BOLD MANEUVERS

Executive Producer/Head Writer Bradley Bell on the state of B&B and what’s ahead.

- Stephanie Sloane

Soap Opera Digest: I was so excited to see the show back on the air. I’m sure you were, too.

Bradley Bell: It’s been quite a road to get back in production.

Digest: I loved how you started it with Carter and Katie and made a reference as though you were talking about the pandemic but it really was about the boutique. It worked so well.

Bell: Good. Yeah, we wanted to kind of give a nod to what’s going on currently and then catch everyone up. I think it was a good episode. And now on with the show.

Digest: First of all, how has everything been going?

Bell: Things have been going well. Everyone is enthusiastic and optimistic. In the daytime world, everyone is in go, go, go mode, and to put everything on pause for a while was, of course, necessary but difficult. Once we got the green light from SAG-AFTRA and from California, we were ready to go. We had the scripts, we had the shows blocked. We were just hot out of the starting gate.

Digest: You’re one of the only shows to be in continuous production. Have you felt like you are leading the way and showing other shows how it could be done?

Bell: Well, it does feel like we’re on the forefront of the return to production. It’s been a major learning curve for us going ahead, knowing that it’s all about safety. Safety is paramount. If anything doesn’t feel safe, we will shut down, but so far we have a great team of consultants, healthcare officials that are working with us, and we’re feeling very good about the future and about continuing production.