Z - have you ever been on a dive boat?
More than once or twice?
There's no drama... there's no intrigue... there's no social experiment... there's no story line. The boat leaves the dock, motors to the dive site, and everyone but the captain jumps off the boat for an hour. Gradually they return to the boat, where they sit around and eat stale crackers for an hour. Then they all jump off the boat again, only to gradually return. The boat motors back to the dock. Closest to drama might be a broken fin strap... or a clogged head.
How familiar are your non-diving friends with the show "Into The Drink"? Have you even heard of it? The answer to that should tell you something. Non-divers stayed away in droves, and divers picked the show apart relentlessly.
You've yet to convey an actual idea for your show beyond the fact that it centers around a dive boat. Is there at least a morbidly obese singing celebrity bachelor chef on board?
I have never been on a dive boat all the dives I have done so far are shore dives. I am assuming much, but remember that these are just ideas for possible shows.
Perhaps there are other options that would be a better fit like a live aboard or actually even better would be culmination of different types of boat
operations. As in a reality show depicting different types of jobs or operations (search and recovery, treasure hunting ,conservation and protection, etc..) in the industry and the goal would be keep the viewer interested by the show cleverly moving from one setting to another. Crafting this type of show would be more challenging but why not look at it as it an be done rather than it is to hard to do. Perhaps that is just the way I always try to look at things. If I can focus on the possibilities other ideas start to become more apparent to me that can make them even more feasible.
Though criticism does help sand down the rough edges on an idea I believe it needs to balanced out by offering a possible alternative this helps keep the ball rolling forward. There are alot of great thoughts out there. I did not even bring up the reality show in the first place but after thinking about it , it made sense to me and I turned my focus on that.
This whole forum is like a social experiment. Sure we like to have a conversation about a certain topic. We differ on opinions but what one of the underlying things that we are encountering is the human interaction between one another. Our responses the way we handle them these are all a social play. We actually have an appetite for it. I know sometimes we just ask for information but other times we seek more and as a secondary byproduct we receive the human delivery to the answer. Some are blunt , perhaps borderline rude, sarcastic others are more considerate and caring it differs so much that it challenges us to figure out how to respond best when faced with different responses. Reality shows are just another form of social media. It is a show with characters on a certain setting dealing with themselves their environment and other challenges. We are all basically in one form or another being drawn to the social aspect of entertainment.
---------- Post added April 5th, 2015 at 12:59 PM ----------
Remember that show with Boyd Coddington who built street rods, I can't remember the name, but anyway, at the time I was loosely connected to the car scene as a pinstriper.
A shop I did a lot of work for used to go to Vegas and knew Boyd personally and his employees.
When Boyd was approached about the show they told him that he needed to increase the drama and do something more than just the daily grind. So he became an ******* and all the employees played along "for the sake of the show". The show went on for several seasons and slowly the shop became more of stage than an actual working shop. Several of the employees ended up quiting because they wanted to work on hot rods, not be some little stage extras.
Eventually Boyd lost most or all of his customers because anybody who want's a car built would avoid a drama shop like that like the plague.
That show finally put him out of business and a few months later he died.
true story.
the moral of the story is be careful what you wish for.
That is truly a sad story. Something to keep in mind and I hear what you are saying. It is good to know all the potential risks involved this gives one the wisdom to try and avoid this pitfalls. Equally important is to note the success stories of some pf these reality shows. Although hard to validate some in a personal way like the one you have describe. I can only go by the success of how long some of these shows have been running.
What I can take from what you just describe is that if anyone is contemplating doing a reality show they must keep in mind the importance of not undermining the integrity or future of their business. It is a business decision and should be carefully thought out, if jump in at the opportunity you risk jeopardizing your business and ruining your life. There are risks but there are also rewards if done in a wise. While the producers or writers might be asking for drama or chaos it has to be the operator who sets the limit and it his reputation that is on the line when the show is over. So that factor has to be made clear from the start and should be one of the most important stipulations that the operator must express to the producers of such show.
There is nothing wrong with stating examples of failures and how one could not make this work, I know this because I am constantly challenged as a manufacturer. But I usually consider all information including this one as a guideline as to what not to do. Then I proceed to move forward one step at a time.
