by Troy DeVolld
Survival isn’t something I’ve addressed often in this blog before, but with many of reality television’s best (in my opinion, anyway) behind-the-scenes players going through slumps more often than usual these days, I think it’s a good time to bring it up.
In 2010, there were just over 760 reality shows in production, according to the results of a Kansas City Star study on the industry. Anecdotally, different sources claim that that number’s dropped slightly, but is still well above 700 shows. Tastes change, and the amount of available work in dramas, sitcoms and reality shows naturally ebbs and flows based on what viewers are in the mood for.
I find myself working less often than maybe five or ten years ago when I’d wrap a project on Friday and start a new one Monday. I’d been able to work as much as I wanted to whenever I wanted to, and with a decade or so of credits on a string of well-received shows, there was no reason for me to think there’d be an end to that kind of possibility.