by Chris Davison, chris@lthmedia.com
Photos by: Vince Bucci, Getty Images and Chyna Chuan-Farrell, Chyna Entertainment & Design 
Is reality television really real? Are some brand integrations unreal? Do some product placements deserve to be voted off the island? The reality of modern-day Hollywood hit home on April 22, 2009 when some of our industry’s top reality producers gathered at the HRTS Broadcasting Reality luncheon at the Beverly Hilton. Taking part in the panel moderated by Survivor's Jeff Probst were Tyra Banks, Mark Burnett, Michael Davies, Mike Fleiss, Allison Grodner and Arthur Smith.
Luncheon chair Sean Perry, formerly of Endeavor and currently of WME Entertainment, kicked things off by showing a video highlight package of current alternative television programming.
Panel host Jeff Probst had his Darwin on as he led the group through discussions of what will and will not survive going forward. Joining Probst in the search for truth, justice and the American viewer were panelists Michael Davies (“Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?”), Mike Fleiss (“The Bachelor”), Tyra Banks (“America’s Next Top Model”), Allison Grodner (“Big Brother”), Arthur Smith (“Hell’s Kitchen”), and Mark Burnett (“Survivor”).
Probst began by mentioning a text message he had just received from Mike Darnell asking why Arthur Smith was on the panel instead of out shooting a pilot for FOX. Smith responded that his bag was in the car and after the luncheon he’d be going right to location
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In response to a rumor making the rounds, Michael Davies confirmed that “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” is in fact returning to the air this summer. So, what is the future of the 30-second commercial spot? Probst asked this of the panel and Davies said that it is, in a word, “challenged.” In a world of DVRs and of advertising bombardment, it isn’t clear whether advertising in the gaps between shows will continue to be effective.
This of course raised questions of product integrations, with Tyra Banks saying that “the one thing that I beg all of our advertisers that do integration is to really listen to the Executive Producers” since advertisers don’t always understand how savvy the viewer really is, how you can’t hit them over the head with copy
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Arthur Smith pointed out that the pace of change in television has accelerated dramatically, that it used to be that the business changed every ten years whereas now it changes every year.
Probst asked Mark Burnett the million-dollar question: what is it that he looks for when picking a show, how does he ensure its success? The whoosh of everyone leaning forward being almost audible, Burnett answered by saying that “none of us really know what’s going to work,” adding that the most important thing is to go with your instinct and focus on telling stories. Product integrations aside, Burnett said that the audience must care about the characters and that without conflict there’s no drama.
1984 notwithstanding, Big Brother can be a very, very good thing with fascinating characters and real human drama. Probst pointed out that the shoots are marathon in nature, months-long and around-the-clock and he asked Allison Grodner how she does it. She replied that storytelling is #1 and that outside of that, casting is key, and that she’s “always looking for something that gets my attention that’s different”. She added that she’s optimistic about the future of reality since there will always be new ways to utilize reality and so always new stories to tell.
Mike Fleiss checked his ears as Probst began to ask him if he goes both ways – Probst stopping and doing a self-edit and then continuing on to say that he was referring to Fleiss’ success in both television and movies. What Jeff really wanted to know is what sort of philosophical approach Mike uses as to what kind of work he wants to do. Fleiss said that he just likes to do things that are of interest to him since he spends so much time working in both worlds, and if he’s spending all night long in an edit bay then he doesn’t want to hate himself for it.
So, is reality television really real? The panel pointed out how durable non-scripted television is as compared to other genres, with eighteen seasons of “Survivor”, thirteen seasons of “America’s Next Top Model” and so on. In this way, a reality hit is like a feature film tentpole with multiple successful sequels, and that’s real money for the network.
