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Introduction

Welcome to my book on writing and producing Reality Television. Please don’t look directly into the camera or acknowledge that I’m actually standing right here, as it’s vital to the illusion of “reality” and the appearance of total spontaneity. Thanks.

Friends, relatives, and cynical media students love to ask me if Reality shows are “real.” Even on the most convoluted of series with the most cartoonishly contrived setups, I can tell them with a straight face that, at a bare minimum, the reactions are real — something scripted dramas and comedies will never be able to give the viewer. We, the home audience, will forgive the outlandishness of almost any premise in the name of witnessing real emotion on screen, so long as the content we’re watching isn’t riddled with obvious gaps in logic.

The mysteries of Reality Television are shrouded by the intentional obscuring of the genre’s process from the public. As an unfortunate side effect, few who are interested in a career in Reality have ever gotten the straight dope on where to start or what happens once you’re inside the machine.

Why won’t anyone just ‘fess up and tell you how the shows are executed, or how to get a job writing and/or producing them? It’s almost as if the folks pulling the strings feel that the discovery of what goes into making Reality shows would, like knowing the contents of the meat pies in Sweeney Todd, rob viewers of their taste for them.

“Nonsense,” I say.

While some clumsier examples in the Reality skein (of which there are many) might as well hand the viewer their blueprints, most of us in Reality TV still try our best to keep the answer to the “Is-it-or-isn’t-it real?” question close to the vest, hoping audiences will choose to focus on the “Is-it-or-isn’t-it entertaining?” aspect of our work.

Over the course of this book, you’ll learn about the Reality TV creative process — from preproduction through postproduction — and how to tell better, more engaging stories. I’ll show you everything, from how to break into the business to putting together and pitching your ownReality programs.

Brace yourself, though. I’m a pretty opinionated guy, so you’ll also get a healthy dose of my take on everything from the Writer’s Guild of America’s efforts to organize Reality Television to my personal belief that Reality TV has decimated viewers’ appetites for whimsical, fantastical scripted programming. I’ll also defend the genre against critics who complain that it’s nothing more than an irredeemably corruptive guilty pleasure.

Now, on to what you won’t be getting from this book.

If you’re hoping to get yourself cast on a Reality show, this isn’t what you’re looking for. Reach for a copy of Joe Borgenicht and John Saade’s Reality TV Handbook. It’s not that wanting to appear on a Reality program is a bad thing, it’s just not something I’ll be offering advice on here.¹

What you also won’t be getting is a lot of sensational dirt on the shows I’ve worked on. I take my non-disclosure agreements seriously (as do my past employers’ attorneys), and besides… a gentleman never tells. If you want to know who’s fooling around when the cameras are off or which Reality castmates can’t stand their costars, you’re better off buying a subscription to the National Enquirer or watching TMZ than reading this book.

Whether you’re genuinely interested in a career in Reality Television or just looking for a peek behind the curtain, I do hope you’ll enjoy the read.

Note

1. Saade, once a producer in Reality, has moved on to a career at the network level and is one of my favorite execs in the business. Seriously — if you’re yearning to be on a show, buy the book.