LA Trip #1

Perry, brave soul, goes it alone.
I’d like to say that I really wish I could have gone with him – but, for the record, that would be a lie.
He’ll grab a couple of assistants there – friends, actually.
Says to me over the phone that the project could be bigger than we first thought.
Says he interviewed various TV players.
Many, by default, working in reality.
An editor for The Amazing Race, named Paul Frazier.
A casting agent for Survivor, Fred Rischer.
And Head of New Line Television, Jon Kroll.
I believe that New Line Television only does reality programming now. Should check on that.
Perry’s thinking that the documentary should be a behind-the-scenes of not simply television production, but specifically on reality TV, starring the people who actually create and make it.
It’s topical, he tells me later, it will be for people who love reality and for people who hate it. His take is that most every person we’ve talked to have been fascinating because they have such strong opinions on reality.
Good documentaries, in my estimation, usually reveal that within the documentary itself, therein lies other stories worth pursuing.
Other stories that could a full-length documentary in and of themselves.
But now we have to choose a direction.
And then choose another direction in the edit.
Reality TV, sure, it’s topical, but is it worthy of an entire doc?
Vastly interesting, Perry says.
How, I ask, is it possible that you think that?
You’ve never seen a reality show in your life.
Yeah, he says, but don’t forget I worked on one for a year and that I know the ins, the out.
A documentary starring: Reality TV?
Hmmm…
The bullet points, I suppose…
Where it came from.
Where it’s going.
Why it’s so popular.
Perry’s scheduled more interviews in LA for October, when he'll be forcing me to go there with him.