Screenwriting : Reality show by Dan Guardino

Dan, I found this article about pitching reality shows. http://www.scriptmag.com/features/writers-guide-to-pitching-reality-tv But, still looking for an actual script. Will get back with you if I do. :-)

good advice

Thanks everyone. Linda I read the article and found it interesting. A producer wanted me to write a reality show based on his idea for his company. I haven't decided if I want to do it or not but if I do that article will be very helpful so thank you for posting the link.

You're welcome. Happy to help. But, I must say, I looked and looked and I could not find even one reality tv script. I found transcripts of a few like Top Gear, if that's even considered reality tv--though it is a car show :-) but it was not in screenplay format. The problem I kept coming across was that reality tv shows claim not to be scripted. Though they clearly are in some way or another. The only other link I found that may be helpful was this one, which is a reality tv treatment: https://www.scribd.com/doc/31988991/Reality-Tv-Treatment-Example Anyway, good luck with the project. :-)

Thanks again Linda. I am not having much luck finding one either. I might just tell the producer I am not interested.

Reality is more about the structure, they all follow either the competition structure where guests are eliminated or the professional insight structure, where you pimp my ride or flip my house. So you're not writing scenes per se but what each episode's goal is. You're writing more of a bible than a script. Where you set up the premise, the structure, the host bio (is crucial), and the episode breakdowns.

Laurie, Thanks for that information. The producer called me yesterday to see if I am interested or not. Since there are no scenes to write I don't see where he really needs me so I will probably tel him he can find someone else.

Reality shows are more crafted than written. From my experience, scenarios are devised by the producer(s), and the reality of the scenario can vary from episode to episode but certainly from series to series. Once the scenario or storyline is decided on by the producer(s), the people do stuff (the stars change a tire on the car!) and it's taped and then the raw scene, which could be very long, is shaped into something that will fit into two minutes, or an act...or stretch across several acts...or whatever is decided. As a writer, you might be given transcripts to cut down and rearrange into a workable scene, or you might do a "string out" of a scene in editing which would then be given to a real editor for fine tuning and adding things like special effects, music etc. Frequently the raw scene, even as structured or edited, needs writing to really make it hang together. Maybe VO ("Then, another tire goes flat!") or even new dialogue that will later be recorded by the real people and edited in as off-screen comments, either for excitement or color or to make things clear to the viewer ("Aw no, the tire went flat!"). Very short scenes can be written ahead of time for the real people to act out, possibly with actual lines or at least suggested dialogue that will give the stars a framework for whatever actually comes out of their mouths.