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Where do they find those people?
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Looking for just the right Bostonian to appear in a reality-TV show can be a full-time job.
 Globe Staff Photo / Shealah Craighead |
Our first reality show was Lost. We were like, "They want to what? They're gonna drop a group of people off in an undisclosed place, we're not telling them where they're going?" Carla Antonino was in Lost, and she was amazing. But I remember booking her and then getting scared. Like, what did I get this girl into? What if something happens to her?
What happened?
She won $100,000 and a Mercury Mountaineer. [To win on Lost, which aired in 2002] she got herself from Mongolia to the Statue of Liberty. Schmoozed her way across the world.
How do you find people like her to audition for these shows?
They could easily be on their lunch hour and get plucked for a reality show. We go to Kendall Square, Harvard Square, Copley Square, the financial district, and Newbury Street. We go in the newspaper, we go on the radio, and then we send out mass e-mails.
Your job is to narrow pools of thousands of locals. What are the producers looking for?
For dating shows, they have to be beautiful. I actually got in an argument with one producer because the people weren't beautiful enough. I kept saying, this is Boston. What do you want? It's not LA. They're regular-looking people!
Do producers want anything besides attractive?
They all want outgoing. They don't want to have to sit through an interview of somebody who's going to be the mope. But you have to detect the ones that want to do it just for the fame. We want the ones that want to do it just for the challenge or just for something different, you know?
A reality show can edit you into looking bad. Are people skittish about that?
We're having trouble getting people to do the dating shows, because they make you look silly. I only take people for these shows who really want to do it, rather than trying to talk somebody into doing it. Because you could be humiliated across the world.
So who is most eager?
The 15-minutes-of-fame people. People who always wanted to be an actor but didn't really go after it. elimiDATE [a reality dating show] draws a lot of people who want their 15 minutes.
You've cast a Bostonian in nearly every show you've worked for [including Fear Factor and For Love or Money]. How did that happen?
They like the Bostonian. We're well-rounded people. When you think of it, there aren't a lot of people across the United States like we are. We're savvy, but we're not as brash as New Yorkers. And you know how the LA people are so fake.
Do they like the Boston accent?
It's a given. You come here, that's what you're gonna get. -- Joanna Weiss
This story ran in the Boston Globe Magazine on 8/10/2003.
© Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.
© Copyright 2003 New York Times Company |
