WEBVTT - Riima Daher - Alone - Executive Producer 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:01.760 It's in the news today, but it was actually on 0:00:01.840 --> 0:00:04.920 TV Reload, the podcast Last Weep Their Life. Welcome back 0:00:04.920 --> 0:00:07.840 to TV Reload. My name is Benjamin Norris and this 0:00:07.920 --> 0:00:10.640 is your podcast to get all the inside goss on 0:00:10.720 --> 0:00:13.800 the popular TV shows you may be watching from around 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:17.200 the world. Undeniably, our TV sets are a major part 0:00:17.239 --> 0:00:20.119 of our home entertainment, and yet very little is known 0:00:20.160 --> 0:00:24.079 about how our favorite shows get made. So each episode 0:00:24.160 --> 0:00:26.160 I find guests that want to dive just that little 0:00:26.160 --> 0:00:28.920 bit deeper into the shows they're currently making, so that 0:00:29.040 --> 0:00:32.040 you can hear all their exclusive stories and gain access 0:00:32.080 --> 0:00:35.000 to the biggest names in Australian television. I want to 0:00:35.000 --> 0:00:37.839 thank you for downloading or subscribing to this podcast. I 0:00:37.880 --> 0:00:40.199 love hearing your feedback, so make sure you leave a 0:00:40.240 --> 0:00:44.040 comment on your chosen podcast platform. On today's podcast, I 0:00:44.080 --> 0:00:47.280 Have Riema, I heard the executive producer of the captivating 0:00:47.280 --> 0:00:51.200 new ITV series Alone, which starts this week on SBS. 0:00:51.520 --> 0:00:53.800 The show has been made all over the world, but 0:00:53.960 --> 0:00:57.000 this time ten Australian survivalists will be dropped into the 0:00:57.000 --> 0:01:01.400 remote wilds of western Tasmania, completely isolated from the outside 0:01:01.400 --> 0:01:04.959 world and each other, stripped of modern possessions, contact and 0:01:05.000 --> 0:01:08.920 comforts to self document their experience, where the last one 0:01:09.000 --> 0:01:12.520 standing wins two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Challenged by 0:01:12.520 --> 0:01:15.680 the force of nature, hunger, and perhaps the toughest challenge 0:01:15.680 --> 0:01:18.800 of all, loneliness, you won't want to turn away until 0:01:18.800 --> 0:01:22.120 the last person is left standing. The first episode of 0:01:22.120 --> 0:01:25.520 this highly anticipated survival series drops on Wednesday, the twenty 0:01:25.600 --> 0:01:28.600 ninth of March, which is tonight, and will no doubt 0:01:28.640 --> 0:01:32.199 captivate its audience. As the show goes well beyond any 0:01:32.240 --> 0:01:35.080 other show made in Australia, we will find out if 0:01:35.120 --> 0:01:39.000 these conditions could kill the alone participants. Rema will also 0:01:39.080 --> 0:01:41.880 share her greatest fears making the show and what kept 0:01:41.880 --> 0:01:44.840 her awake at night. I'll also find out how they 0:01:45.000 --> 0:01:47.640 found the right people for the show and what exactly 0:01:47.720 --> 0:01:51.040 they were looking for. Plus we'll get plenty of exclusives 0:01:51.080 --> 0:01:53.960 from behind the scenes of a loan. Anyway, let's bring 0:01:54.040 --> 0:01:56.960 Rima into the podcast. I love Reema and I really 0:01:56.960 --> 0:01:58.680 hope you enjoy this episode. 0:01:58.960 --> 0:02:01.440 Hirima, Hi Ben, I'm great. 0:02:01.880 --> 0:02:04.120 I feel so excited to be having this chat with 0:02:04.160 --> 0:02:06.760 you finally, because we've finally found a project that we 0:02:06.760 --> 0:02:07.680 can unpack together. 0:02:07.840 --> 0:02:09.639 I know it's been a long time in the making. 0:02:09.960 --> 0:02:12.240 I feel like a loan's brought you and I together finally. 0:02:12.440 --> 0:02:14.840 You know, I had people writing to me, people that 0:02:14.880 --> 0:02:17.920 listened to the podcast, but also people that you'd collaborated 0:02:17.960 --> 0:02:20.400 with over the years, saying, You've got to get Rima 0:02:20.480 --> 0:02:23.440 on the show. I can't wait to hear per episode. 