Behind The Scenes of The Iconic Soap Opera Days of Our Lives

What's up, guys? Leslie Robbins here. With its captivating story lines and beloved characters, Days of Our Lives has become a staple in the world of soap operas for decades. And Young Hollywood is taking you behind the scenes. Oh, and I'm in a scene. Mr. Leo Howard. It's me. Thank you for having us on the Days of Our Lives set. This has been amazing. I got to do a little cameo. Now I get to be with you. Take me into a little bit where we are right now.

Absolutely. Welcome to the Horton Town Square. Uh, our dysfunctional family, very, very dysfunctional, because if it wasn't dysfunctional, there wouldn't be a show. Uh, this is like the gathering area for all the characters to intersect and all the storylines and what not. We play all these different shops as some people work at the different buildings. That's the Salem Inn. There's a lot of shenaniganry that goes on in there.

And you have taken over, it seems like acres in the Valley of Southern California. This is one stage is not. How many stages are there? How many sets?

Yeah, so here we have two big stages. I think we probably have, like, one, two, three. Probably have like six or seven permanent, maybe eight permanent sets and then we have swing sets that just double as multiple different locations. So the walls stay the same. They get gutted, switch it out for whatever. And uh, it's amazing. We have an amazing crew that, you know, once we leave, they come in and they're working to uh, make it happen so we can show up and do what we do. So, it's a great team. It really is a machine, a well-oiled machine.

Actually, I, let's have a seat. I, I saw like two characters sitting here.

We perch here quite often. That's right. Yes. Yes. Um, a lot of conversations here. We try to keep it as downstage as possible, because the way we shoot here, as the farther people get up, the less you get to see them. And on a soap, you want to see the people, apparently, that's what I hear.

And how far in advance do you know what your day on Days is going to look like?

So, I know what episode I'm shooting typically the week before. So, I know what episodes are which days. And sometimes you're shooting a piece of the episode. Sometimes you're shooting the full episode. Most often, you're shooting the full episode. So, uh, what I do at least is I know, over the weekend, I get familiar with all the episodes and then the night before, I really tighten it up every day, you know, kind of move forward. So, weekends are kind of busy for me.

Okay, when you have a role on Days of Our Lives, what I'm finding is, as an actor myself, on the show. No, no. What I'm finding is there's a ton of dialogue. You have to do it really quickly. And the director really likes it to be done in one take. Yes. How do you do that?

Well, um, I take it day by day, scene by scene. I remind myself that everybody else here is doing it. So, if they can do it, I can do it. That was actually my initial thing coming into this, because when I first heard how much dialogue and that it was basically just one rehearsal, one take, my heart dropped. I was like, how is that possible? But, like, once you're here and you're doing it, and as long as you really put the time in to focus and make sure that you know your dialogue, it's just about trusting and letting go. And so that's basically what it is is you just trust that you know the work and you let it go so that you can play. And also, you run your lines with all the characters, all the different actors that you work with on set. So, that helps a lot.

Okay, I had about four or five lines to memorize. Not terrible. How'd you learn them?

Uh, repetition. Okay. Repetition. And I started when I got the first script.

How do you do it?

So, I uh, recently found out that I have a little bit of ADHD. So, like my focus tends to like, if I'm like sat and looking, I can't do it too much. So, my therapist suggested that I do it in motion. And so, I'll do it, I'll walk on the treadmill for like 30 minutes. I'll like look through my lines, I'll just read them over and over again. It's a sense of repetition. But something about the walking and moving just like helps it kind of like stay. Um, cuz I find if I learn my lines sitting down, I get comfortable sitting down and then when on the day, I like don't know what to do with my body or like my hands. So, and then I'll read them over at night before I go to sleep. So, it sticks in there.

These are lights, I think they're like 60-something years old. These are really old lights. We still use like, I think they're the original lights. So, uh, very rare that you go into a sound stage and you see lights this old. So, that's kind of, kind of cool. Right here, we have the Brady Pub. So, this is like our more casual eating area. We have another location on the other stage that's the Bistro.

