An UnREAL Scenario: Casting a Black Bachelor on Everlasting

                      WHITE EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

                     (to White producer)

          Write it "Blacker."

                      WHITE PRODUCER

              (reaches into "Blackness" grab bag)

          "Messy," "Baby Mama," "Turn it up."

                      BLACK CAST MEMBER

                     (looking at script)

          What White person wrote this shit??

This season on Lifetime's UnREAL there will be a Black bachelor: something that has yet to happen on ABC's The Bachelor (the show on which UnREAL's show-within-the show Everlasting is based). ABC has been called out on this issue by no less than Oprah Winfrey, and the Washington Post has referred to the show as "embarrassingly white." For anyone in Reality, however, this perpetual pastiness is hardly surprising. While the days of a small-b-bachelor are finally upon us, what UnREAL is proposing will nevah, evah* happen on The Bachelor with a capital-B. The network wouldn't have it.

*No, not Tay Tay. All Saints, natch.

The subject of race comes up often in Reality production, probably a whole a lot more often than it does in other lines of non-race-related work. As UnREAL's Executive Producer Sarah Gertrude Shapiro says, referring to her experience as a Reality producer, "I've heard appalling things about race all the time."

No shit. 

There're those charming network calls on which you're informed that there's a limit of one Black character an episode, no, never mind, a "light-skinned Latina" is enough; or that a particular cast-member (or should we say soon-to-be-ex-cast member) is too "ghetto" for the show; or that time a company pitched a show about a Black Hip Hop couple moving into an old money White community (oh, the LOLZ!).

The argument against casting Black characters is usually that the audience i.e. the target audience for that broadcaster--assuming that broadcaster isn't VH1, BET or, these days, WE--isn't ready for Black characters. Naturally the network execs themselves are super liberal ("just to be clear!"), they are merely at the mercy of their racist demographic. The assumption is that White audience members won't be sufficiently invested in Black cast members, and certainly not a Black lead (as in the case of a show like The Bachelor), to keep watching.

Given these circumstances, casting a Black Bachelor would require these four things:

1. Locating a Black Bachelor who is White enough for a White audience (the Obama of Bachelors, if you will). This palatable fellow cannot be "too ghetto," "too ethnic," or too much of a "player" (if you get the code).

AN ASIDE: Some Black cast members, having seemingly absorbed the version of Blackness that is "acceptable" to a White audience, will often (somewhat disconcertingly) assume the veneer of Blackness that they assume (correctly) appeals to Whites, at least in the minds of the network execs. Such cast members will be perfectly ordinary in their everyday interactions (i.e. funny, edgy, smart, or not, AKA human) but will then shift into a facsimile of "acceptable" Blackness (i.e. smiley, happy, Southern) the moment camera rolls.

2. Ensuring that the White Bachelorettes aren't going to freak the fuck out when the Bachelor is revealed as Black. (This means telegraphing to potential cast members in the casting process that the Bachelor may not be White, and weeding out obvious racists.)

While UnREAL's Showrunner Quinn will likely deliberately cast some racist White chicks to provoke racially-charged shenanigans, the fact is that the REAL Bachelor is way too committed to the fairy-tale tone to blow shit up with the realities of race and racism.

3. Figuring out how many White women you cast versus Black women. Do you cast it demographically, based on the American population as a whole? Or do you cast it favoring a slightly higher percentage of Black women? But if you have more Black than White women, will the White viewers lose interest? So many variables!

And finally...

4. Determining the race of the woman the Bachelor would end up with. Because this truly is the rub of the issue: the specter of mixed race couples that still unsettles so many folks.  

Whites, in particular, would prefer to believe everything is peachy because the Civil War (and they, personally, aren't racist)... but the fact is, the Civil War was yesterday, and shit like this could have gotten you lynched not that long ago, and arrested in the U.S.A. until 1967. (Whites haven't even begun to have a conversation about racism, and their own complicity in it, in any meaningful way.)

So if you're a producer in the field, which way do you influence the Bachelor: towards a Black woman, or towards a White Woman? Or do you split the difference and settle on an Asian woman or a Latina (not White but not Black either- it's a racial compromise!)?


Make no mistake, these would be the discussions they'd be having. But it would never get to that point. Any attempt to pitch a Black Bachelor to the network (a pitch which has, no doubt, been made) would be met with, "Is America really ready for a mixed race wedding?" Right answer: no. 