0:02:23.600 --> 0:02:25.240 So I kind of had to stalk you a little bit. 0:02:25.320 --> 0:02:27.079 You did. I liked being stalked. It made me feel 0:02:27.080 --> 0:02:29.320 pretty special. It's the first time I haven't felt alone 0:02:29.320 --> 0:02:30.520 in a really long time. 0:02:32.200 --> 0:02:34.959 Case in point, so we're talking alone for people that 0:02:35.080 --> 0:02:38.360 listen to the podcast, and this show is so exciting. Obviously, 0:02:38.400 --> 0:02:41.440 people know about it because it is a global phenomenon. 0:02:41.440 --> 0:02:43.760 I don't think that there's anyone that owns a television 0:02:44.080 --> 0:02:46.200 that's not seen a few seconds of this show. 0:02:46.560 --> 0:02:49.280 It's one of those shows it's really hard to explain 0:02:49.400 --> 0:02:52.639 why its reach is so broad, but it's the most 0:02:52.919 --> 0:02:55.280 random people who will tell you that they love this show. 0:02:55.320 --> 0:02:59.400 And it sounds on paper or in pitch, it sounds 0:02:59.440 --> 0:03:01.880 like something that should have a niche audience, doesn't it. 0:03:02.000 --> 0:03:04.120 I mean, you think that it would be a really 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:07.639 hard core sort of bear grill survivally kind of audience 0:03:07.639 --> 0:03:09.880 that would come to it. But it's none of the 0:03:09.880 --> 0:03:11.519 shows that we're used to, and it's just the most 0:03:11.600 --> 0:03:14.600 random people. You know, it's your hairdresser. It's often the 0:03:14.639 --> 0:03:17.000 people that say they don't watch television, but they do 0:03:17.080 --> 0:03:19.600 watch alone. I think it's one of those shows that 0:03:19.919 --> 0:03:22.080 it just grips you. You don't know that you're going 0:03:22.160 --> 0:03:24.079 to like it. You're not sure it's your kind of thing. 0:03:24.240 --> 0:03:26.800 You come to it, and one episode in you find 0:03:26.840 --> 0:03:29.720 yourself sat there still having watched five series by the 0:03:29.800 --> 0:03:31.280 end of the week and missed out on some work. 0:03:31.720 --> 0:03:34.360 There's something about it that is really compelling viewing. 0:03:34.720 --> 0:03:36.360 I love the quote. I mean, I don't know if 0:03:36.400 --> 0:03:38.560 you were aware of that Stephen King quote, but I 0:03:38.600 --> 0:03:40.440 love the quote. You know, there is no harm in 0:03:40.640 --> 0:03:43.040 hoping for the best as long as you prepare for 0:03:43.080 --> 0:03:45.800 the worst. Were you familiar with that quote before working 0:03:45.800 --> 0:03:46.680 on this series. 0:03:46.960 --> 0:03:49.560 No, So that was one. You know, we spent some 0:03:49.600 --> 0:03:51.360 time looking at the quotes that we put in, but 0:03:51.480 --> 0:03:53.720 it's the perfect quote for this and that's the perfect 0:03:53.800 --> 0:03:56.360 quote to launch the series, isn't it. And it's so true. 0:03:56.440 --> 0:04:00.480 It epitomizes everything about what it means to to go 0:04:00.560 --> 0:04:01.040 into this. 0:04:01.600 --> 0:04:03.760 Is that an accurate quote for the contestants that are 0:04:03.800 --> 0:04:06.000 taking part on the show or was that also an 0:04:06.040 --> 0:04:09.040 appropriate quote for the content creators behind the scenes. 0:04:09.560 --> 0:04:12.120 I think it was probably more for us than them, 0:04:12.160 --> 0:04:15.160 to be honest, it's rare that you work on a 0:04:15.240 --> 0:04:19.400 series where the cast actually know more about what they're 0:04:19.440 --> 0:04:22.400 heading into than you do. They were prepared for the wilderness. 0:04:22.640 --> 0:04:25.200 They knew what they were doing. We were hoping. We 0:04:25.279 --> 0:04:27.400 knew what we were doing as far as the wilderness went, 0:04:27.480 --> 0:04:30.480 but they were terrified about the documentary part of it, 0:04:30.720 --> 0:04:32.880 and we sent them into the wilderness becoming, you know, 0:04:32.920 --> 0:04:35.599 with cameras, asking them to shoot an entire series for us, 0:04:36.000 --> 0:04:37.760 and some of them had never picked one up before. 