Gregori Martin, multiple Emmy-Award winning producer of the digital drama series, The Bay, talks with OutTakes about the successful road this series has taken all the way to the Daytime Emmys.
HOW HAS IT BEEN FOR YOU TO SEE “THE BAY” EVOLVE ALONG THE PATH THAT IT HAS…SUCH AS STREAMING ON AMAZON AND WINNING DAYTIME EMMYS?
Gregori: It’s been an amazing experience; and I’m really grateful. It takes an army. I can’t do it on my own. Kristos Andrews (“Peter Garrett” as well as Executive Producer) is the best partner in crime. Executive Producer Wendy Riche has been amazing. The cast is great. Carol Hedgepeth (Co-Executive Producer) is wonderful behind the scenes. It’s impossible to do without a team; and we’ve had a lot of help getting the show together financially. We’re really grateful for everything that people have brought to the table. It can’t happen by itself.
FOR YOUR RECENT WIN AT THE DAYTIME EMMY FOR OUTSTANDING DIGITAL DRAMA, WHAT MATERIAL DID YOU SUBMIT?
Gregori: The “Jack’s Road to Redemption” content.
HOW DID YOU CELEBRATE YOUR MOST RECENT WIN?
Gregori: We had an afterparty which we were going to do regardless of whether we won or not. We were just happy to be nominated. so we thought whether we won or not, we wanted a nice post-Emmy celebration.
WHAT LESSONS HAVE YOU LEARNED ALONG THE WAY OF CREATING “THE BAY”?
Gregori: I learned the difference between webisodes and digital drama series.
A webisode is less than 20 minutes content which is part of a webseries. A webseries can technically be anything that’s on the web and usually produces something no more than two hours worth of content per year.
A digital drama series like THE BAY is a drama that continues every year with more hours of content. I think “digital drama” is a great title because there is still a stigma that comes with the term “webseries” — Assumptions that there’s no budget, no professional cameras or lighting.
ANY HINTS FOR WHAT WILL BE COMING UP FOR SEASON 4?
Gregori: Well, I’m hoping everyone is currently binge watching Season 3. #BingeTheBay of Season 3 on Amazon. But for Season 4, most of the cast will be back. We’re continuing the saga and will be having a lot more drama and #Bayhem to come!
Catching up with Jordi Vilasuso (ex-Dario, DAYS OF OUR LIVES) at Starstruck’s YesterDAYS Fan Event, November 10th, 2017.
Jordi Vilasuso (ex-Dario, DAYS OF OUR LIVES)
WHAT DID YOU ENJOY THE MOST ABOUT PLAYING “DARIO” ON DAYS OF OUR LIVES?
Jordi: I loved Dario when a woman accepted him and liked him. There was only one woman and she left him soon after because he was in some various dubious activities and wanted him nothing to do with him. I loved Dario when he finally had a foothold with someone and had some security. That was fun. Otherwise it was always reaching in desperation. It’s fine but in terms of storylines you want. I really liked Dario at the end when he was finally committed. We’re going to do this. We’re going to get married. Abigail and I are going to have this life. Of course, it fell apart; and I knew it was going to fall apart. And I’m sure the audience did as well.
WHAT PROJECTS ARE GOING ON FOR YOU RIGHT NOW THAT YOU CAN TELL US ABOUT?
Jordi: I did three movies right after DAYS. I did one called Fly Cooper which is an independent movie about a private detective. I play the character of Clyde. I have another movie called Killer Island that I believe will be on Lifetime which I just saw some of the movie yesterday and it’s very good. And I just completed another movie called Frained which is another thriller that I don’t know. It’s an independent film. I don’t know where it’s going to be.
WHAT MESSAGE DO YOU HAVE FOR YOUR FANS WHO HAVE FOLLOWED YOU THROUGHOUT YOUR ACTING CAREER?
Jordi: Just grateful. Grateful for the love, grateful for rooting for me and the storylines and I look forward to showing them more stories as my career goes on.
Catching up with Paul Telfer (Xander, DAYS OF OUR LIVES) at Starstruck’s YesterDAYS Fan Event, November 10th, 2017.