In fact, it's impossible to tell if America is or isn't "ready" for a Black Bachelor or a mixed race Bachelor wedding, since most of the country is committed to not talking about race at all. That commitment is mirrored on Reality TV. Unless it's being played for yucks (look at them hillbillies!) any examination of race is deemed too uncomfortable or too complicated to be entertaining. 

Which is, of course, horseshit: "Uncomfortable" is reality's metier, and complicated just means we need to think. 

The producers of UnREAL face a not-dissimilar dilemma in discussing race on their show, as Executive Producer Shapiro has acknowledged. UnREAL has social critical elements but remains, fundamentally, a Soap Opera; providing a nuanced take on issues of racism while remaining sudsy will be quite the balancing act.

#UnREALtv
#TheBachelor
#SarahGertrudeShapiro
#MartiNoxon
#Liftetimetv
#Wetv
#TCA16

Only in Reality... Cast Wranglers

Welcome to Only in Reality... a series in which I explore the events, philosophies and positions that only exist or occur in Reality TV.

In today's edition we look at the crew position known as the Cast Wrangler.  

Now, Cast Wranglers do pretty much what their title implies: they wrangle the cast. So, in any scenario, a Cast Wrangler is the point of contact between Production and the so-called Talent. However, exactly what a Cast Wrangler does differs depending on the genre of Reality they're working in.

On a show like The Bachelor (AKA Everlasting on UnREAL), that is, a Competition Show, the Cast Wrangler is pretty much a human herder. The first of these I met was a louche German we'll call Tristan whose every move seemed an expression of petulance. Tristan's responsibilities included: keeping eyes on cast at all time (even living with them); herding them to and from set; ensuring that none of them had somehow gotten access to a phone or computer or any other item with which they could contact the outside world; and spying on the cast and reporting their personal and interpersonal problems back to the Story Department. Tristan was one of those for-sure psychopaths I've worked with who took strange pleasure in denying cast members the right to speak or even pee.

However, on a show like Housewives or Love and Hip Hop (DocuSoaps), the Cast Wrangler is less of a prison guard and more along the lines of a Personal Assistant. They build a relationship with the cast members and massage their egos (no one gives a shit about cast egos in Competition). They ensure that cast arrives on set on time and in the right wardrobe (a big deal in Docusoaps where we often shoot story out of order). They also, like their Competition compatriots, spy and report back to Production on where the cast is at emotionally (we then take that info and develop story lines accordingly). On shows like Love and Hip Hop there is actually one Cast Wrangler per cast member (which is quite unusual) whereas on Housewives there is generally only one for the whole cast. The job is not only stressful but can actually be dangerous. One cast Wrangler I knew actually had a gun held to his head. He's still in Reality. Go figure.

Cast Wrangling is a thankless and soul-destroying job. Wranglers have to manage extremely difficult (and sometimes violent) personalities and deal with 2 am calls and texts. In fact, the Cast Wrangler on my current show may not be long for this production. She's burnt out from a relentless stream of self-important D-list celebrity cast and their non-stop shenanigans. Update: she quit.

In case you're wondering why you've never seen the credit Cast Wrangler on a show, that's because they are titled as anything from Production Assistant to Co-Executive Producer. I was once promised a Co-Executive Producer credit on a Housewives show (rhymes with - Have Mercy) if I did--basically--a Cast Wrangler's job. I thanked them for the kind offer, but replied that I'd rather stab myself repeatedly in the chest with scissors.

UnREAL: Episode 10

"You're a manipulating slut!"  Castmember Grace to Rachel.

Yes, Rachel is a manipulating slut, and we wouldn't have it any other way.  I much prefer the manipulative slut to the whiner.  Finally, Rachel's embracing her Don Draper.  I also love the fact that they have allowed the Quinn-Rachel relationship to flourish.

The show deserves all the good press it's been getting including this and this. 

In celebration of the finale of UnREAL, some background on the show it is satirizing, The Bachelor. I have never worked on the show myself, so what follows is hearsay from people who have.  

According to my sources, the similarities between the fake show Everlasting and the actual show i are startling.  While that sounds like a "No, duh!" I was actually surprised to realize the degree to which this is the case.

The first and most startling gossip I have heard is that many of the characters on UnREAL are identical to individuals that worked on The Bachelor, and many of the stories are based on real life as well.

Moving on to some issues that are of interest maybe more to those of us in the industry:

1.  Producers drinking with cast members: I was honestly skeptical about the producers drinking with cast, largely I wouldn't want to be drunk on set and generally drunk people don't make for good workers.  That being said I have worked in environments where the cast is encouraged to drink, because messy.

