With "Guiding Light's Last Breath, New Life is Born

By Beth Chamberlin (ex-Beth Raines, GL)

It is May 1, 2010 and in just about four minutes, at 11:00 am, they will be selling off the last of “Guiding Light”.  At the Navy Yard in Brooklyn, “Guiding Light” will take its last breath.  Painful to many of us who worked on and watched the show. 

“Guiding Light” had something special.  It brought people together, not just those of us that worked there, but families, friends.  Mothers, daughters, granddaughters watched and then talked about this show.  It represented a tradition and opened conversation between generations.  Friends were made by a common interest in a particular storyline.  Relationships were formed across the miles. People who would never have met became the best of friends; relationships that had suffered a rift, were mended. Yes, there was something special that was lost in the new world in which soaps and television in general finds itself.

But take heart, hope does exist.  There is a new light that is trying to break through.  This light is in the form of a production company called 9 After 7.   I am a part of this group and what we are attempting to do is create a ‘new kind of light’.  We want to give the fans what they lost.  We want to give them the people, the couples and the type of stories they loved.

Today, May 1, 2010, at 12:01 am we launched our website www.newkindoflight.com and announced our first project.  The fact that we commenced our new venture on the day that the last of “Guiding Light” was auctioned off to the highest bidder was not planned, not by us.  I believe there is something in the stars.  I believe we are all, cast, crew and fans alike being given a second chance.

Our first project is a full-length, direct-to-dvd feature.  Its title is “La Lumiere”, which many of you know is French for light.  I created it and coincidentally it is about a place, an inn where magic happens; a place where stars align and love and life are found. . .or lost.  It is a place where past and present often mingle as one.

That is sort of what 9 After 7 was formed to do.  Take the best of the past, those wonderful stories that brought us together and offer them through the new forms of media, technology and marketing that are available.

It will be a new kind of light.  It will come in the form of DVD’s that fans can buy and have shipped to their homes.  But, the most wonderful thing about this new venture is that it can never be canceled or auctioned off as long as there is interest.  In this venture, the fan is the boss, the fans are ‘The Powers That Be”.

It is May 1, 2010, it is a new world and we have embraced it.  We are creating a new paradigm of consumer driven entertainment tailored to the soap fan.  We don’t know exactly where this new road will take us, but we do know it is worth traveling. 

9 After 7 is offering a pre-release Limited Edition Director’s Cut of the movie, “La Lumiere”. Our company’s website is www.newkindoflight.com.