Soap Opera Digest: Do you know what you’re going to name a character from the get-go?
Ron Carlivati: Well, let’s use Chanel for an example. I was calling her Coco in my mind, never thinking that it would be the ultimate name; it was a placeholder name. So we kept saying, “We’re looking for Coco, we’re looking for Coco.” And then it was like, “What are we going to call her really?” And then all of a sudden, when we were brainstorming the name, one of the other writers said, “What about Michelle?” And Michelle was the name and I liked it, but it didn’t feel completely right. And we were going with that and then someone else said, “What about Chanel?” and I said, “Done. I love it, I love it, I love it.”
Digest: Does the name help find the right actor for the role?
Carlivati: It doesn’t always. Usually, you’re trying to find an actor to match a character. Because Paulina has a few bucks, in my mind, I had someone like the character of Whitley in mind from A DIFFERENT WORLD. I had a little bit of an idea that it was a snobby, spoiled girl, and when you see Precious [Way, ex-Chanel], she’s not exactly that person. There’s an element of that to her, but we went a little bit in a different direction with the character once we saw her. And you start to realize, too, who you might pair her with, and that can change based on who that actor is.
Digest: Is that a common experience, to change a character based on who you hire?
Carlivati: For the most part, no. Usually, it’s more, “I’m looking for a love interest for X and that’s why we’re casting Y,” and usually you stick with that and that’s why you audition one person with another person to see their chemistry and how they do. But sometimes you just find a certain actor and they bring other things to the role and you think, “Wow, I never imagined putting them with so-and-so, but now, how do you not?” So sometimes you have to go where their talents lead the way, or their chemistry with someone leads the way.
Digest: Have you ever agonized over a name choice?
Carlivati: Yes. I think sometimes it can make or break a character, and I used to belabor it to death. Now, with the pace at which we do this, you’re like, “We just have to name the person.” I remember back on ONE LIFE TO LIVE [where Carlivati was head writer] when we brought on Farah [Fath], I was like, “What is her name going to be?” I went around the mulberry bush until I came up with Gigi. And Morasco was the name of a girl I went to St. Ambrose grammar school with who was not named Gigi. She was Tracy Morasco. At first, there is sometimes that pushback: “Gigi Morasco? What kind of name is that?” But I think it helped define who she was. When we saw her as that scrappy waitress in Texas, it just kind of worked for me. Not everybody is going to agree. People have very personal feelings about names. We have a writer, Katie Schock, and she is one of those people who loves different names and naming different characters, so when we were naming Eli and Lani’s twins, Carver and Jules, I was like, “I’m giving this to her.” So I gave that episode to Katie and I said, “I don’t always do this, but you name them.” So she wrote that episode and she came up with Carver and Jules and I thought they were great names. So, sometimes you go around the mulberry bush, and sometimes you have a list and you narrow it down. For example, I felt we were 98 percent there with Michelle, but there’s something that’s not right about it and when someone said Chanel, I thought, “That’s her name.”
Digest: Is it considered a perk of the head writer or the writing team to name characters?
Carlivati: Yes, but sometimes it’s not a perk because you might have a writer who is like, “Don’t put this on me! You just tell me the name!” I would say if we’re casting a contract person, it really is up to me, but I’ll say, “Who has any ideas?” And people might email me their list. Paulina was a tricky one. I was like, “Jackée [Harry] has to have a name that has something to it and I gotta like it. It has to be someone I want to write for.” So don’t ask me why Paulina popped in to my head, but when I put it with Price, I thought, “Paulina Price. That’s perfect. That’s her name.” If a character comes up in an episode, the writer of that episode might just give them a name. One of the writers named Rhodes when they named Ciara’s captor. I created the character. I just said, “He’s somebody that works for Vincent,” and the writer came back and called him Rhodes for whatever reason, so we stuck with Rhodes. Sometimes the script writer might just put a name in or ask me, “Is this name okay with you?” So if it’s a minor character, someone else might name him. With Charlie, I first named him Charlie Vale and then I thought, “Well, it’s a little too close to Vitali; it’s just missing a couple of letters,” and he was supposed to be somewhat undercover. That wouldn’t be the smartest name to pick. He’s trying to impress his mother by getting a job at Titan, so as we got closer and they hadn’t taped it yet, I thought, “Vale is too close to Vitali,” so I just changed it to Dale. And I think that has a nice ring to it, Charlie Dale.
Digest: Is it fun to come up with names or name characters after people in your life?
Carlivati: Yes, and Gwen is an example of that. We named her Gwen and she didn’t have a last name at first, and that can’t go on for very long. I want the audience to know who she is. Rizczech, I fully admit, I just stole from Sixteen Candles [laughs]: “We’re having dinner with the Ricechecks.” “It’s the Rizczechs.” What’s funny about that is that in the movie, they were portrayed as stereotypical Italian mobster people and their name was Rizczech, which made no sense. And we didn’t know too much about Gwen, so I just threw that in there. Everybody from the writer to the director to the actor was like, “How do you pronounce this?” So I had to put a phonetic spelling into the first couple of outlines. And that was a ha, ha, ha. I wanted to reference Sixteen Candles. The character of Kim on ONE LIFE TO LIVE who was Stacy’s friend who went after Clint? When I was in kindergarten or first grade, it was Halloween and we were all in costumes at school. I think I was in an Underdog costume. I ate too much candy corn and I threw up on Kim Piotrowski. I forget what she was wearing, but we were in the nurse’s office and she’s in her little costume and we’re sitting there together and so that name stuck with me over the years. That was my first idea for Kim, but I think somebody thought it was too much of a mouthful and I changed it to another Kim I knew in life, Kimberly Andrews.
Digest: Have you ever heard from anyone you’ve named a character after?
Carlivati: On ONE LIFE TO LIVE, I needed a storyline about a certain condition and I called my cousin, who is a heart surgeon. His name is Jay Gangemi, and he helped me come up with this condition. I described everything I needed: “It’s fatal but they can still live,” and he said, “Okay, this is what you’re going to do. You’re going to have a hole in the heart,” or whatever it was. And then I named the doctor Dr. Jay Gangemi after my cousin. So two things happened that were funny. A nurse where he works came in and said, “You’re never going to believe this. They have a kid on ONE LIFE TO LIVE with a heart condition exactly like one of our patients and the doctor’s name is Dr. Jay Gangemi.” She thought it was some crazy coincidence. And he said, “No, that was named after me.” He lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, but an unbelievable thing that happened to him was that a friend of his was in New York City, visiting. The friend was in a restaurant and he overheard someone at the next table say the name Dr. Jay Gangemi, and he looked over, sort of expecting to see his friend, and he sees this other guy. So he said, “Excuse me I couldn’t help overhearing you. Did you say something about Jay Gangemi?” And the other guy said, “Yeah, it’s a character I play on TV.” And it was the actor. So he goes, “One of my good friends is Dr. Jay Gangemi. Can we call him?” So they called my cousin and his friend goes, “Jay, I have somebody I want you to meet.” And he puts him on the phone and the two Dr. Jay Gangemis got to talk to each other.
