Collected Data
"Unlike the fictional-feature-film industry, where job titles tend to be more distinct, nonfiction credits are more fluid."
For many documentarians their opinion on the credit issue hinges upon audience perception: how puzzling it is for viewers to see the credit. Mr. Berlinger ranks it as “incredibly” so, while Mr. Curry said it may be a little confusing. The concern is that when audience members notice a writing credit, they may think that the dialogue spoken by subjects has been scripted and is therefore not genuine. If a documentary has been written, it suggests that the film could be more artifice than fact based.
You Say True Life, I Say Scripted
"I’m a guy with a point of view who goes to a place, looks around, comes back and tries to give as honest an account of my experience as I can, but it is my experience."
There are two important things I’ve found in television. One is to understand that most people in television are frightened all the time. They’re frightened of losing their jobs. They’re frightened of making the wrong decision. When they encounter someone who really and truly doesn’t give a f*** about losing their job, that is a relatively immovable object, it’s something they’re not used to encountering. That attitude was always helpful to me.
Another is that television, generally, likes to repeat what works already. My partners understood early on with No Reservations that whatever worked and made people happy last week, it’s the smart thing to do something completely different next week.
Realscreen’s Trailblazers for 2014: Anthony Bourdain
“With docusoaps, people feel lied to. Ultimately, the country is vomiting that up in some way.”
"The Motion Picture Editors Guild and Mark Burnett’s Island Post Productions have finalized an agreement in principle to unionize postproduction staff"
editors’ wages never were an issue in this dispute, assistants and loggers will see pay increases. Overall, the work schedule and compensation for all post staff will move to an 8-hour day and 40-hour week. Before, editors’ individual contracts had been on a day rate, regardless of hours worked or if they worked a weekday or weekend day. The tentative agreement transforms that into an 8-hour day, 5-day week. Overtime of time-and-a-half will go into effect after eight hours worked, as is standard in union shops. It goes into double time after 12 hours worked.
‘Survivor’ Editors Win IATSE Contract With Mark Burnett Company
“People stayed on the job yesterday out of respect for the long relationship with the show, but respect has to go both ways,”
"Following Lindsay Lohan or craft brewers doesn't have the same impact as exonerating wrongly convicted murderers or probing years of alleged FBI bribery"
On the other side of the coin, the reality show — documentary's younger sibling — is thriving both financially and production-wise, with nascent cable channels scooping up endless series about pawnbrokers and extreme truckers. Channels like Oprah's OWN try to give a serious examination of celebrity, following in the footsteps of E! and Bravo, which have been “documenting” the lives of the pseudo-famous for years.
Is This the Death of the Big Screen Documentary?
Reality TV is not Documentary.
Read: "The Real Cost of Reality TV"
The study found that violations of New York wage and hour lawsare endemic in the nonfiction television industry. Almost all the writer/producers in our study areincorrectly classified by the production companies as exempt employees, who work long hours butreceive no overtime pay, among other violations.
Keep in mind that the WGA is not an unbiased third party.
"Long hours, stolen wages, and sometimes dangerous conditions faced by workers in the reality TV industry."
while reality production companies like ITV Studios are profitable and expanding (ITV recently acquired New York production company Leftfield for $360 million), the writers and producers who create their shows continue to struggle.
NYC Council Probes ‘Sweatshop Conditions’ for Freelance Reality TV Workers
NPA’s formation comes after the latest round of mergers, acquisitions and consolidation that has seen broadcast companies such as ITV and Discovery as well as major superindies snapping up myriad production companies
In its first statement, the NPA offered the following regarding its formation: “Nonfiction content is a significant part of the programming landscape and, thus, warrants an Association dedicated to the advancement and protection of all those whose talents, hard work and commitment literally created the industry.
Unscripted prodcos form Nonfiction Producers Association
"Feels like it’s time for a big, new show that’s completely different to arrive"
“You need the same skills for any unscripted show, which is basically storytelling. The only difference is rather than completely creating the stories, you have to be able to respond to events, and to mold stories, and to present them in such a way that’s interesting for the audience.” - Conrad Green
Reality Check: Conrad Green On ‘Utopia,’ Singing Shows & Technology’s Promise
"The director confesses, promises not to do it again"
"The DGA tracks all nonunion reality productions, investigates any situation in which a member is suspected of working on a non-guild-covered project and takes disciplinary action as appropriate," said DGA spokeswoman Sahar Moridani. "In no way do we allow members to work nonunion."
DGA & WGA Members Use Fake Names To Work Nonunion Reality Shows
“It’s been a whirlwind,” says Grad. “It’s been a great experience and helped my business tremendously. I hope it lasts forever because I love it so much.”
Six days a week, tour busses on the Pawn Stars circuit pull up outside his store on Fremont Street and unload their passengers. “We have tours that come through here – 30 to 120 people a day – all because of the show,” he says. “They might only spend 15 minutes in our shop, but they come back or do transactions by email. We’ve made some customers for life from those tours.”
Reality Check: ‘Pawn Stars’ Experts Trade Fame For Treasure In Lieu Of Paychecks
The country lives under threat – we are surrounded by enemies. And that makes people be very creative.
“The very big change came when we began to produce TV formats. We didn’t think that our culture” would be so embraced. But with globalization, “you see that your problems are human problems. Now we understand that a good story or a good format is something that can make must-see TV.” - David Yardeni
Reality Check: Israel’s Star Continues To Rise As Source Of Innovative Formats
"You’ve got to do things, you’ve got to keep it fresh, you’ve got to try to keep it relevant."
You know, it’s interesting to see where this genre has gone into the more sort of character-led, personality-led forms of reality TV. At the same time, things are cyclical. I think every generation, each genre of programming has a star, and it might be every 20 years or maybe even every 30 years. Look at game shows. They were sort of out of fashion, out of favor. They weren’t fresh, there was nothing new, so they were pushed into the daytime schedule. Then along came something fresh and it was Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. - Trish Kinane
Reality Check: Trish Kinane On ‘American Idol’ Ratings, Simon Cowell & Harry Connick Jr & The Next Big Thing
"Viewers sent 1.92 million tweets on May 13, including a record 310,000 at 8:59 PM EST"
"I think it is about jeopardy in unscripted drama, which is something that a lot of producers fail to spot."
For me, the essence of Reality TV is all about drama. So, I think bringing pressure is healthy whether it’s a professional chef or a domestic chef. Because the only way ever to really identify the true purpose of how good they are is submerging them under pressure. So I say it’s no different than a live football game because it’s about the intensity. - Gordon Ramsay
Reality Check: Gordon Ramsay On ‘MasterChef Junior’, His Gentler Side & Taking Nothing For Granted
"The great thing is, there are new ideas every day, and that’s what’s exciting."
It cannot be phoned in, it has to continue to be great, and my philosophy of when you find something that works, it creates an anchor. It’s an emotional anchor for people. - Mark Burnett
Reality Check: Mark Burnett On ‘Survivor’, ‘American Idol’, ‘Shark Tank’ & Anchoring Values
“I think there is a bit of a crisis.”
“The reality genre is maturing,” she said. “There was a while there – a heyday – when anything you put on was fresh and new. But not everything’s going to work now.” - Nancy Daniels
RSW ’14: Revisiting the “creative crisis,” four months on
“The audience is tired of conflict-oriented, super structured and over-produced reality.”
“Don’t wait for the network to tell you what they’re looking for,” added Linn. “Go after the things you’re most excited about and would want to watch on TV. Somebody is going to want it or some variation of it.” - Chris Linn
RSW ’14: TruTV, Leftfield execs talk reinvention strategies
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