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Marc Juris
Guest Column
Social Media Driving
Reality Renaissance
As everyone becomes a content producer, the genre
of unscripted programming sees great new potential
There are plenty of examples of
powerful people looking at transitional
moments in media and
making exactly the wrong call.
In 1946, Darryl Zanuck predicted
the demise of television when he said people
would “soon get tired of staring at a plywood
box every night.” Years before, as movies
were set to transition from silent to sound,
studio boss Harry Warner asked, “Who the
hell wants to hear actors talk?”
Today, all kinds of smart and sophisticated
people are looking at the television business.
They are focusing on how content is
distributed and consumed. They are talking
about how much of it is being produced. But
most of these people are missing a piece of
the puzzle that has the potential to change
the medium from the inside out.
With social media, we are all reality-content
producers. This is an entirely new activity
— an emerging area of expertise that did
not exist a decade ago, and now increasingly
consumes and defines us. For our own personal
networks, we produce and package the
moments that make up our lives — every
day, sometimes several times a day — across
myriad platforms and interactions. We have
clearly entered a digital age that is being
driven by the power of personal storytelling.
Whether the tools are Facebook, Snapchat,
Instagram, or Twitter, life today is not only
something you live; it’s something you post.
In addition to connecting all of us in new
and powerful ways, social media will give
rise to an era in unscripted or reality programming
on television like nothing we have
seen since the genre came to prominence
almost two decades ago with shows like
“American Idol” and “Survivor.”
The role
we play
as reality
producers
will have
an impact
on how
we as
consumers
define
entertainment.
Selfie-
Satisfied
Thanks
to social
media, the
Kardashians
are “in season”
all year long.
There are hundreds of millions of people
on video-centric social platforms like
Facebook Live, Periscope, and Vine, producing
and consuming content every day that
looks very much like unpolished versions
of unscripted television. And as the familiarity
of this storytelling form becomes pervasive,
it can’t help but have an impact on
our entertainment consumption choices —
not just on how we are going to watch, or on
which device (although those lines are also
blurring in a way that brings social media
and reality TV together), but on what we will
watch. Reality TV will be the beneficiary.
As we continue to produce and share
— as the distinctions between conventionally
produced entertainment and personal
social activity disappear, and resonance
is less reliant on form and more on whether
the content is relatable, entertaining, and
authentic — reality or unscripted television
will experience a renaissance. This is not to
say that reality programming will completely
replace scripted, but the continued prevalence
of social media and the role we play as
reality producers in our daily lives will have
an impact on how we as consumers define
entertainment.
And beyond familiarity of form, consider
the potential for talent to build immense
followings on emerging platforms, and for
reality television stars to use social media
to connect with fans — in character and as
themselves — every day.
When a season of “The Sopranos” ended,
there was no way for a viewer to stay in
touch with Tony and Carmela — they were
gone until new scripts could be written and
episodes shot. But reality stars don’t go away;
they are present before and after each episode.
Fans hunger for these connections with
the stars they watch on TV. There is probably
no better example of this than the Kardashians.
Though new episodes of “Keeping
Up With the Kardashians” air only about a
dozen times each year, the family is “in season”
52 weeks of the year through activity in
the media and on social platforms. That type
of always-on engagement is unprecedented.
Unscripted storytelling is only beginning
to realize its full potential and prominence,
despite those who would have us believe
the genre’s best days are behind it. Thanks
to social media and the impact it’s having
on how we define and consume entertainment,
the famously wrong prognostications
of Zanuck and Warner are sure to have some
company.
Marc Juris is the president of WE tv.
JUNE 14, 2016 VARIETY.COM
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