Chat Transcripts: Ben Masters & Co.
Passions Chat with Ben Masters (Julian) held at NBC.COM on May 10, 2000!
Tonight's mystery guest at the chat Ben Masters held was Passions' creator and head writer, James E. Reilly. Here's the questions Reilly was asked, and his answers...
Q: How did you come up with all these very different characters and
storylines?
A: Well, basically I've been in soap opera for 20 years, and I knew the types of characters and storylines I'd enjoyed. Modeling them after than, and some crazy characters I knew, I came up with the four core families.
Q: Where did the idea for Timmy come from?
A: Timmy came up when I was writing the first week of shows. I don't know where he came from, but I started to laugh at the idea of a doll coming to life with Tabitha. I didn't know if I was going crazy or if this was something the network and fans would like, but I decided to put him in. And the fans all love him! Ben, he may turn out to be Julian's son!
Q: Are any of the characters based on people you know or real life people?
A: I hope not, because I would be afraid to know some of them!
Q: Is there any character on the show that particularly identify with?
A: Oh wow. Umm... Well strangely, you might call my psychiatrist for me, but sometimes I think it's a little bit of Kay, sometimes it's Julian, sometimes it's Timmy. It depends on my mood for the day. Literally, it would be everyone. Everyone I identify with. Especially the dark forces down in Tabitha's basement.
Q: Hi James! You are a great writer! What new stuff do you have planned for the show?
A: This summer is going to be explosive for every character on the show. There's going to be the Prom from Hell as Tabitha calls it, and major revelations. Major story points will be revealed throughout the summer, and major coming together of couples you want to see together. And major reveals from the past!
Q: How did you get started writing for soaps?
A: Totally by accident. It was luck. I came to California and insulted the girlfriend of a very major force in daytime, and he enjoyed it so much that he wanted me to work on the soap opera.
Q: BEN MASTERS: James, I've done a lot of work--good and bad--as an actor, but I really want to know where you get some of these incredibly MAD ideas for Julian that make me laugh when I read the script? I'm so surprised at the strange twists Julian takes sometimes. I'm wondering if it comes from the graveyard of your personality, as Donald Pleasance once said?
A: I have no idea! I wake up, or sometimes I have dreams about characters on the show, and I live in Harmony. So in a sense I see things happening and report as an eye witness. Really, I'll imagine at night what happens in Harmony, and the next day I'll tell the writers. When I see the characters--and I learn about the characters from the actors playing them--one small movement will let that character take off. So, really, it must be Ben's fault. When I see him do something, it springs off to the character. I just report it.
After Masters answered a question about playing the evil one, Reilly
responded with:
A: If we want to see the evil one, we also have to wait for Alistair to show up. Wait for Alistair and Julian to come together.
Q: Have you ever written for anything besides soaps?
A: Never. Nothing. I love soaps too much. I've been offered other things, but I can't write...I write for 20-some characters now, and I couldn't betray them by writing something else. I love soaps too much. I love stories that never end.
Q: Do you answer fan mail?
A: We get a lot of fan mail. I try to answer it, but sometimes, writing the show gets involved. If it's a fan mail for pictures or something, I can pass it along to the office, but sometimes the backlog gets too much, and I apologize to anyone I haven't written back to, but Harmony takes up a lot of my time.
Q: How did you come up with the name Passions?
A: Strangely, I couldn't think up a name for the show, and I was going to send the bible into the network calling it Soap X as a working title. I knew it had to be short, one-word name ideally and I was sitting at lunch going through all the possibilities - Romance, love, Secrets, Intrigue, Mystery, and finally the name Passions came into my head, and it fit a lot of categories. You can be passionate about a lot of things in life. I submitted it as a title for the show, and it stayed there. Everyone enjoyed it; everyone loved it.
Q: When will we finally meet Alistair and can you kill off the tarantulas please?
A: (Laughing) Well, Alistair will have other little pets, and we will meet him. When he finally comes back, something major will happen, when he arrives. Something I'll bet no one can figure out!
Q: James, how many years in advance did you begin writing Passions before it was put on screen?
A: I started writing Passions after I left Days, in November 1997.
Q: Did you know Passions would be such a big success when you started the show?
A: I loved it so much, and I loved the characters, and I knew other people would love it too. I'm glad to know you like it too.
Q: Mr. Reilly, would it be possible for Charity to come into her good powers while Kay is trained by Tabitha? Then they could fight each other with the awesome powers of good and evil.
A: Well, you have to remember that Kay is Charity's cousin, and so she has Standish blood in her. All the Standish women have powers of one sort or another, so we have to stay tuned to see.
Q: What is it like...is it fun watching all the ideas in your head turn into reality?
A: Absolutely. You have a dream, and within a few months, that dream is on the air.
Q: I've noticed that throughout your career you've had a penchant for writing about sci-fi, the mysterious, and unexplainable. Why do you think you're so drawn to this?
A: Because it's a mystery. It's interesting, and you can get away with so much when you go into that other realm, and the audience responds to it, like they did on Days when Marlena was possessed by Satan.
Q: Do you have any last thoughts to share with the audience tonight?
A: Like I said before, this summer a lot of secrets will come out, from
Theresa and Ethan talking of their love; From Sheridan and Luis being
together 24 hours a day; to people's paternity coming out, to murder and mayhem; all this summer, everyday.
*James E. Reilly is creator and head-writer of Passions.*
2nd Mystery Guest Passions Chat with Ben Masters (Julian) held at NBC.COM on May 17, 2000!
NBCLive: Welcome to our second Happy Hour with Julian Crane! Ben
Masters, who plays the unstoppable Julian Crane, is with us tonight for another very special evening.