0:04:37.839 --> 0:04:40.840 Did you reach out to other executive producers from around 0:04:40.880 --> 0:04:43.280 the world that had been making this series? I mean, 0:04:43.520 --> 0:04:46.320 how did you start doing how did you even start 0:04:46.320 --> 0:04:47.480 to approach this project? 0:04:47.839 --> 0:04:50.960 Honestly, I have no idea how the first series was 0:04:51.000 --> 0:04:54.960 made and how that EP survived the experience. The first 0:04:54.960 --> 0:04:57.800 thing that we did was to speak to the EPs 0:04:57.800 --> 0:05:00.560 of the Scandinavian and the US version. We couldn't have 0:05:00.560 --> 0:05:02.880 done it without them. All the questions that you have 0:05:02.960 --> 0:05:06.080 sitting on the couch watching this show, multiply that by ten, 0:05:06.160 --> 0:05:09.279 and that's what we had, at least as producers going 0:05:09.279 --> 0:05:11.520 into it, going how do we do this? How is 0:05:11.560 --> 0:05:14.440 this done? And it seems simple from the outside when 0:05:14.480 --> 0:05:16.640 you go, oh, we're going to produce this series that 0:05:16.839 --> 0:05:20.800 just gives ten wilderness people ten cameras and ask them 0:05:20.800 --> 0:05:23.160 to go out and survive. Surely they can't be much 0:05:23.200 --> 0:05:24.880 in the production of a show like that. You just 0:05:24.880 --> 0:05:26.600 get them ready, you find the land, you put them 0:05:26.600 --> 0:05:28.039 on it, and off they go and then they bring 0:05:28.080 --> 0:05:32.159 back the footage. Simple. But it's not. No, it's really not. 0:05:32.480 --> 0:05:36.080 There's such a process that goes into every aspect of it, 0:05:36.120 --> 0:05:39.000 from finding the location to setting up your safety systems 0:05:39.040 --> 0:05:41.880 to mapping the whole thing, to be knowing exactly how 0:05:41.880 --> 0:05:44.240 you're going to respond in an emergency and in all 0:05:44.240 --> 0:05:48.160 the various response options that can pop their heads up 0:05:48.200 --> 0:05:50.680 as far as how they tap that red button. You 0:05:50.839 --> 0:05:53.760 just have to be prepared for absolutely everything going wrong, 0:05:53.800 --> 0:05:56.159 and not from a television point of view. TV takes 0:05:56.200 --> 0:05:58.920 a back seat. You're preparing for it from a very 0:05:59.000 --> 0:06:01.320 real survival p you. We have to make sure they 0:06:01.320 --> 0:06:04.000 stay alive, and we have to be prepared for worst 0:06:04.000 --> 0:06:07.760 case scenarios, and worst case scenarios are quite serious worst 0:06:07.760 --> 0:06:10.520 case scenarios here, so you start from that and then 0:06:10.560 --> 0:06:13.400 you work backwards into the TV. So we're all out 0:06:13.440 --> 0:06:15.080 of our comfort zone making this series. 0:06:15.240 --> 0:06:17.440 I was approached to do a series it's very similar 0:06:17.480 --> 0:06:19.120 to this. I can't say what it is because I 0:06:19.360 --> 0:06:21.880 signed an NDA, but you know, something very similar and 0:06:21.960 --> 0:06:25.000 I read the contract, and the contract blew my mind 0:06:25.279 --> 0:06:27.480 because you know that they're not going to kill you, 0:06:27.640 --> 0:06:29.920 but you could very easily be in a lot of danger. 0:06:30.680 --> 0:06:36.000 Well, we probably could kill you. I mean, it's the 0:06:36.040 --> 0:06:39.080 real deal. And I think that that's why I was 0:06:39.120 --> 0:06:41.599 a super fan. I'm pretty sure that's why most people 0:06:41.600 --> 0:06:43.440 are super fans of this show, because when you come 0:06:43.480 --> 0:06:45.120 to it and you fall in love with it, it's 0:06:45.720 --> 0:06:48.719 that touching, the void element of it. You know, you 0:06:48.720 --> 0:06:50.599 know how you watch a jackass going They're not going 0:06:50.680 --> 0:06:52.240 to do that? Are they are going to do it? 0:06:52.279 --> 0:06:54.640 They've done it. It's I think it's that same sort 0:06:54.640 --> 0:06:58.120 of thing. I've described it previously as jackass for intellectuals. 