by Thinus Ferreira
As more producers globally as well as in South Africa are enticed by the lure of especially the reality TV genre to create real-life drama on the small screen, they are being warned not to push in-show controversy too far since on-screen fights and uncomfortable viewing don't always lift ratings and in fact could alienate viewers who flip to another channel.
"In the current climate of the golden age of television and where feature films don't make the money at the box office that they did before, it's likely not such a bad idea to consider reality television as an additional income," says Marguerite Albrecht, a commissioning editor for reality content at MultiChoice and M-Net.
She was one of the panellists at a discussion about the new era of reality TV at kykNET's 11th Silwerskermfees film festival currently taking place at The Bay Hotel in Camps Bay, Cape Town where the pivot from traditional reality TV, reality competition television and docudrama were discussed.
Marguerite Albrecht said that producers who previously never would have considered this genre, are not warming to what used to be TV's "stepchild".
Terja Beney, senior manager for reality and entertainment for M-Net's premium channels, said that "any filmmaker at their heart is a storyteller and storytelling - whether in the genre of documentary, whether in the genre of scripted. Story is at the heart of reality as well".
"If you can tell a story and if you love telling stories, then you can flourish in the unscripted genre as well, especially in the reality space".
Marguerite Albrecht said that M-Net and kykNET are first and foremost TV platforms "and our budgets first and foremost go towards making television. For that reason reality is a good option for any filmmaker."
Terja Beney however warned reality TV producers and said they should be careful with how they present real-life drama, since buzz over certain moments or televised events, might not actually lead to ratings.
"It's an interesting conversation to have about talkability versus ratings. Sometimes 'talkability' is talkable because it has a push-factor. People are talking because they're uncomfortable about things. Sometimes uncomfortability however extends to a drop in your TV ratings and not necessarily a push in your rating."
"In what you're putting forward is: How controversial are you being, and what really is the appetite for that controversial content that you're putting out?"
Marguerite Albrecht says the new era of reality TV is just an evolution of what producers, broadcasters and viewers already know.
"Internationally we're starting to see a nice blend of different mechanics from different reality formats coming together. They're blending in a logical way."
"It's not like 'I want a tribal council thing at the end like Survivor. I want a bit of Wipeout in the middle. And the whole first section is just docu-reality.' No. That makes no sense."
Marguerite Albrecht said it's an open question as to whether the news media, like broadcasters, should adopt what the industry calls a "duty of care" in their approach of reality show participants, after the negative media coverage that engulfed the women who chose to take part in kykNET's Die Real Housewives van die Wynlande which had its first season on DStv earlier this year.
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