Your Characters: 6 Must-Have Traits of Reality TV Characters and Documentary Subjects

Reality TV characters, documentary series subjects — any real life person you want to put on television? Don’t waste your time, money, or other resources unless they have these 6 Must-Have Traits. The 6 Must-Have Traits of Every Cast Member You Pitch… …are wrapped in the spoiler below. We hope you’ll consider pressing that giant “PLAY” button at the top of the post before opening this up. We’re able to go into much greater detail in the podcast on many points related to reality TV characters and documentary subjects, a big part of how to pitch a reality show. Later, what’s inside the spoiler can serve as a handy reminder of this episode’s big points, and add a few handy clarifications: [spoiler] Find Great Reality TV Characters and Documentary Subjects – 6 Traits: * Unique * Bring an Extraordinary Perspective to the Ordinary * Someone You Can Build Trust With * Don’t Self-Censor * Not in it for the Money * Fit Somewhere on the TV Landscape Unique You might think this one’s a no brainer. Nope. We get pitched characters all the time who are not unique at all. Going to pitch us a bounty hunter? They better be NOTHING like Dog, and even more watchable. (Tough to do…so maybe you don’t want to waste your time in the bounty hunting world.) Unique characters are out there. Be sensitive to the new people you’re exposed to every day. That one person who commands attention at a party? The local business owner who’s famous for doing things her way? They might be your next show. Bring an Extraordinary Perspective to the Ordinary Because of their unique personality, great unscripted characters naturally turn everyday activities into a whirlwind adventure. * A trip to the grocery store is peppered with a conspiracy theory about organic vegetables. * A visit to a local cemetery turns into a comedy routine about life, death, and great sex. * A glance at the Yellow Pages and they charge to a specific section and rant about it. Joke gives two great examples to help clarify this in today’s podcast episode. BTW, you can subscribe in iTunes here. Someone You Can Build Trust With People who agree to let themselves be filmed for a reality tv show, documentary series, or feature-length doc are making themselves extremely vulnerable. After all, they’re opening up their lives to scrutiny by the entire TV-watching world. It’s up to you to make sure you take good care of them. Complete honesty at every stage of the journey is paramount. What kind of project are you making? A verite doc like our MTV True Life Presents special, or a more “planned-out” project like “Duck Dynasty?” Your potential characters have to be okay with the fact that they’ll have NO SAY in how the project is edited, how it will be promoted, or what title the network approves for the show. This means they have to trust you. You. At every step of the process, they will turn to you for answers, and they need to have faith that you’re doing your level best to keep them up-to-date as best you can. Just one reason this trust is so important is that great potential cast members… Don’t Self-Censor Joke does a great job of explaining this in the podcast this week.