| Derek Hartley, video podcast, sirius, radio, Alex Capriole, reality tv, blog, itunes, ipod |
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| An Interview with Derek Hartley
What is “The So Real Life?” Quite simply, it is a weekly video podcast of my life. For several years now, I have loved reality shows, but they always struck me as somewhat fake. It can be fascinating to get an inside look at a celebrity’s life, but most of these shows just seem to be going out of their way to put their subjects in the most ridiculous situations possible. With “The So Real Life,” I wanted to show people what my daily life is really like, and let the humor spring naturally from that. Why do a video podcast? My former boss Fred Seibert suggested it. He has had great success with his Channel Frederator video podcast and he thought I might come up with something interesting to do. Video podcasting is a relatively new format, and I love the challenge of creating something new, especially near the beginning of a movement. I went to work at PlanetOut.com in 1996 when most people I knew didn’t even know what the internet was yet. I came to Sirius Satellite Radio in April 2003 without even really understanding how that all worked either. Sometimes you just have to leap into these things and sort it out as you go along. I chose a reality show because they are reasonably easy to make and it is a format that most people are very familiar with. How did it all come together? A few months back, I got contacted by an NYU film student Alex Capriole, who was a fan of my radio show on Sirius Satellite Radio. He said that he wanted to do some kind of video project with us around our show. Once I started thinking about this video podcast idea, I turned to Alex to join me in the “So Real” project. Alex is not a fan of reality shows like I am, but he immediately grasped the potential of the series. He shot the whole thing and assembled it all together in record time. We filmed all eight episodes in about four hours on a single afternoon, and then Alex took a couple of days to cut it all together. He really did an amazing job. What will people learn about you in this reality show? I have seen all of the episodes and if viewers come away with any impression of me, I suppose it is that I am a narcissistic alcoholic. It’s funny because everything in the podcast is true. The episodes are all staged, of course, but each one is based on an actual component of my life. For months leading up to the shoot, I would jot down ideas for possible episodes directly out of my own daily life experiences. However, even though it is all based in fact, it is exaggerated in some ways to get the point across or to find the humor in the situation. What may surprise you the most though is probably the parts that are the most true. My life can sometimes be a little strange. Will there be a season two of “The So Real Life?” I have been giving this a lot of thought. For the first season, I wanted to make it as quick and painless as possible. If it was a disaster or no one cared to watch it, at least we wouldn’t have wasted too much of our time. There are episodes that I wanted to do that required other people and other locations that would have taken up a lot more time. So if we do a second season, I suspect there will be more locations involved and more interaction with other people in my life. Celebrity guest stars also seem to be big in the reality show game, so maybe I will throw in some celebrity cameos too. It’s just like life. You never know what might happen next. |
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