Well, take me behind the scenes of Days of Our Lives when you're eating. Is it real food? Fake food?

Uh, the food's real. You can get in trouble as an actor eating in a scene though. Cuz you don't realize, you know, it's about the talking. You take a big bite. You gotta figure it out in order to say the next line. So, if you watch closely, a lot of the time we just kind of fidget or uh, we take very small, small bites.

So, talk about your life. Oh, okay. On Days of Our Lives. Because I'm here for the day. And what a family. From the moment I got here at 7:00 in the morning. Lovely. What can I get for you? Did you get here's the What a what a lovely place to come to work. I know.

Well, we knew you were coming on set. So, they changed everything to make it sort of come across as though we're really nice to each other and we're a really fantastic family. But it's not really like that. We despise each other. No, it's um, it is a wonderful group of people. Um, many have been together for a long, long time. I've been on the show for four years and once you really settle into the swing of things, it's a beautifully well-oiled machine and everyone just takes care of each other. Everybody is insanely grateful that we're here and to be working. And it is an awesome place to work, as you have seen.

I like this set. This is the uh, detective area and then also the interrogation room. Salem P. D. I love it. That's right. And then yeah, this is the gathering area for the detectives. We have a lot of detectives on this show. A lot of murders and crime scenes and kidnappings and babies disappearing. And you know, we just keep the drama going.

It blows my mind how there's no shortage of drama on these shows. Just when I think they've done it all, they figure something else out. Let's let's look at you. You look stunning.

Thank you.

Head to toe. Makeup and hair and wardrobe team is

Can we talk about it? I, I showed up like blank canvas and like, you know, went through the car wash. Yes. I know exactly. Just show up and they're like, okay, let's uh, wake you up and do it. It's amazing. I couldn't have asked for anything better. Like I said, I love this role. My wardrobe is killer. Every time that they present me with things, I'm always just like in awe of just how beautiful all of the choices are. So, sometimes I have a hard time choosing, um, but, um, yeah, I, I love the wardrobe. And then my hair, makeup. And obviously too, everybody gets their different hair and makeup team. Um, we've worked over the months to really find out what works too. So, you know, because everybody's canvas is so different and uh, gotta figure out what what works on the face. So, now I feel like we've gotten to a place to where I love I love everything.

Take me through a day in the life of your day.

Get here at 6:30 in the morning. Go do a wardrobe fitting. They present me with a couple of different options. And um, I basically get to choose whatever vibe I feel what what, like, whatever speaks to me. Um, I'll choose that dress and then I'll head over to hair and makeup. We'll get that going. And then we'll do um, rehearsal or we'll do dry block in the morning. So, that'll be at 7:45 always every day. Everything is very prompt. So, everything starts at exactly the same time every day. Go do that. Run through, just kind of get blocking and idea for where you're standing. Maybe you'll get to run a couple of the lines, but not really. Go back to hair and makeup. Finish that up. Find your scene partner and depending on where you're shooting within the day. If you're shooting early morning, it's really go, go, go. I mean, no matter what the entire day is a go, go, go. But find your scene partner, run your lines until you both feel comfortable, get dressed and then you'll hear over the loudspeaker, all right, come on up for touch-ups. And then once you go, you um, you basically get on set, you do a rehearsal. And then after the rehearsal, you shoot the scene and you do that with every single scene until you're done. And then it just goes by just just like that.

So, a typical day, just say for example, I'm shooting one episode but it's split up into multiple kind of sets. Um, you get in just say like 7:00 in the morning, you'll go to hair and makeup, you'll maybe do a uh, a uh, dry block, which is uh, we do like a brief blocking of the scene. So, it makes it at the time of shooting go faster. Then depending on what time you are scheduled, you will sit down and chill out for a bit or you'll get straight into it. You'll shoot. We'll shoot as fast as we can. Um, if we can do it in one take, we will do it in one take. Well, welcome to the small park area or the private area. Um, this is kind of a set where when we want to film these sort of like connective tissue scenes, they kind of end up in this small park.