However, I am told that producers on The Bachelor do in fact drink with cast members (as an incentive to get the cast to drink).  Generally producers have a drink or two and then start faking that they're drinking (as the cast member continues to imbibe).  Thus, the producer may order/pour a couple of Vodka tonics, and then start just drinking tonic.

2.  The competition between producers: I found the cattiness between producers to be a bit over the top and attributed it to the soapiness of the show.  However, I am told UnREAL is pretty accurate in this regard.  Although there are no cash incentives (a creation of the show that I find particularly annoying), the producers are apparently more bitchy and competitive than I have experienced.  They just happen to compete to advance in their field and pay rent, not for a thousand bucks or some shit.

3.  Producers cannot complete an exit interview (that's the interview conducted when a cast member is eliminated) until the girl has cried.  That's apparently where all the "So I hear tell you were abused by your babysitter" shit producers role out during interviews comes in.  Obviously we pretty much always want them to cry, I guess you would have incentive to be extra evil if you couldn't leave until you did.

4.  The house layout on Everlasting is almost identical to The Bachelor set, even down to where the Control Room is in relation to the the rest of the house.

5.  This has been reported elsewhere (possibly even in relation  to coverage of the show) but the cast are often kept outside to make them cold so that they might be more inclined to cry in interview (and likely scenes).

6.  While people don't actually live on set (as Rachel does) given the hours people work on Reality in general, and competition in particular, they do spend so much time on set that they often do laundry and even do sleep on the location.  That's part of the reason the crew feels like family.

Finally, although they only ever seem to call direction to A camera (and very rarely B camera) on Everlasting, there are definitely more cameras on The Bachelor set than on Everlasting (or any set for that matter)!

So that's it for UnREAL this season.  We'll be checking in with our girls Quinn and Rachel when the show returns.  Rachel loves Quinn and we love them both!

In the meantime I'll keep posting on Reality shows and the industry in general.  So please stay tuned.

UnREAL: Episode 9

I've been growing tired of only hearing my voice here, so I'm changing things up a bit today by inviting my good friend, and former Reality cohort Paola Limon (also a big fan of UnREAL) in to discuss her experiences in the industry she fled and her feeling about UnREAL.

Ordinarily (say if this was a show I was editing) I would do a bit of setup convo, but in an effort to keep this a reasonable length, I will just dive right in.  Whenever content is in [square brackets] it means that I am inserting information.

Tracey Izatt
I met someone who worked on The Bachelor for years.

Paola Limon
Do they know that writer [referring to the show creator]?

Tracey Izatt
They didn't overlap.  The producer was rolling their eyes at the creator's claim about signing a 7 year exclusive contract (s/he says no such thing exists).  S/he that you have to work really hard to get onto The Bachelor.  They [The Bachelor production company Next Entertainment - run by Mike Fleiss] start them on Highschool Reunion and, if you work really hard on that, they move you up after a few years.  So basically you need to really, really want to be on The Bachelor to get there.   Also, intriguingly, the UnREAL characters are apparently based on the real-life people on the show.

Paola Limon
I can see why she's justifying it.

Tracey Izatt
Well, let's start with that.  why do you think someone would want to justify being on a show like The Bachelor/Everlasting?

Paola Limon
I think that if the writer wants to make a career writing for scripted TV, she may be somewhat ashamed to admit that she actually enjoyed and/or really worked hard to get to work on a show like Everlasting, or The Bachelor.  Unfortunately people working in scripted TV, writers and producers, tend to look down to reality TV people, even though it takes a lot of hard work and intellect to make it happen.  Even if the results are sometimes silly or dumb.

Tracey Izatt
Silly or dumb is our forte!

Paola Limon
Ha! Well, there are dumb scripted TV shows too.

Tracey Izatt
Right??   It seems so unfair that we are shat on but Two and a Half Men is prestige television. (Okay, maybe it isn't prestige television - but still, there's no question about those writers being in the Guild). [The WGA has only recently started organizing writers in Reality]

Paola Limon
Well, the writers and producers there will get more respect than we would any time.

Tracey Izatt
Why did you decide to leave Reality TV and move into narrative?

Paola Limon
Because that was always my plan and I realized that it was now or never. I'm almost 30 and I just got engaged, and if I wait longer, next thing you know I'll have a baby and it will never happen. I also didn't really feel proud of the work I made most of the time.  Partly because it was hard to care enough to do unpaid overtime to make sense of random footage shot with no story in mind, on a renovation show with Amish people.

