(upbeat music) (dramatic music) - [Speaker] Good morning, Mrs. Duprees.

- Have you spoken to Dani?

- Dani was blindsided by Bill and Haley's affair.

(Dani screams) (glass shatters) - Well, so much for stop by for a cup of coffee.

(dramatic music continues) - It warms my heart to see this beautiful family.

I am so proud of every one of you.

(dramatic music continues) - Does my legacy ever feel like a burden?

- It's a lot to live up to.

- You were just watching an excerpt from "Beyond the Gates" and we are honored to kick off the program with Sheila Ducksworth, executive producer of "Beyond the Gates."

Sheila, it's an honor to have you with us.

And let's make it clear, you're in California.

We're over on the East coast.

It is 7:24 in the morning.

You got up early to do this.

Thank you.

- It's my pleasure.

I'm always up early and actually hail to New Jersey.

I spent many years growing up in New Jersey and I was just there last week.

- Excellent.

Now, "Beyond the Gates" is a daytime soap opera.

It's the first soap opera on broadcast television in 25 years.

- Yeah.

- First of all, the premise of it.

Second of all, why is it so significant?

Because it is.

- Well, I'll actually say it's 26 years.

It was 1999 when "Passions" first...

I guess was the most recent one that was on.

And now before us, prior to us coming on board, which was just this past February 24th, "Bold and the Beautiful" is our next youngest sibling and they are 38 years old.

So as the first soap opera of the millennium, it's truly an auspicious place to be.

We're excited.

We've been on now for the last two and a half months and could not be more thrilled with where we are today.

It's a time for us to tell stories in a way that have never been told with people who have never, the exposure to tell the stories in the manner that we're doing.

So it's really, really exciting - With a predominantly black cast.

- It is.

- The only one on network television.

- Yes, it's very true.

And I have to say it's definitely time.

A lot of folks watch these soap operas and have, as I did as well, have longed for representation of stories that, you know, were particular to their lifestyles and their culture.

And so it's really incredible that we have that right now.

And it's, I know, a welcome thing for so many people.

- Sheila, lemme ask you this.

In my producer notes or the producer notes for this segment, talked about your love of soap operas.

- Yeah.

- When the heck did that start and why?

- So I started watching soaps when I was about 10 years old.

And I have to say it's...

I started watching "General Hospital," which then grew to "The Edge of Night."

I grew up in New York and in New Jersey.

And so those were the soap operas that were on when I was home from school.

At that time, there was no streaming and there wasn't even VCRs that we had access to.

So it was really about running home as quickly as possible.

And I was just really captivated by the stories and by the genre of watching something unfold every single day, Monday through Friday.

And it's something that stuck with me since, as I said, as I was 10.

- Sheila, let me ask you something.

I mean, you had to go to the folks at Paramount, pretty big company, and sell this with others who are part of "Beyond the Gates."

You had to sell it.

Did they buy it immediately?

Any resistance, what?

Tell us.

- So it's interesting how the whole thing came about.

I was actually having a conversation with the co-CEO, George Cheeks, who runs CBS as well as CBS Studios.

And we're talking about a new production company that had just come on board, which was a joint venture between CBS Studios and the NAACP.

They were looking for someone to run it.

So George and I were speaking about just the different aspects of the newly created production company.

And I said that I was very interested in working in daytime.

I've produced really every genre, most every genre, not every single one, but most every genre.

And I wanted to produce every day part and specifically daytime.

And I happen to say that when George said that daytime and every day part was definitely something that we could make happen, I just said, you know, "Specifically, I really wanna do a soap opera," which is again, something that I've thought about for decades, you know, at that point.

And that was back in 2020.

And so, truly, it was just one of those situations where I couldn't have asked for a better reaction.

It was kismet, and George Cheeks said, "Actually, we've been talking about doing a soap."

And so this was an idea that I had lived with for a long time and I pitched him the idea.

The reason it was important to me is because it really touched on real life circumstances in the DMV area, the Washington DC, Maryland, Virginia area, and especially in suburban Maryland.

These gated communities that are predominantly black really do exist where majority of residents are living in, you know, big 10,000 square foot mansions on park light grounds.

And I really wanted to capture that.

Now, I'm not a writer, I'm a producer.

And so I didn't have the names of the characters, I didn't have the Duprees, I didn't have what they all did.

None of that was mine, just really the premise.

And I knew exactly who I wanted to write it, which is Michele Val Jean.

And Michele Val Jean is...

I mean, talk about a veteran, a venerable writer of soaps, award-winning, Writers Guild Awards, Emmy Awards.

She's incredible.

And actually, she and I had talked about doing a soap more than 20 years ago.

- Really?

- So once that... We sure did.

Yeah, we talked about it.

We both just love soap.

Obviously, she built her career in it.

She's been writing soaps for more than 30 years and more than 2,000 episodes under her belt.

And I've been producing all different kinds of television.

- You sure have.

- So when we linked up... And this was, gosh, as I said, more than 20 years ago.

And an interesting way that we linked up, I have to say, is because we were talking about the soap operas, which I used to watch and loved.

In the beginning, it was "General Hospital" and "The Edge of Night."

And as I grew, in 1989, a really groundbreaking soap opera, "Generations," broke through.

And that actually was a half-hour soap that had a black family, a black family, and a white family, but a black family at its core.

And I just loved it.

And Michele was one of the writers for "Generations," in fact, the only black writer on "Generations."

And of course, that starred... One of the stars was Vivica Fox.

And Vivica Fox became a friend of mine.

And roughly at the top of the...

I guess about 2000-ish, I was telling Vivica that I really wanted to make a soap.

And she introduced me to Michele from their work on "Generations."

And so from that time on, Michele and I have said that we were gonna do a soap together at some point in our careers.

And so it's really incredible that the some point in our careers is pretty much right now, Which actually, backing up, was really 2020.

Because once I pitched the idea to the folks over at Paramount, then they said, "Sure, let's explore it."

And I immediately called Michele and I pitched her the idea.

She loved it and she created what all know is "Beyond the Gates" now.

- Sheila Ducksworth has made a big difference with her colleagues with this series, "Beyond the Gates."

She's the executive producer.

And, Sheila, you honor us by joining us, particularly this early on the West coast out in California.

Wish you all success and good things with "Beyond the Gates."

All the best, thanks so much.

- Thank you so much.

It's a pleasure.

- You got it.

Stay with us, we'll be right back.

- [Narrator] One-On-One with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by EJI, Excellence in Medicine Awards.

A New Jersey health foundation program.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

New Jersey’s Clean Energy program.

PSE&G.

Newark Board of Education.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

PSEG Foundation.

The Fidelco Group.

And by Community FoodBank of New Jersey.

Promotional support provided by The New Jersey Business & Industry Association.

And by Insider NJ.