BTG: History, Behind the Scenes Articles & Photos

[BetterForgotten]

I think the hybrid production model that was used on The City should be relooked at. Particularly if the show does end up being produced in Atlanta.

 

 

[Khan]

I don't care if the entire show is taped inside Michele Val Jean's she-shed.  I just want the writing to be GOOD.

[BetterForgotten]

Agreed - the soaps were pretty bare bones from the 50’s through the  late 70’s - it was really the writing that kept people tuned in - despite what the likes of John Conboy and Gloria Monty would have you believe.

[Maxim]

Absolutely!

[Gray Bunny]

Guiding Light was the unfortunate guinea pig, as they tried to produce a soap on a shoestring budget. DAYS has had no money since 2009, yet here they are still chugging along and they're staying inside the studio. Nowadays, the Peapack style of shooting could be done on an iPhone camera, and you'd probably get better audio at this point too. Not that they should go that route, but it could be done cheaply without it looking cheap. 

[janea4old]

Loren Lott, yes please!

[1974mdp]

I only saw a little of GL during the Peapack days, and it was quite shaky. That being said, technology has come a long way since then, and I think a new soap would be improved greatly and more modern with more on location shooting. TV movies, such as those on Lifetime, Hallmark are shot on a shoe string budget, but there's a ton of on location shooting. Maybe if the show is shot in Atlanta it will lend it to more of that.

[ReddFoxx]

If I recall correctly Wheeler was trying to emulate The Hills with the outdoor and handheld filming on Guiding Light.

If Atlanta is the filming location it's possible that Tyler Perry Studios would be production where the show was shot. There is a ton of space there because his shows are the few where I've seen almost every character have their own places and workplaces. A big gripe of soaps is that a lot of characters are crammed into the mansions of the main families or at the town hotel. I could see Tyler charging the show reasonably for use of the soundstages because he is supportive of Black causes and for the credit of "filmed at Tyler Perry Studios".

[Soapsuds]

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[DramatistDreamer]

True. I can even remember watching some early-mid  80s soaps that had some flimsy sets (walls that shook when an actor slammed a door) but you didn’t care because everything else you were seeing was so compelling.

Ha! Yes though, truly good writing is the #1 priority. Without this, nothing else works, no matter how high the production values climb.

[Contessa Donatella]

Well, BITD some writers at least, were this genre's auteurs. I think probably one of the egregious errors was when more & more creative control was wrested away from the writers & in its place was exec power instead. And I realize that even Irna Phillips & Doris Hursley complained of network interference, even that far back. 

[SteelCity]

The soap I've been developing is about a Black family in the haircare/beauty business! That's funny.

[Khan]

As long as nobody on this new show's making their money off ice cream parlors....!

Fixed?

[vanguard]

There's one other wealth-creating aspect that this show might use to explain this family's fame and fortune, even moreso if it's in ATL. Personally, I don't like this idea because it would seem much too copycatted: EMPIRE!!!! I don't think I need to elaborate.

[ReddFoxx]

I have no doubt the writing will be good simply for the fact that Black people have to work three times as hard as others just to get an opportunity and most are aware of that. Michele Val Jean probably didn't write present anything that she didn't recalibrate over and over (meaning synopsis, logline).