So, my cameo today, I was in an indoor setting, obviously. Wasn't outdoors. But lots and lots of people have made cameos on this show. Yeah. If there was anyone you could have do a cameo on Days of Our Lives, who would it be?

Probably my wife again. Cuz I've never gotten to work with her and be in a scene with her. So, that would have been really cool. So, I hope that happens. I would like like just anyone from, shall we say, if you want to call it mainstream. Like just some big name. Jennifer Aniston, because her father was on the show. Her father's quote is in my dressing room, by the way.

There you go. There you go.

Yeah. Yeah, I just that would be fantastic. Just anyone like that, you know, just randomly like Brad Pitt. Come along. Everyone's like, oh, yes. Yes, that'd be great.

Yeah. What's your favorite type of scene to film on Days of Our Lives?

Oh. Well, I would say it's a cross between two. It would either have to be with a family member or brother. There's something about working, at least since we've established the Hernandez family now, I love it so much. There's just this comfortability and this flow that exists within it that it actually feels like family.

The fans go nuts for Days of Our Lives. And you've been shooting for a while, but because it's so many months ahead, the fans don't know you yet, but by the time this airs, they're going to. I know. Are you ready for the onslaught of fandom?

I'm scared. I'm, I'm really scared. Cuz I, I was saying uh, the other day, I was like, I know how this, how much this show means a lot to to people, to a lot of people. And um, you know, I, I just want to make sure that I'm, I'm taking good care of it and like respecting the uh, the energy of it all. You know what I mean? I don't want to like, I'm not like here to like come in and like change the format of anything. I really just want to assimilate and like, you know, hopefully tell a story that makes people think. And that's in any job, in anything that I do is like, I love starting dialogues. I'm a big yapper. I don't shut up. But I really do hope that this story propels something like that forward. And like we can develop a relationship and, and things. Cuz I think the the parasocial relationship of a show is like, we really develop relationships with these people and their lives and, you know, we see bits of ourselves in them and

This is a bedroom that's kind of a lot of people's bedroom.

Well, is it a real bed? Can I sit on it?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. There's been some uh, stuff happened on this bed on this show. I'm sure of it.

So, this is like an official Days of Our Lives bed.

That's right. Yep. And that's, that's exactly where the camera goes. And uh, yeah, we have conversations like this and uh, yeah, this is where magic. I think this is currently uh, Sophia's bedroom. So, now that we are in bed together for this interview,

Right. Sir. Take me behind the scenes of a Days of Our Lives love scene. Yeah. How does it work?

You know, uh, it is it's so uh, mechanical. It there's there's really nothing uh, there's nothing romantic about it. It's up to us to really bring that sort of connection and the uh, chemistry to it because it's very like, put your hand here, move here. It, it's actually it takes a lot of thought because uh, it's very easy to block people from the camera. So, there's just a lot of planning and choreography that goes into it. Typically, you know, we have an intimacy coordinator that makes sure everyone's comfortable and what not and that's very important. And uh, yeah, so it's not quite as romantic as it looks on the screen.

How do you like stop the madness of what's happening here when they say cut? Or is it literally you're done? I, I couldn't imagine going in and out of.

Well, you know, on this show, uh, we don't show a lot. You know, in other things I've been a part of, they show a little more. It's, it's just you kind of know what we're going to shoot here and that's what we're going to shoot, right? We kind of block it into pieces. So, uh, it's it's pretty easy. It's uh, always my thing is we just want to make sure everyone's comfortable and uh, yeah. So, it can be easy.

Do you enjoy scenes uh, in a set like this? This one, really? Right. What are you talking about? Romance scenes?

Romance scenes? No. Not really. Cuz it's just, well, it depends on who I'm working with, right? Like, um, there's people I'm very comfortable with and it's just less weird. But it can be weird. You know, you meet someone first, like, okay, hey, how you doing? All right, let's let's jump into bed together and let's uh, pretend to be making love. It's not uh, sometimes it's a little uncomfortable. Sometimes it's not. I try to break the ice and make it as comfortable as possible because that's I feel like that's the only way I can do my job is just being comfortable.

Okay, fine. I'll buy your dinner at the Bistro. Let's do it.