Tracey Izatt
Ha-ha.  Just to clarify, you were in Post on those shows [i.e. Post operated independently from the Field]

Paola Limon
There was no planning [in the Field] and I was in charge of making sense of a show with no budget, and not even a "thank you."  There were fun times though.

Tracey Izatt
What were the fun times?

Paola Limon
I will always remember the moment when my girl in What Not To Wear saw herself with her new haircut and cried.  I cried a little too.  And it really changed her life.  I actually just found out through Facebook that she got engaged, and actually has a career now. She looks so happy.  I was in the field there.  And maybe that was the problem.  In Post, you can make someone look like an idiot if you want to, and I always hated that.

Tracey Izatt
Talk to me about Post.  It kind of sucks IMO.  Regardless of whether the footage sucks or not (spoiler alert: it usually does), you are held accountable to make it all make sense.

Paola Limon
Yes, as a Story Producer [AKA Post Producer], you have all the responsibilities of your episode, and what works and what doesn't work is always your fault.  No one asks the Field for answers and the schedules just keep shrinking.

Tracey Izatt
Yeah.  The solution would be to have people take an episode through Post - like directors did on What Not To Wear.  But the schedules make that impossible most of the time - so there's no ownership in the Field (even when I'm there, sad to say).

Paola Limon
I once worked on a show where we had to deliver 24 episodes (12 in English and 12 copies in Spanish), and I was the only Story Producer / VO writer for 3 editors.  Also, the only person (aside from the editors) who spoke Spanish, so I even supervised sound mixes.  All while making 300 dollars less than my normal rate.  And of course, if something went wrong, the fingers would quickly point at me.

And yes to your idea of ownership, that would help [and is the model for excellent shows like Parts Unknown on which directors shoot the show and they move into Post].  And one producer per episode per editor would help too.

Tracey Izatt
How would you say your experiences in reality compare to that on UnREAL?  Is it realistic to you?

Paola Limon
Hmm, well they're a little different because Field is different than Post.  I only did a few jobs in the Field, and I didn't have that much interaction with the cast - which in a way I'm happy for.  I didn't have to do that much manipulating people in person.  What I did do though, was manipulate the footage to make someone say whatever I want for the story, which is easier to do when you don't know them personally, because they're just characters.  I'm not proud of it, but it's part of the job, to tell the best story even when the cast won't give it to you.

Many times I've worked on shows where the cast was not giving us what we needed, and so we used an old scene from a previous season and recut it to fit our current story.  I also have suggested ideas or thoughts to people, and then made them say it to camera as if it was their own idea - which they actually believed.  [It is stunning how often cast members believe the version of Reality that Post serves up.]

So there is a lot of manipulation in both the Field and post.  Although I do think they are exaggerating a bit much.  It's very very melodramatic!  I know it's Lifetime, but seriously, it reminds me of the Mexican telenovelas I grew up watching - which would make me roll my eyes even at the age of 12. That said, I'm still a bit hooked on the show haha.

Tracey Izatt
What are you enjoying about it?

Paola Limon
Well, the drama is addictive. Its different than the shows I've worked on so it's interesting to see - even the unrealistic version of it.  And of course, the underdog story is always appealing, especially with someone who does a similar job than the one I did.  For example (spoiler alert), in a recent episode, the "Bachelor" tells the diamond in the rough Field Producer that he quite fancies her, that she deserves the whole world and he wants to give it to her.  This made me do the biggest eye roll I have ever done! I almost threw up, and yet, the little girl in me who grew up watching Disney movies loved it!  And that's what telenovelas do, they are modern fairytales of rags to riches stories, where prince charming rescues the poor cleaner girl.

It also pissed me off.  I have heard of stories of Producers hooking up with their cast.  But this was just ridiculous.

Tracey Izatt
You mentioned earlier that you thought it was like a telenovela - how so?

Paola Limon
OK, I put a list together. First, what I mentioned already, this story of the rich man who "falls in love" with the poor girl and wants to offer her the world (I know this is not just in telenovelas, but it's just one example).

The insane amount of drama and darkness contained in one episode only in very telenovela-esque. There is no way that many shitty life-changing things happen in 4 days time, every time.

Love triangles everywhere!

Stylistically, I have always found funny when telenovelas use these intense close ups on the characters in very melodramatic moments, especially with women, and they slowly push in.  This show uses them all the time.

Another thing is, women in the show are extremely shady and manipulative.  I understand that it's part of what you would find at a show like "The Bachelor" but this deceiving and scheming goes beyond the show, it happens on every story with every character.  Like Quinn and the therapist, and Chet.  It's sickening actually.

