Bradley Bell

AKA: Executive producer/head writer, The Bold and the Beautiful 

Love him or loathe him, almost everyone has an opinion of Bradley Bell, the easygoing, hardworking head writer and executive producer of The Bold and the Beautiful. Although Bell had the inside track in getting his job — his parents, William J. and Lee Phillip Bell, created the show — he has proven time and again that he is capable of making wise decisions and spinning compelling stories. New faces come and go at an almost dizzying pace, but the Nielsen ratings hold steady, so he must be doing something right. — Jonathan Reiner

We've never met and we've never spoken before, but one of the things that I like about you is, when you make a decision, you stick with it. Also, if you see that a story isn't working, you just make a decision to end it then and there rather than trying a quick fix to patch it up. 

That's something I've learned over the years. I've actually made a vow to myself to do that after not doing it in the past, and looking back a year later saying, "I had a feeling eight months ago that this should be over, but it's still going on. What am I doing?"

How did you learn that — as you grew up watching your father, or from your own personal experience? 

I learned from my own experiences. A couple of years ago there were stories that I didn't like, but I was determined to fix the characters to somehow make it work, and it never did. I realized there are certain things that you just can't fix, and if you're not excited about it, not having fun with it, and if it's not coming naturally, then it probably shouldn't be there at all.

When did you first decide to get into the soaps business, or even realize that you wanted to? 

The summer of my freshman year in college, when I would spend the time in the Chicago apartment sitting with all the Young and the Restless writers. They used to meet from 8 in the morning until 6 at night, and I would sit in those conference rooms and really not say a word through most of the summer — just listen to them beat ideas around and really absorb it. I knew I wanted to be a part of the business but I wasn't quite sure where, and it was through those meetings that I really thought that writing is what I'd like to do, and it seemed like the fun part of the business. 

Was it what you expected? Because it's one thing to sit in on meetings and think that you'd want to do it, but when you actually start, it could be a totally different experience. 

I was very much ready when I took over six years ago. If I was plotting shows with my dad in separate rooms and we'd come together, we would have the same show put together. It was really amazing. We really felt that I was in a place where I was ready, but that was after doing it (writing and observing) for eight or 10 years.

What do you feel have been some of your biggest accomplishments since taking the show over completely in 1992? 

Well, I think one of my biggest accomplishments is happening right now, and that is creating the next generation of the Forester family. I took a lot flak for aging these kids — C.J., Rick and Bridget — but I really feel that it's time to focus on new characters. Also, this allows us to see some of our older characters, like Ridge and Brooke, functioning in new roles. It infuses the show with new life, because everyone is playing different scenes and stretching himself or herself. 

It's also interesting to see Eric dealing with being a real father again. 

You're right. I just told John [McCook, who plays Eric], "You're on family No. 2 now," and he's excited about that. Eric and Brooke make great parents, so he can't afford to get another young wife and have another child.

What about romance for some of the older characters? We have the Stephanie/James thing that's happening, as well as Eric and Lauren. Will that continue? 

Eric and Lauren will continue.

Is Tracey Bregman [Lauren] on contract or off contract? 

Well, it's funny. We're right in the heart of that right now; as I speak, we're in negotiations. We're trying to figure out where her place is on the show and if we can work together.

It's almost like you're putting on a new brand of soap opera, the way that things are moving so quickly lately.

In years past you've heard that soap operas move so slowly, but I've gotten a lot of mail saying the show moves so quickly that it's hard to keep up. But I just think it forces people to be on their toes, so I like to push the plot. With a half-hour show you also have to make things happen, from the beginning of the half hour — which is really less than a half hour — to the end. Something has to happen, the plot has to move, so I'm making sure that something happens every day.

You've taken a lot of flak for letting go Jeff Trachta and Kimberlin Brown [ex-Thorne and soon-to-be-ex-Sheila]. How do you stay above that, since you're so personally invested in this show?

Earlier on, part of the reason I didn't change cast members was because I didn't want to disappoint people. It is hard, because I'm the one who tells the actors when their time is up, and when the character, I feel, has run its course. That's not a pleasant thing to do all the time, but I've gotten to a point where I can take it from the fans and I can take it from the actors. I just have to do one thing, and that's stay true to the stories and what I believe is the best story I can tell. So I'm not concerned about that, really.

The younger generation of Foresters is fine, but do you feel there is too much of a focus on Amber and that crowd? There are other characters who aren't necessarily "old" but are still being left out, like Macy and Thorne. 

