User:ProseMia/Venice: The Series

Venice: The Series is a web series produced, co-written, and starring American actress Crystal Chappell, and is inspired in part by the Otalia storyline on the daytime drama Guiding Light.

Venice is described by Chappell as "a show about families, and life, and all the simplicity of it, and the turmoil of it. We're going to be following a character named Gina who is a designer, and she is a gay woman."

Crystal Chappell
Crystal Chappell is known for (currently) playing Olivia Spencer on the long-running CBS daytime drama, Guiding Light, and for her role as Dr. Carly Manning on Days of Our Lives from 1990-1993, a role which she will reprise in October 2009. She won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Daytime Drama for her work as Olivia in 2002 and was nominated again in the same category in 2005 and 2006. In 2007, she earned her first nomination in the Outstanding Lead Actress category.

The Creation of Venice: The Series
Chappell, along with writing partner and co-producer Kim Turrisi, decided to create Venice: The Series when, in 2009, it was announced that Guiding Light would be going off the air after more than seven decades, and, thus, the romance between Chappell's character, Olivia Spencer, and co-star Jessica Leccia's character, Natalia Rivera, would end. The popularity of the couple (also known by the portmanteau Otalia, daytime television's first same-sex supercouple), and the enthusiasm of the fans, prompted Chappell to create a web series so that fans could continue to watch the romance between the two play out, albeit with different character names and storylines, and to help give a much-needed voice to her newly-acquired mass of queer women fans. Although Chappell's character in the show is an openly gay woman, the show is not a "gay web series" but rather a show that "embodies all kinds of people, with all kinds of issues."

Cast and Characters
Venice: The Series stars Crystal Chappell as Gina, a designer, and a gay woman. It also stars Chappell's leading lady from Guiding Light, Jessica Leccia, this time as Ani, Gina's love interest. Some of Chappell's and Leccia's former Guding Light castmates will also appear, including Daniel Cosgrove as Owen, Gina's brother, and Jordan Clarke as The Colonel. Other Venice cast members include daytime star Hillary B. Smith of One Life to Live as Guya, Elizabeth Keener as Lara, and Michelle Carter as Michele.

Setting
Venice: The Series is set in Venice Beach, California, USA.