Reality TV. Troy DeVolld
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Three characters are having a conversation in the middle of the day. A response edited into the action clearly shows that it’s dark outside, compromising the perceived continuity of action.
• A character is speaking in interview, but his words are sliced and diced to say something else — and you can hear every wild change in pitch during the “frankenbyte.”
Like a pimple on the nose of a prom queen, even the smallest glitch creates a massive distraction from the whole picture. Distraction leads to disengagement, and disengagement leads to disaster.
So how do you keep an audience from detecting any lapses in authenticity once you start noodling around and shuffling your material to maximize content? By minding your continuity and following the rules of good storytelling.
Continuity And Story Basics
“Continuity is really a mixed bag. I try to address anything that seems blazingly obvious to me. Sometimes you have to cheat an angle or cut around something to make it work. Sometimes the Editor and I are privy to a thing or two that we just don’t point out to anyone else. Sometimes we play a kind of “Where’s Waldo” game to see who can spot the continuity gaffe.” — Heather J. Miller, Supervising Producer
Remember: If it looks or sounds fishy to you, it’s going to look and sound fishy to the viewer. Continuity, defined by Wikipedia as “consistency of the characteristics of persons, plot, objects, places and events seen by the reader or viewer,” is of the utmost importance.
As a result, in order to really work for viewers, a Reality show must be laid out with the same care and craftsmanship that any other form of screen storytelling demands, complete with well-defined characters and story arcs, turning points and gratifying resolutions.
Break out your favorite screenplay books and read them again and again. Go read Save The Cat! or anything else you’ve been wanting to pull off the “Film/TV” shelf at your favorite bookstore but haven’t invested in. Watch a good traditionally scripted movie or TV show and think about what makes it work for you as a viewer. Watch a lousy one and ask yourself why it doesn’t work for you.
It’s okay. This book will be here when you get back.
You back already? Great. I presume you’re now chock full of knowledge and a deep, abiding desire to serve story and continuity above all else. Just in case you’re one of those impatient types who didn’t actually run off and read anything else on story first, let me just lay out some basic rules for you:
First, the premise alone is not the show. You can have the most brilliantly conceived show ever made, but it’ll die on its feet if you populate the show with shallow, interchangeable participants or fail to explore your characters. Why? Because engaging characters in Reality Television have backstories, opinions, and motivations for their actions. This is why it’s important that your cast has meaningful conversations and exchanges, or at the very least punctuate their actions with thoughtful interview content. You must be aware of what’s at risk for them personally — what the “stakes” are — to invest in them. If Player X wants to win a hundred thousand dollars, what differentiates him from anyone else on the show? If he needs that money to buy a bigger house for his expanding family or in order to take care of his ailing father, we can identify with and invest emotionally in his win. Character motivation makes the stakes, and it’s crucial that you compel your audience to care.
Second, stories in Reality Television arc in exactly the same way as stories in fully scripted movies or television shows. “A” happens, “B” happens, “C” happens. Set up a problem, build stakes, resolve. Every action must have a consequence, whether realized immediately or later in the episode or series overall. Each episode has its own problems to deal with and escalates the stakes surrounding the season’s bigger issues on the way to the season finale, where everything must be somehow resolved. If you’re just “cutting for noise” — a mistake novices often make in which big scenes (like fights) become more important than character development or a calculated ramping-up of story — you’ll bore your audience silly. Your viewers want to follow a story, not just have their eyeballs and ear-holes assaulted for half an hour, an hour, or even two hours.
The more you know about story, the more you know about story. Period. I don’t care if you’re writing movies or comic books or Reality Television shows, the basics always apply.
Now, I don’t aim to give you the idea that Reality Television writing and producing doesn’t present its own unique set of challenges. Putting good stories together from bits and scraps is one of the toughest and least understood jobs in the entertainment industry, and just as most novice screenwriters read a lot of scripts and see plenty of movies before setting out on their journey, anyone wanting to tell stories in the Reality genre is wise to get hip to the formats and devices that have been successful in the past.
Which brings us to….
America’s Funniest Home Videos Executive Producer Vin Di Bona in a camera meeting prior to taping. (photo by Alan Weissman)
Notes:
1. “Conjecture and aberration!” as one of my Editor friends summarizes the process, usually at the top of his lungs when something isn’t working in the edit bay
2. Imitation of Life was the working title of this book until reality writer Eduardo Penna jokingly asked me if such a pretentious title would be sold with a free wheel of brie cheese attached. Touché, Mister Penna. Touché.
3. “Stakes” is a term generally used to define what’s at risk for participants of a program. No stakes, no drama. No drama, no show.
4. This probably happens just before an act break.
5. This also probably happens just before an act break.
6. Story Producers, Story Editors, and their support staff.
7. Remind me to thank myself for asking it.
8. Except when they aren’t for some arbitrary reason.
9. http://www.wga.org/uploadedfiles/news_and_events/press_release/harsh_reality.pdf
10. Don’t give up yet! The good news is that employment in traditionally scripted television is seasonal, but reality production continues year-round. I often do as many as three shows in a year.
11. Residuals are payments for reuse of work when shows re-air over and over again.
12. I’ve seen work I did near the start of my career repeating on cable as recently as the day before writing this chapter.
13. Videotaped content in its rough form, as shot.
14. Which is not to say there aren’t a few dimwitted Uncle Barrys working in Reality TV.
15. If you ever call a Reality producer on this kind of manipulation, you’ll likely get a phony baloney reaction similar to that of Captain Renault in Casablanca during the raid on the back room at Rick’s Café Americain: “I am shocked, shocked, to find gambling going on in this establishment!”
16. The process of editing individual words or phrases within sentences together to simulate a new thought or statement. Some companies try hard to avoid these.
17. 2005 Associated Press / TV Guide poll.
A Brief History of Reality Television
Call me a sucker for classic television shows, but ever since I was old enough to reach the dial on my parents’ Zenith console set, I watched everything I could get my eyes on. One of my earliest TV memories is of my Dad catching me watching the racy ’70s sitcom Soap through the stair rail. The show wasn’t exactly ideal viewing for a seven-year-old, but