WINTER: TOWN & COUNTRY + FOOTPRINTS SHOCKER
THE PHIX SIX with
Town & Country's
BRE DREW
In the reemerging and growing world of Web-Series, audio dramas and text bases Soap Operas, Bre Drew's TOWN & COUNTRY stands as a new classic! There is deep heart in the stories that Bre crafts episode to episode and the family connections in the small town of Radcliff are always written in a way that never misses beat. Heartstrings are pulled and emotions run wild like horses on the Covington Family's Home Farm with this one! This edition PHIX SIX is proud to welcome Writer/Creator BRE DREW!
THE PHIX FILES: Hi Bre! Thanks so much for taking the time for the Phix Six! Let’s get right to it! The WebSoap world has been around for some time now, much longer than I was even aware of. How long have you been writing Town & Country and what inspired you to start your own series?
BRE DREW: I've been writing Town & Country for going on six years now. And what inspired me is reading the longstanding WebSoaps of Footprints and One Day A Time. So that and my love for the soap opera genre lit a fire under me to write my own series, and it's been going ever since, albeit with some hiatuses due to real-life instances.
THE PHIX: One of the truly inspiring things I have found about your work is that you have special way of bringing us real life stories that happen every day to your world and there is a lot of real feeling and emotion behind them. That’s not an easy thing to accomplish on a WebSoap. Can you tell me a little about your writing process?
BRE: My writing process usually has me working on a yearly bible, and then I go outline episodes week by week; currently I'm in March 2025.
THE PHIX: One example of your stellar storytelling is Lenny’s cancer diagnosis. I lost my dad this year of cancer and Lenny’s story truly hits home: from her diagnosis to her treatment. What has it been like putting this very powerful story to paper?
BRE: First of all, my condolences to you about your father. As someone who has lost their grandmother and other family members to the horrible disease. I think for years Lenny had been more of a supporting character, unlike her twin sister Tanner for years. And I thought as someone as tough and with a brash personality going through this disease would be compelling and show cancer can affect anyone; so writing it, I didn't want to skip any beats as we've seen her from the diagnosis to the treatment and her emotions as she uses dark humor to mask the fact that she may not survive. But the story does what soap does best, which is to not only educate but to entertain, as you'll see it also dovetails into another big story too.
THE PHIX: Thank you Bre, and my condolences to you too. Cancer is such an awful sickness. That being said, I don’t want to make T&C sound super intense because there’s a lot of fun too in Radcliffe! Deidre & Esther are the best! Do you have any favorite Deidre or Esther moments? I love any time Deidre talks about or to Jacques!!
BRE: I try to make T&C have lighter moments as well as the heavier, as I believe balance is the spice of life regarding soaps. I adore writing for Deirdre and Esther because they're in a way sides of the same coin as they're protective of family, although one might resort to murder. I think my favorite moment is coming up between both ladies, which you'll have to wait and see.
THE PHIX: It takes a lot of work out a serial like this together. From story prep to the character’s image choice. It’s all very curated, carefully thought out, and time consuming. Is all the hard work worth the labor bringing Town & Country to life?
BRE: Yep, prepping for T&C does take time, but I enjoy it because I love the creativity with the stress and all, as sometimes I have to come back to it when I get a case of writer's block. But I say it's definitely worth it to get a final product, or as final as possible.
THE PHIX: Question Six is always my favorite, Bre, because it’s where you get to give us a little sneak peek into what’s to come. Got any juicy previews for winter in Radcliffe?
BRE: Let's see here. Jai and Mala's remarriage is happening in a few weeks, which will make the first appearance of a new character involved in a big story for the Gupta's starting next year. The Saunders-Lockhart family will have to come together. And a long-awaited secret will eventually come out, affecting most of the canvas. I've had a lot of fun answering these questions!
THE PHIX: And I had a lot of fun too! This has really been a long-time coming! THANK YOU again for the conversation!
EXCLUSIVE!
FOOTPRINTS SHOCKER!
Loretta Ragan Dies!
If one thing can be said about Loretta Ragan is that she always seemed to bounce back after a plot or scheme fell through or was exposed. And like any great soap villainess, she'd come back stronger and even more vindictive than the last time. But if the last episode of FOOTPRINTS proves right, her reign of terror over Kings Bay may finally have come to a very shocking end. That's right: the great Loretta Ragan is dead! We caught up with Michael Ross, the writer and creator of FOOTPRINTS to find out more!
THE PHIX FILES: After all the crimes and horrible things she's done, what would you say was the main catalyst for Loretta's most recent and shocking exit?
MICHAEL ROSS: Loretta's exit is a culmination of all the awful things she has done over the last decade-and-a-half. This all goes back to when she -- without anyone knowing at the time -- help Nick Moriani fake his death and then attempt final revenge on Ryan, the Fishers, and their loved ones. This isn't the result of one event or one act; it's the crescendo to a reign of terror that has victimized a lot of people, and Loretta finally lost control of the plot.
