In an effort to provide ownership opportunities in reality television production for women and people of color, MTV Entertainment will spend $250 million over the next three years, to generate content from their companies.
A proven leader in the genre, MTV was an early mover in reality television programming. The cable network’s legendary slate of reality shows includes The Real World, Road Rules, and My Super Sweet 16. Other MTV reality TV shows from the early and mid-2000s include The Hills, Laguna Beach, Jackass, Pimp My Ride and Punk’d. A later iteration of Punk’d aired on BET, while a new incarnation of Punk’d, hosted by Chance the Rapper, aired this year on the short-lived Quibi platform. Recent reality television programming efforts from MTV Entertainment include Jersey Shore: Family Vacation, the revival of 16 and Pregnant (and its current spin-off show, Teen Mom,) and Catfish: The TV Show.
According to USA Today, ViacomCBS, which is the parent company of MTV Entertainment, will finance and staff the venture, and provide other kinds of infrastructure support to catapult content ideas into the reality TV show marketplace. Shepherding the MTV Entertainment initiative are reality producers Lashan Browning and Adam Gonzalez. The duo will also establish production endeavors with an equity investment from MTV Entertainment.
Lashan’s unscripted production credits include executive producer of the Cartel Crew; Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta (on that show, she served as executive producer for 36 episodes) and Hollywood Divas, as co-executive producer. Lashan, who also worked for director Spike Lee, was a player on the start-up team for the Oxygen network. Adam’s unscripted showrunner credits include America’s Next Top Model and VH1’s Teyana & Iman.
CBS also is looking to expand opportunities for people appearing in its reality programming. Last month, the network announced that reality show casts on Big Brother, Survivor, and Love Island will be 50 percent Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) going forward. According to Deadline, CBS will commit to spending 25 percent of its unscripted development budget on BIPOC creative and production talent. The initiative is set to take effect during the 2021-2022 season. Moreover, similar to the MTV Entertainment initiative, CBS (joined with its production partners) will establish additional ways to expand diversity in the unscripted series landscape, to creators and production entities. “The reality TV genre is an area that’s especially underrepresented, and needs to be more inclusive across development, casting, production and all phases of storytelling,” said George Cheeks, who is the president and chief executive officer at CBS Entertainment Group, as per Deadline.
Widening the opportunity space for BIPOC also is a good business decision. In an industry that makes its money on churning out streams of new and fresh content, MTV Entertainment (and CBS) providing BIPOC with chances to tell stories from their own perspectives will keep the creative landscape fresh and innovative.
Sources: USA Today, Variety, Madame Noire, Deadline