Finally, there are some similarities in the treatment of women.  Not only the contestants on the show (which have the lowest status), but also Quinn and Rachel.  Even though they have a bit more power than some of their peers, they are still pretty low personally (and professionally too in the case of Quinn), and sex and using men is a way of getting what they want.

Tracey Izatt
In some ways though I find that the way women are depicted in the show is actually somewhat realistic.  Quinn and Rachel are the people who're making things happen, but they are not really getting the credit that is a common situation in Reality.  That's why there are so many women in Post. Women are very good at doing cleanup.  Or, rather, cleaning up other people (AKA Chet)'s messes.

Paola Limon
Yeah, I agree with that.

Paola Limon
Yes, its not easy to climb that world.

Tracey Izatt
Who do you relate to more: Quinn or Rachel?

Paola Limon
Well, if I have to pick one I would say Rachel.  Especially with the dreaming of getting out of the job.  I could see myself enjoying having all the power Quinn has, but I would like to think I would never do the shit she does.  But it's a slippery slope.  I don't want to go back and be an EP and have to make those decisions about real people's lives.
(Sorry, I don't mean to shit on what you do btw, because I have done it too - its just not my passion)

Tracey Izatt
Yes, please leave the shitting on what I do to the expert: me! I took that dumb Buzzfeed quizz and unsurprisingly I was Quinn.

However, I feel as though Quinn, in a way, represents the voice of Post.  Like her calling the cast meatpuppets, that seems like a Posty kind of sentiment.  The way she talks back to her footage, also seems like post.

Tracey Izatt
We can wrap this up in a second - but let's talk a bit about rigging competition shows
according to unREAL, Everlasting is rigged.  This is something non-reality people seem to believe too, that competition shows are all rigged, but in my experience, and from what i've heard, rigging isn't as common as people like to think.

Some shows are rigged, but a good deal aren't.  From what I've heard The Bachelor is not rigged - at least not in the fashion that Everlasting would seem to be.

Paola Limon
I know that a competition show I did was not rigged for most of it, but at the end I heard the Network and production company weighed in who should win.  I didn't hear what happened, but I wasn't in the "in" circles to know really.

Tracey Izatt
I'm a purist.  I think they shouldn't be rigged and we should simply make what we have work.

Paola Limon
Yeah, just hope that you have a great casting team! I would believe the network and producers have input on who stays longer in a show like that - after all you need good characters (like Quinn makes a point to say all the time).

Tracey Izatt
From what I understand The Bachelor is not rigged precisely because, after all, you kind of want a wedding at the end, and that's a tough thing to achieve if you're rigging shit.

I feel as though competition production is structured in such a way that - as you say - if the casting was good, you shouldn't need to rig it to keep the viewers interest
besides, as we both know, Post often sees something in characters that we don't in the Field.

Paola Limon
True.

Tracey Izatt
I usually despise - in person - the very people who make great TV.  So why make that call in the Field?

Paola Limon
I feel like again, with the right casting,you could find people who would get married just to be on TV and magazines.

Tracey Izatt
Yeah, there's that!  So any other thoughts you'd care to share about unREAL?

Paola Limon
Well, that I don't want to sound like I'm totally shitting on it. Or on Reality TV.  Despite me wanting to never go back, it has a very special place in my heart.  I learned everything I know about story there (and a lot from you Tracey), I got to be creative very quickly and I had a lot of fun.  Plus, there are a lot of brilliant people working in it, so I don't want to sound like a snob

I also think the show is very interesting, despite its melodramatic nature and I'm hooked.  Its a guilty pleasure

Tracey Izatt
Great.  Thanks.  I know I said this would be a half hour thing and I went way over.

Paola Limon
No worries.  Thanks!

UnREAL: Episode 8

SPOILER ALERT!!

Uh-oh, Rachel done crossed the line!

In Episode 8 of UnREAL Rachel finally fucks bachelor Adam.  The show's been hinting at this happening for a while, and using her on-again flirtation with/fucking of DP Jeremy to distract us.  But now it's happened and, for those not in the know, this is something we in the industry call "crossing the line."  

