Of Losers and Moles

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CHAPTER
15
The Media: lmage and Realitlr
Carmen, chasing after stunning Playboy playmate Angie Everhart. As her
bright orange bikini disappeared into the Caribbean surf, I closed my eyes and
smiled-then quickly snapped back to reality. I was there as a writer for ABC's
"Celebrity Mole: Yucatan," and my job was to find out what Everhart was saying about the showt other beauty, former MTV VJ Ananda Lewis. Would they
be dueling divas, headed for a catfight by day's end? I needed to find out. So
I sighed, put on the earpiece that picked up the two women's microphones,
and began taking notes.
Reality TV writers like me are at the heart of a lawsuit filed by the Writers
Guild of America, West about two weeks ago. On behalf of 12 such scribes,
the union is charging four reality production companies and four networks
with unfair labor practices, including providing pay and benefits far below
those earned by writers of traditional drama and sitcoms. The suit says a lot
about the rise of reality TV, a formerly disreputable format that last year contributed half of the 20 top-rated shows on TV. But in hearing about it, I imagine that people across America were asking the same question members of
my own family have voiced ever since I started down this career path: "How
exactly do you write reality? lsn't it already real?"
Yes, Grandma, it is-in all its undigested, contextless, boring glory. What
do is shape that mass into something that'll make viewers want to tune in
week after week. Like a journalist, I sniff out what I thinkthe story will be, then
craft the interviews or situations that'll draw it out. Like a paperback writer, l'm
all about highlighting character and plot. Simply put, drama is the pursuit of a
goal, with obstacles. Both by developing promising story lines and by pulling
out the zingy moments burned in hours upon hours of ho-hum footage, reality
TV writers like me-who go under various titles, including story editor and
story producer-create it. As I tell my family, having a reality TV show without
writers would be like having a countertop of cake ingredients but no idea how
to put them together. So, yes, I consider myself a writer.
My voyage into reality TV began by accident. Seven years ago, I was new
to Hollywood, and sure that I was destined to direct the next film version of
Superman. But by the time I finished my first fresh-out-of-film-school internship with DreamWorks' Mark Gordon Productions, I was both slightly peeved
about not meeting Steven Spielberg and badly in need of a paying job. Luckily,
a friend of a friend was looking for production assistants to work on World's
Most Amazing Videos. Hired for roughly $400 a week (and on top of the world
I
about it), I was quickly promoted to logger-basically the guy who looks
throughallthe footage and makes notes on what happens and when. That led
to a job at a new company, Actual Reality Pictures, which would end up completely redirecting my career.
Actual Reality is the production company of Academy Award nominee
R. J. Cutler, whose documentary The War Room followed Bill Clintont 1992
presidential campaign. The building was an intellectual hothouse, packed with
scores of lvy League grads who loved nothing more than to ruminate over the
most minuscule story points. As we worked on Cutlert latest project, a docudrama about suburban Chicago teens called American High, stafl meetings
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SECTION
5
A COLLECTION OF READINGS
were virtual master classes in narrative structure. Whole walls of multicolored
index cards were dedicated to the deconstruction of an episode, inviting constant rearranging until the optimal narrative was found. And through it all,
Cutler, the faintly aloof, greatly admired genius among us, wandered the office
hallways yelling, "What! the story?!" My job was to rummage through film
footage iooking to answer that question. Apparently, our process worked:
American High went on to win an Emmy.
, After I left Actual Reality, I would never again encounter that type of
intense, academic scrutiny of story structure. I had risen through the ranks,
though, from logger to story assistant to story producer, overseeing other
writeis. So I ended up going to work on a whole slew of reality TV shows, both
Nielsen-topping and not, includin g The Bachelor, The Mole, The Surreal Life,
The Beneiactoiand The Biggest Loser. On every one of them, whether lwas
dealing with desperately weeping single gals or former parachute pant wearer
MC Hammer, the main question was always the same: "what is the story?"
r Some of the crafting of these shows took place on set, as on "Celebrity
Mole: Yucatan." While iilming is taking place, writers keep track of all the
issues that may arise and anticipate which will yield the strongest narrative.
