‘The Bold and the Beautiful’: Surprising Rules The Cast Must Follow
Believe it or not, the cast and the crew of The Bold and the Beautiful have a certain set of rules they always must follow. Even in the days prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the cast and crew were bound by certain contractual rules. You’d be amazed at how closely they had to adhere to them.
How does ‘The Bold and the Beautiful’ keep the romance alive under new production rules?
Thanks to the pandemic, filming romantic scenes on The Bold and the Beautiful was nothing if not difficult. But after their historic Daytime Emmys win, showrunner Bradley Bell talked about how they were able to do it. And believe it or not, Bell said that things weren’t as difficult as they seemed.
“We’re really trying to highlight at this time family and intimacy, love and connection at a time when the world is disconnected through social distancing,” he said to TV Insider. “While we’re social distancing on stage, we’re using all our resources with our writers, actors, and directors to create a place where there is no social distancing – where love and family are still functioning fully.”
Bell, who is the son of the original creators of The Bold and the Beautiful, also told the outlet that the production had to go on hold while social distancing rules were sorted out. In some cases, the real-life partners of the actors had to be substituted for their on-screen squeezes. That certainly made for some interesting camera angles!
Intense schedules and extensive wardrobe
Another thing that may surprise fans of The Bold and the Beautiful is how intense the shooting schedules are. According to Fame10, soap operas are always “on,” without any hiatus for the summer. This is in direct contrast to their primetime counterparts, who often are on hiatus from Memorial Day to Labor Day (or thereabouts).
And because of that, soap operas have intense shooting schedules so they can record everything they need to record. Katherine Kelly Lang, who plays Brooke on the show, said that each cast member is often required to memorize about 60 pages of dialogue a day. What’s more, she said, the cast and crew often shoot about two full half-hour episodes a day.
Shooting that much often requires extensive hair and makeup. According to the outlet, the wardrobe section of The Bold and the Beautiful “looks like a warehouse.” The female cast members of the show, especially, can find themselves in hair and makeup for up to two hours a day.
But sometimes there’s fun to be had
Working long hours every day can be tiring. For this reason, the cast of The Bold and the Beautiful often finds ways to switch it up and have a little fun. According to The Citizen, the cast and crew have become “like family” to one another over the years. For example, did you know that while Steffy Forrester and Hope Logan are frenemies on-screen, Jacqueline MacInnes Wood and Annika Noelle are best friends in real life?
And there are some other “fun facts” about production, too. For example, Lang’s sons have made appearances in some episodes of the show back in the 1990s. Her son, Jeremy, played the role of Eric Forrester Jr. from 1990 to 1995. Her son Julian, meanwhile, played Brooke’s baby daughter Bridget in 1993. (Both of Lang’s sons are grown now.)
At the end of the day, The Bold and the Beautiful delivers nothing short of quality drama to its longtime fans. Whatever rules need to be followed seem to be done so without any major hassles from the cast and crew.