Reality shows are getting less real all the time. Often it's obvious that there are scripted elements--sometimes it is a fairly light intervention, other times the participants are coaching in how to create conflict, sometimes they're even told what to say and the show may involve actors posing as real people. The Writers Guild of America has won the right to represent such writers (often called "producers" rather than writers in the credits because they don't want to let the audience know how much the supposedly real events are manipulated).
Despite the popularity of such formats, there hasn't been a lot written about how these series come about, which I why I was delighted to find a great series of videos by Mark Cronin, founder and producer of Mindless Entertainment (the name of his company shows he has a good sense of humor…).
In the video below (about 12 minutes long), he answers the basic questions you are likely to have about the business of reality shows: what networks look for, what the production company does, creative control (or lack thereof), some trends in funding, and what qualities a good reality show producer should have. I'm not particularly interested in working in this genre but I still found his information interesting.
In tomorrow's post I'm featuring Cronin explaining how pilots are made.