Paul Telfer (Xander, DAYS OF OUR LIVES)
WHAT DID YOU ENJOY THE MOST ABOUT PLAYING “XANDER” ON DAYS OF OUR LIVES?
Paul: The character of Xander gets to say things about the other characters on the show that most of the other characters don’t get to say. Very often, he vents the frustrations I feel fans feel about certain behaviors that other characters might be caught up in. Any hypocrisies they might have. Any embarrassing things in their past. Xander’s the guy who is always needling people with their past. So it’s fun for me because it allows me to learn more about the history of the characters on the show and dig into some of that a bit. It’s also fun for other people in the cast because Xander’s always calling them on their bullshit. It’s really fun to do. I feel really lucky to have a character where I can never guess what he is going to do next. Different writing teams have written for Xander now; and they all seem to lock into some predictability that he has. That’s a lot of fun. I’m never stuck in a rut playing him.
IF YOU COULD PLAY ANY OTHER CHARACTER ON DAYS BESIDES “XANDER”, WHO WOULD YOU WANT TO PLAY?
Paul: So when I was first on the show as a day player, I just dipped my toe in to see if we all liked each other, I played Victor’s henchman for like three or four episodes. It would be fun to play that character again just to be sneaking around in shadows, killing people and just doing Victor’s dirty work. That is what Xander does as well. It’s just that Xander is always so upset about it all the time. He takes everything so personally. I like the idea of playing somebody who just does it. Outside of that, I also almost played EJ a long time ago. James Scott wasn’t feeling very well and they asked me to cover for him for a week. This was like ten years ago, maybe more. Fortunately he didn’t have to miss work so I got paid for nothing which is the best kind of getting paid. Obviously that would be fun, but I would be hunted in the streets if I tried to play EJ because people love James so much. So I’ll stay away from that.
WHAT PROJECTS ARE GOING ON FOR YOU RIGHT NOW THAT YOU CAN TELL US ABOUT?
Paul: I just did a little indie film. Hopefully something will come of it. It’s called “California No” but I have no idea what it will end up being called. I just finished a couple of writing projects But outside of that I’m just auditioning and chasing after my wife. She’s an actress as well and doing a big show in LA right now, a theater show, and we’re taking it out on the road right through Christmas. So there’s going to be a lot of that going on. A lot of traveling.
WHAT MESSAGE DO YOU HAVE FOR YOUR FANS WHO HAVE FOLLOWED YOU THROUGHOUT YOUR ACTING CAREER?
Paul: Call your congressman and tell them that you want Xander to come back on DAYS; and I think it could happen. I have a very good feeling that Xander will be back causing trouble again soon.
Catching up with Guy Wilson (ex-Will, DAYS OF OUR LIVES) at Starstruck’s YesterDAYS Fan Event, November 10th, 2017.
Guy Wilson (ex-Will, DAYS OF OUR LIVES)
WHAT DID YOU ENJOY THE MOST ABOUT PLAYING “WILL” ON DAYS OF OUR LIVES?
Guy: If I have to boil it down to one thing. When he married Sonny, that was such a pivotal part of Will’s life and it was an important event for daytime television as a whole, not just for the show of Days of our Lives but for everyone so I would say just on a personal level and on a macro level I would say Will’s marriage to Sonny is my favorite thing.
IF YOU COULD PLAY ANY OTHER CHARACTER ON DAYS BESIDES “WILL”, WHO WOULD YOU WANT TO PLAY?
Guy: Are you kidding me? I’d be Sami. I’d be Ali Sweeney’s character. Also Stefano, Joe Mascolo’s character. It’s always fun to play kind of a villain or a villainesque character.
WHAT PROJECTS ARE GOING ON FOR YOU RIGHT NOW THAT YOU CAN TELL US ABOUT?
Guy: I’m working right now on a show for CBS called Code Black. I play a fun character; it’s great. It’s funny. It’s dramatic. It’s tense. There’s a little bit of blood and guts and gore, but it’s fun. So I’m shooting that right now; and I’m also producing a horror feature film that I cowrote and am producing and starring in. We’re going to be on location and filming that early next year. There’ll be more on that coming later on.
