Nikki Snelson no longer attached to The CW's VALENTINE- Page 3
Nikki Snelson no longer attached to The CW's VALENTINE
LePetiteFromage
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/19/08
#51re: Nikki Snelson no longer attached to The CW's VALENTINE
Posted: 7/24/08 at 2:36pmExcept for the poster here claiming to be her friend.
#52re: Nikki Snelson no longer attached to The CW's VALENTINE
Posted: 7/24/08 at 2:36pm
"When there's a feasible solution that doesn't harm either party. There was no such solution here. As often as it works out, it doesn't work out."
That's true...I'm sure as often as it does work, it doesn't. But it doesn't seem like there was any effort made to make it work. It sounds like Nikki was willing to do whatever to make it work. Extend her "contract", continue working while filming (which, I'll admit, sounds dicey), etc.
I'm not saying I can't see it from the producers side...I'm just saying I don't agree with the producer. As someone said earlier all he's done is create an unhappy working environment. We're talking about a performer who puts in 150% every time she walks on stage who is now going to work miserable. How is that better than letting her leave?
"I wrote a book: "How to Be Popular". Now I've put together a top ten list of how to help you:
-Elphie, everyday... shower. I mean, who knows? Maybe some of that green is gonna come off!
-Deodorant Elphie. No body likes a stinky witch!
-I think we've covered the hair, we'll get to that.
-Clean underclothes. That's all I'm gonna say.
-Look at your posture. That's no way to be popular!
-Bed made, room straightened. We've done that.
-Colors blended. Oookay.
-But the most important thing to have, to make yourself popular, is to keep your beautiful smile."
~Kristin Chenoweth in her last performance of the song "Popular"
Grand Motel
Featured Actor Joined: 7/8/03
#53re: Nikki Snelson no longer attached to The CW's VALENTINE
Posted: 7/24/08 at 2:38pmNjRae, you might want to sit this one out.
#54re: Nikki Snelson no longer attached to The CW's VALENTINE
Posted: 7/24/08 at 2:42pm
I don't understand the whole extending her contract thing. I wouldn't trust her on that - what if another job she likes better comes along? She'll pull this all over again. And, extending her contract doesn't help ACL now, and now is what they're dealing with.
It's a business - you can't just come and go from a production as you please, just like you can't come and go from your jobs as you please.
Have I ever shown you my Shattered Dreams box? It's in my Disappointment Closet. - Marge Simpson
LePetiteFromage
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/19/08
#56re: Nikki Snelson no longer attached to The CW's VALENTINE
Posted: 7/24/08 at 2:43pm
I feel bad for her, but...if she has a contract, she has a contract.
Um, so wait, DOES she have a contract? Is it signed or...what?
"Get mad, then get over it." - Colin Powell
#57re: Nikki Snelson no longer attached to The CW's VALENTINE
Posted: 7/24/08 at 2:53pm
If Snelson hadn't signed a contract (which is practically impossible,) there wouldn't BE a situation: she'd just walk away and do the show with no legal commitment to A CHORUS LINE or need for their permission to balance projects. Breglio would have no power to "kill" any oppertunity for her, since she would have no legal obligation to him or his show.
I'm not saying she was entitled to leave...but I am saying it was a rotten thing for that producer to do. How often does an opportunity like that come along? I know she's amazing and I'm sure she would be difficult to replace on tour...but you would think he'd be happy for her and want her to have the opportunity.
What was so rotten of Breglio? Expecting his star to stay loyal to the show she herself commited to? You're right, a network telvision sitcom is quite the oppertunity for any actor, but Snelson made the decision to forsake such oppertunities when she signed on to A CHORUS LINE, plain and simple.
You can say all day long that she made a conscience effort to juggle both projects and still maintain her role in the tour, but the bottom line is that she agreed to doing to the television show before she had permission to do so from the producers (as is evident by her name appearing in press releases about the show,) whether they were in the process of "trying to work something out" or not and regardless of any contract or lack thereof.
She can't have her cake and eat it too. Sure she's dissapointed, but to try and paint the producers of the show as the enemy when she herself tried to pull something pretty shady (as talented and nice as she can be) is downright shameful.
Tonya Pinkins: Then we had a "Lot's Wife" last June that was my personal favorite. I'm still trying to get them to let me sing it at some performance where we get to sing an excerpt that's gone.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
#58re: Nikki Snelson no longer attached to The CW's VALENTINE
Posted: 7/24/08 at 3:12pm
What was shady?
She did a pilot for a television show that was lucky enough to get picked up by a network. Does anyone know when the pilot was taped? It could have been months or even last year. It doesn't happen overnight. When she received the good news, she went to her current producer(s) and presented this to them. She hoped they would be nice enough to work with her on this wonderful opportunity. When it didn't happen, she was devasted. Wouldn't you be too? I know I would be. And it seemed she was willing to bend over backwards to make it work.
Since this is a new show she was going to be in, the first season probably didn't have that many episodes contracted until the CW found out if it was going to work with their audience, so flying out to wherever the show was taping is a moot point. Actors do it all the time.
Unfortunately, for Nikki it didn't work out. Hopefully a chance will come her way again. I'm sure the people she worked with on Valentine will keep her in mind for any other projects they are working on. And who knows, maybe Valentine will work and she can join them another season.
