THAT SPECIAL MOMENT…

Once in every 6.4 months a moment comes along in my job that is so special, so remarkably perfect that you scream like a schoolgirl who just caught her hangnail in a particularly salty car-door. Inside, of course, because unfortunately, in my job, this happens when I’m staring in the face of the last person on earth who should know I’m feeling this way.

In fact you must stay silent. Totally silent – because you’re standing on the set of a reality show, and a member of the public has just said something or done something you know is TV gold. Yes, I did once actually think ‘TV Gold’ for real. But the camera is rolling, and the scene must go on without the producer breaking into screaming schoolgirl sounds.

You know these moments – the crazy ‘god lady’ on Trading Spouses, a good old girl-fight on Survivor, or anything that happens on I Love New York. It’s a moment you know is going to be talked about in the edit suite, shown on the sales tape of the season, and in all the promos across the network. And, boy do these moments make you look great.

Now, don’t get me wrong, there’s every reason to admit feeling guilty in these moments, and probably a bit dirty. Sitting in the shower with your clothes on dirty. But seriously, dude, they’ve just given you a killer line, a trailer moment, a real humdinger. No. No. I’m on the subject of guilt now, can’t get carried away.

So why the guilt? Have I made the person do this thing? No. Not even a bit. Not exactly, anyway. Well, perhaps a little bit. Put it this way. I feel my job is to very carefully give everyone permission to do what comes naturally.  I’ve seen very bad producers actually telling people what to say… rarely, but I’ve seen it. But, I feel that so long as you’ve done your homework, understood the people you’re working with, and have a great deal of humility, you pretty much don’t have to do anything other than guide the show to be shot in certain locations at certain times, or help a specific two people to be in the same room together…. If you’ve done all that, you can pretty much step out of it and let the experience be real for the subjects. It’s only then, the magic happens.

But deep down. Deep deep down, I know that this person wouldn’t probably have said or done the thing they’re doing if it weren’t for me, the camera crew, or the show.

I guess ultimately, my guilt comes from the fact that in normal life, our there, in the real real world, when people you hang out act like a doofuss  - the last thing you’d do is stand by. In silence. Screaming on the inside like a schoolgirl.