Jacob Young, actor, singer, songwriter as we know. But what you might not know is how smart and insightful Mr. Young is. We discussed a variety of topics; soaps, music, family, television, and meeting new challenges. But what stood out to me was his thorough grasp, insight and understanding of not only the soap genre but of the medium of television overall. It was such an enlightening and engaging conversation.
Jacob describes himself growing up as “just a young man with a dream.” But a dream without hard work remains just a dream. Jacob figured that out early in life. His parents couldn’t financially afford to pay for his private high school education. Jacob worked at Denny’s and put himself through high school. He was accepted into UCLA but after a mere six months of auditioning, Jacob landed the role of Rick Forrester on Bold and the Beautiful at the age of 17. And his career took off.
For the next twenty-two years, he remained in daytime known and loved as Rick Forrester, Lucky Spencer and my personal favorite, JR Chandler. It’s only been a little less than a year since he left The Bold and the Beautiful. Nonetheless, Jacob hasn’t let a single blade of grass grow underneath his feet. He’s starred in Hallmark’s Movie, Christmas Made to Order. He’s also starred in Lifetime’s When Vows Break, Killer Vacation (with former on-screen partner and All My Children alum Alexa Havins aka Babe Chandler).
He expressed his excitement at being cast in his first Lifetime Movie as the male lead in, When Vows Break, Killer Vacation. And he spoke candidly about having to basically start over after so many years of his life on a soap. “I’m looking to do more films as the lead, which would be fantastic. You have to take baby steps before you can run. I understand that because I’ve been on soaps for so many years, I have to make that transition and it takes time. And that’s what I have been doing this last whole year. I’ve been looking at things from a macro perspective and tried not to get ahead of myself and think why am I not the lead in this film? I’m transiting to this new medium and it’s not something that happens overnight. You have to pay your dues no matter what. But once you begin transiting it becomes easier and easier.”
2018 was a full one for Jacob and 2019 shows no signs of anything different. He kicked off the new year with his Lifetime Movie, A Wedding to Die For, which premiered on January 18, 2019. He has a film in development that he’s producing. And Jacob started production on another film on February 6, 2019. It was too early for him to give any specifics on those two projects. But we were able to get “the scoop” on, Angel, one of his upcoming projects. “Angel is almost like a graphic novel. It stars Ricky Garcia from the Disney Channel. Angel is a musician. He doesn’t know where he came from. He has no DNA. He has no fingerprints. And he has an ability to heal people. The setting of the movie is in downtown Los Angeles. I play the antagonist, Mr. Jones. Mr. Jones is a street boss. He tries to get his drugs out on the street. He has these three girls that do all of his bidding for him. He wants Angel on his side. So when you think about it, it’s kind of like the devil and an angel. It’s a really cool and interesting piece. I call it Training Day meets The Crow. It’s really edgy. It’s still in post-production. But I’m so excited and can’t wait for this one to come out.”
Acting isn’t the only thing keeping Jacob occupied. He has The Jacob Young Show on YouTube. Jacob sees the show as “a great way to connect with the fans, express my opinion and it provides an avenue to discuss different topics and issues. I really have a blast with it. My numbers are growing but like with anything you have to work at it to make it happen. It’s a weekly show. I write my script but I’m doing it live so anybody can log on and ask questions. Then it lives on YouTube forever. It’s live, no editing and anything goes. If something happens or if it goes haywire that’s because it was live.” Now that’s a long way from taped soaps and movies. A live show and let the chips fall where they may? Jacob is Bold Beautiful and Fearless.
Although Jacob made it clear that he has no aspirations to become famous in the music industry, we have to ask, did anyone tell the music industry? Because they just might have their own plans. (Laughs) . Jacob will be the opening act for Craig Morgan at the LRS Country Music Festival on July 4, 2019, in Oregon. “Music is a big part of me and I love to share it.”
