The Santa Barbara producers are looking for a French actor
By Irène Dervize and Isabelle Caron, Télé 7 Jours, 1985	Home   Cette page en Français

When you meet them at the Ritz, one of Paris's last great palaces, you feel like you've stepped into an episode of Santa Barbara, TF1's daily show that more than 17% of you faithfully follow. No surprise. Bridget and Jerry Dobson are the show's creators, producers, and writers. And even if they talk about dining in Paris's finest restaurants, their visits to the Louvre, the Centre Pompidou, or the brand-new Picasso Museum, they are not on holiday in France. "We're looking," they explain, "for a French actor who could appear in episodes of Santa Barbara that we will actually film here in France next summer."

Bridget and Jerry, who have consulted in vain with several talent agencies, met with impresarios and casting specialists (those who find actors and actresses for directors), have no hesitation in sketching a profile : "He must be handsome, but not overly masculine; tall, but not a giant; humorous, but able to show anger, even violence; full of energy; bilingual of course, with a French accent that's not too strong..." His age ? "Between 35 and 45, and above all, he must have a phenomenal memory, since the script changes every day and he will have to learn twenty to thirty pages of dialogue in English daily, five days a week, fifty-two weeks a year. His contract will last three years, renewable, but if he doesn't measure up, or if the American audience stops liking him, he could be "let go" after just thirteen weeks !"

In Santa Barbara, filmed two and a half hours from Los Angeles, there is no time to waste. The studios practically never close ! Eighty technicians and fifty actors and extras work from six in the morning until six at night, when "the night crew" arrives to change sets and prepare scenes for the next day. In a flash, a bedroom vanishes behind a screen and turns into a terrace. The bathroom becomes a kitchen, complete with running water and stove. As the night crew heads home, the day crew arrives, and so on.

Then come the actors : twenty-five regular roles (under contract), plus extras. Not to mention the director, and of course, the producers, always present on set. "Yes, except when we're in Paris, we're always there," explains Bridget Dobson. "After all, Santa Barbara is like our child. NBC originally commissioned us to create a show about two families. I immediately thought of Santa Barbara city because we have a house there. I spent a year with Jerry giving life to our heroes and dreaming up their adventures. Now I'm head writer with Jerry and a third writer, Chuck Pratt. Leonard Friedlander is a chief director... and three more writers handle the dialogue. In the United States, the show has been running for a year. We're already at episode 352, and we could keep writing for years."

Bridget Dobson learned from the best : "My parents were already writing soap operas for radio and television back in 1937. They created General Hospital, which was a huge success, and I helped them. That's how I learned my craft." "She taught me everything," adds Jerry. "With her, I began imagining stories, shaping them, breaking them down, becoming a writer for soap operas, these shows which were originally financed by soap manufacturers."

"Recently, our children, Mary, 23, and Andrew, 20, have begun working with us. Maybe one day people will talk about the "Dobson dynasty." There are days when I think we could have done better," Bridget admits. "But we never forget that we write a script every single day, whereas a film script takes a year to write, and for Dallas or Dynasty, the writers also have much more time..."

"We live surrounded by paper and pencils," she continues. "On the nightstand, in the bathroom, the car, the kitchen, we jot down ideas whenever they come, and they can come from anywhere, anytime. We wake in the middle of the night to write down whatever crosses our minds. We live entirely with Santa Barbara. Between Jerry and me, all we talk about is the show. Nothing else. Our characters follow us, haunt us, even on weekends and whenever we travel. Right now, for instance, I have an idea for a new twist..."

During their stay in France, the two masterminds of the American soap have been searching not only for a French actor but also for the location where they will shoot the French episodes of Santa Barbara. Their footsteps led them to Dampierre Castle in the Chevreuse Valley, where (French soap opera) Châteauvallon was filmed. Jacques de Bryas gave them a tour, but Bridget and Jerry - whom we accompanied - were not particularly impressed.

But above all, they were delighted to know that Santa Barbara is such a hit with French viewers. They are very pleased with the dubbing, even considering releasing the soundtrack with the original music, since so many of you have asked for it. And next time, they promised, they will find that French actor... They swore it to us, and you'll be the first to know who the lucky one is.

Bridget Dobson also presented to us Dame Judith Anderson, who plays Minx Lockridge in Santa Barbara : "She is eighty-seven. She was Mrs. Danvers in Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca. In 1960, the Queen of England awarded her the prestigious title of Dame." Bridget also spoke of Nicolas Coster (Lionel Lockridge) : "His daughter studies at the Sorbonne in Paris, and she now enjoys her father's fame. As for Louise Sorel, she comes to Paris several times a year to spend her earnings." Would Bridget like to be one of her own heroines ? "Yes," she answers. "Robin Wright. She is young, beautiful, and always has handsome men on her arm."