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hesWell, at least now I sort of know where the reference for Venice Beach is coming from... and lovely to know that the portmanteau of Otalia has even made it to pages of the Old Grey Lady. :)
August 25, 2009
Love That Dares to Tweet Its Name Sparks Web Series
By LISA BERNHARD
On the evening of Aug. 4 Twitter’s list of 10 “Trending Topics” reflected, as it usually does, the headlines of the day. But eighth on the list, nestled between the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, and AT&T, was a surprise: Crystal Chappell, an actress on the CBS soap opera “Guiding Light.” The big news? It was her birthday. As a present her fans had conspired to tweet her name until she landed a spot on the list.
Ms. Chappell’s popularity on the Web is largely because of her role as one-half of the same-sex couple on “Guiding Light” known as Otalia, the portmanteau name given by fans of the characters Olivia Spencer (Ms. Chappell) and Natalia Rivera (Jessica Leccia). They’re middle-American single moms who fell for each other while folding laundry and baking cookies, and their love story has inspired the creation of impassioned message boards, blogs, podcasts and videos.
“I’ve never had this experience with a fan base before,” said Ms. Chappell, a nearly 20-year soap opera veteran. “It struck a nerve. I love this story line because it is about universal love and acceptance.”
But even universal love can’t conquer bleak ratings realities. Taping on “Guiding Light,” television’s longest-running drama, ended on Aug. 11 after 57 years. (It was on the radio for 19 years, four overlapping with TV.) The final episode is to be broadcast on Sept. 18.
Ms. Chappell, who has signed up for a new role on “Days of Our Lives” this fall, said she had suggested, unsuccessfully, to executives at Procter & Gamble, which owns “Guiding Light,” that they move the show to the Web, or transplant the Otalia story line to “As the World Turns,” another Procter & Gamble show. She has also pushed, she said, for what her fans see as a conspicuous lack: a single romantic kiss for Olivia and Natalia.
Executives at CBS declined to be interviewed for this article. Representatives for TeleNext Media, which produces “Guiding Light” for Procter & Gamble, did not respond to several requests for comment.
Ms. Chappell said, “Like the audience I hated the idea of letting” the story line go.
So she won’t. She will try to keep the spirit of Otalia alive by starting a Web series in November called “Venice.” While it won’t have Olivia and Natalia — those characters are the property of Procter & Gamble — the show will feature Ms. Chappell as a single, gay career woman, and follow other fictional inhabitants of Venice Beach, in Los Angeles. Her leading lady on “Guiding Light,” Ms. Leccia, has agreed to join the cast without pay. One big difference from Otalia: “In the first 30 seconds you see these two women kiss,” Ms. Chappell said.
Producing “Venice” is a labor of love as everyone is working without pay for now. Ms. Chappell recruited as cast mates the actors Hillary B. Smith (“One Life to Live”), Jordan Clarke and Daniel Cosgrove (both from “Guiding Light”), and Elizabeth Keener (“The L Word”). “I can’t pay you anything,” she said she told them. “How’s that for an opening line?” (She’ll cover food and transportation, she said.)
Camera equipment was donated by friends. And her partners in the newly formed Open Book Productions — Kim Turrisi, the writer for “Venice,” and Hope Royaltey, the series’s director — are also donating their services.
Ms. Chappell’s ability to mobilize her online fans will help the promotion of “Venice.” Since setting up a Twitter account in May, she has amassed more than 6,500 followers, robust compared to her soap peers, though minuscule when set against the more than three million people who follow the Twitter veteran Ashton Kutcher or the hundreds of thousands tracking the pop star Lady Gaga.
She also may be able to draw on the support of gay viewers. Bob Witeck, co-founder and chief executive of Witeck-Combs Communications, a marketing firm specializing in lesbian and gay households, stressed these viewers’ loyalty. “It’s hard to find truthful stories about our lives, our families, the people we love,” he said. “And when we do, we give a higher degree of confidence and support to a program that reflects us.”
