Time:  3:00 am.  August 3, 1997 

Wake up time.  I was informed by the casting director the day before that it was going to be a 8:00 am call time. 
The call time is when all the actors, producers, and directors all get together and discuss the days shooting and the
schedule.  I decided to take the train into the city that day (as I didn't want to drive that day)  My train left Hartford CT  at 5:00 am for an 7:30am arrival.  The reason the train takes so long is because we make 13 stops on the way into the city.  So I got up, took a shower, and ate a quick breakfast got all my clothes, and drove to Hartford to catch my train.  I leave my house at 4:00 a.m.

Time:  7:45 am.

Our train arrives a few minutes late due to other train's going in and out of the city.  I arrive in NYC Penn Station and
go directly to the subway terminal.  The subway doesn't go directly to the studio so I have to go to the Trump Tower / Central Park subway stop and walk about 3 blocks to the studio.  It's a quick train ride though.

Time:  7:50

Arrive at the studio and check in at the security desk.  They sign me in and I go up to Wardrobe.  Wardrobe isn't there yet so I have a few minutes to sit and relax on the sofa awaiting them to arrive.  They arrive just as I'm getting comfortable and check me in, get my wardrobe, and give me my dressing room assignment.  I go to my dressing room and change into my clothes.  (I play Jim Casey this day, I'm an Paramedic)

Time:  8:45 

I'm sitting in my dressing room watching television.  There was a change in the call time and I wasn't informed  of it.  The new call time is 9:30 so I have some time to catch a few (very few) ZZZZZ's in my room. 

Time:  9:25

I was afraid to fall asleep as I probably wouldn't hear the announcement for call time so I just ended up resting a little while.  The announcement goes over the P.A. system for all actors and stage producers to report to the Green Room, which is located right next to studio 1, for call time.  So I take the elevator down to the second floor and go to the green room.   Everybody goes in and sits down.  The stage manager comes in and checks everybody in.  We go over the schedule for the day and learn that we will probably be filming until about
2:00 am tomorrow!!!  OUCH!!  But he isn't sure. It all depends on how things go today.  Once "cattle call" is done, we all go back to our dressing rooms and await until we are called.  You don't have to wait in your dressing room, you can go into the cafeteria if you want, you just can't tell when your being called in the cafeteria as there is no P.A. system in there.   I go back to my room and await my call.

Time:  10:30

Some other actor friends that I had worked with before on past shows come into my dressing room and we talk. In each dressing room there is a television where we can see the set and see what the director is seeing in the control room.  So it's like were on set, just behind the camera. It gives us something to do in our spare time. I go get a copy of the newspaper to kill some time.

Time:  12:30

Well it's been three hours since our call time and my scenes have still not come up.   I've read the whole paper twice (even the classified ads) and read the whole script to get a feel for what is happening on today's episode.  I still haven't been on the set yet. Next thing I know, the stage manager calls over the P.A. System for Lunch break.  Oh boy!! What luck, it's lunch time and I haven't done anything yet. Oh well,
That's the breaks.....

Time:  1:30 p.m.

Lunch is over and it's finally my turn to go on set.  We film for about 3-4 hours with some union breaks in between.  I don't remember how many scenes we had done, but there wasn't that many due to the re filming of some other scenes that didn't go right. 

Time:  5:30 p.m.

After filming for 3-4 hours, it's dinner time.  THANK GOD!! I was famished.  I had some candy that I carried with/ me to keep me from the brink of dying due to lack of food, but it just made me hungrier.   Everybody is given little smocks to keep their wardrobe clean as it's going to be a big feast.  It was a catered event tonight.   We had all you can eat lasagna, potatoes, salad, rolls, Snapple drinks of all kinds, ice cream & more!  It hit the spot..

Time:  6:30  p.m. 

Back to the set for filming.  Now were filming the scenes where it's after the fire and were helping everybody.  I'm working with Peter Parros in these scenes who plays Ben Harris on the show.  I'm not filming in every scene, but I stay on set the whole time as I am filming on & off and it would take too much time for me to go back and forth from my room to the set.   Still have LOTS of filming left.

Time:  1:30 a.m.  August 4th, 1997

Well it's tomorrow and I'm still on set.  The stage manager held us over because she wanted to keep us in a few other scenes for the ending.  I'm almost at the point of sleep walking as I've been up for 24 hours.  But were not done yet.  We still have a few more scenes to film.

Time: 2:00  a.m.

We're finally released.  It was a long day and it's not over yet.  I go back to my dressing room and change into my
other clothes and go give my other clothes back to wardrobe.  I say my good-bye's and head out to the street to
catch a taxi to the bus station.  There are no trains that go out at this time so I take a Greyhound bus home. 
The bus takes about 2 hours to get us home.  Of course, I slept the whole way.   Now I have to get up enough
energy to drive home from Hartford to my house.  It's only 30 minutes away but when you've been up for 24 hours
it seems like a two hour ride.

Time:  5:00 - 5:30 am

I don't remember what time it was exactly. It was between the two times.  I get home, and jump into bed.  I didn't wake up until the next day, but, it's ALL IN A DAYS WORK!!!


PROLOGUE

As I stated, the meaning of this page is to not discourage you from wanting to get into soaps or film, but this is what a normal day is like on the set of a Soap Opera.  There is lots of sitting and lots of waiting, but then there is also long days of filming also.  Remember, the principle actors don't film everyday of the week.  If the script doesn't call for them, they don't have to show up.  So there is a little reward to those long days of filming. 

There is LOTS more than this that happened. If I was to sit here and tell you word for word of what happened, I would be here typing forever.  I've tried to give you a quick "in a nutshell" version of a day on a soap. 

If anybody wants to get into soaps, I would tell them to GO FOR IT!! It's super fun and well worth it.  It's a great way to get into acting also.  Doing extra work or day player work on soaps looks good if your trying to get an agent also. If you have any questions in regards to soaps or anything, feel free to email me at the link below and I'll get back to you A.S.A.P.  Thanks for reading this and if there is anything else you would like to see or know about filming, email me!