The secrets of dating shows have been revealed

Producers of dating and romance shows including First Date, Bride and Prejudice, Love on the Spectrum, and Better date than ever revealed some trade secrets yesterday at the Australian International Documentary Conference in Melbourne.

Deb Spinocchia, head of Unscripted at BBC Studios, and Jenni Wilks from Northern Pictures emphasized the difference between documentaries seeking real results and reality shows driven by gameplay or rules of attraction.

“If you make something similar.” first dates, very easy to pour. You’re sitting there with hundreds of faces on the wall talking about “Do they look like a match? Do you see them on a date?” Deb Spinocchia said.

“The chances of first dates are not high”

“If your ultimate goal is just to date, this is an easy show to make. Because you’re not asking for too much. In fact, you don’t let a show like that sit on the shelf for long, because you won’t have a success story. The chances are not great First datesso the longer it sits on the shelf, the less likely it is to have an honest statement on the back that says, ‘These two got married and lived happily ever after.'”

“If you’re playing for true love, know that it’s a very long game.”

Spinocchia (First dates, back with your ex, Beauty and the Geek) are currently being produced The matchmakers for SBS, which explores the private world of old traditions, religions, family values ​​and culture through dating.

“If you’re playing for true love, know that it’s a very long game. So even with that The matchmakers, what we are doing right now is not a quick production. It works very, very slowly. But let’s hope for real and lifelong results. But that’s not easy to make.”

There was also a question as to whether the participants of the dating shows would be shown the finished episodes before broadcast.

“We’ll sit down with them and see”

Jenni Wilks of Northern Pictures (Love on the spectrum, better dating than ever) considers it important to involve the participants.

“We’re 100% sure that anybody that we want to do a commercial with or anything like that, we’re going to sit down with them and look at it … so we can answer the questions,” he said.

“I was with Charles recently Better date than ever and we showed him his episode. It’s so sweet because he was so proud in a way, but like the rest of us, he hates seeing (himself) on screen. So just being there with him was a mixture of excitement and fear. But as a team we were where we did it together and that was great.”

However, Spinocchia observed that screenings also depend on the broadcaster involved.

– If you create something on a commercial network, such as First dates, you would never do that. In fact, the big problem is usually never the content, it’s always the promotions. Most people are very excited when they see the finished product, but the promos are sensational, they look exploitative, everyone feels like they’ve edited it badly,” he warned.

“The biggest challenge we face is when promotions generally start to decline.”

“I had problems with it Bride and Prejudice with the promos when this show started,” he recalled.

– You also need to inform people about promotions.

“One of the couples was a lesbian couple, their father was the parish priest of the local church. But the promos were so sensational and the second they aired there was a very angry phone call. So you really have to work overtime, go around and check them out and make sure they’re in everything. I think the lesson there was that you have to let people know about promotions too.

Despite the sensationalism and commercial aspects, Spinocchia believes the magic ingredient to a successful show in the genre is the storytelling based on Hope.

“Yet Married at first sight still playing for love. The initial start is everyone going out, going to work to make their lives better. They usually want to do this for themselves and their families, which is usually based on love. So I think hope is essential for broad appeal.

“I think hope is essential for broad appeal.”

“Unless he does something like that.” Love Island, where it is a game, then it is a niche market. It won’t be wide, but you will get a very good clicking audience.

“If you want it to resonate, especially as a doc, you really have to play Hope.”