Casting Director Renee Godbout tells you the real truth about acting on a soap opera

During college, I interned at General Hospital and its spin-off Port Charles. I learned so much about soap opera production during this time and I think actors and people, in general, don’t understand the difficulty and demands of the daytime drama industry. There’s a stereotype that the actors aren’t very good and the dialogue is worse. For those actors that think working on a soap opera will be easy, I have some unfortunate news for you. It won’t be. Here’s what you should really expect:

1. Lots of memorization. Unlike movies that take months of shooting or primetime television that averages 8 days of shooting for a 60 minute episode, soap operas shoot one full episode every day. Those actors with front burner storylines will have to shoot from 8am-6pm, then go home or hole themselves up in their dressing room and memorize the next day’s work.

2. You don’t have many takes to get it right. There is usually only one rehearsal or more that blocks the scene and then you have a couple of takes to get it right. Most daytime dramas are shot with multiple cameras so the actors are shot from all angles, without having to do as many takes.

3. Job security isn’t what it used to be. With women in the workforce and fewer housewives, soap operas viewership is in a decline. Characters are given less of a chance to connect with audiences and if a storyline isn’t working, then it’s dropped in a hurry.

4. Publicity is part of your job. Fan events are a big part of the daytime industry and help to attract and keep audiences happy. I volunteered at a fan event once and the actors really do treat their fans with such kindness. So even your weekends can sometimes not be entirely your own.

5. On the plus side, working with the same actors and crew day after day builds a sense of family. If your character takes off with viewers than you could have a secure spot on the show and really build relationships with not only your own show, but others as well. The casts and crews of daytime dramas are in this together and really do have a strong sense of community. Production has become a well oiled machine, with many actors and crew members working together for years or even decades.

Daytime actors have a short time to bring their character’s scenes to life. And the hardest part is to keep that character evolving and growing as their time on the show increases. Many actors, who have left daytime, credit it with being the best training ground actors could possibly have. After learning an episode worth of dialogue every day, memorizing everything else seems easy.

Renee Godbout - Freelance Casting Director. Renee Godbout recently worked on the first season of The CW's popular teen show Gossip Girl at Grant Wilfey Casting. Some past projects include 2 seasons of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, the pilot for Dirty Sexy Money, and the Jonathan Demme-directed Rachel Getting Married.

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