WHAT MESSAGE DO YOU HAVE FOR YOUR FANS WHO HAVE FOLLOWED YOU THROUGHOUT YOUR ACTING CAREER?
Guy: I love you and God bless you and thank you for the support that I received regularly through social media and from all the wonderful moments in which I’ve met you all. So thank you. I’m very grateful.
Catching up with Melissa Archer (ex-Serena, DAYS OF OUR LIVES) at Starstruck’s YesterDAYS Fan Event, November 10th, 2017.
Melissa Archer (ex-Serena, DAYS OF OUR LIVES)
WHAT DID YOU ENJOY THE MOST ABOUT PLAYING “SERENA” ON DAYS OF OUR LIVES?
Melissa: I have to say her clothes. I love her dresses. I took a lot of them. Anyway, they’re really really really pretty. I love them.
IF YOU COULD PLAY ANY OTHER CHARACTER ON DAYS BESIDES “SERENA”, WHO WOULD YOU WANT TO PLAY?
Melissa: I’d like to play Maggie’s daughter. A) I love her; and B) I think we look enough like family. I actually concocted a storyline at some point where I could be the long lost child of Victor and Maggie. Maybe Maggie’s eggs had been frozen and they were stolen; so no one knew. Maggie didn’t even know. I concocted this. I didn’t really share that; but now you know!
WHAT PROJECTS ARE GOING ON FOR YOU RIGHT NOW THAT YOU CAN TELL US ABOUT?
Melissa: I have a movie that just came out that’s on Amazon, Vimeo and iTunes called “Deadly Expose”; and I am doing a show called “Melissa is a Dork” on YouTube. I encourage everyone to watch it; it’s kind of fun. It’s a little bit of all of my quirky dorkiness mixed into it. The shows are really short. Some of them are how-to’s; some of them are highly tech and some of them are not tech at all. It’s fun
WHAT MESSAGE DO YOU HAVE FOR YOUR FANS WHO HAVE FOLLOWED YOU THROUGHOUT YOUR ACTING CAREER?
Melissa: Thank you. Without you guys, I would be absolutely nothing. So thank you so much for everything you guys have done. It has been an incredible time with all of you; and I look forward to bringing you guys on the ride for the rest!
Catching up with John-Paul Lavoisier (ex-Philip, DAYS OF OUR LIVES) at Starstruck’s YesterDAYS Fan Event, November 10th, 2017.
John-Paul Lavoisier (ex-Philip, DAYS OF OUR LIVES)
WHAT DID YOU ENJOY THE MOST ABOUT PLAYING “PHILIP ON DAYS OF OUR LIVES?
John-Paul: I’ve always sort of wanted to play an uptight businessman. One of my favorite movies is called “Glengarry Glen Ross”. Al Pacino, Alan Arkin, Ed Harris. I got to bring some of my love of Glengarry Glen Ross into Philip’s mannerisms and the way he spoke.
IF YOU COULD PLAY ANY OTHER CHARACTER ON DAYS BESIDES PHILIP, WHO WOULD YOU WANT TO PLAY?
John-Paul: Shawn. I’ll play the other guy. And Brandon can play Philip. Let’s flip them. See what happens.
WHAT PROJECTS ARE GOING ON FOR YOU RIGHT NOW THAT YOU CAN TELL US ABOUT?
John-Paul: Later this month and next year, there’s going to be a project called Crazy Bitches coming out. It’s a webseries and a film. It’s going to be a campy horror comedy thing. I’m going to be in the webseries and the film. And I’m excited for that. So Crazy Bitches.
WHAT MESSAGE DO YOU HAVE FOR YOUR FANS WHO HAVE FOLLOWED YOU THROUGHOUT YOUR ACTING CAREER?
Catching up with Vincent Irizarry (ex-Deimos, DAYS OF OUR LIVES) at Starstruck’s YesterDAYS Fan Event, November 10th, 2017.
Vincent Irizarry (ex-Deimos, DAYS OF OUR LIVES)
WHAT DID YOU ENJOY THE MOST ABOUT PLAYING “DEIMOS” ON DAYS OF OUR LIVES?
Vincent: There was a lot that I loved about playing Deimos. I loved the development of the character from when I first came on. I love when you get a great back story to a character; and it all made sense. I understood the reasons why he came into town with a major chip on his shoulder. I understood why he wanted to seek vengeance against his older brother. And I also understood though that in the transition for a period of time there that he genuinely was longing for family, for acceptance, being the bastard son that he was. I just loved that; and also that he had a longing to experience true love in a relationship after having been in prison for 30 years and losing the love of his life, the one woman that he ever loved before, Helena. So I loved it. It was so rich. It was so much fun to dive into that. And I loved also the element of bringing in the piano; and that he played classical piano, romantic piano music. That showed another layer to the character, that he had a romantic side to his nature, at his heart. That he had the tendency that he could do some evil things but at the same time there was something that was very genuine and very loving and a very human side to him that I thought was very special.
HOW SURPRISED WERE YOU WHEN YOU WERE CALLED BACK TO DAYS FOR THE FLASHBACK SEQUENCE WHERE DEIMOS MARRIED EVE (KASSIE DEPAIVA)?
Vincent: It was a very big surprise! I was trying to understand it in the context of what was happening in that period when they said it happened. It was a little confusing. I wasn’t sure how it fit but considering that there was a distance between the time that I had left the show and when they brought that in, its fine. Most people wouldn’t realize that. I just knew that because I was studying the character for so long.
AS A FAN OF ALL MY CHILDREN AND ONE LIFE TO LIVE, I GOT A KICK OUT OF SEEING “DAVID” AND “BLAIR” TOGETHER.
Vincent: It’s funny because I’ve known Kassie for about 25 years. And we have been missing each other on every show practically. I left Guiding Light and she came on Guiding Light way back when. Even when we were working online during the All My Children and One Life to Live reboot, I’d be there for my week stint; then she would come in and she would have my dressing room during that period. When I was first hired on DAYS, I thought “This is great! Kassie’s on there. I’ll get to work with her.” I go to work. It’s my first day on the show as Deimos; and I’m like “Kassie, it’s so great. I’ll get to work with you.” And she goes, “No, this is my last day.” And I’m get the…Are you serious?! She says, “Yeah, I’m leaving.” And it was sad because then the story they had actually written was for the two of us to get together before I left the show. I don’t know if you remember that she came on the show for a period of time. Ken Corday came up to me during the Emmys the year before; and he said, “I just want you to know, between us, but Kassie’s coming back on the show; and we’re going to put the two of you together.” And I said, “Wow, that’s fantastic!” I was really excited about it! And she came on for a couple of weeks. Then she got sick as we all know. I was very saddened by that. I had gotten the script. We had some really good scenes together. Then about two days before we came to shoot the scenes, I got rewrites and she was written out of the scenes. They were now scenes with me and Eric Martsolf. We were talking about what happened in those scenes but it was off camera. I went up to Albert Alaar, the executive producer at the time, and said, “What’s going on? Why isn’t Kassie in these scenes?” And he said, “We’re not going to make an announcement about this right now but Kassie let us know that she’s very sick.” And my heart was like, Oh my God. So I’m so happy that she’s doing well. I’m really happy for her. She looks fantastic and she’s so incredibly talented. It was fun to work even for just a few scenes with her recently. It was cool.
IF YOU COULD PLAY ANY OTHER CHARACTER ON DAYS BESIDES DEIMOS, WHO WOULD YOU WANT TO PLAY?
Vincent: Maggie maybe because she’s such a saint. Everybody loves her! The opposite of Deimos, that’s what I’m going for. Something totally different. It was funny when I first came on the show and when Maggie fell and I mixed her pills. And she fell down the stairs. Which was an unintentional consequence. That wasn’t planned! But she fell down the stairs and became paralyzed. Everybody was like “Oh, I hate him! Oh, I can’t believe what he did to Maggie!” I was like, I didn’t mean to do it. That wasn’t supposed to happen. But anyway, I love her too. Suzanne is fantastic.
WHAT PROJECTS ARE GOING ON FOR YOU RIGHT NOW THAT YOU CAN TELL US ABOUT?
Vincent: I do real estate. Apart from that, I have two projects. One is a project that I helped develop. It was an original manuscript and has since been published as an e-book. It’s based on a true story. A murder that took place in Texas. And I with several people, we got a screenwriter and developed the screenplay together and trying to get that off the ground as a producer. Another project that I was asked to do, it’s a co-lead in a film, an independent feature; and they are just trying to raise the financing for it right now. So that’s what’s happening right now.
WHAT MESSAGE DO YOU HAVE FOR YOUR FANS WHO HAVE FOLLOWED YOU THROUGHOUT YOUR ACTING CAREER?
Vincent: This has been quite an odyssey. And I’m very grateful to all of you. It’s interesting. I started out on Guiding Light; it was a three day role as Lujack. And here I am thirty plus years later and still in and out of this medium. Watching this medium shrink like a really sad game of musical chairs. One more chair gets removed and everything gets shrunken down. But it’s been a joy. It really has been a joy. And I’m so grateful to everybody who’s been watching all of these years on all of the shows that I’ve done. And I look forward to doing more. It would be fun.
Catching up with Matthew Ashford (ex-Jack, DAYS OF OUR LIVES) at Starstruck’s YesterDAYS Fan Event, November 10th, 2017.
Matthew Ashford (DAYS OF OUR LIVES, THE BAY)
WHAT DID YOU ENJOY THE MOST ABOUT PLAYING “JACK” ON DAYS OF OUR LIVES?
Matthew: The opportunity to always improvise the moments, not the lines per se. To just have fun and to see what would come out right now. How can we play? What can we do? They’ve always been very accommodating and very welcoming at DAYS OF OUR LIVES and say “Well, let’s see what we can come up with.” Let’s play. With whatever actor or whatever scenes we’ve been doing, it’s always been a really fun place to play. I’ve worked a lot of different places; and they never say “It HAS to be this way!” That’s always been enjoyable.
IF YOU COULD PLAY ANY OTHER CHARACTER ON DAYS BESIDES JACK, WHO WOULD YOU WANT TO PLAY?
Matthew: I’d take a crack at Alice Horton. Why not? Go for the gold! Alice had her moments; and given a chance, I’d do that. Frances Reid was a rocking actress.
WHAT PROJECTS ARE GOING ON FOR YOU RIGHT NOW THAT YOU CAN TELL US ABOUT?
Matthew: I’m currently still on “The Bay” playing the character of Steve Jensen. I’ll be shooting a movie in January. Currently I’m spending a lot of time with two very little kids, Henry who’s 4 and Willa who’s coming up on 2. So I’m doing a lot of Daddy Time. As for the older girls, Emma’s at school at the University of Michigan; and Grace just graduated from Columbia’s School of Journalism; and is now at the New York Times as a reporter. How ironical is that! She’s actually part of the team who’s working on the whole Harvey Weinstein story. I said to her, “Wow, I used to play this stuff; and now you’re doing it!” Anyway, there’s a lot happening; and it’s all good.
WHAT MESSAGE DO YOU HAVE FOR YOUR FANS WHO HAVE FOLLOWED YOU THROUGH YOUR ACTING CAREER?
Matthew: Thank you so much for appreciating, supporting and always sticking with me. Fans of “Days of our Lives” and daytime in general are so loyal and supportive. It really helps. The life of an actor is really full of ups and downs. It’s nice to have people around who are really there for you in your corner, even when you’re not in your own corner. So I want to say thank you.
DAYS OF OUR LIVES CAST remember Joseph Mascolo (Stefano) at Day of DAYS 2017. Thanks to James Reynolds, Billy Flynn, Galen Gering, Kristian Alfonso, Suzanne Rogers, Drake Hogestyn, Deidre Hall, Bill Hayes, Susan Seaforth Hayes and Bryan Dattilo for their memories. Joseph Mascolo: March 13, 1929 to December 8, 2016.
outtakesinterviews.com 