Reality TV: An Insider's Guide to TV's Hottest Market (22 page)

While this book was written to both educate and entertain, my heart is more on the former than the latter. It’s easy to lose a lot of productive years to lack of knowledge about the realities of a profession, and the number one crusher of dreams in the creative community is the troll that lives under the bridge between creativity and commerce. As an amazingly successful screenwriter once told me, one of the most important jobs a writer has is to educate himself about his business, and I hope that you’ll continue to devour new books and scour the Web in the continued pursuit of knowledge beyond what you’ve found between these covers.

Speaking of successful screenwriters, one of the nicer side effects of composing this first edition was finally letting go of the last glimmers of resentment I harbored toward a handful of outspoken writers in traditionally scripted entertainment who have been so vocal in their disdain for the work I’ve spent ten years of my life doing. I understand now that that stance is usually born of a mixture of pride and frustration with the booming success of an ever-changing genre whose inner workings they just don’t understand. Story is tough business, and we should all be supporting each other, not debating the minutiae of each others’ work in the name of who gets to call themselves a “writer.”

Reality Television continues to expand, and while there’s plenty of room for newcomers to find their way in the genre, I sincerely hope that at least some of the moths drawn to that flame consider themselves real storytellers and see the potential for Reality to rise above the stigma so often attached to it by those who classify it by its lower-rent, aimed-at-the-lowest-common-denominator efforts.

At its best, Reality TV inspires and educates, entertains and enlightens. At its worst, it at least provides us with some pretty compelling examples of how
not
to behave. Both are valid reasons to continue exploring it.

In closing, if you’re sincerely interested in a career in Reality Television, and whether you’re a total greenhorn or a seasoned writer looking to make the leap, I wish you the best of luck, success and happiness... and don’t forget to write!

aspect ratio
: The dimensional ratio (width to height) of an image, 4:3 for conventional standard definition and 16:9 for HDTV.

assembly
: A stringout that arranges source clips in a sequence similar to the order in which they’ll appear in the final product, providing the starting point for your Editor.

Associate Producer
: As credits vary in meaning from production to production in Reality TV, an Associate Producer credit can be bestowed on almost anyone from a Story Assist, to a member of your field crew, to a particularly valuable Production Assistant.

audio mixer
: The member of your field crew responsible for ensuring the quality of audio being recorded on location. The term also applies to the device the audio mixer uses in the field to direct audio to assigned tracks at manageable levels.

B-roll
: Supplementary footage that helps you to better illustrate your story in montage or cutaway. B-roll includes everything from aerial shots of a location to shots of wringing hands in interviews to crowd shots not featuring your cast.

bin
: Editing term describing a database that simplifies the organization of digitized material. In verb form, the action of organizing source material within bins: “Bin-out that Las Vegas B-roll for me, would you, Adam?”

BMI
: As with ASCAP, BMI (Broadcast Music Incorporated) is a company that licenses music and collects royalties.

boom
: The microphone-on-a-pole you’re always complaining about winding up in the shot in your source material, as in, “I can’t believe the boom is completely ruining that take!”

burn-in
: Information, usually time code, that appears in a window superimposed over a video image. Especially useful in the notes process, a time code burn-in helps your producers and network folks to pinpoint changes: “At 01:04:34, let’s cut the reference to peanut butter sandwiches.”

call sheet
: A printed or digitally delivered list of cast and crew members detailing at what times and locations they’re expected to appear on a given day. Call sheets should also include contact information for everyone involved as well as the production office.

call (or call time)
: The time you or another crewmember is due to be on-set or at some specified location, as in, “I can’t go out tonight, I have a 5:30 a.m. call in Long Beach.”

clearance
: Documented permission allowing use of an image or music.

clipping
: An audio term describing instances where audio signal overwhelms equipment’s recording limits, resulting in distortion or noise. You’ll know it when you hear it.

credits
: That list of everyone who worked on a show that runs at the top or end of each episode. Make sure they spell your name right!

cross-fade
: When one audio or video source dissolves into another. More often referred to in the edit bays as a “dissolve” when relating to video.

cue
: A music track used in your edit. For example: “Hey, Adam, can we replace the first cue in the restaurant scene?”

cutaway
: A shot that we “cut away” to in a scene to add context to an interview or dominant action, sometimes used to compress time. Example: During an interview in which a castmember complains about another castmember always losing her keys, you can insert a cutaway of the castmember searching for her keys.

