Scroll down - they start taking about Y&R at the 57:25 mark
In this interview, Nia comes across kind of cocky to me.
Her comments about Y&R:
The producers contacted Nia's agent and asked her to come in to read for a part. They were looking for a 23-year old black woman to play Neil's love interest. Nia had her agent inform them that she was definitely not 23 years old nor black.
She was not interested in working on a soap until she spoke with others who had worked on soaps, and they told her that the working hours were rather short. Normally, scenes are done in one take - in and out with no rehearsals.
Kristoff rarely prepares for his scenes and sometimes flubs dialogue, but the good thing about him is that he listens to her during their scenes and is quick on his feet. She and Eva Marcille had a recent scene in which Karen was very angry. Nia said that she got really into the scene, but Eva was not listening to her. They had to do 3-4 takes because the director and producers thought that Eva's reaction did not match up to what was happening. After Eva started listening to Nia in the scene, she improved.
Nia said that she does not want to say anything bad about Victoria Rowell, but she has the impression that not just Kristoff but the directors, producers and cast had issues with Victoria on set; they were thankful that Nia was on set (instead of Victoria).
Lynn Latham hired her as Neil's love interest but then realized that it was too soon for Neil to move on, so they introduced Karen in Nikki's storyline. After several months, then she moved over to Neil's storyline. However, the writers strike began, and someone else started writing the show. The strike writer made Karen into a singer. Then, MAB started writing the show and wanted to let Karen go because she felt that Karen did not fit on the canvas. MAB told Nia that she was a good actress, so so Nia should not think that her acting was the issue. Nia laughed because she knew that she was a good actress, so she knew she was not the problem.
Nia was let go by the show, but she reviewed her contract and realized that her new 26-week-cycle had begun. She told her agent that the show could not fire her yet because a new 26-cycle had started. The show had to keep her on. It seems like the Tyra-Ana thing was in the works already but had to be adjusted to include Karen.
She says that Karen is hellbent on adopting Ana.
She has asked the producers/writers what Karen's job is, but they have no clue.
Paul Rauch, the executive producer, really pushes the actors and does not let crap slide. She gave the example of how Paul would force the actors to drive the scene. For instance, Paul would tell Bryton/Devon to get into his scene. Nia says that she has a producer's mind and thinks that actors should not show up if they are not prepared. She has never had to be told to improve on her scene because she's already into her role and driving the scene when necessary.
When they told Nia that they were letting her go from Y&R, they lied to her and told her that Karen would still be living in Genoa City - aka recurring. Nia showed up to shoot her last scenes, read the script and saw that Karen was moving to New York City! She said that they probably lied because they thought that she would not show up for the last day of taping.
Nia says that she's had only a handful of good scenes to play during the last 1.5 years. Her goodbye scene last year was her first good scene. Her other good scene was when she told Neil that she could not have children. When she finished, Paul Rauch walked over to her and told her that she had done a good job.
In addition, Paul has told her that she is the most professional actor on set and elevates everyone else's work.
On Friday February 27, Nia was interviewed by Brandon on BlogRadio's Brandon’s Buzz.
www.blogtalkradio.com/brandonsbuzz
Scroll down - they start taking about Y&R at the 57:25 mark
In this interview, Nia comes across kind of cocky to me.
Her comments about Y&R: