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Oh, the drama!

The One Life to Live cast knows. The judges know. And tonight, finally, the viewers will know which actor wins the I Wanna Be a Soap Star competition.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published August 10, 2006

NEW YORK

"Omigod, are you the new soap star?" squeals One Life to Live actor Bree Williamson.

She's being introduced to the winner of SoapNet's competition show I Wanna Be a Soap Star, who's on the set of the ABC series to meet with executive producer Frank Valentini and casting director Julie Madison.

At this moment, on a particularly rainy June morning, Soap Star has just started airing on the cable network (it started taping in February), but the winner, who got a 13-week role on One Life, is already preparing to start work.

There's a clandestine feel in the W 66th Street studio, much like a great soap opera cliffhanger, with publicists trying to keep the show's stars mum about the visitor. But the excitement on the set is palpable as one cast member after another takes time to meet and greet the newest player, who's visibly impressed by the reception.

"I've been dreaming about this moment for a long time," says the beaming new soap star, who will not be named in this story so as to not spoil Soap Star's third season finale tonight.

Getting to this moment has been just as difficult for Soap Star's judges and One Life's creative staff.

"We're looking for someone who has star quality, first and foremost," says Valentini. "The interesting thing about a show like Soap Star is that you're not only judging each individual actor on his or her abilities, but you're also throwing them up against the rest of the (One Life) cast.

"With Soap Star, you get this mixed bag of a bunch of people, and in a way, it's the ultimate chemistry test."

The winners from the past two seasons have had the right elements.

After his initial 13-week appearance on General Hospital, first winner Mykel Shannon Jenkins was signed to an additional 13 weeks. He has also landed commercial work and guest roles in prime time, including this fall's new ABC comedy Help Me Help You.

Second-season winner Alec Musser ended up on All My Children and is now a series regular with a multiyear contract.

For season three, the field of 10 contestants has been reduced to New Yorkers Kelly McGarry and Mikey Jerome. They have survived such rigorous soap opera challenges as kissing convincingly on cue, feigning amnesia and coming back from the dead.

The judges - Madison, former soap actor Debbi Morgan and soap star manager Michael Bruno - agree that selecting the champion this season wasn't easy.

"As in daytime television - and television and film in general - there is no one voice in the casting process," says Bruno, "and the one I really like may not be the one who gets it."

For Madison, it wasn't necessarily about beauty or acting ability, but "finding someone that had something special."

"In the end," she says, "it was painful to watch people that we grew to know and get rid of them when maybe they should have been the one who won. It's just that day, with that challenge, they happened to do something that they shouldn't have done, and that was hard."

The most challenging job may have been for One Life head writer Dena Higley, who had to work the winner into the show's plot.

"It was almost like solving a puzzle. 'How am I going to do this?' " she says. "But I love those kinds of challenges; it's fun for me."

[Last modified August 10, 2006, 05:44:18]