Real
Reality: A&E’s Elaine Frontain Bryant on Crafting
Addictively Odd Television
By Annie Young Frisbie
Elaine Frontain Byrant is Director of A&E's Nonfiction and Alternative programming, which is behind many of television’s most engrossing
documentary series, such as Random 1, Intervention,Growing
Up Gotti, Dog the Bounty Hunter, Rollergirls,
and more. The A&E indie doc Murderball, about
wheelchair rugby, was nominated for the 2006 Academy
Award for Best Documentary Feature.
Frontain Bryant talks with Zoom In about the process behind
developing series with original subjects, real characters,
and compelling plots.
Q. Taking us from roller
derby to a funeral home to a tattoo parlor and what
seems like everywhere in between, A&E has some
of the most original unscripted series on television. How
do you come up with your ideas?
We get ideas a lot of ways. Most often, individual
producers or production companies bring us ideas, but we
also generate ideas in-house based on needs we might have. In
that case, we will attach a production company to the project,
and they will flesh out the idea creatively and oversee
production.
Rollergirls: the sexy, raucous world of all-girl
Austin roller derby
Q. In the fiction
world, screenwriters are always trying to get their
manuscripts read by production companies. Is
there an equivalent in unscripted? Say, the
killer spec reality treatment?
We take unsolicited submissions with the completion of
a release form. I would say 80% of the time we are
contacted by agents of production companies who set up
a pitch meeting, and about the other 20% come from producers
who already know us and contact us directly.
Q. Once you or someone
else on your team finds a great show idea, how do you
turn that idea into a greenlight for production?
Our department meets weekly to discuss show ideas. We
present to the group and take the temperature of the group
as a whole. Often times, this leads to a lively debate. We
are in a good place in that we have a lot of programming
returning to the air this year, so we are able to be quite
selective. If we really think a story has potential,
we’ll either commission a full pilot, or sometimes
just a development tape that can be produced more quickly
and for less money.
Q. After you have your
tape, what’s the process for pushing it through
A&E?
If we think we should commission a series, our research
and scheduling departments create ad sales and ratings
estimates that we then make sure jive with the budget we
are working with. Then it gets presented to our GM
[general manager] for approval.
Q.
Story-wise, what makes the difference between an easy
sell and a hard sell?
I don’t think we have such a thing as an “easy
sell,” but the closest thing we have is when the
tape comes in and it just speaks for itself- you can just
pop it in and people understand what the show is. The
casting/development tape for our show Family Plots,
which was produced by [production company] Hybrid Films,
is an example of one that was an easy sell once the tape
came in. We had an idea in-house to find a family
who were the “real” Six Feet Under. We
then commissioned Hybrid, with whom we had previously worked,
to scour the country and find samples of family run mortuaries. The
tape they sent in, with the family we ultimately based
the show on, was successful in that it not only set the
quirky tone of the show, but showed the characters and
their relationships to each other and the way the business
was run. We got a great idea of what each half-hour
show would be like from that 15 minute development tape.
Q. How involved are
you, as an executive, in shaping the story arcs for
the series?
We pride ourselves on letting the real life of the talent
in our “real life” series dictate series story
arcs, but naturally there is discussion of what to cover. We
work very closely with the producers of our shows, and
the directors on our shows are extremely involved in how
the whole season turns out.
Q. One of the key elements
in a successful show - reality or otherwise - is sustaining
tension across a whole season. In fiction, the
writers and producers have ultimate control over the
outcome, but in reality, you don’t. Have
you ever been surprised, positively or negatively,
by choices made by your characters? What was
the result?
Honestly, we don’t think about it that way. We don’t
program game shows or elimination shows that culminate
in one final episode… these kinds of shows do indeed
need to keep the tension building. Our shows tend to be “stand
alone.” They can play out of order, are easily
repeatable, and have arcs within each episode.
Q. Given your background
in producing narrative features, what are the similarities
and differences in developing reality vs. fiction storylines? Are
there some principles that are universal? Some
guidelines that don’t apply?
I would say that in real life story lines you have to
be able to go into the project knowing that you will more
than likely be surprised. You have to stay open to change.
Obviously, the show is not plotted out beat by beat the
way a scripted film is, but you have to be far more open
to shaping the overall arc as you go. The kinds of
shows we produce are like watching a slice of life of our
characters – and they evolve in front of us.
Dog The Bounty Hunter follows the real life
exploits of a bounty hunter.
Q. What kinds of people
make good subjects for reality series? You have
Criss Angel and Dog the Bounty Hunter, who are larger
than life people, but most of your shows follow regular
people who happen to have quirky jobs or hobbies, such
as the ladies in Rollergirls. What qualities
are you looking for in the subjects when you view a
tape?
We are looking for a special kind of person who is not
only relatable to lots of people, but also has either an
unusual perspective on life or has a side to them that
is unexpected. Dog looks like a rough and tumble guy, but
if you spend any time watching the show, you soon see that
he has a heart of gold; the book is much different than
the cover, so to speak. Character complexities like that
are important in our choices - as are interesting relationships
within a group of people.
Do you have
a favorite reality show, A&E or otherwise?
Honestly, my favorite non-fiction show is Intervention.
It is indeed on A&E, but I would watch that show anywhere!
I tuned into it the first time thinking “Oh God,
let’s see how far reality TV has sunk, exploiting
these poor addicts,” but it is produced so well, and
is so sensitive to the characters, that it’s riveting.
You might say I am addicted to Intervention.
Real
Reality: A&E’s Elaine Frontain Bryant on Crafting
Addictively Odd Television
Q.
Story-wise, what makes the difference between an easy
sell and a hard sell?