In general, fraternizing with the Talent is discouraged.  That includes everything from hanging out with cast members outside of work to having sex/a relationship with them.  Which isn't to say that it doesn't happen.  I can think of numerous cases off the top of my head.  There was the producer on The Real World who crossed the line with a cast member and was fired. Then there's Todd Tucker, the Line Producer on Real Housewives of Atlanta who started dating cast member Kandi Burruss and ended up a regular on the show (which, I suppose, is punishment enough). On yet another series, the 40ish Showrunner quit after starting a relationship with a 23 year-old cast member. (Sorry, an NDA keeps me from sharing that one.)  She later moved into his RV and started working at a nearby titty bar.  No word on how that relationship is holding up.

It's easy to understand why line crossing happens.  For one thing, we spend a lot of time with cast when we're shooting.  We see them more than anyone else in our lives and, just as office romances happen on regular jobs, so too they often happen on set.  We are also tasked specifically with befriending them (or seeming to, anyhow) with a view to exploiting that relationship for story.  So lines do get blurry.  

However, there are plenty of good reasons why crossing the line is frowned upon.  For one thing, as is by this point (I hope) abundantly clear, we are manipulating these people.  And it is hard (if not impossible) to manipulate someone you're having a bona fide emotional relationship with for work purposes.  (Everyone knows that manipulating your partner is strictly a recreational activity.)  Additionally, crew members possess information that cannot be shared with cast.  For instance, we may be planning a series of scenes with a particular goal in mind, that will not work if some idiot shares that information with a cast member they're in lurv with.

Finally, and maybe this is just me, we shouldn't cross the line because we're in a position of power over these people; especially on a Competition show (like Everlasting) where cast are essentially our prisoners and we have access to (deeply personal) profiles compiled by show psychologists.  So, to me, crossing the line feels like a teacher taking advantage of a student or a doctor taking advantage of a patient   Don't get me wrong, power is a powerful aphrodisiac.  But only losers abuse it.

All that being said, I expect our girl Rachel will find a way to make this dalliance work to her advantage in acquiring the Showrunning position Chet is dangling before her.

So you go, you bad girl, but Jeremy's gonna be pissed.

UnREAL: Episode 7

Episode 7 of UnREAL deals with the fallout from cast member Mary's on-set suicide. The story line initially bugged me because it didn't seem believable. The only suicide I could recall was that of Sinisa Savija, who appeared on the first version of Survivor, a Swedish show called Expedition Robinson. His suicide provoked such a scandal that the network almost canned the series (as the Survive! format was launched with this show, one might well wonder how it might have fared after that).

However, as I discovered when Googling “suicide” and “Reality TV”, the words appear in close proximity with alarming frequency. There's even this handy-dandy slide show of reality cast members who have died, and a fair number of them killed themselves. You may note that Kitchen Nightmares has been particularly lethal, clocking 2 suicides; Russell Armstrong, a member of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills cast, killed himself after fearing how he was to be represented in an upcoming season of the show; not mentioned on this list is the suicide of Kellie Williams a participant on Extreme Makeover.

It is this final suicide that most closely resembles what happened on UnREAL, where there is little doubt that some combination of Rachel and Shia -- both Field Producers -- were responsible for Mary's suicide. Basically, Kellie Williams' sister Deleese was selected to appear on Extreme Makeover as a plastic surgery candidate. As part of the show, Kellie was interviewed about her sister's looks. According to family members during that interview producers “goaded” Kellie into saying negative things about Deleese's appearance, things that Deleese overheard. As it turns out Deleese's surgery was canceled at the last minute (her recovery time apparently “wouldn’t fit the show's schedule”), exacerbating the issue between the sisters. Because now Deleese knew her sister considered her ugly, and she couldn't even have the corrective surgery to address it. Four months later Kellie, overcome with anguish, committed suicide. The family filed a lawsuit holding the Producers culpable.

The Extreme Makeover suicide is exceptional, however. Reality-related suicides generally seem to occur after the show has aired, and this isn’t a coincidence. Field Producers—while wily (and often evil)—can seldom rise to the level of unabated cruelty practiced by Post Producers. To clarify: when a show is shooting it is usually in the edit at the same time. So there are producers shooting in the field (Field Producers), and producers in Post (Post Producers) working with editors to craft the story. While Field Producers see cast members as human beings (and require the good will of casts to perform their jobs), Post Producers tend to view cast members as characters in a script they're writing. Their intent isn't to represent people accurately but, rather, to present the most compelling version of a person (even if that version is less than desirable to the actual person). If the cut reflects the reality, great, if it doesn't reflect the reality, they don't care (much). They just want to get their fucking cut past the network, and they will do whatever it takes to make that happen. If Kellie Williams was upset with how her sister reacted to her words in an interview, god knows how she would have reacted if Post had gotten their claws on it.

