REALITY TV?
February 21, 2009
I wanted to share something with you - and apart from it just being interesting to me, I think it might say something about Reality TV as a genre.
So, mid conversation yesterday my other-half was describing the trials and tribulations a friend of our’s is experiencing in her career. Then it came… “Oh yeah… and now she’s, like, producing a reality TV show?!”.
There it was.
Right at the end of the sentence was the question-mark - that upward inflection of incredulity and questioning uncertainty that comes along when talking about something rather unsavory.
She followed up by stroking my ego a little. “Oh, er… you know. You know what I mean?”.
But, aside from the abject indignity our friend was so clearly (in my other-half’s opinion) having to live through while being associated with Reality TV, it struck me that this is actually a problem the whole genre faces.
You see, Reality TV has always been seen as the rather fun, young uncle of ‘propper tv’, the one who knows how to have a great time, knocks em back at family functions - amuses everyone with his self-confident ballsy behavior and his cheeky Coyote Ugly dancing, and who sometimes shows us his butt-crack for a laugh, but …er… has that problem with Bacardi and Coke and that issue with your daughter’s high school friends. Yes, that guy.
When I speak to friends or get introduced to people - even at a party last night - I find myself saying ‘oh, but not all that RUBBISH reality TV - you know, good stuff’.
I do have a rule when I choose a job - 1) NO ISLANDS/HOUSES WITH CONTESTANTS and 2) NO VOTING OFF. I’ve done pretty well by those rules. You know, the ‘good stuff’.
But, I think now we all have to recognize that it’s ok - multi-million dollar companies are making shed-loads of cash off of Reality TV, more and more people are being kept employed by the industry, in a time when movie production is slowing and dramas are cutting back - and I’d like to think expectations and therefore the bar is being raised.
This week, I wanted to call a few DoPs - people who all work in features or drama to come and shoot a show I’m producing right now, they were all busy shooting reality shows. All of them. How many other filmmakers is Reality TV keeping in work? Keeping ready to produce the next awesome indie feature or award winning Documentary?
So, aside from the fact that Reality TV is evolving fast and keeps a lot more people working than a lot of other film and tv genres, it’s worth remembering also that Reality TV has been on major network tv for over fifteen years, keeping the networks nice and rich and happy.
So, I think Reality TV should come out of the closet and take a bow.
Welcome to society Reality TV. We’ll get you sober and present you to the family soon. (But, er, stay away from Suzy and her friends please).
I wish someone would come up with a reality show that doesn’t make a bunch of losers famous! There are great people in the world doing great things that are interesting and entertaining, but those are not the people we see on reality TV. Instead, we see trash become rich and famous for acting like trash. Meanwhile half the country is worried about losing their jobs, homes and sense of self-being. I don’t even know how producers come up with this stuff.
Take me for example, I run my own fast paced consulting business out of my home, my husband is a stay at home Dad that takes care of a 10 year old and 7 month old, 7 horses, a potbellied pig and a rottweiler named Bossman. I personally investigate and take on Wall Street’s biggest players as an expert witness. I deliver hard-hitting testimony every chance I get to the regulatory leaders in our country. I adopt interns that have no one else to show them the ropes in life, take them in, feed them, help them get into better schools and work them half to death! And I do all of this with a little Southern charm. I am notoriously infamous in the financial industry yet cannot get noticed by producers, which I only desire to do so that I can bring what is really going on in your investment portfolio to a mainstream audience that I would hope would result in people making better decisions when they are investing their life’s savings. Yes, we have more than enough drama and comedy to carry a show day after day as there is never a dull moment out on the farm.
I just don’t know how to get this concept really looked at, I just keep getting told you have to come in through a producer, but they don’t say who that producer is and how to find him. It’s almost like trying to talk to the Wizard of Oz. Meanwhile, drunk bimbos as you refer to them make millions of dollars showing America how ridiculous we are instead of giving people hope. And let’s not forget the trash that goes out and intentionally gives birth to 10 kids at once just to get their own reality show. How disgusting is that? Then we give it to them! I think TV execs are braindead!
I Got a show. Actually two, and im writing a third. BRAND NEW to reality television. GURANTEED to be the next blockbuster. Send me an email address to send u a copy of the synopsis. and give me a ring. 3478550146. looking for a partner / producer who can make this happen.