Dailies Coordinator
: A person who functions as a liaison between the Loggers/Transcribers and the Story Department, sometimes charged with making selects reels and issuing preliminary “story reports” suggesting possible storylines based on material as it is being logged/transcribed. If you ever spot this credit, let me know, as Michael Glover and I are the only people I know who’ve ever gotten that daffy credit.

deal memo
: The offer of employment and the terms of same memorialized in a document. See Appendix E to learn more about deal memos.

dissolve
: A transition in which the first image loses intensity while the next gradually overtakes it. In Reality TV, dissolves are most often used to illustrate a passage of time.

dub
: A copy of a video or audio product. Nowadays, more often referred to as an “output” or a “DVD.” Where once we said, “Let’s dub a copy of this for the network,” we now say, “Let’s knock a DVD out to send over to the network,” or “Can we get an output of this sent over to network?”

Dubber
: The individual who copies video or audio product for circulation.

edit
: To refine and rearrange source material into an acceptable end product.

edit bay
: The room where editing takes place.

Editor
: The person whose job function is to edit content from a string-out or source material, usually with the aid of members of the story department.

establishing shot
: A shot used at the top of a scene to let you know where you are. Usually city shots, building exteriors, or signage.

Executive Producer (or EP)
: Typically the decision-making top banana to whom everyone reports. Usually, EPs don’t oversee the technical end of production.

frankenbyte
: An interview or OTF statement cobbled together from fragments of other sentences to create the illusion of naturally occurring speech. Might I suggest that these be used judiciously (a bad one sounds lousy and blows the illusion of Reality) and ethically.

genre
: A categorization of a particular product as a result of theme or content. Reality shows are a genre, just as comedies and dramas are.

hot sheet
: A brief summary of each day’s shoot sent back from the field to keep producers and story people not present in the field informed as to what’s going on.

interview
: Formal Q&A with a character that provides insight into events anticipated or recalled, often covering the details of a day to a few days of activity after the fact.

jump cut
: An undesirable cut in which a slightly altered position or action by a performer on each side of the cut produces a jarring, rough effect rather than a smoother, relatively unnoticeable transition.

lavalier mic (or lav)
: A small microphone usually attached to clothing. Ideal for gathering audio unique to an individual in-scene, as opposed to boom coverage, which provides little to no ability to single out audio tracks for individuals in-scene.

log
: A written transcript (varying in detail by production needs) of the content found in source footage. Camera logs are usually generated in the field and are very general in content, logs executed in postproduction tend to be more detailed and provide a useful, timesaving tool as a searchable database for tracking down specific actions or dialogue. In verb form, the act of logging: “Log those August 9 tapes for me, Adam.”

Logger
: A person who creates logs in postproduction, supporting the Story Department and Editors.

montage
: A series of shots strung together either to establish a mood or location or evoke a sense of something being accomplished without going so far as to create a scene. You know the latter — Judy tries on ten dresses in fifteen seconds while her friend frowns at all but the last one.

nat sound / natural sound
: see
ambient sound

noise
: Noticeable interference on source audio or action for action’s sake (an illogical escalation of activity and tone in-scene) as in: “That fight is completely unmotivated and has nothing to do with our story; I think we’re just cutting for noise.”

Offline Editor
: The Editor who works with story to refine the episode through the various stages leading up to the fine cut.

Online Editor
: The Editor who finalizes a project into an airable master.

OTF
: “On The Fly” interview. These are usually done minutes or hours after action happens, and at their best should capture immediate reactions to an event.

paper cut / paper edit
: A text version of your script, usually prepared for assembly by an Assistant Editor as a starting point for your Editor.

postproduction
: The process that occurs after shooting and ending with the delivery of a complete, airable master.

preproduction
: The period of preparation that precedes shooting, including funding the show, finalizing a budget, hiring cast and crew, and composing outlines and shot lists.

Producer
: A crew member or exec who oversees some specialized aspect or aspects of a production.

production
: The period of time during which content is shot.

release
: Documented permission to use the image of an individual or a location. Unreleased persons in a Reality program will have to be blurred or otherwise edited out of your show. Ever see a room full of cloudy, ghostlike, blurry faces on a Reality show? They’re the unreleased folks.

SAG
: Screen Actors Guild, a labor union representing principal and background performers. Less often encountered in Reality TV production than AFTRA, but with the similar mission of ensuring proper working conditions and adequate compensation for performers.

set
: Location where action is taped.

shot list
: A sort of shopping list for your Field Producer that details the shots they plan to get on location.

source material
: The original video and audio material you have to work from.

Story Assistant
: A person who supports the Story Producers and Supervising Story Producers by finding bites, source material, and occasionally executing scenework.

story department
: The sector of a production embodied by Story Assistants, Story Producers, and Supervising Story Producers.

Story Producer
: A person who is responsible for working source material into a coherent end product in conjunction with an Editor.