Careers: Acting, Performing, Directing/Reality show

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Expert: - 7/21/2010


Question

Best friends, big drea
Mr. Nemy,

Me and my best friend have always had huge dreams about acting since we were little girls but never knew where to get started. So with this lack of knowledge and support we unfortunately let our dream fade. But as we approach our senior year of high school we're realizing that this dream never went away. We stayed up all night talking one night and thought that our lives would make for an exceptional reality show! We're just normal teenagers growing up outside of Chicago, dealing with our final year of high school and preparing for college. We're both extremely outgoing and very spontaneous, there's never a dull moment with us which would make for a very exciting, yet real story that we believe many people could relate to.

After our talk that night I had a dream that we sent in a video of us just being ourselves into a producer and he called to talk to us about potentially having our own reality show. When I woke up the next morning it only made my drive to make something happen that much stronger. It felt like it could be so real. And I know it's very unrealistic that if we did such a thing that anything like the result of my dream would actually happen, but we have such drive in us that we would love to just give it a shot.

So the reason I'm sending this email is because I was wondering if you knew where a good spot would be to start, and hopefully literally make my dream into our reality. For instance, if you know of anywhere or a producer or anyone that we could send a video too that just shows our personality and ideas? I know people have sent in audition tapes to producers, so I was wondering if there's anything like that that you know of? I know chances our very slim. But just to satisfy our curiosity, I would greatly appreciate any insight you have.

Thank you so much for your time!

Sincerely,
Rachael

Answer
Rachael,

Thanks for writing. I would start by purchasing a copy of a resource guide called THE HOLLYWOOD CREATIVE DIRECTORY (www.hcdonline.com). It lists producers and production companies working in television and film. It also arranges them by category, so you'd be able to see a list of all of the producers who produce reality TV. Then you could reach out to them and see if they'd be interested in developing a reality series about you.

My gut tells me that you probably won't have anyone respond favorably, primarily because there is nothing special about your story. There are hundreds of thousands of young attractive girls like you and your friend who want to be performers. That's why they created shows like AMERICA'S GOT TALENT, to showcase these young performers.

But to have a reality series focused on one person, there has to be something pretty amazing, very compelling, and extraordinary about that person in order to have a series created around them.


Good luck!

Phil  

Phil Nemy

Expertise

I am a motion picture and television producer with over 20 years of experience in the entertainment industry. I am also the author of the book GET A REEL JOB: Finding Your First Job In The Motion Picture Industry In Los Angeles. I can answers questions on a variety of subjects about careers in film from acting to directing to crew work, getting into the unions, successful strategies for networking, etc.

Experience

Former VP, Production for The Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group Supervised production on such films as ARMAGEDDON, THE PRINCESS DIARIES, REMEMBER THE TITANS, PEARL HARBOR, CON AIR, ENEMY OF THE STATE, THE ROCK, CRIMSON TIDE, COYOTE UGLY, A CIVIL ACTION, ROMY & MICHELE'S HIGH SCHOOL REUNION, NOTHING TO LOSE, EDDIE and others. Worked as an actor, stage manager, director on broadway and regional theater as well as L.A.' Equity-waiver scene. Former Associate Artistic Director of Los Angeles Equity-Waiver theater.

Organizations
Director's Guild of America, Screen Actors Guild, Actor's Equity Association

Education/Credentials
BFA in Acting/Directing from Carnegie Mellon University.

Past/Present Clients
I've worked with such filmmakers as Jerry Bruckheimer, Tony Scott, Steve Zaillian, Scott Rudin, Garry Marshall, Frank Marshall, Michael Bay, etc.

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