LePetiteFromage
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/19/08
#60re: Nikki Snelson no longer attached to The CW's VALENTINE
Posted: 7/24/08 at 3:42pm
It's a moot point because nobody cares whether an actor, stage crew, make-up artist, etc. has to fly across the country or drive 5 miles to get to a gig. If that was the only reason we wouldn't be discussing it.
And just for the record, it was only 13 episodes, and who knows how many Nikki would have been in. Only the writers know that answer.
#61re: Nikki Snelson no longer attached to The CW's VALENTINE
Posted: 7/24/08 at 3:51pm
Wait a minute, correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought most TV actors had 18-hour shifts when they were filming a show, and incredibly irregular hours. Now, Cassie is one of the most difficult roles of any show, in a way it's the Momma Rose of Broadway dancing. Did she seriously expect to go to LA, have long, irregular days of filming, then fly wherever the show is touring and give a worthy performance as Cassie (including two-show days)? Doesn't this sound a bit far-fetched, to say the least?
Now, I understand that this is the chance of a lifetime to an actor, but she couldn't have possibly thought that this juggling both at the same time was feasible. And in reality, just as she was trying to bail out of the show to do her sitcom for the sake of her career, the producers are doing what is best for the sake of their show. Plus it does say something about how talented she is that the producers don't want to replace her with another actress.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
LePetiteFromage
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/19/08
#63re: Nikki Snelson no longer attached to The CW's VALENTINE
Posted: 7/24/08 at 3:59pm
Ah, thanks for clarifying that for me, Petite. Will this be a regular multi-camera sitcom or a single-camera a la THE OFFICE and 30 ROCK?
Either way, I don't see how she could spend all this time traveling and give any kind of worthy performance as Cassie. It probably wouldn't even be healthy for her in the first place. It's a mess all around.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
LePetiteFromage
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/19/08
#65re: Nikki Snelson no longer attached to The CW's VALENTINE
Posted: 7/24/08 at 4:31pmA Chorus Line is coming to Seattle, and I put in a request to interview her. I just got a response from our local PR person saying the producers said she's not doing ANY interviews at the moment. This must be why...
#66re: Nikki Snelson no longer attached to The CW's VALENTINE
Posted: 7/24/08 at 4:31pm
Well, if Nikki's going to let this make her miserable and affect her job performance then she's just as unprofessional as her facebook status updates indicate and she'd better wisen up quick.
Sorry- as someone who has seen Legally Blonde... more than once, and the ACL national tour... more than once, I highly doubt she's going to "let this make her miserable and affect her job performance."
I've seen the woman perform sick/injured, and only known about it because I was told after the fact. I'm one of those "Legally Blonde understudies" people who waited almost a *year* to see a Brooke u/s go on, because Snelson was out, what, maybe two shows total in the first 11 months of Blonde? I took a friend to see ACL in L.A. who commented afterwards that he didn't believe that she was a little sick that night, because "if *that* is the kind of energy and performance she puts out when she's sick, I can't even picture what she's like when she's feeling 100%." I don't think much affects her job performance.
Facebook's facebook- even if you think she's in the wrong for trying to do both a tour and a series, or do or don't believe she does or does not have a contract, or whatever, it's her statuses on her facebook...
She did a pilot for a television show that was lucky enough to get picked up by a network. Does anyone know when the pilot was taped? It could have been months or even last year. It doesn't happen overnight.
Actually studiosystem says that the show is bypassing the pilot phase, and was just ordered directly to series for the first 13 episodes- it's usually pretty right about those kinds of details.
LePetiteFromage
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/19/08
#68re: Nikki Snelson no longer attached to The CW's VALENTINE
Posted: 7/24/08 at 6:03pm
Here are some facts for you guys.
It is a fact that Nikki didnt sign her ACL contract. Most of the cast didnt sign theirs until rehearsals were almost over because NO ONE asked for them! Who the hell knows why but they didnt, and hers just slipped through the cracks, simple as that.
Can't she just walk away and do the tv show then? Well if she did, John Breglio threatened to sue the CW if that happened, and they got scared, and proceeded to fire Nikki.
Nikki didnt seek out this opportunity, she was contacted by the producers to come in for the show because they couldnt find anyone for the role. The role is THIRD billing in a show thats already been optioned for 13 episodes.
The point of this situation is that Nikki COULD HAVE LEFT, but John Breglio threatened to sue the CW, and they backed out.
As an actor I would do the same thing, and every actor I know would want to do the same thing. And now everyone in that cast knows they are working for a producer that will do anything to get his way.
LePetiteFromage
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/19/08
#70re: Nikki Snelson no longer attached to The CW's VALENTINE
Posted: 7/24/08 at 6:29pmand yet it happened
LePetiteFromage
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/19/08
#72re: Nikki Snelson no longer attached to The CW's VALENTINE
Posted: 7/24/08 at 6:48pm
This contract story could not be fishier. No agent would let a performer begin rehearsals, never mind GET ON A PLANE without a contract. And neither would Equity allow it.
John Breglio is a lawyer. There is no way he sent a company out without signed contracts.
Have I ever shown you my Shattered Dreams box? It's in my Disappointment Closet. - Marge Simpson
LePetiteFromage
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/19/08
#74re: Nikki Snelson no longer attached to The CW's VALENTINE
Posted: 7/24/08 at 8:15pmAnd yet, it happens all the time in many companies around the world - no matter what business you are in.
Videos