Well, actually I'm working on a new story for Macy and Sally, and I'm bringing a few characters in. I'm trying to bring them in so they surround the main characters. The story for Amber and Rick, to me, is just as much a story for John McCook and Katherine Kelly Lang [Brooke], so I'm really not seeing them too much as islands. That's what's so great about this group: C.J. is Sally's son, so the story involves Darlene [Conley, who plays Sally]. I just think that keeping it within the family really won't make it feel like Amber is running away with the show.

Has the soaps' storytelling style changed? It obviously has, but from your point of view since Y&R was a half hour, how have writers had to change their style in order to keep the audience's attention?

I think that it is a faster-paced story, but essentially I think it's the same. It's really telling stories that people can get involved in, where they know something that one of the players doesn't know. Soaps are all based on the heartbeat of human emotion, and I think the core of that hasn't changed. 

Your ratings have pretty much held steady for the past year, whereas some of the ABC shows have seen a pretty steep decline. Plus, you've also changed faces a lot and you've managed to hold on to most of the audience. Why do you think B&B and Y&R manage to hold on to the audience, when most of the other shows out there can't?

I really think that we connect more to the human emotion and get the audience to invest in our characters. There is a phase going on over at the other shows with disasters and crazy things that are happening — earthquakes and Titanic situations — and that has never been something to catch the daytime viewers. That may work in prime time but it just doesn't work for us. We're not doing the big shoot-'em-up scenes. We're not doing the big chase scenes or the action-adventure. We're just focusing on what daytime is all about, and that's the classic, romantic stories that the audience can become involved in on the human level.

Do you ever run stuff by your father?

I do. We talk a couple of times a week, and I kind of fill him in on where I am right now. He's the best there is, and he has a lot of great advice.

Is running the show what you thought it would be?

It is. When I first moved here [Los Angeles] I had been studying with the writers in Chicago. Then, when I moved out here, I was doing extra work. I've done just about everything there is to do on the show, so I've seen every angle and there really haven't been many surprises. If there is anything that really stands out, it's the amount of work, and having to go at it six days a week with long days, and never feeling like you're done and always feeling that you could be doing more. My father really dedicated his life to the show, and if you're going to be good, I think that's what you have to do.

What else do you want to do with the show?

I love when we come in second place. In '95 we had eight second-place finishes. So far this year we have eight, so I'd love to get that ninth and have '98 be our best year ever in terms of second-place finishes, which I think we will achieve. I love this show. I love the new cast members. I love Paul Satterfield [Pierce], and we have a few new people we're casting this week that I'm eager to write for, so I think we have a strong, exciting cast right now and I'm just having fun with it.

What can you tell me about the new characters and how they interact with the established characters on the canvas?

We're going to have a young woman who is going to be involved with C.J., Rick and Amber, but we haven't quite closed on the deal yet. But this is someone the viewers may know from a prime-time show. Her father will come aboard, too. I met with a few actors today and we're in the process of finalizing a deal with an actor that everyone will know from daytime.

Any plans to bring on Amber's family?

There was a plan to bring on Amber's family. I was close to hiring a mother and a sister, but then I kind of bailed out on that because it just got a little too inbred. We've done so many brothers after the same woman, and father/son after the same woman, that I didn't want to do sisters after the same man. It just seemed like we needed to have someone fresh, someone very different, so I think Amber will see her sister someday, but no time soon. 

Do you have the same sort of pull with the network that Bill has?

It's wonderful, because I stepped in and did the show for about six months before anyone at CBS knew that my dad wasn't writing the show anymore, and our ratings actually increased. When I took over the show, it was at eighth and ninth place, and three years later we were hitting second-place finishes, so the network has been completely hands off with me. They are very happy with the performance of the show and we really don't go to the network for anything.

How concerned are you with ratings and demographics?

Well, ratings are everything to us, but demographics are important, too, and international ratings are important for the show. We're always looking to be the highest or second-highest rated show.

Any plans to have another spectacular fashion show?

Well, we're working on that right now. We're working on doing a location shoot in Sicily this spring, but it's iffy right now because we're trying to raise the money to do it. Our production company raised most of the money itself for our last Italian fashion show, and that one was fabulous.

Are location shoots popular in the overseas markets, too? 

Yes! The Italians are crazy about it, and everywhere around the world, they love to see the locations.

Well, it sounds like it's a Bold and Beautiful world and we just live in it.

Yeah, sometimes it feels like it.