‘Days Of Our Lives’ Staff Cuts & Work Environment Scrutinized As Co-EP Albert Alarr Faced Misconduct Investigation

Nellie Andreeva
·12 min read
7

EXCLUSIVE: Emotions have been running high on the set of the long-running soap Days of Our Lives.

According to multiple sources, there has been shock, disbelief, disappointment and anger among cast and crew following the outcome of an internal investigation into misconduct allegations against longtime Days of Our Lives director/co-executive producer Albert Alarr.

More from Deadline

Created by Ted and Betty Corday, Days of Our Lives is produced by the company they founded, Corday Productions, which is owned and run by their son, DoOL executive producer Ken Corday.

According to sources, the nine-week investigation, launched in March, was triggered by a complaint related to a recent round of layoffs. Filed by a female employee, it alleged that women had been disproportionally impacted by the cuts and were not receiving equal pay on the show, people close to the matter said.

The gender disparity of the recent staff reductions was particularly pronounced among cast members. According to sources, a total of seven women left the ranks of contract players around the time of the layoffs. Five of them were let go or demoted to recurring and two departed on their own, at least in part due to their experiences on the show. One male actor was laid off.

And of the five DoOL episodes airing each week, only one is consistently directed by a woman. The one full-time female director on the show helms the Monday shows, working alongside three full-time male directors including Alarr, who directs the Friday episodes. Another female director is part of a rotation for the fifth weekly slot that has multiple part-time helmers alternating.

This is not typical; General Hospital, for instance, has four full-time female directors, with a fifth in training, and three male directors. There is, however, an across-the-board male dominance in daytime dramas’ head writer and executive producer ranks, a fact that is puzzling given their overwhelmingly female audiences, and something a soap veteran finds “disheartening.”

The Investigation & Allegations

Conducted by DoOL distributor Sony Pictures Television, the investigation evolved after misconduct allegations against Alarr were raised, Deadline has learned. About 30-40 people — primarily women — were interviewed, according to multiple sources. Alarr has not responded to Deadline’s requests for comment. A rep for Sony TV declined comment. Corday Prods. issued a statement; confirming the investigation. You can read it later in the story.

Alarr has been an associate of Ken Corday’s for the past two decades. He has worked on DoOL since 2003 and joined Corday Prods. several years later.

According to people who have observed Alarr’s behavior since he joined the popular soap, issues had been present for years but escalated after he was named co-executive producer in 2015. In the position of power, multiple DoOL insiders say, Alarr has been abusive, making people feel uncomfortable and humiliated.

“He became much more tyrannical, I think he became much more aware of his unilateral power, and that Ken wasn’t going to be involved in decision-making. And I think [Alarr] took the ball and ran with it, and I think it’s ruined the show,” a DoOL veteran said.

An insider pointed to the significant number of women who have left the show over the past couple of years including actresses who played major characters. Men also have been publicly bullied on set, with at least one male cast member getting abruptly written off after Alarr screamed at him in front of cast and crew. According to a source close to the situation, the verbal attack happened after the actor had gotten a hair trim, which he apologized for even though he wasn’t on contract at the time, meaning he was not obligated to maintain his appearance, and his character had not been on the show recently.

“Albert has a habit of belittling people, especially people he wants to put down,” the source said.

As part of the probe, complaints, a large portion of them involving inappropriate comments, were reviewed.

“It’s kind of a running joke that everything that comes out of Albert’s mouth is inappropriate,” said a DoOL longtimer.

Another staffer compared the environment Alarr has been fostering to a frat house, with college boys-style sexualized remarks about women normalized as being par for the course when working on DoOL.

“After awhile, you stop cringing and just get used to it,” the staffer said.

For instance, Alarr gives directing notes “in the most vulgar, crass ways,” making “not only women but everybody feel uncomfortable,” an insider told Deadline. That includes him using the F-word when referring to making love on the show.

Two DoOL sources shared strikingly similar accounts of witnessing Alarr give directions to a male actor filming a love scene in front of his female acting partner and the crew by saying, “You’re f*cking horny, man, you just want to f*ck her.”

There also have been allegations of physical contact, including groping, against Alarr, whose directing instructions have incorporated the touching of actresses that is no longer considered appropriate, multiple witnesses told Deadline.

The investigation also examined an incident from 5-6 years ago. In it, Alarr allegedly, without warning, forcefully grabbed and kissed a DoOL actress without her consent at an event after the show had won an award, leaving her horrified, according to an eyewitness. The psychological and emotional impact of Alarr’s actions that night were long-lasting for the actress, who was terrified to be left alone with Alarr, a person close to the situation said.

Another incident from about a year ago that was investigated involved an actress who filmed an intimate scene directed by Alarr. The prop department had forgotten to bring her an extra sheet to wrap around herself, and she was trying to manipulate the existing sheets on the bed so she wouldn’t be exposed on camera. Irritated by the delay, Alarr allegedly came down to ask the actress to hurry up and make the scene hot, giving her an acting direction in the vein of “try and remember what it was like when you were young and vibrant,” an eyewitness said.

Feeling humiliated and half-naked in front of the cast and crew, the actress, who was said to be in her early 40s at the time, told Alarr “F*ck you,” with him trying to laugh off the incident, according to a person who was on the set that day. The actress kept tearing up as she went on to film another dozen or so scenes that day, requiring multiple makeup touchups, the person said.

Alarr eventually apologized to the actress, reportedly after a conversation with the stage manager, a source close to the situation told Deadline. Months later, the actress was informed she would be written off the show. According to sources, she was ultimately offered to stay but as a recurring, without a contract.