0:06:58.400 --> 0:07:01.440 There's something about it that is terrifying because you know 0:07:01.600 --> 0:07:05.719 that they actually could die. There's dead fall, there's wildlife 0:07:05.720 --> 0:07:08.880 that can attack you, there's hypothermia, there's starvation. All of 0:07:08.920 --> 0:07:10.720 these elements are very very real. 0:07:11.000 --> 0:07:13.120 Where does this type of a show for you fit 0:07:13.200 --> 0:07:16.600 into the realm of television? Is this docoreality? Like, how 0:07:16.600 --> 0:07:18.480 are you describing its genre? 0:07:18.880 --> 0:07:20.960 It really is a factual series, and the only thing 0:07:21.000 --> 0:07:23.000 that brings it over into reality, I think is the 0:07:23.000 --> 0:07:26.320 fact that there's prize money. So because there's that prize 0:07:26.320 --> 0:07:29.760 money that's awarded to the person who lasts the longest, 0:07:29.880 --> 0:07:32.240 it turns it into a reality series in some ways. 0:07:32.280 --> 0:07:35.400 But in reality, there is no sense of competition for 0:07:35.440 --> 0:07:39.040 anybody who's actually in it. The participants have no sense 0:07:39.120 --> 0:07:44.240 whatsoever of who's in the competition, who's left, how they're going, 0:07:44.840 --> 0:07:47.600 how they're faring in relation to anybody else. So all 0:07:47.680 --> 0:07:50.040 of that information, all of that data that would normally 0:07:50.040 --> 0:07:54.000 feed into strategizing or helping you last one more day 0:07:54.080 --> 0:07:56.640 or deciding whether or not to tap out, none of 0:07:56.640 --> 0:07:59.240 that information is available to you. It's one of those 0:07:59.240 --> 0:08:02.880 weird things because everything about the series is factual. You've 0:08:02.920 --> 0:08:06.920 got ten people shooting ten documentaries, about an experiment that 0:08:06.960 --> 0:08:09.640 they've signed up for. Essentially, that's what it is, and 0:08:09.680 --> 0:08:13.040 we stitch it together into ten episode or eleven episodes 0:08:13.080 --> 0:08:16.080 in this case, that ties them all together. But there's 0:08:16.080 --> 0:08:19.680 this prize money that confuses things. So as much as 0:08:19.680 --> 0:08:23.040 everyone wants to call it a reality series, it's factual 0:08:23.360 --> 0:08:27.760 or it's reality in the very first incarnations of reality television, 0:08:28.000 --> 0:08:31.280 back in the days when it was genuinely just observational 0:08:31.360 --> 0:08:34.800 documentary with no producers prodding and probing and doing double 0:08:34.840 --> 0:08:38.000 takes or setting scenes up or sometimes frank and grabbing, 0:08:38.360 --> 0:08:39.880 grabbing everything everything together. 0:08:40.040 --> 0:08:43.400 Yeah, well, I think it's really interesting because people fell 0:08:43.440 --> 0:08:45.800 in love with reality television for the very fact of, 0:08:46.000 --> 0:08:47.600 you know, they wanted to see reality. 0:08:47.880 --> 0:08:48.080 You know. 0:08:48.160 --> 0:08:51.240 Now audiences want things faster and packaged up, so yes, 0:08:51.320 --> 0:08:53.600 we are getting things, you know, edited with an inch 0:08:53.640 --> 0:08:57.480 of their lives. But I still feel like the essence 0:08:57.520 --> 0:09:00.800 of reality television is exactly what a lot and capsulate 0:09:01.120 --> 0:09:01.480 do you want? 0:09:01.720 --> 0:09:04.800 I one hundred percent agree, and I think that's a 0:09:04.960 --> 0:09:07.920 I think that's the big draw card again, it's the 0:09:07.960 --> 0:09:11.319 fact that it's so raw and it's so immediate. I mean, 0:09:11.520 --> 0:09:15.040 I look back to Big Brother and that was really 0:09:15.080 --> 0:09:17.840 my introduction to reality television, and I fell in love 0:09:17.880 --> 0:09:20.439 with it and I was watching I was watching people 0:09:20.480 --> 0:09:22.320 sleep on an old NOCKI or I think it was 0:09:22.400 --> 0:09:24.800 when you could, you know, subscribe to optis just I 0:09:24.840 --> 0:09:27.400 think I even changed providers just so that I could 0:09:27.520 --> 0:09:31.080 watch that unfiltered reality television. And that's what this feels 0:09:31.160 --> 0:09:34.160 like in many ways, because there's nothing in between the 0:09:34.200 --> 0:09:36.600 person sitting on the couch and the person who's going 0:09:36.640 --> 0:09:40.320 through that experience in the wilderness. There's no narrator, there's 0:09:40.360 --> 0:09:42.400 no producer pulling them off to the side to ask 0:09:42.440 --> 0:09:45.280 them questions. It's just you and them. It's you and 0:09:45.640 --> 0:09:48.480 the participants, and it's as raw as it gets. And 0:09:48.520 --> 0:09:50.559 you know that because it's a warts and all series. 0:09:50.760 --> 0:09:52.560 You get to see all the mistakes they make. You 0:09:52.600 --> 0:09:55.600 get to see them fluff up the camera angles or 0:09:55.640 --> 0:09:58.120 you know, fall over. All the mistakes that they make 0:09:58.160 --> 0:10:00.000 are there, and all of the winds you're right there 0:10:00.160 --> 0:10:02.920 with them. So it's there's some kind of immediacy and 0:10:02.960 --> 0:10:06.400 intimacy to these series that we all love about reality TV. 0:10:06.960 --> 0:10:09.800 Obviously, reality TV contestants say that they didn't go back 0:10:09.800 --> 0:10:11.959 and watch their series I obviously did and watched it, 0:10:12.240 --> 0:10:14.160 and so I could see that the parts that really 0:10:14.200 --> 0:10:16.920 resonated over that series with the times where the camera 0:10:17.040 --> 0:10:20.000 was really left on me the longest to say the most, 0:10:20.320 --> 0:10:23.760 without any chance of really frank and grabbing, and that 0:10:23.920 --> 0:10:26.720 was where I was. It's a dawned on me that 0:10:26.760 --> 0:10:29.839 people love reality television when it feels like they're there. 0:10:30.200 --> 0:10:32.360 I think you've nailed it. It's so true, isn't it. 0:10:32.320 --> 0:10:35.120 It's the camera not moving. I don't think I realized 0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:39.120 that until you just verbalized it. Then You've articulated something 0:10:39.160 --> 0:10:42.320 that I've known but haven't been able to actually grab before. 0:10:42.440 --> 0:10:44.320 Well, it's the currency you're sitting there on the couch 0:10:44.360 --> 0:10:47.280 and you think I'd do that better, or why are 0:10:47.320 --> 0:10:49.000 they doing that? You know what I mean? Like, there's 0:10:49.000 --> 0:10:51.439 this currency of feeling like you're a part of their 0:10:51.480 --> 0:10:54.200 experience because you can really recognize as real. 0:10:54.440 --> 0:10:57.240 I think we've all asked ourselves the question, more so 0:10:57.679 --> 0:11:00.720 since the pandemic and interesting we all sit on the 0:11:00.720 --> 0:11:03.040 couch with an opinion about what we'd do first. I mean, 0:11:03.320 --> 0:11:05.680 I remember screaming at someone who was building a chair 0:11:05.720 --> 0:11:08.600 as their first thing in one of the US series 0:11:08.640 --> 0:11:11.360 just going build a shelter, build your shelter. And we've 0:11:11.400 --> 0:11:13.480 all got, you know, we've all got our opinions on 0:11:13.520 --> 0:11:15.600 what we would do first, or what we'd prioritize. And 0:11:15.640 --> 0:11:18.439 I think, I don't know, I think there's it's so relatable. 0:11:18.559 --> 0:11:20.559 I have to ask you. I'm getting ahead of myself. 0:11:20.600 --> 0:11:22.560 But you know, if you were going into this experience 0:11:22.600 --> 0:11:24.600 knowing what you know now, and you're allowed to take 0:11:24.640 --> 0:11:27.280 these items in there, what items is a must as 0:11:27.280 --> 0:11:29.000 far as you were concerned. 0:11:28.800 --> 0:11:31.520 I really couldn't do it, Ben, I really couldn't do it. 0:11:31.800 --> 0:11:34.200 That goes against the whole thing of you know, what 0:11:34.280 --> 0:11:36.240 do they say, you know, if you're a really good manager, 0:11:36.559 --> 0:11:38.599 you know, never get your staff to do something you 0:11:38.600 --> 0:11:41.559 wouldn't do yourself. Well, obviously that rule has been thrown. 