'Reality' turns its back on big cities
FALLS CHURCH, Va — Midway through a casting call recently, "Fear Factor" producers had made barely a dent in the line of hundreds that clogged the parking lot, but Mikey Glazer already knew the afternoon was going to be a success.
Glazer, casting producer for the NBC staged but unscripted series, personally had auditioned about 50 people in two hours, and one thing stuck out.
"I didn't get any head shots today," said a smiling Glazer, whose show features contestants performing gruesome tasks such as eating sheep's eyeballs to win $50,000. "I didn't get people showing up with their managers or agents or whatever and they're saying, 'I can be whatever age you want me to be,' or 'I was on "Jenny Jones," "Elimidate." ' "
Instead of interviewing aspiring models, actors and actresses, Glazer met accountants, sales managers, stay-at-home moms. They didn't have bottle-blond hair and "Baywatch" bodies but split ends and beer bellies. Many even wore shapeless flannel shirts.
The reason for this was simple: Glazer's casting crew stopped in this 2.2-square-mile city of about 11,000 filled with strip malls, Jiffy Lubes and the myriad other landmarks of everyday America.
Glazer had come here specifically to find "real Americans," a breed that has become something of an endangered species in the world of reality shows.
It used to be that all producers had to do when casting reality shows was hold auditions in such cities as New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. These days, however, reality shows seem to be multiplying endlessly, and casting producers are finding that auditions in these big cities tend to yield an inordinate amount of a certain type: actor-model wannabes. And the instant stardom of reality-show cast members has inspired even more fame hounds to flock to these auditions in search of their 15 minutes.
New tour routes
To find real people, producers have had to rethink their strategies.
For Glazer, it has meant veering from his usual casting tour, which goes to just seven big cities. To recruit for the fourth season of "Fear Factor," which begins taping in May, he's wending through 22 cities, including Joplin, Mo.; Omaha; and El Paso. Robert LaPlante, a producer who cast for Fox's "Love Cruise" and NBC shows "Dog Eat Dog" and "Around the World in 80 Dates," recently began sending scouts to grocery stores, bars and shopping malls to spot potential reality-show stars.
