Reality TV, How it's Made - Pt. 4 Post Production (editing)

Disclaimer: these posts are written from my experience and are not meant to be authoritative and are written with reality TV in mind. The following processes may vary from one show to another but this is my basic understanding.

The final step of a show is post production. This is the editing and polishing of the story based on what was captured during production. If you read Pt.3 of this series, you may remember that I mentioned OTFs/Confessionals being shot months later. This would happen because during the editing of an episode, the producers realized that they didn't have enough footage to back up a certain story element. These gaps are filled in through post production OTFs/Confessionals.

A lot of shows such as Survivor, The Apprentice, etc., shows with a series wide arc, are being edited while the first episode is airing. I really don't know how often this really happens, but editing while the series is airing, allows for the producers to change the story mid-stream if the audience isn't responding to the characters they are creating. A lot of times however, it is the plan to have a certain individual start out to be annoying and transition into the hero or something like that.

You will notice on many TV shows that they will say "Portions of this program not affecting the outcome have been edited from this episode." If you watch a reality TV show you will probably see "Portions of this show were arranged for dramatic emphasis" or something of that nature. In essence it means, "we may have taken a shot from 2 weeks ago and acted like it happened the same day as what we just showed." The episodes are like a Mr. Potato Head, there are different elements that can be put together to get a specific outcome. Put those elements in a different order and you get a very different show.

I'll sum all these posts up in Pt.5 as advice to anyone wanting to be on reality TV.