got to be. With the economy effecting our business so much, they don't fly out to New York looking for actors as much anymore, because they know they have an abundance of actors here. There's no need for the extra expense of money or time. Today, New York is basically theater, soaps, and commercials. That's why I think all the actors are flocking here to L.A.

Do you see any difference between New York agents and California agents?

In New York, if you have soap experience, they love it. That's a strong point. Here, they don't care about your soap work. It doesn't mean squat.

Also, at first, you don't want to be represented by too big an agency that you'll get lost. You want somebody who is going to be a hard worker. I have five years of soap experience on three different soaps, and out here it didn't mean anything. I was shocked. I thought it would be no problem to get an agent. In New York, I got any agent I basically wanted. Out here they want episodic work, they want nighttime experience, and film.

　

Thanks. Too bad he didn't talk a little more about ATWT.

So he didn't get that True Blue show?

So he didn't get that True Blue show?

I guess Grant Show got the part.

I looked up the show and also in the cast were soap actors - John Bolger, Ally Walker, and Darnell Williams. The show aired December 1989 - February 1990.

Some good ads in here - the one with Jill and Charlotte is especially good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0annV18Q-_A

Hi!

I was wondering if anyone here traded soap opera dvds? I am searching for episodes of Ryan's Hope from the years of 1985-1987. If anyone has any episodes (other than what is on Freeflyur's You Tube station, which I already have DVD copies of) that they are willing to trade, please contact me at [email protected]. I know that these years are rare, and would appreciate any help that you could give! I have several other soaps on DVD available for trade, including Another World, Santa Barbara, General Hospital, and Young and Restless.

Also, I have been told that there is a new Facebook group page for soap dvd trading that just started last week. If you have dvds to trade, please feel free to join that group. It can be found under Soap Opera DVD Trading Post on Facebook.

Thanks!

Ell

Catherine Hicks' (Faith #3) post-RH comments from April 1978

This was conducted during Tribute's first stop on it's pre-Broadway run in Boston

　

Soaps

Loren King

　

LK: What do you attribute to Ryan's Hope being such a great show?

　

CH: Talent. The people who conceived it, Claire Labine and Paul Mayer, had a dream, a story, a texture, a feeling for what they wanted the show to be, an Irish Catholic immigrant family, a simple human story. To me, it was often, in its better days, more like the old Playhouse 90, tweed as opposed to polyester.

Claire Labine is a very good writer and she is responsible for many of the superior shows where something special happened. And they consistently hired actors who had theatrical experience and had strong personalities. And they also have a marvelous director, Lela Swift, who has been around for years. The actors care about their work which is why everyone is leaving Ryan's Hope. It is both to it's credit and to it's downfall because the actors who choose Ryan's Hope are doing it as a craft, to learn, to be moved on to other things. They really care about their work as actors, you know, as opposed to making a living and being famous, although, I'm not saying all other soap opera actors are like that.

　

There was a spirit, a chemistry, an excitement about the show. Then it won the four Emmy's and it was like being on the winning team. That's changing a little now, but it will evolve into something else.The energy was strong and people cared about the show and that shows. The energy comes off the tube when you watch it. Other soaps I've visited, where I have friend, there is such a lethargy and a different attitude. Every spare minute on Ryan's Hope was spent running scenes with your partner and talking about the scenes and the characters. People cared, there was pride in your work. It was a real working atmosphere.

　

LK: Do you think the professionalism of Ryan's Hope would dispel the notion that soaps are just garbage? I mean people put down soaps all the time. How do you feel about that?

CH: I think a lot of soaps are to be put down. A lot is just crap. But if there is a good scene, it should be acknowledged, and the work respected.

　

LK: Whenever I really wanted to watch TV at night and there was nothing good on, I always wished Ryan's Hope could be on at night.

　

CH: I really wish they could have done it, for a while they were going to. Families would love it, and men could learn from it. There was a sense of psychological know-how - the writers may have been in therapy - and they would make points about how you mess up and how you live healthily, like when we did the Le Boyer childbirth method or the abortion discussion...

