Producers in the spotlight in new reality show
NEW YORK, Feb 21 (Reuters Life!) - Forget aspiring singers, chefs, models and fashion designers. Television producers have decided the next big idea for a competition reality show is their own profession.
TV Guide Channel and Magic Elves, the executive producers behind series such as Project Runway and Top Chef, are holding auditions for America's Next Producer.
It is a new show that will give an aspiring producer a shot to be television's next Jerry Bruckheimer.
"You could see the energy and enthusiasm when they thought about it," said Ryan O'Hara, president of TV Guide Channel, about the producers who pitched the concept.
"They've done reality shows on other genres whether it's the restaurant industry or the modeling industry or the fashion industry and to be able to turn the cameras back on their own profession was really exciting for them," he added in a telephone interview.
The show is scheduled to launch this summer for 10 episodes and features 12 contestants, three judges and a host. The first prize includes $100,000 in cash, a first look-deal with TV Guide Channel and an office in Hollywood.
"It's a tried and true formula but done with a television slant," said O'Hara.
"We've had this deep knowledge and appreciation for television from a consumer perspective for over 50 years...and we think consumers will love it."
The contestants will be judged on their abilities to create a variety of TV concepts in different genres from scripted to reality.
O'Hara said the frantic energy and excitement that goes into the jack-of-all-trades role of a TV producer -- from conceiving a story angle to casting, editing and marketing it -- makes for good television.
"Here you'll be able to peer behind the curtain and see what makes TV tick and see what it takes to create what the average American family consumes eight hours of a day," he said.
