Cat fights? Pregnancy scares? Random hook-ups? Racism galore? Apparently, that’s what happens when people stop being polite and start getting real.
And for some lucky university student, the chance to get real may be easier to get than ever. The grandfather of all reality shows, The Real World, is holding an open casting call for its 21st season at Santa Fe Café tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. to see if this school has the next Trischelle, Puck or Dunbar.
The Real World Supervising Casting Director Damon Furberg, who has been with the show since season 12 (Las Vegas), is an old pro at hand selecting exactly which potential cast members will be loved, hated or remembered forever (As a The Gauntlet All-Star, of course).
Casting calls are held in group form, with about 10 potential cast members at a table, Furberg said. But each casting director has his or her own style of questioning, whether it be party games or an open debate.
“In a general sense, outgoing personalities do well on the show,” he said. “We look for things that make people unique.”
Say, for example, occasional hallucinations as a result of past drug abuse (Isaac, from The Real World: Sydney) or a tendency to get into physical altercations with roommates (Trisha, from The Real World: Sydney)?
“I think the No. 1 thing overall is charisma,” he said.
Because girl fights are just oozing with charisma – or maybe that kind of thing is a result of necessity No. 2.
“Certainly you’re looking for people who are gonna have something to argue about; I don’t think that’s any big secret,” Furberg said. “But … if all that you’re doing is casting seven really combative people who are gonna have conflicts with each other all the time, then all you get really is a bunch of shouting. And that’s not an interesting season. You need to see somebody learning their lesson, you need to see the apology and you need to see people forging friendships and falling in love.”
But aren’t we forgetting the sacred words of the show’s intro? Aren’t cast members supposed to stop being polite?
Parisa Montazaran, a cast member from The Real World: Sydney, said she knows from experience that casting directors want to see some good old-fashioned roomie hate.
“Completely, absolutely and totally yes,” she said when asked if she thought certain roommates were placed in the house just so they would fight.
“[During casting] they asked my best friend what kind of personalities I wouldn’t get along with, and he told them, ‘Parisa is the anti-Barbie,'” Montazaran said. “And they put me in the house with vapid, shallow guys like Isaac.”
But the question still stands. Is The Real World even remotely realistic?
“It’s realistic in the sense that when you go to college, you have no idea what you’re gonna be set up with, you know?” Montazaran said. “I think because of the circumstances with The Real World, you’re kind of allowed more time to reflect by yourself, because you’re not distracted by school and you don’t have the option of escape, whether it’s television or going home to your family – which is the situation a lot of college kids have to go through.
“I think that’s why they pick our age group,” said Montazaran, who took extra credits at New York University in order to graduate early, right before the show began filming.
Initially she wanted to pursue a singing career, but before that took off, she got a call back from MTV. The decision wasn’t an entirely misguided step in her mission, however. In addition to her one-off performance singing with a Sydney bar band during a night out on the show, she is now touring and working on an album, she said. At least she is not helping to fuel another round of post-Real World reality shows.
As far as advice goes for potential future cast mates, Montazaran and Furberg both suggest just being yourself.
“Don’t try to, like, be a certain role, because they see right through that,” Montazaran said. “And make sure you are really, really OK with the idea of being yourself on national television.”
And always remember one thing: “It could be a lot worse; you could be living in a third-world country,” she said.
Perhaps, but some people might be willing to test that theory after a few months of living with Trisha.
courtney.pomeroy@yahoo.com