Teams of us are on location, assigned to different characters. The uniform: a
good pen, steno notepads, an audio monitoring device (to.overhear comi-rents and conversations), a digital watch, walkie-talkies and a comfortable
pair of shoes-in case anyone takes off running. We typically stand within earshot of what's being filmed, noting mumbled quips, telling looks and memorable exchanges. Ai the end of the day, we all regroup, comPare notes and
decide which stories have evolved, or are evolving. These are the situations to
which we'll pay particular attention, and in the days following, we'll make sure
the right inierview questions are asked to round out what appear to be the
prom'i-rent stories. Like nonfiction writers, we do not script lines-but if we
have a hunch, we ask the right questions to follow it up.
* Preparation of this kind is, of course, half the battle, but the magic really
happens after the filming is done, in post-production. ln its one- to four-week
sciipting phase, the story producers pinpoint scenes, moments and interviews
from a mountain of VHS tapes, then structure them to tell the strongest story.
After itt approved by the executive producer, this script is given to an editor,
who cuts it'together. Six-day workweeks and long hours are expected-and
get longer midway through editing, when a decision is invariably made to
Ih"ng"1h" direct'ron of the show. As story producers, the responsibility for
that ieshaping falls to us. Sometimes it's for the better, but sometimes it's for
worse. The Binefactor,for example, began as an exciting, conceptually strong
show led by billionaire Mark Cuban and dubbed the 'rAnti-Apprentice," to
contrast with the Donald Trump hit. lt was quickly mired by second guessing
on all our parts, and we ended up giving in to some Trumpian gimmicks. ln the
end, the ihow floundered, suffering dismal ratings and was widely perceived
as the very thing it was striving not to be . . . another Apprentice'
r
The.lrr"nil"*ruit isn't the Writer's Guild's first attempt to reach out to
reality TV crew members. Since this spring, they've been on a major campaign
CHAPTER
15
The Media: lmage and Realier
to unionize, gathering up union authorization cards from over ,l,000 writers,
editors and producers. Despite the many logistics associated with unionizing,
at the core, I believe the wGAt gesture to be quite complimentary: By thefr
actions, they are recognizing us as legitimate creative contributors, I lik! that.
It's also a sign that they expect reality w to be more than just a passing fad.
Reality is evolving, and I look forward to its next chapter.
source: From The washington Post,Jtily 24,2008. Reprinted by permission of the author.
OUESTIONS FOR READING
1. Who has filed a lawsuit? \zVhat is their issue?
2. \A/hat do reality TV writers "do" for reality TV shows? what do they try to
find?
3. \Atrhat strategies do these writers use during the filming? After the filming?
4. what do the lawsuit and unionizing attempts suggest about the future of
reality TV?
OI'ESTIONS FOR REASCII{ING AND ANALYSIS
5.
The author gives much information about his job. Is providing information his
primary purpose-or not? If not, why does he give us all of the details?
6. If this is not primarily or exclusively informative, then what is speight,s claim?
7.
8.
IlNhat is effective about Speight's opening paragraph?
\A/hy does he include the information in the second half of paragraph g?
OUESTIONS FOR RHFLTCTIOIU AI\D T^/RITING
9. Are you surprised to learn about reality TV writers-and their complex
\Atrhy
jobs?
or why not?
10. Are you shocked or disappointed in reading this essay? why might ro*L b"
disappointed?
11. Although some never watch them, many people are "hooked" on reality TV.
why? \Atrhat is the appeal? would the appeal be ress if viewers understood how
these shows are constructed?
PRESS AND PUNDIT STAMPEDE TRAMPLES
GOOD JUDGMENI, AND OFTEN
THE FACTS, TOO
*{OWARP KURTZ
Howard Kurtz was media reporter for the washington post for many years, but he left
-his
the newspaper and his " Media Notes" column in 201 0 to continue
reporting at
The Daily Beast website. Kurtz also hosts the cNN weekry media show Re/iable
sources. The following essay was published in his post.olrrnn on August 23,2010.
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