Crystal Chappell is a formidable actress and entrepreneur. One of Guiding Light’s powerhouse cast has turned an unfortunate circumstance – the cancellation of said show into a positive. Guiding Light had been given notice on 1st April 2009 by CBS that they were being cancelled, with the final air date being on 18th September. The cast, fans, production team and owners [Proctor & Gamble/Telenext; not CBS] fought a valiant fight to get the series moved to a cable network, but without success. So while her current show is working towards its end, Ms Chappell has sought work elsewhere, after the conclusion of taping their final shows (which were done on 11th August, 2009), returning to a soap opera which jump-started her career: Days of Our Lives as Carly Manning. But this won’t be the Carly of fifteen years ago. As Crystal has said in interviews and online, this will be Carly 2.0, much more aware, a bit more sarcastic, and something quite different to that of which she left.

In addition to this, Crystal Chappell, along with friends and partners, Kim Turrisi and Hope Royalty have had in mind for quite some time, and they’ve recently been developing a web series, called Venice. The story looks at different families and their relationships. One in particular is Gina, the lead, who is an out lesbian, she’s an interior designer, a go-getter, successful business woman. She’s had her heart broken a few times. Along with this have been a few other characters that have been integrated as the months have gone on. The trio of women have developed a website: http://venicetheseries.com, and for the past couple months have been putting up clues (about once a week), as to what the series is about, or additions to the cast. Thus far, they’ve added two of Crystal’s Guiding Light co-stars, Jessica Leccia ([GL’s Natalia Rivera] to play the role of Ani), and Jordan Clark ([GL’s Billy Lewis] to play the role of Gina’s father), and long time friend, Hillary B. Smith (Nora, of the soap, One Life to Live) to play the role of Gina’s aunt, Gaya. The Big Purple Dreams forum has created a subgroup for BPD – Venice The Series, and there is also a separate fan forum for the webseries: Venice The Series.

The trio have created their own Facebook Venice Page, YouTube Channel, and Twitter account.

The first entry on their YouTube channel, Crystal and Kimmy answer fan questions about the series. The first webisode is scheduled for late October/early November 09.

As well for fan interaction they’re giving the fans the opportunity to design the logo for Venice, and a chance to sumbit music and more contests.