Ms. Chappell is the rare soap opera performer to find another full-time acting job within the shrinking genre of daytime drama. On “Days of Our Lives” she will reprise the role of Dr. Carly Manning, which she played from 1990 to 1993. Her husband and former “Days” co-star, Michael Sabatino, will also return.
Ms. Chappell’s online territory has no fewer than nine Web destinations, including the Twitter accounts of her producing partners, Ms. Turrisi and Ms. Royaltey; “Venice” Facebook and Twitter pages; Ms. Chappell’s Web site, crystal-chappell.com and Facebook pages; and her series site, venicetheseries.com.
It’s a business model that costs next to nothing — only one Web designer is paid. And now Ms. Chappell has taken the next step: calling on fans to design the logo and music for “Venice” through contests. Ms. Chappell’s fan club president, Cathie Wagner, a 54-year-old married kindergarten teacher from Ohio, oversees 15 volunteers for Ms. Chappell’s Facebook page and Web site.
For performers creative freedom is the Web’s primary draw. Eden Riegel, a former “All My Children” star, has been nominated for a daytime Emmy Award this year in the new approaches category for her Web series, “Imaginary Bitches.” Written and directed by Ms. Riegel’s husband, Andrew Miller, it was produced with no interference from “some guy in an office on Wilshire Boulevard deciding what people want to see,” she said.
That’s not to say there isn’t money to be made. Paul Levinson, a professor of communication and media studies at Fordham University and author of the coming book “New New Media,” said advertising on the Web “has the potential to be more successful than in any other medium,” because of measurable sales results from click-through ads and precise customer profiles. “A successful show on the Web is just waiting to happen.”
Ms. Chappell is considering a few financial models, polling fans to see if they would watch “Venice” with ads, pay a $10 per season subscription fee or buy products from potential sponsors.
Given Ms. Chappell’s tweets about her fondness for Red Bull (by day) and Grey Goose vodka (by night), would either company sponsor “Venice” in return for her endorsement? The courtship, at least, seems to have begun. “Red Bull actually sent me some cases,” she said with a smile. “I’m still working on Goose.”
August 25, 2009
Love That Dares to Tweet Its Name Sparks Web Series
By LISA BERNHARD
On the evening of Aug. 4 Twitter’s list of 10 “Trending Topics” reflected, as it usually does, the headlines of the day. But eighth on the list, nestled between the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, and AT&T, was a surprise: Crystal Chappell, an actress on the CBS soap opera “Guiding Light.” The big news? It was her birthday. As a present her fans had conspired to tweet her name until she landed a spot on the list.
Ms. Chappell’s popularity on the Web is largely because of her role as one-half of the same-sex couple on “Guiding Light” known as Otalia, the portmanteau name given by fans of the characters Olivia Spencer (Ms. Chappell) and Natalia Rivera (Jessica Leccia). They’re middle-American single moms who fell for each other while folding laundry and baking cookies, and their love story has inspired the creation of impassioned message boards, blogs, podcasts and videos.
“I’ve never had this experience with a fan base before,” said Ms. Chappell, a nearly 20-year soap opera veteran. “It struck a nerve. I love this story line because it is about universal love and acceptance.”
But even universal love can’t conquer bleak ratings realities. Taping on “Guiding Light,” television’s longest-running drama, ended on Aug. 11 after 57 years. (It was on the radio for 19 years, four overlapping with TV.) The final episode is to be broadcast on Sept. 18.
Ms. Chappell, who has signed up for a new role on “Days of Our Lives” this fall, said she had suggested, unsuccessfully, to executives at Procter & Gamble, which owns “Guiding Light,” that they move the show to the Web, or transplant the Otalia story line to “As the World Turns,” another Procter & Gamble show. She has also pushed, she said, for what her fans see as a conspicuous lack: a single romantic kiss for Olivia and Natalia.
Executives at CBS declined to be interviewed for this article. Representatives for TeleNext Media, which produces “Guiding Light” for Procter & Gamble, did not respond to several requests for comment.