There is no overstating the havoc that can be wrought on an individual by an adept Post Producer. And cast members aren't the only ones whose characters are impacted in this process. Because in the process of coldly transforming people into often inaccurate, or at least incomplete archetypes, Post Producers are themselves transformed.  Spend enough time in Post crafting people's words against them and creating conflict out of whole cloth and even the nicest and most well-meaning among us can devolve into arrogance. After all, we are godlike, creator of worlds. And with such arrogance comes a loss of empathy for the real people whose real lives we impact.  Because, whereas Rachel and Shia have literal blood on their hands and are plagued by the awareness of their sins, a Post Producer kills from afar and without consequence.   

Long story short: Post Producers need to occasionally get the fuck out of their chairs and head into the morass that is Production, lest they lose their souls entirely.

UnREAL: Episode 6

On episode six of UnREAL, Rachel invites the abusive ex of cast member Mary to spice up the date she and her child are having with bachelor Adam.  Things go (predictably) south when the ex becomes violent, tries to attack Adam, and, ultimately, has to be held down by Rachel's ex, Jeremy the DP, and a random sound dude (I think).  Sadly this kind of violence is all too common on Reality sets and, while I have never actually encouraged cast members to go at it, cast are well-aware that this makes for good TV so they tend to go there themselves (particularly if they're wasted, which we generally ensure they are).  The only thing that leaps out about the situation on UnREAL is the lack of Security.  These days, we tend to have Security on hand for any brawls that might occur.  

That being said, I strongly disapprove of these kinds of set skirmishes.  Take this fer instance: I once worked on a show where a male cast member (drunk) was getting into it with a female cast member (drunker), and ultimately ended up grabbing her by the wrists and shaking her.  This guy was built like a brick shithouse and had this woman by the arms and Security did not step in.  Nor did they step in when the female cast member started saying (clearly to production) "He's really hurting me, he's really hurting me!" When the Producer on the ground tried to step in she was stopped by Security, who were hired by the broadcaster, because—they informed her—they are "trained" to know when to intervene.  When I later relayed this little training factoid to the Producers around me we had to shoehorn our eyes out of the backs of our heads.  

WTF is the kind of Security training doesn't require that you help a cast member when she's saying that she's being hurt?  Even setting that egregious error aside, what training provides you with the skill to know exactly when some drunken mess is going to pop off? How do you learn to read the intent to become violent?  And even if you read that intent, how do you know where it's going to go?  Will it be aimed at the other cast members?  Will it randomly involve someone not even connected to the show?  Will it be focused on a crew member, as it was on Rachel when Mary's ex went batshit?

Even if such "training" is plausible and you have well-trained Security on set, there is no way to assure that cast and crew are 100% safe (or even 90% safe).  Drunken brawls are not controlled situations.  How do you protect a cast member from getting struck with a stray fist that makes it between the muscled arm and bulky torso of Security?  How is it possible for a camera operator to be safe, when the footage shows someone slamming into his lens?  How do you protect a camera operator with Security, if that Security isn't in front of his lens to stop someone from slamming up against it, when you can't have security in front of the camera operators lens because, you know, footage.  At least the sound guy doesn't have a huge piece of metal jammed up against an eye socket.  And yet a sound guy is usually lumbering around with shit-tons of equipment, making it hard to maneuver in the best of circumstances, let alone a fight.  

The fact is that no one is particularly safe in these situations including members of the public who, while they may have tacitly agreed to appear on camera, did not tacitly agree to physical assault.  These shows are accidents waiting to happen, and the fact that a major accident hasn't occurred yet doesn't make it permissible for so-called "adults" to continue to play the odds.  Because that's what they'll do.  And anyone who argues against them will be called a troublemaker. 

Don't get me wrong.  I get it.  These brawls make for amazing television.  Sometimes, when you're producing a fight in Post that doesn't culminate in physical violence, there's a sense of letdown.  In the case I mentioned above, for example, we couldn't include the male-on-female violence because it violated the broadcaster's policies (although apparently letting it happen doesn't violate their Security's policy) and, as a result, the scene didn't climax in a satisfying manner.  An argument culminating in violence provides a release, it appeals to the part of us that would like to see a particular character smacked in the head.  It appeals to our sense of Justice: we think they had it coming.  But we really need to leave that shit to narrative TV.  Because the Marys and Adams we work with, not to mention the Rachels, Jeremys, and Sound Dudes, are real people who can get hurt, and no great climax to some shitty scene is worth it.

