The Bold and the Beautiful News: The Secrets Behind The Show’s Return

If Forrester Creations had implemented the kind of safety protocols that The Bold and the Beautiful is doing in the age of COVID-19, then you can bet Sally Spectra never would have been able to get past the front gate! The half-hour soap is leading the way in showing the industry how to safely get back into production.

The Bold and the Beautiful Is Back

“We started a month ago before we got back, putting in plexiglass between the directors and producers, reorganizing our whole stage,” Brad Bell, executive producer/head writer, told Entertainment Tonight‘s Matt Cohen (ex-Griffin, General Hospital). “We’re limiting the number of people on stage to a very low number, and then when the actors come and their masks come off, that’s when we go on high alert… We’re filming two shows a day, and we’re feeling very comfortable, very safe.”

How does the show make it look like actors are closer to one another than they actually are? “We’re having [the actors] act while looking at something that’s very close,” Bell shares. “It brings their voice down, brings their eyes to the right spot. And then when you edit both sides together, you’ve got a very intimate scene.”

As previously reported, spouses of the show’s cast members are doubling for their mates’ on-screen love interests in order to keep social interactions to a minimum. “We are wigging them, we’re matching wardrobe and makeup,” Bell says. “Once in a while, if you look closely, you’ll see a sideburn is a little longer when they get in tight on that kiss. But that may be part of the fun of watching these shows, is trying to catch us as we’re trying to pull a fast one with these romantic scenes.”

BB, which shut down production last March, is the first scripted series to return to production. “We feel like we’re TV pioneers and we’re all in it together,” Bell says. “You would think there might be moments of awkwardness, but there really isn’t. We’re just all in it together. We’re TV people and we’re happy to be making TV again.” The Bold and the Beautiful airs weekdays on CBS. Check local listings for air times.