0:11:42.320 --> 0:11:44.679 Right out the window. I'm so in awe of all 0:11:44.720 --> 0:11:46.480 ten of them. But I'll tell you what. I would 0:11:46.520 --> 0:11:49.280 definitely take a sleeping bag. And I can tell you 0:11:49.360 --> 0:11:52.320 that all but one participant took a sleeping bag. And 0:11:52.400 --> 0:11:55.360 almost in every series that you see, people take sleeping bags. 0:11:55.360 --> 0:11:57.520 And I should do some research to find out if 0:11:57.520 --> 0:11:59.679 it's the world first. But we did have one who 0:11:59.760 --> 0:12:00.439 chose not to. 0:12:00.679 --> 0:12:05.160 And do you try and change or offer any suggestions 0:12:05.240 --> 0:12:07.160 to maybe you need a sleeping bag. I mean, do 0:12:07.200 --> 0:12:09.720 you just have to let these people make these mistakes? 0:12:10.080 --> 0:12:12.000 Honestly, you have to let them make the mistakes. But 0:12:12.040 --> 0:12:17.160 I do believe I asked several times, are you sure? No, 0:12:17.200 --> 0:12:19.080 I can't. There is no chance I could do it. 0:12:19.120 --> 0:12:20.560 I don't think I could even do a night. 0:12:20.840 --> 0:12:22.439 You know, the two hundred and fifty thousand dollars is 0:12:22.440 --> 0:12:26.199 obviously luring people into it. You're collaborating with the delightful 0:12:26.280 --> 0:12:30.000 Ben on this project. What's your relationship been like with 0:12:30.080 --> 0:12:32.880 him previously? Because I believe you'd work on you'd have 0:12:32.920 --> 0:12:34.320 worked on quite a lot of shows with him at 0:12:34.360 --> 0:12:35.240 ITV studios. 0:12:35.440 --> 0:12:37.360 Yeah. Absolutely, I think Ben and I have worked on 0:12:37.400 --> 0:12:40.520 almost everything I think together at ITV. I'm pretty sure 0:12:40.520 --> 0:12:43.079 we have. We've done I'm a Celebrity right from the start, 0:12:43.200 --> 0:12:46.079 So from the very first series all the way through 0:12:46.200 --> 0:12:49.760 to now Love Island. We've done Factul together. We've done 0:12:50.160 --> 0:12:54.280 Keeping Australia Safe, Keeping Australia Alive. We've done The Chase together, 0:12:54.360 --> 0:12:57.040 we launched that together. I think I've always worked with Ben. 0:12:57.440 --> 0:12:58.120 Now that I come with. 0:12:59.200 --> 0:13:00.880 He was one of the people that slipped into my 0:13:00.960 --> 0:13:02.959 DMS and said to me, I think I screen grabbed 0:13:03.000 --> 0:13:05.360 that to you on Facebook. So you felt obliged to 0:13:05.360 --> 0:13:07.680 do the podcast. But Ben actually wrote to me and 0:13:07.800 --> 0:13:10.000 was like, you've got to get remitted to do this. 0:13:10.480 --> 0:13:12.640 You've got to get it to do the podcast is alone? 0:13:13.080 --> 0:13:15.200 You know? Is that a bigger challenge to some of 0:13:15.240 --> 0:13:18.000 the other shows because you before mentioned all these other 0:13:18.040 --> 0:13:20.360 shows that you've worked on, and some of them are 0:13:20.360 --> 0:13:23.160 really glossy shows, you know, and then you're coming back 0:13:23.200 --> 0:13:26.600 to something very stripped back. Are you still able to 0:13:26.679 --> 0:13:28.640 access all the things that you've learned from some of 0:13:28.679 --> 0:13:30.800 those other shows or are you kind of throwing things out? 0:13:30.920 --> 0:13:33.160 Bit of column, a bit of Colin b. Well. I 0:13:33.200 --> 0:13:35.960 borrowed heavily from reality in terms of how I prepare 0:13:36.000 --> 0:13:38.520 for a series and in terms of how we prepare 0:13:38.559 --> 0:13:41.199 participants for a series. There's there's a lot of principles 0:13:41.240 --> 0:13:43.520 that are one oh one, you know, making sure that 0:13:43.600 --> 0:13:46.679 everyone understands what they're getting themselves into, making sure that 0:13:46.800 --> 0:13:51.679 everyone's prepared, background checks and casting that process and shooting 