As you can see, Jacob has been very busy while enjoying a break from his non-stop soap star schedule. The best part has been the more time he has been able to spend with his family. “My kids have really been enjoying having me around and seeing me more often. And of course, I’m able to participate in their sports, Scouts and my daughter’s dance. It’s been a real blessing.”
So, with all his post-soap career success, we had to ask if he was still even open to coming back to The Bold and the Beautiful. “I’m not necessarily open to signing a contract. But I’m open to giving the fans what they want. And for me personally to be able to put closure on it or to be able to float in and out a little bit. Maya and Rick was such an important storyline on so many levels. Even if they were wrapping up Rick’s story, and Maya and Rick were divorced and Rick wasn’t coming back, I just really wished they would have had Rick come back and explain himself to his family. I don’t know what they plan on doing, I don’t know if they are planning on recasting Rick or if they plan on having me come back for that arc. But I feel like that’s been robbed without a true explanation. It’s been super vague. I wish they would do something about that. But obviously, it’s out of my hands. I know the viewers want to see it. I know I would like to see it. You know it was a real highlight of my career working with Karla Mosley. I just hate to see it drift off into nothingness without that.”
Drift off into nothingness…please no. It still boggles our soap mind how the show brought Maya back and didn’t bring Rick back from Paris, like Jacob said, at the very least for a short arc to give the character, the couple and the fans the closure they deserved. Moving on.
We held our breath when we asked Jacob if he had permanently closed the door on daytime full time. (after twenty-two years the man deserved a breather.) We exhaled and were relieved to hear he hasn’t. “I’m not opposed to going onto any of the other soaps. I’m open to that. But I am enjoying having the freedom of not being under a contract. It’s been great to be able to express my artistry a little bit more and not playing the same character every day. It’s really fulfilling for me. I really enjoy that. It would have to be special circumstances and of course, that’s a hard thing sometimes when they sign someone on. But if somebody is willing to work with me, I’m willing to work with them.”
We then got on the topic that led us to the most intriguing part of the interview. The forever tug of war and never-ending battle for soaps as it relates to maintaining and keeping their current viewers happy versus attracting the all so elusive newer and younger audience. Is that even still a viable option for soaps? Jacob and I discussed this topic at length. Jacob’s thoughts are; “They are always trying to bring on new audience members but the problem with that is our audience has already been built in. Most of the people they are trying to get, the younger audience, don’t even know The Bold and The Beautiful. Younger people tell me they have never even heard of the show if they are 20 something or younger. They are watching the medium from all different platforms, Netflix, Amazon or Hulu. They are not watching Network television. They are barely tuning in. To try and force feed that to try and get the younger demographic for these shows, they are running into a dead end.”
From there the discussion progressed into why attracting younger viewers was such a dead end. Which brought about one of the most perplexing points surrounding this issue. If daytime’s main competition for a younger audience is Hulu, Netflix, etc, and their current viewers are also watching Hulu, Netflix, etc, then why have the soaps become more conservative and less willing to take chances? Jacob found it equally perplexing. “Back in the day, there was a lot of stuff that was very groundbreaking on soaps. Like in any decade things change, times change. There are a lot of things to talk about. I just feel like they are playing it safe. They don’t want to rock the boat. They don’t want to lose viewers. But at the same time, they are losing viewers because they are not taking those opportunities to tell compelling stories.” It seems to be the ultimate catch 22 to us.
Jacob left us with his most insightful nugget of all which was about Network TV. “Network television needs to format and conform to Netflix, where an entire season is loaded and you can watch it at one time. The networks are hurting. They are going to have to do something very fast to catch up.” Daytime and Network TV can call and thank Jacob and I. We just solved their problems. LOL.
Jacob isn’t sure if or when he will be back on daytime. But his twenty-two-year love affair with the genre and the fans continues. “I want to thank everybody for all the years of support. It has meant the absolute world to me that I’m not on daytime and everybody continues to follow my career. There are so many exciting things happening that I can’t wait to share. Please stay tuned there is a lot more coming up.”
We absolutely will, Jacob! Thanks for the chat!
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