New York Women in Film and Television Celebrates GL!

GL Director Jo Anne Sedwick with her mother, actress Margaret Gwenver (Dr. Sedwick).

Two-time Emmy® Award winner Jo Anne Sedwick first joined GL as a back-up production assistant (this was prior to her mother's appearing on the show). She is one of only 14 women working as a director in the field of daytime television. For her clip, Jo Anne screened an excerpt from Reva and Josh's 1989 wedding and then shared some behind-the-scenes scoop with the fans.

Jo Anne Sedwick:
We went to Oklahoma to scout a location and we found this field. It was perfect. There was tall grass. Perfect. There's a lovely lake. Perfect. Let's do it! So, we packed up and we went. And then the people who owned the field decided to help us. And mow. We arrived the morning before shooting started. And there was nothing.

So, we ran out to the nearest Wal-Mart and bought six big boxes of plastic flowers. And spent the entire day sticking plastic flowers in the ground.

Then we got word that the young man -- it was his first day on the show -- who was supposed to play Reva's long lost son (Morgan Englund; Dylan) had been in a bike accident and separated his shoulder. Which was a slight problem because he was the one who was supposed to row Reva across the lake. We found his body double and he rowed Reva across the lake. The body double got out, Morgan jumped in the water and, one-handed, helped her out of the boat. It got a little dicey later when he fell out of a tree. You can still hear me scream on the tape.

There was the horse that wouldn't stop on her mark. She didn't like our cameras. Afterwards, Kim (Zimmer; Reva) told me she was pregnant and she was the one riding the horse.

Then there was the make-up lady who was terrified of snakes. We lied to her a lot. "Oh, no, there's no snakes over there, don't worry about it," we said.

But, in three days, with two cameras and a crew and a bunch of very dedicated, very overheated actors, we shot 90 minutes worth of “airable” material. Which is about (the length of) a movie of the week. It was actually the first time, and maybe the only time, that an entire show was done on location. And we were very happy.

Next: Maureen Garrett

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