As someone who loves all things reality TV, I often wonder (along with many others) what exactly goes on behind the scenes. Imagine being a fly on the wall for just ONE taping of a restaurant scene on a Real Housewives franchise?? A few months ago, a man on Reddit who says he's been a reality TV producer who has worked in both the field of filming and post-editing for eight years hosted an AMA where he invited people to ask him anything about his profession. Although he wouldn't expose which show he works on, he was able to give a pretty in-depth look at what it's like to work on a reality show these days.
Here's what he had to say about his career : Note: Questions and answers have been lightly edited for clarity. 1. Q : What percent of what is filmed is real, or does it vary by show? A : I would say it varies by show, but most of my sets are real.
As shows carry on and the cast realizes a good story is what keeps them on a show, they will put themselves in good story positions, if that makes sense. 2. Q : When they all come out with sob stories, many of them seem fake or insignificant (I'm doing this for my cat, etc).
How does this come about? Are they asked to tell a sad story that affected them, do you ask them to do it again if they were emotional enough, if it seems a bit and so on? A : The sob stories are usually true — unless someone is lying to production. Some could be lying, but production wouldn’t usually be aware of it. And then I think sometimes we overdrama.