Queenstown's Reality TV Boom
Central Otago has been inundated with shoots lately. These are for the popular, tried and true format of reality adventure TV. The plot: ‘Can these people survive in the wild landscape of the South Island of New Zealand?’ We’re seeing Tracked, The Summit, Ultimate Escape, Who Dares Wins, etc., all hitting the ground and our screens this winter. These types of shows are continuing to come in to shoot over the next few months too. I hope Karl has enough good crew to keep up with all the Unit bookings he must be juggling?!
It’s great that our own landscape and backyard are in vogue with these shows. These shoots have their issues though. The ‘reality’ of shooting quickly, in a quickly changing environment, can be a surprise to overseas crew. So I think it is crucial to hire locals to the area. We have been stuck in floods, driven in the dark on single-lane roads, put chains on, towed a tourist out of a bog, and used a water table to slow down on the mountain. We have also all loaned our extra waterproof clothing to an unsuspecting member of production. I am low on the filmmaking totem pole, but I know where the hand towels that fit Arne’s portaloos are purchased or that Raj not only has film tape but also releasable zipties. This stuff is crucial to a panicking crew member back at base. (Damn it, don’t tell anyone my sources! But message Raj for details of his inventory.)
I have to say, I love the chaos of working on these shows. However, there is a particular mindset required to cope with them. There is a huge amount of prep and logistics, and you do not know details until the last minute. It is daunting to everyone involved, but even if these shows could be perfectly prepped, they have a life of their own that is different to a ‘normal’ shoot. They have huge crews that balloon as more issues suddenly appear.
“What do you mean there is no driver for this contestant, get one NOW!” Panic ensues.
Communication gets very tricky too. Call Sheets be damned. Not everyone has been told of the change in plans that were decided at 0030 this morning. (Kylie and Bonnie, you better tune in your psychic powers in that production office.) There is the big one too, maybe the biggest issue of all when you are in the middle of nowhere, “Why isn’t the Starlink working?! Oh, we’re f**ked!!”
You can try all you like to be proactive, have all the gear, maybe enough time, prepped everything, have enough bodies, but we all know we have to react to change, and really in the end, ‘wing it.’ This is not everyone’s favourite way of working. So my question to you all is… ‘Reality TV’, how do you all feel about working in this particular genre? I often get a negative response from crew when I ask them what they are up to: “Oh, this bloody reality thing,” or “Well, not much good stuff coming, so I’ll do this reality job.” I am a big reality TV watcher (available for pub quizzes). I am very happy you all make these shows for me and the rest of us plebs. But do you like the finished product?
Anyway, this is being written from my period of convalescence. I had to leave one of the shows early for a stupid operation. I am missing out on the drama and mayhem this time, but I hope I get to see a little bit of it on the show itself. A big shout out goes to Mandy Horan. She loves solving the puzzles these reality shows create for themselves. She is amazing, but she’ll be counting down the days till her holiday. The greatest thing about our work is these incredible people we engage with, even those crew members we might otherwise want to ziptie (see Raj) on the naughty step. They are all part of the crazy film waters we love to be in, but maybe, especially, when we get swept into a reality whirlpool.
Kim Godby, Queenstown
