Reality TV: An Insider's Guide to TV's Hottest Market (9 page)
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Authors: Troy DeVolld
A more direct example of Reality as subject fodder is the outrageously funny
Reno 911!,
created by Robert Ben Garant, Thomas Lennon and Kerri Kenney-Silver. The show, which satirized Reality TV juggernaut
COPS
to great effect over six seasons on Comedy Central, remains one of the most successful Reality spoofs, spawning a feature film and a healthy run in syndication on both broadcast and cable stations.
Still other scripted series that have drawn their concepts from Reality include HBO’s
The Comeback
, a comedy whose premise centered around the Reality TV “documentation” of a has-been comic actress’s return to sitcom stardom, and
Total Drama Island
, an animated series for Cartoon Network that sends up the popular
Survivor
franchise.
Reality TV production has also been satirized on individual episodes of everything from
The Simpsons
to popular crime dramas; films that have taken on Reality include
The Truman Show
and
EdTV.
“Our show was a direct parody of
COPS,
meant, in fact, to follow
COPS
on the Saturday night FOX lineup. One of my proudest moments is when I became friends with John Langley, producer of
COPS
, and found out that our parody of his show was one of his favorite shows!” —
Thomas Lennon, co-creator of
Reno 911!
Whether as the subject of ridicule or inspiration for more realistic dramas and comedies, Reality is now inextricably entwined with traditionally scripted made-for-TV programming and films.
CHAPTER THREE EXERCISES
REALITY PROGRAMMING AND THE POLICE PROCEDURAL
View an episode of
NYPD Blue, Dragnet,
or
Hill Street Blues
(all of which are available on DVD as of this writing).
• Compare and contrast your perceptions of the shows versus episodes of contemporary post-1988 procedurals like
The Wire, The Shield
, or
Southland
.
3
• Explain how, by your perception, the police procedural has changed as a result of Reality TV’s influence. Do you feel that it’s for better or worse?
MOCKUMENTARIES: HAS THE BOOM IN REALITY TV BOLSTERED THE FORMAT?
Visit IMDb (The Internet Movie Database) at
www.imdb.com
and conduct a keyword search for “mockumentary” and “mock-documentary.” These will take you to lists of mockumentary-style projects that have been produced over the years.
• Note the number of films and TV shows tagged with the keyword “mockumentary” that postdate the 1988 Writers Strike and the subsequent boom in Reality Television, compared to the number shown that preceded that date. Based on the number of listings pre- and post-1988, explain whether or not you feel the boom in Reality Television contributed to the rise or decline in popularity of the mockumentary format.
Also, view a contemporary mockumentary-style program or film.
• Name a few Reality devices that mockumentary-style programs employ beyond formal interviews and an awareness of camera.
Notes:
1. MTV’s Fear, for example, was benched with an incomplete second season in mid-edit. It would be nearly a year before MTV reconsidered the move and postproduction resumed on the show.
2. Short for “Mock Documentary”, a style of writing that mimics documentaries by utilizing false interview cutaways and other traditional doc devices.
3. Please rent/buy DVDs or download legally and responsibly from authorized sites.
The Reality of Reality
W
hen a former Supervising Producer of mine found out I was writing this book, he was curious as to what I’d be covering since he knew how I felt about keeping the particulars of my past projects under wraps and honoring my nondisclosure agreements to the point of absurdity.
1
I told him that it wasn’t a trashy tell-all and that I’d be covering the basics of writing and producing Reality Television… how stories are told, what the workflow is within a production, and so on. He responded with a laugh and told me that if I ever found out what the workflow was
supposed
to look like on a Reality show, I should let him know.
The logic behind the jab was simple. Reality shows are such a jumble of overlapping responsibilities and nonstandardized titles that trying to explain definitively what one job or another entails is virtually impossible. Also, as hard it is to wrap your head around, Reality show workflow is as malleable as clay when it comes to the creative side of things.
Let me explain.
On a traditionally scripted comedy or drama, it’s easy to identify who the writers are, who their showrunners are, and what everyone’s roles are within the production. As the various job duties in scripted television are so well defined by guilds and unions and years of doing things the same way, it’s easy to delineate where one job ends and another begins.
Not so with the Reality Television workplace. Story Producers are alternately titled as Story Editors or Segment Producers, their involvement beginning in preproduction… or production… or postproduction. I’ve worked on shows where Story Producers shoot their own material in the field, shows where they’re not involved until postproduction, and while I’ve never worked on one like it, I know of shows where Editors are required to go it alone in sussing out story from oceans of source content, assuming the full weight of the storytelling responsibilities themselves.
Confused yet? The reality of Reality is that it’s like the Wild West, and as a result, few shows are ever run exactly alike.
That said, let me give you a quick walkthrough of one of the constants — the chain of command in any production, starting at the top.
Overview: Production Hierarchy
While it takes an awful lot of people to put a show together, these are the folks you’ll find yourself dealing with most often in the story department. I apologize in advance for the head-scratching that the fluidity of these titles may induce.
The NETWORK: Whether they’re across the lot, across town, or across the country, ultimately, these are the folks who must sign off on everything. Even your production company reports to them since they’re footing the bill. In addition to network execs (who now often take Executive Producer credits just like those at your company), you’ll also find lawyers and S&P (Standards and Practices) folks who’ll pore over your content to make sure there’s nothing indecent or likely to get them sued.
The EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Now here’s a confusing credit. The Executive Producer may or may not be the show’s creator, and could just as likely be a talent who’s negotiated the credit as part of their package. In still another scenario, an EP could be a network exec or the owners of the production company you work for. The only ones you’ll be concerning yourself with are the ones directly empowered to oversee your work and give you notes, whether they’re the owners who sign your checks or the network gang.
The CO-EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Sometimes the Co-Executive Producer is a show’s creator, sometimes it’s a valued member of the production company’s team who’s negotiated the credit. I’ve often seen it afforded to someone who’d otherwise be titled as a Supervising Producer (see below).
The LINE PRODUCER: While your only interaction with the Line Producer may well be negotiating salary or ensuring that your time cards are processed, this individual is also charged with keeping the show running at or below budget.
The SUPERVISING PRODUCER: The Supervising Producer credit is usually applied to the person or persons who run your show on a day-today basis through all three production stages (preproduction, production, and postproduction). You may find some Supervising Producers titled as CO-EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, though not all Co-Executive Producers are Supervising Producers. Supervising Producers report to the Executive Producer, ranking just below the EP in most cases. Supervising Producers are responsible for the overall production to the limit that the Executive Producer delegates control.
The SENIOR STORY PRODUCER (sometimes SUPERVISING STORY PRODUCER): The Senior Story Producer credit can be negotiated even if the person in the position doesn’t actually supervise anyone, but in an ideal environment, the Senior Story Producer oversees a team of Story Producers in order to preserve continuity of tone and story throughout each season of a show. In the absence of a bona fide Senior Story Producer or Supervising Story Producer, an Executive Producer or Co-Executive Producer may assume these duties.
The STORY PRODUCER: The Story Producer’s job varies slightly from project to project, but typically consists of (at the very least) composing story outlines and compressing source material for time and content into a coherent story. One of the stranger things about the Senior Story Producer and Story Producer positions is that they may commence work at any point from preproduction to postproduction, depending on how a project is organized.
The FIELD PRODUCER: These are the folks on the front lines of production. They may function alone or, in the cases when Story Producers are brought on during preproduction or production, as part of the larger story team. Wise Story Producers will allow the Field Producers to act as the liaison between the story department and the production itself, preserving an often necessary (and certainly recommended) buffer between story and talent. Some Field Producers are simply titled as Producers.
The ASSOCIATE PRODUCER or CO-PRODUCER: Typically the lowest-ranking producers, these folks often take care of specific tasks delegated to them by producers above them in the hierarchy.
The ASSISTANT STORY EDITOR or STORY ASSIST: This helpful character exists to help you organize materials and execute story function. They search transcripts and logs for elements needed to tell the story, sometimes working with Loggers and Transcribers to locate and compile content.
The LOGGERS and TRANSCRIBERS: These folks review and summarize source material in order to make things easier for you to find later. While some production companies’ in-house Loggers do handle transcription, most production companies will send interview content of any length to a transcription house for review due to the time-consuming nature of executing word-for-word breakdowns of interview tapes. Good work from these people can really free up a lot of your time on complex productions.
Now that you know the people you’ll be dealing with in story, the next chapter will fill you in on when everyone jumps onto the train.
CHAPTER FOUR EXERCISES
Review credits at the end of a large network Reality show and a smaller cable Reality show. Based on the information you find, map out the creative hierarchy of each.
• If any of the job titles mentioned in this chapter are missing when you review those credits, explain who you think is assuming the responsibilities associated with that title.
Review credits at the end of three Reality shows made by different companies for the same cable network.
• List the similar names across Executive Producer slots, then search the Internet for bios. These are quite likely network development or programming execs who oversee projects.
Supervising Producer Heather Miller arranges scenework to create an episode outline. (photo by the author)
Notes:
1.I’ve worked on some shows I won’t even
mention
in this book for that very reason.
Preproduction
A
s the old saying goes, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” If you’ve ever worked on a show that was too hastily slapped together in a mad dash to an air date, you’d understand. Preproduction, the time preceding the commencement of shooting, is where plans come together, the construct of the show is at least rudimentarily defined, and the tone of the show is laid out so that every last person involved has their ducks in a row before a frame of footage is shot.
Of course, it doesn’t always happen that way.
I’ve been there, as has nearly everyone else working in Reality Television. Folks I know have worked on projects where shows have started shooting before castmembers have signed contracts, forcing story changes down the line when they evaporate later over final details and you’ve got to edit around them as if they were never there. Others have worked on shows where a lack of planned activities resulted in a lot of cast downtime, making for fewer story choices in postproduction.
Preproduction is an especially iffy stage for Story Producers, who may or may not be involved at that point. The most rewarding shows for me are typically the ones where you’re participating from the onset instead of relying on your Executive Producers, network folks and Field Producers to somehow cook up terrific setups that will eventually translate into a tight show with all the pieces you need, making all your “refrigerator magnets” available. It’s not that anyone else is necessarily going to bungle anything (most experienced Executive Producers, Supervising Producers and Field Producers are actually quite adept at setting content in motion), it’s just great to be in the loop from the very beginning.