These and a number of other incidents involving alleged misconduct by Alarr were corroborated by witnesses during the investigation, sources close to the situation told Deadline.

There were two Zoom calls with a Sony HR representative during the probe — one for the cast and one for the crew — with Alarr in attendance on both. The calls were for Spotlight on Respect training (formerly known as Prevention of Unlawful Discrimination and Harassment training), with the HR executive explaining what constitutes harassment, what to do and not to do in different situations, etc. According to attendees, Alarr’s presence while the subject was being discussed made staffers, especially those who had been asked to participate in the investigation, uncomfortable.

During the investigation, Alarr admitted to at least some of the allegations, Deadline has learned. The report was completed by Sony TV and handed over to Corday Prods. as the show’s production company, a source told Deadline.

The Investigation’s Aftermath

“Corday Productions engaged Sony Pictures Television, which distributes Days of our Lives, to conduct an impartial investigation into this matter,” the production company said in a statement to Deadline. “After a two-month investigation, the independent investigator produced a report with its findings. Based on those findings, Corday Productions has taken a series of actions designed to ensure a safe and respectful work environment.”

The company did not elaborate what these actions are, citing a confidential employee matter.

According to sources, Alarr received a written warning and was asked to undergo training. Beyond that, he remained in his co-EP and director roles, sparking outrage among cast and crew aware of the allegations and the investigation.

Amid tensions on the set last month, the producers paused tapings, with an additional week of hiatus starting June 17 tacked onto a planned two-week break around July 4.

Sources close to the production stress that the extra week off was a general show-scheduling decision made at least in part because there weren’t have enough scripts due to the writers strike.

As to how Alarr’s alleged misconduct could’ve gone unchecked for so long, current and former staffers point to the power that he yields and the lack of HR procedures on the show.

According to multiple sources, there is no HR infrastructure where the show tapes in Burbank; any such reps are at Sony TV in Culver City. When NBCUniversal owned the studio complex that houses DoOL at 3000 West Alameda Avenue (then known as NBC Studios), the production had an HR department, an insider said. That changed after the facility was bought by Worthe Real Estate Group in 2014 and renamed Burbank Studios. With no HR reps on set, any issues have had to go to the producers, with Alarr himself most likely to handle.

“He was it,” one employee said, noting that “there is a huge fear factor” among cast and crew who have been afraid to speak up because their livelihood depends on Alarr. For instance, many of the cast members are not on contract, so they don’t want to cause trouble and risk not being asked back.

“You don’t want to challenge him, because he’s in charge of everything; he decides who stays, who goes, who get stories,” another staffer said. “If you are someone that was going to make a problem for him, he would just call you a budget cut and get rid of you.” (Like all long-running series, DoOL, which aired on NBC for decades before moving to Peacock in 2022, undergoes budget trims including after a pickup. The most recent renewal for the show came in March, when the soap was picked up for two additional seasons, bringing its run to 60 seasons.)

Additionally, there has been an overall sense that going to Alarr with an HR issue is futile, which has been reinforced by incidents like one involving a female production employee. She “was accosted, berated and yelled at,” and a male actor put his hands on her, a person with direct knowledge of the situation said. An actress saw what happened and went to Alarr, asking him to intervene. By the time Alarr got there, the actor’s hands were off the female employee. “Instead of approaching the situation with these two people involved, he chose to just walk in the other direction,” the source said about the incident.

Alarr, who was praised by actors for his overall directing skills and character development work, allegedly regularly mocked HR conduct standards. According to eyewitnesses, he would chuckle after making inappropriate or offensive remarks in front of cast and crew with a jokey comment about what would happen if HR ever knew about his behavior. If Alarr was called out for saying something that was inappropriate and hurt someone’s feelings, he would dismiss the criticism, insisting it was just a joke.

DoOL is produced by Corday Productions in association with Sony Pictures Television, with Corday the executive producer and Alarr co-executive producer. Alarr’s wife also works on the show. She was introduced as a writer around March when her name appeared on scripts, making a lot of the cast “really upset,” an insider said.

People who have worked on DoOL had great things to say about Corday but noted that his office is in another building and he doesn’t have enough of a physical presence at the studio, so the cast and crew don’t feel they know him well enough to confide in him about production issues.

Following the sale of the studio facility, “there were still checks and balances” for a while, with Corday visiting the set for special occasions and parties several times a year. “But little by little, his presence on the floor has become less and less, and really there is no one to go to,” one staffer said. That vacuum was filled by Alarr’s rise to power.

Still, at least two employees went to Corday ahead of speaking to investigators and laid out the issues involving Alarr, with examples, but were asked to let the process take its course and wait for the report, a source close to the show told Deadline.

According to multiple insiders, Corday Prods. has not addressed the investigation internally and has not shared its results with staffers. That continues to be the case after DoOL returned from hiatus more than a week ago, with a portion of the employees still in the dark about the probe.

Meanwhile, Alarr continues as co-executive producer and director. Overall, his presence on the set has been scaled back over the past couple of months, sources said, though it is unclear whether it is due to the investigation; the writers strike, which has shifted some of Alarr’s attention to keeping scripts being generated after a number of WGA members walked off; or some other reason. (Daytime dramas continue to produce scripts during a writers strike using fi-core WGA writers or temporary non-union writers, with some series producers also known to pitch in.)

While the situation on the show after the break is described as “normal,” the disappointment and anger among those encouraged to share their experiences — and did so — remains.

“Nobody should treat people like this,” one person said. “In this day and age for men to be treating women like this, to take away their voices and treat them like they don’t matter and they’re second-class citizens, is just appalling.”

Best of Deadline

Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Click here to read the full article.