#UnREALLifetime #BachelorABC #RealityTV #BadGirlsClub #SafetyForSarah

UnREAL: Episode 4

Episode 4 of UnREAL ::SPOILERS AHEAD:: heads into new territory with Rachel committing to both a better wardrobe (yay) and her job.  Also, instead of spending her time fucking over cast members (in every way ever done on any Reality show ever), on this episode Rachel tackles nothing more sexy than set decoration. Turning some shitty location—in this case bachelor Adam’s vineyard—into something presentable both to the damsels he’s courting and the discerning home audience… now, that’s real. It is far more common (and infuriating) for Producers to spend time dressing up a location than taking down the cast.

The fact is, Producers don't have to waste time manipulating blowups and breakdowns on Competition Reality (into which genre UnREAL’s Everlasting would fall); the production model does it for us. You see, a Competition Reality set is a prison and the cast the prisoners.  This scenario alone is far more effective at lighting fuses and pulling triggers than we ever could be.  

Say, for instance, you’ve been cast in The Bachelor.  Now, just getting to this point has been a full-time job, involving detailed applications, shooting, editing and submitting a casting reel, taking a screen test, and consenting to a psych eval.  By the time you made it onto the show you’d committed so much unpaid labor to achieving your goal that you were in it for the long haul (more about this later).  After all, you’re well on your way to winning a millionaire’s hand in marriage!

Farewell to small town fetters: your shitty apartment; your family (who, let's face it, never quite got you); and your Yorkie named Boo, and Hello to your handsome future husband; a made-for-TV mansion; and 20 or so other bitches cast specifically to piss you off.  You blithely surrender your phone, computer, ID, credit cards, and money upon coming into our custody (that's the actual term), effectively severing all contact with the outside world and—literally—shedding your identity.  For the next six weeks (give or take) we decide where you live, and when or if you can eat, sleep or take a shit.  

For the next six weeks you are constantly observed by cameras, fellow cast members, Producers, or Cast Wranglers (who live with and monitor the cast).  Privacy exists solely in the toilet (provided we've given you permission to go) but even there, if you leave your mic pack on, we can hear you weeping.  And weep you might.  Whereas on a show like Housewives we may shoot 12 hour days, on Competition we can shoot anywhere up to 24 hours a day.  The niceties of a meal break every 6 hours doesn't apply, especially when you're shooting 12 episodes in six weeks.  

A typical day begins at 6 am when we arrive to shoot house reality.  By 8 you're lined up to learn about the day's challenge.  The challenge is shot from 10 am to noon.  You learn if you're a winner/loser from 1 pm to 2, then it's on to the next challenge and so on for 14 physically and emotionally grueling hours (because who actually revels in being literally judged on a daily basis).  After that it’s back to the cast house to shoot more reality.  And then to bed?  You wish.  Nights are when we often have to shove in interviews, which accounts for most of the explosive shit that comes out of people's mouths.  Who can blame you?  By day three you're pretty much delirious/belligerent constantly.

Consider who you'd become if you were confined for 24 hours a day with people deliberately cast to rub you wrong; if you slept on average 4 hours a night; if you were away from anyone who gave two shits about you; if you worked all day every day and every other night were liquored up and lined up to be judged by some douchebag with roses.  Would you lose your mind?  Become a Bitch?  Whimper like a Whiner?  Display emotions that can be interpreted as Needy?  Congratulations: you've just become The Bitch, Whiner or Needy Nelly of the season. (We don't do subtlety on Reality TV).

Once you wake up to the – ahem – reality of your situation, why do you choose to stay? (And stay you will, like nearly every other prisoner without whom the networks would have no ratings.) There’s that time you spent getting here in the first place, when your family said you were nuts to try and your friends suggested you should just stick to your career… There’s that Appearance Release you signed, too. Don’t you have to legally compete until you are eliminated, no matter how unhappy you may be? (Um, no, but don’t let us disabuse you of that misconception.)   Finally, and most disturbingly, you will stay because doing what you’re told becomes a habit.  You accept the role of prisoner.  (In fact, Jan de Bont, one of the creators of Big Brother cites the Stanford Prison Experiment as inspiration for that show.)  

The question, though, is not only why you accept your role as prisoner. Rather, it is why we Producers so readily accept our role as your guards.  Oh, and also, where can I get my hands on that leather Rachel’s wearing? 

#UnREALLifetime #BachelorABC #Survivor_Tweet #CBSBigBrother #bbUK #AmazingRace_CBS #CompetitionReality #RealityTV