For the first half-hour, Ben will be here sharing his thoughts on one
of his and Julian's favorite topics - love and romance. During the second half-hour, we will be joined by a mystery guest. The first person to guess the guest will win a cool Passions Prize.
NBCLive: Welcome Julian!
Julian_Crane: Welcome, all of you who've ventured back onto this site.
We'll see what this evening brings!
Starshine_tw: Dear Julian, I can never find true love - every guy just
ends up using me. What should I do?
Julian_Crane: I would, quite frankly, find a way to get even with these
fellows! Can you get hold of their bank account numbers, and possibly
funnel the cash into your own account?
Starshine_tw: Dear Julian, I really like this guy, but I just found out
that he's my brother, and I'm really hurt. What should I do to ease the
pain?
Julian_Crane: Is your mother a lovely, long-legged doctor? If so, I
suggest you stop seeing this young man, and hunt for someone who is at least a first cousin!
ivy_crane2000: I really like this guy, but he is married? What should I
do?
Julian_Crane: Well, try to enjoy all of his favors on the side. Make
sure no one finds you. Isn't there some small inn on the outskirts of town where the two of you might tryst?
Snuggypoo: Julian, I have a crush on this boy, but my friend is dating
him. I've liked him since I was 8 and she met him last week. What should I do?
Julian_Crane: I've found that if you act really cheap around him, and
give him the impression that you'll give him whatever he wants, that usually works. It works for me.
KMCG8R: Ben, tell us what attracts youto that place where we once were, before whiskey and evil women shaded and tainted out hearts.
McKenzie_Westmore: Seeing as with all this Dr. Eve Russell and jazz,
that's what I would imagine for Julian - a little jazz music…
McKenzie_Westmore: I'd like to congratulate KMCG8R on being tonight's
winner of the Mystery Guest contest! KMCG8R wins a signed copy of a "Passions" script!
cuteangel145: Ben, if you were able to choose to be another character
on the show, who would you be?
Ben_Masters: Miguel Lopez-Fitzgerald. I think the boy's up to no good.
shadma_21-guest: McKenzie, do you ever get creeped out by the very
"close" relationship between Ethan and Sheridan?
McKenzie_Westmore: No, I never get creeped out. We actually laugh about
it. It is pretty funny!
Bryce-Lynne-guest: If you weren't working on "Passions" what would you
be doing?
McKenzie_Westmore: I'd be in Cincinnati right now going to the
Conservatory of Music. I had just been accepted there in musical theatre, right before I got the call for "Passions." I'm not expecting to go back for a long, long time. This is keeping me pretty well tied up, and I'm happy with that!
Ben_Masters: I'd probably be cleaning out the restrooms at Dodger
Stadium! ;-)
chatters-guest: Ben, how do you feel about playing such an evil man day
in and day out? Do you think it makes you (even) more evil in your daily life?
Ben_Masters: Why would you ever say that I play an evil man? My logic
is quite sound. The things I do make total sense. I'm merely protecting
what my family has taken years to amass. I'm not evil. I'm sensitive, loving, kind, and I'm hunting for a new puppy. ;-) No, it doesn't affect my personal life.
shadma_21-guest: Do either of you actually watch "Passions?" Are you
fans of it like all of us?
McKenzie_Westmore: Yeah! I watch it almost every night on tape with my
mom.
Ben_Masters: I tape it, every day, and I watch it every day, just to
see what strange things are going on that I'm not involved in.
lissa1999-guest: McKenzie, what is the funniest thing that happened to
you while taping Passions?
McKenzie_Westmore: Probably the fantasy with Sheridan and Luis in the
locker room. Because Galen had to come out in these little things...you can't even call them underwear! I was just so embarrassed; just could not stop laughing. And neither could he!
xharla: When will either of you will be making an appearance in New
York for NBC?
McKenzie_Westmore: Blondie's tomorrow night. Lunch with the cast of
"Passions" on Friday. And of course the Emmys! The lunch on Friday will
be a live chat right here too. That's noon Eastern time, or 9 am Pacific.
Starshine_tw: McKenzie, since tonight's topic is romance, what advice
do you have for all of us on the subject?
McKenzie_Westmore: Oh my goodness! Where do you start!?
Ben_Masters: Pretend I'm not here. ;-)
McKenzie_Westmore: Oh boy. Gotta have a moonlit walk on the beach.
That's always a great place to start. Ben is being bad!
Ben_Masters: I'm too old to be bad! ;-)
LdDreamer24: How have both of your lives changed ever since you started
"Passions?"
McKenzie_Westmore: Really, it doesn't seem like all that much has
changed, except I don't have that much time on my hands. I'm not home as much. My cat doesn't know who I am any more!
Ben_Masters: It's really given me something to obsess about, almost
every waking hour of the day. I've stopped playing bad golf like I used to a lot.
And I find that I go to bed thinking about my life in Harmony, and I
wake up thinking about it. I like to say I live in that box. I have two lives. One is that life in that box, the television. And the other is the rest of my life. And they're both pretty pathetic. ;-)
McKenzie_Westmore: I find I have no memory for anything but lines any
more. I wake up thinking about lines, and I go to bed thinking about lines.
Ben_Masters: I was in the grocery store the other day, and I said to
the checker "How dare you?! How DARE you?!" ;-)
NBCLive: We are almost out of time for this week. Thanks Ben for
joining us, and thank you McKenzie for being tonight's mystery guest. Did either of you have any last thoughts to leave our audience with?
Ben_Masters: I would just like to say that I appreciate people spending
this hour with me and with McKenzie, and keep watching the show! It's going to get stranger and stranger.
McKenzie_Westmore: I had a great time tonight. Thanks to everyone for
joining!
