segunda-feira, 5 de novembro de 2007

NYT: The Very Expensive Reality of Chasing Reality TV

* Você gastaria US$ 8 mil para tentar participar de um reality show? O americano Tom Sullivan gastou e garante que fez um bom investimento. Assim como ele, centenas de outras pessoas em todo o mundo abrem mão de tempo e dinheiro para aparecer na tevê. A repórter Abby Ellin contou a história de algumas delas na edição do New York Times de 4 de novembro de 2007.

TO say Tom Sullivan likes “Survivor” would be a gross understatement. Mr. Sullivan, a radio and television host in Atlanta, auditioned five times for this reality show, which has a $1 million prize. He spent hours shooting, editing and mailing videotapes of himself to producers and casting agents, and has traveled to four cities to compete for the honor of not being voted off the island.

His quest has not just cost him time — it has also cost him money, to the tune of $8,000 over the past five years. And he has never made it onto the show. But Mr. Sullivan, 38, says his efforts have been worth every penny.

“I learned how to deal with producers and I had some great experiences,” he said.

Mr. Sullivan is one of many people who have dropped big money auditioning for reality television shows and contests. The reasons for doing so vary: Some people mainly want to be on television, but for others it is part of a very specific plan to enhance their careers. To them, the money they spend is not so different from, say, investing in a business degree or hiring a career coach.

“You can sit here and be as talented as you want, but unless you get out there and show people, you’re not going to get anywhere,” said Sergio Alain Barrios, 41, a New York-based fashion designer who has auditioned twice for “Project Runway.” On the show, which appears on the Bravo cable channel, 15 contestants receive assignments each week as they compete for a $100,000 prize to start a clothing line, along with other prizes; the show’s new season starts on Nov. 14.

Mr. Barrios’s endeavor cost both time and money — $2,500 in 2004, and about $5,000 in 2005. Aspiring contestants are required to bring in three samples of their work; Mr. Barrios designed 15 pieces and whittled down the selection to 3.

His first try was unsuccessful, but “rather than be disappointed it motivated me to say, ‘I’ll show you,’” said Mr. Barrios, who works occasionally as a stylist and production assistant for Oscar de la Renta fashion shows. He said he did get a word of encouragement from Tim Gunn, one of the show’s on-the-air mentors.

Mr. Barrios devoted all of 2005 to aiming for the show. That meant logging 1,560 (unpaid) hours honing his craft. In addition to buying the materials and paying other expenses, he acquired a large printer ($700, as well as $140 for cartridges and $100 for paper) to better show off his drawings before the judges.

The night before the second audition, he and his boyfriend rented a room in the same hotel where the event was taking place (at $400 for the night), just to ensure that he would be fresh and ready the next morning. They also had a party for friends ($200 for food and liquor) who showed up to offer encouragement.

The next day, he was pumped up and ready to go. But he was not chosen as a contestant.

“I started crying when it was over; I was so glad it was done,” he said. “It takes so much out of you.”

Susan Murray, associate professor in the department of media, culture and communications at New York University and co-editor of “Reality TV: Remaking Television Culture,” said she understood why people would spend large sums to audition for a reality program.

Reality TV offers the promise of something extraordinary, and, she said, “that promise is so alluring.”

“I would imagine people are willing to invest to get closer to it,” she said.

And when it pays off, it pays off big. When Harold Dieterle, now 30, auditioned for “Top Chef” in 2005, he was the sous chef at a downtown Manhattan restaurant. For him, the $2,300 investment (mostly for three professional-quality knives and new kitchen clogs) paid off in spades: he won.

“Winning kind of put my name on a national scale,” he said. It also helped him open his own Manhattan restaurant, Perilla, this year. “People believed in me.”

That is what Caroline von Lintel, 46, an interior designer in Carefree, Ariz., hopes will come out of the $12,000 she spent preparing last month for Architectural Digest’s Open Auditions in Manhattan, where professional and nonprofessional aspiring designers and architects competed to win a photo spread in the magazine. There are no cash prizes, but semifinalists will appear on the Web site, where the public can vote for their favorite work, said Paige Rense, editor in chief of Architectural Digest. More than 400 people signed up for the event in New York, coming from as far away as Australia, Venezuela, Mexico and the Dominican Republic. The next audition is Jan. 29 in Miami, followed by contests in Houston and Los Angeles.

“As a designer, it’s like a dream come true if I end up being a candidate,” said Ms. von Lintel, whose expenses included airfare, food, lodging for three nights and six photographs of interiors she had designed ($1,500 a photo). “If you never work again, you can say, ‘Wow, I went to the top.’ If you win, the magazine is in effect endorsing you.”

And, she said, “the networking that can happen standing on line is invaluable.”

DIANA OBANDO-PRESTOL, a 26-year-old architect, flew in from the Dominican Republic, where she lives, for the contest. She estimates that the trip and preparations cost a total of almost $5,500, including six nights in New York and the cost of head shots of herself for publicity.

“Even if I am not selected, it’s a win-win situation,” she said. “It’s an opportunity to grow as a designer.”

Ms. Obando-Prestol photographed a client’s three-bedroom home for the contest. Mr. Barrios, the fashion designer, says that he plans to audition again for “Project Runway” and that he is not put off by the time and money he has invested. As far as he is concerned, it is all part of his dream to design women’s clothes.

“Nothing is overnight in this world, and I will audition for ‘Project Runway’ again and again,” Mr. Barrios said. “Like Nike says — ‘Just do it!’ It sounds corny, but that has become a sort of mantra for me through this whole audition process.”

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