Ms. Chappell said, “Like the audience I hated the idea of letting” the story line go.
So she won’t. She will try to keep the spirit of Otalia alive by starting a Web series in November called “Venice.” While it won’t have Olivia and Natalia — those characters are the property of Procter & Gamble — the show will feature Ms. Chappell as a single, gay career woman, and follow other fictional inhabitants of Venice Beach, in Los Angeles. Her leading lady on “Guiding Light,” Ms. Leccia, has agreed to join the cast without pay. One big difference from Otalia: “In the first 30 seconds you see these two women kiss,” Ms. Chappell said.
Producing “Venice” is a labor of love as everyone is working without pay for now. Ms. Chappell recruited as cast mates the actors Hillary B. Smith (“One Life to Live”), Jordan Clarke and Daniel Cosgrove (both from “Guiding Light”), and Elizabeth Keener (“The L Word”). “I can’t pay you anything,” she said she told them. “How’s that for an opening line?” (She’ll cover food and transportation, she said.)
Camera equipment was donated by friends. And her partners in the newly formed Open Book Productions — Kim Turrisi, the writer for “Venice,” and Hope Royaltey, the series’s director — are also donating their services.
Ms. Chappell’s ability to mobilize her online fans will help the promotion of “Venice.” Since setting up a Twitter account in May, she has amassed more than 6,500 followers, robust compared to her soap peers, though minuscule when set against the more than three million people who follow the Twitter veteran Ashton Kutcher or the hundreds of thousands tracking the pop star Lady Gaga.
She also may be able to draw on the support of gay viewers. Bob Witeck, co-founder and chief executive of Witeck-Combs Communications, a marketing firm specializing in lesbian and gay households, stressed these viewers’ loyalty. “It’s hard to find truthful stories about our lives, our families, the people we love,” he said. “And when we do, we give a higher degree of confidence and support to a program that reflects us.”
Ms. Chappell is the rare soap opera performer to find another full-time acting job within the shrinking genre of daytime drama. On “Days of Our Lives” she will reprise the role of Dr. Carly Manning, which she played from 1990 to 1993. Her husband and former “Days” co-star, Michael Sabatino, will also return.
Ms. Chappell’s online territory has no fewer than nine Web destinations, including the Twitter accounts of her producing partners, Ms. Turrisi and Ms. Royaltey; “Venice” Facebook and Twitter pages; Ms. Chappell’s Web site, crystal-chappell.com and Facebook pages; and her series site, venicetheseries.com.
It’s a business model that costs next to nothing — only one Web designer is paid. And now Ms. Chappell has taken the next step: calling on fans to design the logo and music for “Venice” through contests. Ms. Chappell’s fan club president, Cathie Wagner, a 54-year-old married kindergarten teacher from Ohio, oversees 15 volunteers for Ms. Chappell’s Facebook page and Web site.
For performers creative freedom is the Web’s primary draw. Eden Riegel, a former “All My Children” star, has been nominated for a daytime Emmy Award this year in the new approaches category for her Web series, “Imaginary Bitches.” Written and directed by Ms. Riegel’s husband, Andrew Miller, it was produced with no interference from “some guy in an office on Wilshire Boulevard deciding what people want to see,” she said.
That’s not to say there isn’t money to be made. Paul Levinson, a professor of communication and media studies at Fordham University and author of the coming book “New New Media,” said advertising on the Web “has the potential to be more successful than in any other medium,” because of measurable sales results from click-through ads and precise customer profiles. “A successful show on the Web is just waiting to happen.”
Ms. Chappell is considering a few financial models, polling fans to see if they would watch “Venice” with ads, pay a $10 per season subscription fee or buy products from potential sponsors.
Given Ms. Chappell’s tweets about her fondness for Red Bull (by day) and Grey Goose vodka (by night), would either company sponsor “Venice” in return for her endorsement? The courtship, at least, seems to have begun. “Red Bull actually sent me some cases,” she said with a smile. “I’m still working on Goose.”