　

LK: Some of those were really excellent.

CH: I think that's where it's special, like a good play somehow hits on it's archetypal themes. And Ryan's Hope, every now and then, would touch on those which people realized because they know something is being exposed that is basic human nature, basic values. And that's what they believe in at Ryan's Hope. It is based on hope, that's their theme.

LK: Another thing that makes it unique is that other soaps are based on despair?

CH: Yes, exactly. In fact the actors had a meeting recently because we thought the show was getting too despair oriented and was getting away from hopeful family scenes. And the writers agreed to change it back to that special quality. The network is taking over more and they're recasting so it's changing. But good things, I don't think, can last forever. It may never happen again but that's O.K. The reason it was so special was because it had to burn out, you know. Good playwrights, sometimes, burn out after five plays.

　

LK: One thing I've always liked, especially about Ryan's Hope, was the good scenes between the women characters. In other soaps, most of the women are really evil.

CH: Yes, that filled my need as an actress, and others, to play strong, working women who cared about each other. I know Jill and I - we loved each other - we were sisters and we felt good about giving the audience an example of how women can communicate and love each other and share things. Mary and Maeve, and Maeve and everyone, (laughs) - mother earth. It's a very matriarchal show. The men often complained that the male characters aren't quite as dynamic.

LK:: Was that because of Claire Labine?

CH: Yes, I think she is basically a combination of Maeve and Mary Ryan.

LK: Does it bother you when people come up to you on the street and talk to you like you're Faith?

CH: No, I think it's because the audience for Ryan's Hope, and probably in the 70's for all soaps, don't do that anymore. Most people understand the difference though they feel they know you and they care. It's not in an abusive way. It exposes you to so many who I would never talk to in all walks of life. The Indians on the Arizona reservations watch Ryan's Hope. Truck drivers, policeman, airline people. They want to give you back something as actors because you've given something to them. It's marvelous.

　

Edited July 30, 201213 yr by safe

It was interesting to learn the actors had a meeting, while Catherine was still there, and they had concerns about the show becoming too filled with despair, She said the writers agreed with how the actors felt-- but I don't think there was that much uplifting about rest of 1978 except for maybe Frank wininng the Senate seat, and to a lesser extent, Delia attempting to grow up. There was Edmund's illness, Frank and the Ryan's hiding Edmund's paternity, Faith's knife accident and the return of Faith to the Perils of Pauline storylines, etc.

Edited August 1, 201213 yr by safe

Thanks. I'd never read that before. Great insights.

CH: Yes, exactly. In fact the actors had a meeting recently because we thought the show was getting too despair oriented and was getting away from hopeful family scenes. And the writers agreed to change it back to that special quality. The network is taking over more and they're recasting so it's changing. But good things, I don't think, can last forever. It may never happen again but that's O.K. The reason it was so special was because it had to burn out, you know. Good playwrights, sometimes, burn out after five plays.

I guess that didn't last long...

Hilariously cheesy promo at about 4:07

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y20HKEA1iM

December 7, 1982 Digest

Thanks to saynotoursoap

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6Tpw5E1HSs&feature=autoplay&list=UL1FiFIRfIaLw&playnext=13

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTHFb1PyDsI&feature=autoplay&list=ULP6Tpw5E1HSs&playnext=14

Watching that 2nd promo, were Scotty and Luke friends at one point?

Yes, Luke was friends with both Laura and Scottie. Then, he suddenly raped Laura - and she hated him. Scotty continued to be Luke's friend until he learned that his wife had been raped and (probably later) the identy of the rapist.

On that clip above, Tina says, "I've never really been with a man before." Who is she talking to?

I remember vaguely that she had a boyfriend who was her lawyer after she returned from Califoria. He learned that she was the daughter of Victor and tried to encourage her to go after her inheritance (which he had his eyes on). Is that the person?