Heather Tom Talks Making History With All-Female ‘Bold and the Beautiful’ Episode

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The Bold and the Beautiful will wrap up Women’s History Month in a monumental way on March 27 with an all-female episode, written and directed by Heather Tom (Katie Logan), who will also appear in the show.

For Tom, who has been directing at the soap for years and began writing for it last fall, penning the script was a personal accomplishment. “I’ve been directing for the show for quite some time now and I just started writing for the show in September of last year, and I’ve obviously been acting on the show now for 17 years, and it also happens to be my 35th year in daytime,” Tom begins. “So, Brad [Bell, executive producer of B&B] called me and said, ‘Hey, I want to do an all-in show where you write it and direct it and act it,’ which has never been done in daytime for a multitude of reasons, but it’s also only been done a handful of times across any television platform. I think there’s two other ladies [Gillian Anderson on The X-Files and Amy Poehler on Parks and Recreation] that have actually pulled that off. So, I was quite honored to be a part of that group, and because we’re kind of making history, we thought that it was important for it to air during Women’s History Month.”

The episode, Tom previews, puts the emphasis on female family dynamics. “I talked with Brad and we decided to focus on mothers and daughters because I think that relationship is just so fraught; it’s the most personal relationship you can have with someone if you’re a woman,” offers Tom. “Your mother can either be the most supportive and the most pivotal or a relationship that has a lot of drama to mine. So, it primarily takes place between Steffy [Jacqueline MacInnes Wood] and Taylor [Rebecca Budig], who are kind of in this euphoric place in their story, and Brooke [Katherine Kelly Lang] and Hope [Annika Noelle], who are in this very tumultuous place in their story. And then Katie, my character, also had some scenes with her sister where they talk about their mother [Beth Logan], who has passed away. I brought a little bit of myself into those scenes just personally because I lost my mother last year and, well, every time I talk about this I cry, but I also cry for a living and I’ve been crying for the last 35 years, so I’m an easy mark.”

Howard Wise/jpistudios.com

Tom says she took her time with the script so that it hit all the right marks. “I write from a very emotional place,” she explains. “I write very much from an actor’s point of view, and hopefully in the voice of the character, so it doesn’t feel like dialogue could be interchangeable. That’s very important to me, that it feels like this character is the only one that could say these things. So, I did take longer on the script because I really wanted the actors to shine and to give them something to sink their teeth into. I wanted this show to be special. Brad gave me this amazing opportunity, so I wanted to do him proud.”

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Wearing multiple hats on the day of filming could have been a challenge, but Tom reports it went seamlessly. “It was an amazing experience; it really it went off without a hitch,” she shares. “We rehearsed a lot, and we really prepared for it. For the scenes that I was in, I had a monitor on stage so I could see the shots. I mapped out all the shots because the director has to snap the cues in the booth, which is difficult to do if you’re on stage, acting, so another one of our female directors actually snapped the cues in the booth and I was able to see and adjust if we needed to. Then we just made sure that we really rehearsed it so that the cameras really knew what they were doing and the actresses that I was working with all felt comfortable because the scenes that we were in were very, very emotional.”

Tom felt the love throughout the day from her coworkers. “I hope they really enjoyed it; I feel like they did,” she says. “I think that they were very excited to be a part of it. This was an all-female show, down to our stage manager. Everyone but Casey [Kasprzyk], who’s our producer, but we were like, ‘We’ll just put a wig on him.’ The cast and the crew just have always been so incredibly supportive of me doing these new endeavors.”

Howard Wise/jpistudios.com

Making her mark in daytime is nothing new for Tom, who holds records with her Daytime Emmy wins — at six, she is tied for the most won by a woman and holds the distinction of winning in every category: Outstanding Younger Actress, Outstanding Supporting Actress, and Outstanding Lead Actress — and feels her hard work over the years has led her to this point. “My mother always said that luck is when preparation and opportunity meet, so I’ve tried to be as prepared as I could for this,” Tom explains. “I went to the CBS directing program and directed outside of the show, but if you don’t get the opportunity, then the preparation doesn’t mean anything. They don’t cut me any slack and I appreciate that because I wouldn’t want them to. I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity because this doesn’t happen. To have someone like Brad just on my side and champion me, it floors me and I’m so grateful.”

Tom says she was thrilled with the final product — “I’m really happy with it. I hope Brad is, too” — and feels it’s the first step in what promises to be a memorable year for her. “I remember signing my first contract when I was 14, turning 15, and it was a three-year deal,” she recalls. “I was like, ‘Oh, my God! How am I gonna be here for three years?’ Cut to 35 years later, it does not seem possible. I was on The Young and the Restless [as Victoria Newman] for 13 years, and on One Life to Live [as Kelly Cramer] for four, and now I’ve been on B&B for 17. I really can’t wrap my head around it. So, August will be the official 35^th and honestly, I cannot possibly think of a better way to celebrate it than to do a show like this.”

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