THE PHIX: Was Loretta's a story you had always envisioned happening at some point (maybe not these exact circumstances) but that you knew she'd eventually meet her maker?
MICHAEL: I always knew that this would end with Loretta's death. The specifics of that end-game have changed a lot over the years, but it was always clear to me that she needed to get her comeuppance in the end, and that it needed to happen in a way that would drive story for the main cast. She's been the Big Bad for years, this threat looming over almost all of the cast, and the only way to resolve that fully was for her to die. She's been a blast to write, but the mounting tensions and resentments have boxed her into a corner -- which was my intent! -- so there isn't much left for her to do. I wanted her to go before things became too repetitive, and I have feared we were getting close to that.
THE PHIX: Sometimes villains can come off too invincible, almost comic-book evil, (Stefano DiMera comes to come) but Loretta to me is more grounded and methodical in the bad things she does. Was that something you thought about or did it come natural?
MICHAEL: I'm glad to hear that Loretta, despite the over-the-top nature of her character and crimes, has still come across as somewhat grounded. That was certainly my intent. The Stefano DiMeras and James Stenbecks of the soap world are incredibly iconic characters, but after decades of play and many writing regime changes, they wound up being treated more like plot devices than characters with full hearts and inner lives. Stefano is one of my most beloved 'Days of Our Lives' characters of all time, but some of the things they had him do were so convoluted and strangely motivated. I've been careful to keep Loretta's focus squarely on revenge for the wrongs that she feels have been committed against her: James's death, Philip's spiral into insanity that led to his death, and now Spencer's betrayal. We got to see the curtain be pulled back recently during a scene between her and Spencer, but this all really went back to one thing: her growing sense of loneliness and isolation, and the longing she had for a life that had passed her by. All this revenge is predicated on an illogical -- but strangely universal, or at least relatable -- wish to seize back control and turn back time so that she could have her family back. This is a woman who lost her husband and her sons, and everything she has done was in the name of exacting revenge for those losses.
THE PHIX: In soap world, we never say never, and strange things can happen so is this the END end for Loretta?
MICHAEL: I can reveal that this is the END-end for Loretta! She has been so fun to write, and I'll miss that, but I already did a whodunnit with Nick Moriani that turned out to be a case of him having faked his death. I don't want to repeat that, and I believe Loretta is played out as a character, so it's in the best interest of the series that this be the end for her. Even though she's dead, however, her legacy will live on for a long time: her death itself creates an umbrella storyline that is going to be packed with twists, turns, and ramifications for a huge portion of the canvas, and we still have characters like Spencer and Peter, who are her family and have to live with the reality of things she did and their own connection to her.
AND CATCH UP ON ALL THE
DRAMA IN KING'S BAY BY
FROM HELL
Vicky/Marley |
Who can forget the very dysfunctional sisterhood of Carrie and Sami on DAYS, or the back and forth drama of twins Vicki and Marly on ANOTHER WORLD.
Indeed the sibling rivalry trope is incredibly effective especially when it comes down to a mutual love interest or a never-before-seen evil twin that just happens to pop up into the fray wanting some kind of revenge for being left off the family tree for one reason or another (Looking at you Quinn Armitage of SANTA BARBARA).
JR Ewing of DALLAS was incredibly jealous of his better looking, kinder, happier baby brother Bobby. Everyone seemed to love Bobby far more than the conniving JR. Even JR's wife Sue Ellen, who had a very hard time being nice to anyone, was a bigger fan of Bobby than she was of her sniveling two-timing husband JR. This was a very one-sided rivalry to say the least. For JR's part he wanted the world to know who was top-dog at Ewing Oil and would stop at nothing for power and control as for Bobby, it was always very clear he couldn't care less about being the family's business kingpin and saw JR as nothing more than his older jerk of a brother who would often make a mess of everything at South Fork.
Bobby/JR |
As family businesses rise and fall, love never seems to get away from anyone. The Newman's of THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS know this very well! Victoria, Nicholas, Adam and Abby have always been back and forth as heirs to their father's empire although Victor seems to enjoy his brood's bickering over who's next in line, but Nick and Adam's constant girlfriend and wife swapping makes things even worse. From Sharon to Phyllis to Sally and anyone in between these two brothers often times fight over their lady love to sometimes disastrous results.
Evil twins too can make a dramatic situation even juicer! Take Adam and Stewart Chandler of ALL MY CHILDREN. Adam wasn't exactly evil but Stewart's extra extra kind demeanor made Adam come off as the devil in a designer suit.
Jennings died, who would have thought his twin brother Chris would come back to Collinsport to take the town by storm as monstrous werewolf! Poor Carolyn never knew what hit her!
Chris of Dark Shadows |