0:13:51.720 --> 0:13:54.839 backstories that all borrows heavily from reality and heavily from 0:13:54.840 --> 0:13:57.760 the experience that I've had. But we go from working 0:13:57.760 --> 0:14:00.400 on a show that has a show like I'm Mielebrity, 0:14:00.440 --> 0:14:03.320 where we have about five hundred crew members down to 0:14:03.360 --> 0:14:05.880 a show like a Loan where they're about twenty. The 0:14:06.000 --> 0:14:09.559 job going into series is enormous, and there's so much 0:14:09.640 --> 0:14:13.280 adrenaline and so much pressure in the leader to getting 0:14:13.280 --> 0:14:16.880 them ready to go in. And that's from finding the 0:14:16.920 --> 0:14:19.400 locations and getting all of your stakeholders on board to 0:14:19.760 --> 0:14:21.920 ground truthing where we actually have to comb all the 0:14:21.960 --> 0:14:24.240 area and make sure that it's all good and we've 0:14:24.320 --> 0:14:26.360 checked it all. We know that it's all safe, we 0:14:26.480 --> 0:14:30.000 know what it looks like. There's prepping participants and checking 0:14:30.000 --> 0:14:32.520 their gear lists and checking their ten items, and putting 0:14:32.520 --> 0:14:36.160 them through medical and psych and survival workshops to make 0:14:36.160 --> 0:14:39.040 sure that they're fitting ready in every possible aspect. So 0:14:39.160 --> 0:14:41.920 all of that borrows from reality until you get to 0:14:42.240 --> 0:14:44.600 actually making the series and you go through boot camp, 0:14:44.640 --> 0:14:47.800 and that's a week of intense preparation. It's this huge 0:14:47.800 --> 0:14:51.120 pressure cooker where we're teaching all the participants about what 0:14:51.160 --> 0:14:53.479 they can and can't do on the land, all the parameters. 0:14:53.840 --> 0:14:56.080 We're teaching them how to use a camera, how to 0:14:56.160 --> 0:14:58.840 use multiple cameras, how to work with cards, and how 0:14:58.840 --> 0:15:01.720 to file your data, how to connect your mic and 0:15:01.800 --> 0:15:04.160 sync it with your vision, all of those things. It's 0:15:04.160 --> 0:15:07.440 a massive crash course which all of those things borrow 0:15:07.440 --> 0:15:09.920 from all of the experience that you've had before, but 0:15:09.960 --> 0:15:12.360 nothing prepares you for that moment where you've dropped them 0:15:12.360 --> 0:15:16.600 all off and then everything stops, and then you sort 0:15:16.640 --> 0:15:18.760 of go, actually, I don't know what, what do we 0:15:18.800 --> 0:15:20.920 do now? So you drop them all off and you 0:15:20.960 --> 0:15:23.840 come back to the office and everyone's sitting there going, oh, 0:15:24.640 --> 0:15:27.360 that's the point where you normally where everything fires up. 0:15:27.440 --> 0:15:29.680 You've got your cameras on, you can actually see what 0:15:29.680 --> 0:15:32.760 they're doing. In this scenario, it's the opposite. As soon 0:15:32.800 --> 0:15:35.600 as the series begins, it all goes very very quiet, 0:15:36.000 --> 0:15:38.160 and then you just sit there and you wait. You 0:15:38.200 --> 0:15:40.200 wait for someone to tap out, and you wait for 0:15:40.240 --> 0:15:40.800 the footage. 0:15:41.240 --> 0:15:43.200 And do you only get access to that footage once 0:15:43.200 --> 0:15:44.080 they've tapped out? 0:15:44.400 --> 0:15:46.840 No, we do. So they have drop boxes where they 0:15:46.920 --> 0:15:48.760 leave their things at a certain point and we will 0:15:48.800 --> 0:15:51.720 go out every few days or however, God. 0:15:51.560 --> 0:15:53.000 You'd ask to check in with me and I'd have 0:15:53.000 --> 0:15:54.560 had my lens cap on for the whole thing, and 0:15:55.520 --> 0:15:58.000 fuck you, Ben Norris, You've ruined our entire production. 