Letting Concept Dictate Process in Reality-TV

Many people believe that shows are successful because they follow a similar formula, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, diverging from the typical path is what determines a show’s success.

Think about the last show you fell in love with. Maybe you were sucked in because of the show’s character development, or maybe you binge-watched an entire season of something because the plot twists made it impossible to wait it out. Now, imagine that another show comes along and does almost the exact same thing — similar characters, a similar storyline, even similar cliffhangers. You think you’d like the show because you liked the one before it, right? Absolutely not. It would be predictable and boring. 

With decades in the entertainment industry, I’ve not only seen what it takes for a show to be successful, but I also know what traits make a successful leader in this industry. They dream the impossible, they don’t care about the how at the beginning of the creative process, and they break the rules. These are the people that create the shows that people talk about long after the series finale.

I remember when I greenlit the idea for Laguna Beach. At the time, there were already “rules” for what constituted a reality series: fast action, jerky hand-held camera shots, and over-the-top characters that fed you narratives through long-winded interview bits. But I wanted my team to challenge every assumption that they and viewers had about reality television — even their most basic assumptions. I wanted them to diverge from the established past as much and as often as they could. If they didn’t, the process was going to squash the concept. Instead, concept needed to dictate the process.

Laguna Beach was so different from any other reality TV series at the time. It was actually the first reality show to be told entirely in flashback. Viewers knew what the ending was going to be by the first episode, but they didn’t care that it was spoiled. They couldn’t wait to see the twists and turns yet to come that would explain what caused the explosive showdown that hooked them in the first episode. 

By not sticking to the established formula and rules that every other reality series was following, we created something entirely different — something that was so much more than we could have even predicted it would be. We created our own road to ratings and riches. This is what makes good leaders, and this is what inspires successful shows. You should always be thinking about new and better ways to create.