Heather Tom On Her History-Making B&B Episode: ‘I Feel So Incredibly Lucky’

Soap Opera Digest: Tell me about the genesis of your triple involvement in this special episode.

Heather Tom: I’ve been directing and writing for the show for quite some time and it’s my 35th year on daytime, which is just kind of bananas; I can’t quite believe it. So, Brad came to me and he said, “Well, in honor of your 35th year, why don’t I give you three jobs? Let’s do an all-in episode of you writing, directing and acting all in one episode.” I was like, “All right! That’s never been done before, but I’m game.” Like, “Yeah, sign me up, Coach!” And then we kind of thought about when we would want this to air and we thought that having it air during Women’s History Month [would be appropriate] since it is a historical thing. It’s never been done in daytime. It’s only been done a handful of times across all television platforms — streaming, nighttime, all of them. I was really happy that we were able to get it together in time to do that.

Digest: How did the concept for the plot of the episode take shape?

Tom: We talked about what we wanted the show to be. I think we both knew that we wanted it to be all female actors and centered around our lovely, wonderful, beautiful ladies and so we decided, “Let’s make it about mothers and daughters.” And then it was about figuring out how we were going to actually have me act in a scene and direct at the same time, because, with daytime, we have multiple cameras and so as a director, you go through your script and your scenes and you map out all of your shots. You know how you want the camera to move and you know what shots you want and it all moves very kind of seamlessly, but fast, because you’re sitting in the booth and you’re [she snaps her fingers] snapping between the different characters or cameras — and that becomes very hard to do when you’re actually also in the scene. As it turns out, you actually can’t be in two places at once. But we came as close to that as possible.

Digest: How did you manage it?

Tom: I mapped out the entire show, I mapped out all the scenes, did all my shots and all of my cuts, and then when we were on stage, if I was in a scene, I had a monitor so I could look at it and see what the framing was and what the camera moves were and make sure that we were all kind of on the same page. We rehearsed it enough times so that we knew that the technical aspects of it weren’t going to get in the way of the emotional part, which was the most important part, and then we had another one of our female directors in the booth actually snapping the camera shots. And it was pretty seamless, I have to say. We moved through it, we got it done, and I was very happy about how it all worked out. It took a lot of preparation, but we pulled it off. I felt very, very supported by everybody. I mean, it always takes a village to do what we do because we move so quickly, but it really did take everybody being supportive and excited about this in order for it to really happen, and it was a lot of fun.

Digest: So, you had this jumping-off point of mothers and daughters and those bonds. What stands out to you about the process of actually sitting down to write the episode?

Tom: The [action in the episode] is in context with what’s happening in the show right now and so we took the Steffy and Taylor characters and we put them together and they’re kind of euphoric and triumphant, and we juxtapose that with the Brooke and Hope characters and their turmoil and this kind of relationship meltdown. And then we had Katie and Donna, and then we had Katie/Donna/Hope/Brooke scenes. The Logans, we are a matriarchal group and we support each other, and Katie is kind of the moral center of the Logan women. That’s how we kind of brought Katie into it, and into the conflict with Brooke and Hope. In my scenes with Donna, we kind of talked about our mother [the late Beth Logan], and how we lost her a long time ago. I was able to kind of bring in certain personal aspects of my own mother [Marie Tom]. I lost her last year and it was very special to me and important to me to have a little bit of a little piece of her in this, because I would not be here in any way, shape or form without her.

Digest: When you were driving to work that day, what was running through your mind different from what you think about on a normal day?

Tom: I think I was in total denial about what was [coming]! I mean, we had prepared and I had prepared, but this has never been done before and so I was like, “Well, we’re just gonna move through it, but I have no idea, really, what to expect.” [B&B] is a well-oiled machine and people know how to do their jobs and we were prepared as much as we could be, but there’s being prepared and then there’s actually pulling it off! I think I walked in and I was like, “Well, let’s see what happens!” It kind of went off without a hitch, and I was very happy with the way it all came about.

Digest: Did anything surprise you about what actually happened on the day you shot the show?

Tom: I guess I wasn’t surprised that it went so smoothly … but I was surprised that it went so smoothly [laughs]! I had two big concerns. My biggest concern was that the dramatic scenes with Katherine [Kelly Lang, Brooke] and Annika [Noelle, Hope] and me had to be very, very emotional. I wanted to make sure that those scenes were well-rehearsed, that we rehearsed them multiple times if we needed to. I didn’t want there to be any doubt in anyone’s minds — especially the actors’ minds — that whatever work they did was not going to be captured somehow. I did not want them to worry about the technical [aspect of things] or the logistics; I didn’t want the technical to get involved in the way of the emotional. So my biggest concern was making sure that everyone felt confident to work, and on those scenes in particular. And then my other concern was that we live in a world, in a genre, where we don’t have any time, and we have to make our day [i.e., complete all the scenes scheduled to be shot that day]. I did not want this to be [a situation where people would think], “Oh, my God, that was a nightmare!” And it wasn’t. We made our day, and the emotional stuff took a minute, as I knew it would, but we were able to spend the time on the stuff that we wanted to spend the time on, that we needed to spend the time on. I was happy on both fronts.

Digest: Would you do it again?

Tom: 100 percent! Yeah, sign me up! Absolutely. I mean, it’s interesting logistically for a lot of reasons, but we’ve done it, so why not jump into it again? We’ve made history. Let’s keep going!

Digest: Can you reflect a bit on the fact that you’re marking 35 years in daytime? What does that milestone mean to you?

Tom: I mean, it’s hard for me to even wrap my head around it. In so many ways, it feels like it’s gone by so fast, and I just never fathomed that I would be doing this 35 years later. If somebody had told me when I first walked into the studio at The Young and the Restless that this is where I would be 35 years later, I would have been like, “You’re crazy!” Like, “That’s insane!” But I am so grateful for it. This has been my home for most of my life and it’s allowed me to explore all these other [artistic] avenues and to grow as a person and as an artist. I feel so incredibly lucky and I am so grateful for the genre and for the people that are a part of it. Brad especially, but everyone. When I started directing, you don’t know if you’re going to get pushback, you don’t know how people are going to feel about it and if there’s going to be any resentment or anything like that, and not for a single second have I felt any kind of pushback at all. It’s been nothing but support, nothing but love, and it’s the reason why we could do what we just did — it was everyone putting forward their best. I just feel really, really lucky.

Digest: Is there anything you want people to know about the episode before they sit down to watch it?

Tom: Oh, gosh. I want them to feel like it celebrates women and that we’re really showcasing their talent and showcasing what they do and we’re showcasing the best of what The Bold and the Beautiful is. These are the women who lead this show and will lead this show into the future. I really hope that they come away feeling moved. My aim is always to help the audience feel … you know, everything! I want them to laugh with Steffy and Taylor, and I want them to cry with Brooke and Hope, and I want them to be touched by all these wonderful, strong women.

Mommy And Me: Rebecca Budig (Taylor, l.) and Jacqueline MacInnes Wood (Steffy) in a scene from the show Tom wrote and directed.