0:15:58.240 --> 0:16:02.400 You know. Oh, there were some doozies. We've had some 0:16:02.440 --> 0:16:05.640 good laughs about various mistakes that they've made, including one 0:16:05.680 --> 0:16:09.160 participant who blessed gave us a sink clap and went, oh, 0:16:09.200 --> 0:16:10.960 that's for a couple of days ago when I forgot 0:16:11.000 --> 0:16:11.600 to give you one. 0:16:12.120 --> 0:16:15.040 Oh oh, and then what do you do? Do you 0:16:15.080 --> 0:16:17.400 bring your therapist? Do you have a panetole? Like I 0:16:17.400 --> 0:16:19.960 don't understand this. This show seems very high stress. 0:16:20.000 --> 0:16:23.000 If you ask me, it is massively high stress. I 0:16:23.040 --> 0:16:25.760 don't think I slept well for the entire time that 0:16:25.800 --> 0:16:27.600 we were out there, and I had my satellite phone 0:16:27.960 --> 0:16:30.960 literally on my pillow every night, just waiting for a 0:16:31.040 --> 0:16:32.800 call in the middle of the night to go out there. 0:16:32.840 --> 0:16:35.720 So it's high stress for everyone involved. The editor systs 0:16:35.760 --> 0:16:37.600 would go crazy if they didn't get a sink clap, 0:16:37.640 --> 0:16:39.880 because you can imagine trying to tee up cameras and 0:16:40.040 --> 0:16:43.680 audio cards that don't have any kind of common denominator 0:16:43.960 --> 0:16:47.400 to tie them together. But you know, you're scared. You're 0:16:47.440 --> 0:16:50.280 scared that they're going to be okay. You're scared that 0:16:50.320 --> 0:16:54.560 they might die. You're scared that they will have forgotten 0:16:54.600 --> 0:16:58.000 to record. You're scared that they won't have recorded enough. 0:16:58.280 --> 0:17:00.440 You're scared that nothing is happening out there so there 0:17:00.480 --> 0:17:02.920 is nothing to record. You're scared that they'll all tap 0:17:03.000 --> 0:17:05.240 out too soon. You're scared that they'll go for too long. 0:17:05.720 --> 0:17:09.080 You're scared that there won't be enough content for ten episodes. 0:17:09.440 --> 0:17:13.760 Everything about it is absolutely terrifying. Honestly, it's just can 0:17:13.800 --> 0:17:15.159 you imagine pitching a show like this? 0:17:15.400 --> 0:17:16.680 Well, I mean, it's one thing to come up with 0:17:16.720 --> 0:17:18.879 a show like this, it's another to actually convince people 0:17:18.880 --> 0:17:20.919 to get it. Could be really hard to convince people 0:17:21.119 --> 0:17:22.920 to want to do this. But you've managed to get 0:17:22.920 --> 0:17:26.480 a very interesting cast, which I have to segue into 0:17:27.240 --> 0:17:30.280 I think this show wouldn't work if we didn't somewhat 0:17:30.480 --> 0:17:33.000 like these people. Is that a part of the process 0:17:33.119 --> 0:17:36.960 of picking someone is that they've got a very high watchability. 0:17:37.160 --> 0:17:39.760 Definitely, we start with trying to make sure that they 0:17:39.760 --> 0:17:42.719 can all They all have a competency level that allows 0:17:42.800 --> 0:17:45.159 us to sort of sleep at night. You need to 0:17:45.200 --> 0:17:47.439 know that they can stay live. But more importantly, we 0:17:47.480 --> 0:17:50.640 want good communicators, we want storytellers, We want people who 0:17:50.680 --> 0:17:53.920 know themselves in a comfortable being themselves. But it's really 0:17:53.960 --> 0:17:56.479 important that they're engaging. If you're going to watch someone, 0:17:56.880 --> 0:17:58.760 as we spoke about before, if you're going to watch 0:17:58.760 --> 0:18:01.760 someone potentially sit there and not say much for a while, 0:18:01.920 --> 0:18:04.200 you need to connect to them. You need to connect 0:18:04.240 --> 0:18:06.120 to who they are, and you need to be able 0:18:06.160 --> 0:18:08.000 to sit with them in silence in the same way 0:18:08.000 --> 0:18:09.840 that you know you can sit with your bestie or 0:18:09.840 --> 0:18:12.320 you can sit with your partner in silent and that's 0:18:12.359 --> 0:18:14.480 okay because you sort of know what they're thinking. We 0:18:15.080 --> 0:18:17.679 needed people that we could do that with, and I 0:18:17.720 --> 0:18:19.920 think we get that with all ten of them. They're 0:18:20.040 --> 0:18:24.119 very very different people. They're very authentic humans. They know 0:18:24.160 --> 0:18:26.440