For Real? For Real: The Great Reality TV versus Documentary Debate

FADE IN:
INT. LIVING ROOM, probably
A flashback of then-17 year old SANDRA in pajamas one summer afternoon on her laptop, just browsing the Internet. Somehow, she stumbles upon something incredible, something she must share.

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MTV's The Paper (2008)

So,  yes, it turns out I was not the first person to think my school was worthy enough of its own reality TV show. MTV, in fact, filmed a miniseries called The Paper about our The Circuit newspaper staff. Unfortunately, the show is basically obsolete and only aired for one season back in 2008 (that's a decade ago, oh my God) but this just proves my point: Cypress Bay is the perfect backdrop for a documentary (click here to watch the trailer).

However, I want to make sure in whatever I want to do, I'm not leaning too much into the reality TV genre. Documentaries, in themselves, are meant to present a "slice of life". However, how heavily edited are these slices of life?

Naturally, I had to do some research. Is reality TV considered part of the documentary genre? What I found were mixed responses.

Overwhelmingly, people agreed that reality TV is largely scripted. According to Wynonna Judd, star of reality TV series The Judds on OWN, even she agrees with the irony found in the genre's name:

“My understanding of reality TV is that it’s not indeed reality.” 

However, others come to reality TV's defense. Erik Fritts of Videomaker goes on to say:

"The medium has it’s flaws, as all do, but at the end of the day, Reality TV finds itself as the black-sheep of the documentary family, sometimes uncouth and uncultured, but studded with occasional gems of insight to the human condition."

High schoolers are naturally dramatic. I don't think I'll run into the issue of feeling like I have to manipulate my editing so much to get some conflict going. But first things first: I need to get permission from my class to film them and ask who would be interested in being interviewed. That's the first thing on my agenda for this upcoming week.

Until then,
SLS

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Sources:

• Campbell, Christopher. "What Is the Difference Between “Reality Series” and “Documentary Series”?" Nonfics, 27 July 2015, nonfics.com/what-is-the-difference-between-reality-series-and-documentary-series-6e830ed4c500 
• Fritts, Erik. "In Defense of Reality TV: Reality TV as Documentary." Videomaker, 2 May 2016, www.videomaker.com/article/p06/18531-in-defense-of-reality-tv-reality-tv-as-documentary. 
• "'The Paper' Trailer." Vimeo, uploaded by David S. Tung, 2010, vimeo.com/5072133.