Dyer wins Emmy
Photo courtesy of Cheryl Michaud
Lacey Dyer holds the Emmy she won for writing on a daytime drama.
PRESQUE ISLE — Another Presque Isle native is making a name for herself in show business, with a recent Emmy win for writing for a major network’s daytime soap opera, NBC’s “Days of Our Lives.”
Lacey Dyer, 25, a 2004 graduate of Presque Isle High School, attended the 39th annual Daytime Emmy Awards with the show’s writing team, held June 23 at the Beverly Hilton. She said in an interview that the win came as quite a surprise to all of them.
“We had no idea. In fact, we were absolutely certain we wouldn’t win. ‘Days’ is kind of the underdog of soaps. We never win — anything. So when they called our name, we were stunned. It was the greatest, most surreal moment of my life,” said Dyer.
Dyer got her start at writing while attending Emerson College in Boston, although it was not her first choice as a career.
“I moved to Boston after high school to attend college. While I was there, I studied television production and minored in writing. I’ve always loved writing, but didn’t know that’s what I wanted to pursue until college. I always thought I’d be a stand-up or improv comedian. But I tried out for one improv troop in college, embarrassed myself, and quickly decided it was not for me. That’s when I started focusing on writing,” said Dyer.
“It’s easier to be funny on the page — which is funny, because now I write drama,” continued Dyer.
She’s now taking classes in California.
“I’m currently enrolled part-time at California State University of Northridge, where I’m taking night classes to earn my masters in screenwriting. I only have one semester left, thank God!” said Dyer.
A program at Emerson led to Dyer’s moving to California a few years ago.
“I have been here a little over four years. I moved to Los Angeles in 2008 through a program offered at Emerson. I took my last semester of classes here and interned at ‘Days.’ After my semester/internship was over, I signed a lease for an apartment and crossed my fingers. I had no money, no job and two friends,” she said.
But as luck would have it, she found work relatively quickly.
“Luckily, it only took me a week of searching to find an assistant position at a reality TV company. I’ve been here ever since,” said Dyer.
Dyer has worked with “Days” off and on for the past four years.
“I interned, then left. After a couple months at the reality TV company, ‘Days’ called and offered me a job as a writers’ assistant. I didn’t even have to interview — which never happens. I was incredibly lucky,” she said.
Dyer said she worked as a writers’ assistant for nearly three years, then decided to move on to something new.
“I left and took a position at Nickelodeon. But that only lasted six months because I was offered a job writing for ‘Days’ and could not say no,” she said.
Dyer wrote for the daytime soap for almost a year when her contract ended.
“It’s extremely common in soaps for there to be dramatic changes in staff. That’s what happened to me. While on staff, I wrote 33 episodes and loved every second of it. Now I’m developing my own pilot and trying to shop it around,” said the Presque Isle native.
She said she enjoyed working on “Days.”
“I loved it. My co-workers were extremely supportive and always made me feel so good about my writing. But like anything in this field, it can be stressful and certainly damning to your self-esteem. Fans can be brutal, so you have to have a thick skin. Unfortunately I don’t,” said Dyer, noting “that’s where family comes in. They always get me through.”
Dyer explained what writing for a soap is like.
“Writing for a daytime drama is extremely different from a primetime show, simply because of the amount of material produced. A soap opera produces around 250 episodes a year, whereas a primetime show might produce 26, tops,” she said.
She said soaps are like well-oiled machines that are constantly moving and material is constantly being written, shot, edited and aired. Dyer explained how written words evolve into the finished product.
“The ‘Days’ writing staff consists of two head writers that come up with the overall stories each week. Then there are outline writers that take those stories and break them into individual episodes — outlines. After the outlines are approved by the network (NBC), they are sent to the script writers, who — well, write the scripts,” said Dyer, noting she was a script writer and “absolutely loved it.”
According to Dyer, each week the show’s production team shoots six to eight episodes, “which is unheard of.”
“It takes a good primetime show at least a week to shoot one,” Dyer said.
Dyer said she writes scripts from home.
“It wasn’t too often that I actually watched the actors filming. I did have the chance a few times and I can honestly say there is nothing like it. I felt so proud,” said Dyer.
Dyer learned of her nomination earlier this spring.
“It must have been a couple of months ago. My friend woke me up bright and early, saying, ‘Wake up! You’re a nominee!’ I felt like I was walking on air,” said Dyer.
When asked if she had a place picked out for her award, Dyer said, “I’m going to put it on my desk in my office. That way when I’m writing and feeling like every word on the page is crap, I can tell myself it’s not that bad.”
Dyer plans to continue honing her craft.
“My plan is to keep writing. I’d like to write for a primetime show, maybe even sell a feature script or two. Who knows? And when the writing jobs dry up, I plan on teaching. But hopefully that won’t be for a very long time because I am a terrible, terrible teacher,” said Dyer.
