2008 Woodie Awards
How Real is Reality Television?
The steps to identifying the authenticity of reality television
by Tim Suda
Issue date: 2/19/07 Section: Features
With reality television being so popular these days, especially in countries like America, many viewers want to know: "How real is reality television?" "American Idol," for instance has an average of more than 35 million viewers each week. Except now, this style of programming has spread all over the world and is even popular in countries such as Nigeria and Australia. With reality television being popular all around the world, how can there be so much controversy over the validity of the shows?
"There aren't any blanket answers since every show is different and there are a lot of reality shows out there with very different formats," says Hannah Buchdahl, a former producer of "America's Next Top Model."
To begin to analyze the authenticity of these programs, one must start at the beginning with the casting. Producers of the show "Survivor" reported that more than 120 contestants tried out at the Monterey, California stop of the tour. In contestant based reality television shows, it's an industry standard that all contestants are not paid actors. One of the reasons for the popularity of this genre of show is that it does not cost much to produce. This low cost is partially because the production company has to pay for little or no talent and actors.
An important thing to note when attempting to determine how truthful a favorite reality television show can be is money. With budgets ranging anywhere from $100,000 to $1 million plus, these production companies spare no expense. Everything costs money, so wherever expense can be saved it is. In many shows this can translate into the decision about location. For instance, the CBS produced show CSI: New York includes a majority of scenes filmed in Los Angeles. In others like Simple Life 2, producers just gave one town $15,000 and a "Simple Life" DVD for each household.
The last step of pre-production on a reality television show is paperwork. Contestants on reality shows basically sign their rights away; they have confidentiality agreements, agreements to allow the footage to be manipulated, as well as other contracts. When contestants sign these, participants are not allowed to talk about outcomes of shows. This loophole gives production companies leeway to edit endings to meet the networks requests and demands for particular shows.
"There aren't any blanket answers since every show is different and there are a lot of reality shows out there with very different formats," says Hannah Buchdahl, a former producer of "America's Next Top Model."
To begin to analyze the authenticity of these programs, one must start at the beginning with the casting. Producers of the show "Survivor" reported that more than 120 contestants tried out at the Monterey, California stop of the tour. In contestant based reality television shows, it's an industry standard that all contestants are not paid actors. One of the reasons for the popularity of this genre of show is that it does not cost much to produce. This low cost is partially because the production company has to pay for little or no talent and actors.
An important thing to note when attempting to determine how truthful a favorite reality television show can be is money. With budgets ranging anywhere from $100,000 to $1 million plus, these production companies spare no expense. Everything costs money, so wherever expense can be saved it is. In many shows this can translate into the decision about location. For instance, the CBS produced show CSI: New York includes a majority of scenes filmed in Los Angeles. In others like Simple Life 2, producers just gave one town $15,000 and a "Simple Life" DVD for each household.
The last step of pre-production on a reality television show is paperwork. Contestants on reality shows basically sign their rights away; they have confidentiality agreements, agreements to allow the footage to be manipulated, as well as other contracts. When contestants sign these, participants are not allowed to talk about outcomes of shows. This loophole gives production companies leeway to edit endings to meet the networks requests and demands for particular shows.
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
candace
posted 4/03/08 @ 12:28 PM EST
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Eva
posted 8/16/08 @ 9:05 AM EST
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posted 12/12/08 @ 4:22 PM EST
The hills is fake.
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