How does reality TV work?
How does reality TV work? People have been asking me that question for years. And I think that it’s my very eclectic résumé that led me to be asked to write this article. I first joined the WGA in 1989 when I wrote an episode of In the Heat of the Night. Since then, I have written for other primetime cop shows, daytime soap operas and had a feature film in development. Then there’s my other career in reality TV.
What started as a day job when I was between writing gigs blossomed into a career and I now work as a showrunner for reality TV. So how does reality TV work? The first thing to realize is that the term “unscripted” is a fallacy. No, we don’t write pages of dialogue, but we do create formats, cast people based on character traits and edit scenes to tell a powerful, intriguing tale. In short, we are storytellers just like you. We just get there a little
differently. So with the caveat that no two reality shows operate identically–CSI isn’t produced exactly like Everybody Loves Raymond–here are some general rules:
Rule: Planned story vs. followed story.
Most reality shows fit into one of two categories:
A) It is a show with very little structure, where everyday events become the stories, such as The Real World, The Osbournes, and A&E’s Airplane. On these shows, story editors sift through days (and sometime weeks) of footage to find compelling stories after the shooting has occurred. These shows tend to have longer shooting schedules, because you can’t predict when something interesting is going to happen. On my early days on The Real World, we usually shot about six days to generate one 30 minute episode;
B) It is a show that is heavily formatted, where events are planned before shooting begins. Examples of this are Survivor, The Amazing Race and The Bachelor. Writers–usually getting some kind of producer title–create beats for the show that generate the dramatic structure. These shows tend to have much shorter shooting schedules. Two to three days is typical to create a one hour episode.
Answer preview for how does reality TV work?
Access the full answer containing 614 words by clicking the below purchase button