Think you could be the next geek on “Beauty and the Geek”? Or the next contestant on “The Amazing Race”? You may not need to look much farther than our very own Bruin Plaza to land spots on hit reality shows: Casting directors and recruiters target UCLA students.
Third-year neuroscience student Yvette Fisher was approached on the Kerckhoff Hall patio earlier this year and asked if she was interested in appearing on a reality show about giving makeovers to women and teaching them how to effectively use makeup.
“This girl came up to me and was like, “˜Hey, are you interested in being on TV? Have you ever thought about having a makeover?’ (I thought) maybe I’ll get something free, so I was like, “˜OK,'” Fisher said.
Fisher expressed some interest to the recruiters and was subsequently told, “You’d be perfect,” and, “(You’re) such a classic sports girl.”
“I was already being put into the cliche of how I was going to be explained on the show,” said Fisher.
Looking back on the experience, Fisher considers this recruiting tactic effective; it definitely sparked her interest, though she didn’t end up following through with the offer because of her midterm schedule.
“It was definitely persuasive, but it was nothing more than the average on Bruin Walk,” she said. “And this time they weren’t asking for money or telling me I was killing someone by not signing a petition. So it was even less obnoxious or threatening than when you get accosted by people on Bruin Walk. Once you get picked out you definitely feel kind of persuaded.”
Justin Scott, a 2005 political science alumnus, had a more personal experience. While attending UCLA, Scott, a former Daily Bruin editor and columnist, was recruited by his then-roommate to appear on the dating reality TV show “Next.”
“(“˜Next’) recruits UCLA students to recruit other UCLA students,” said Scott. “They would have (my roommate) do everything from walking up and down Bruin Walk with flyers … to he would go to the nightclubs and sit there and find all the kids.”
After his roommate asked him to be on the show, Scott filled out a 10-page survey of his basic interests.
“And they had one of their producers call me, and the next think I knew I was on a bus in the middle of the valley. They’re very aggressive about the whole thing,” said Scott, who appeared on “Next” while at UCLA.
The VH1 reality show “The Pickup Artist,” which is currently casting for its second season after a successful first run, has used less aggressive methods at UCLA to get the word out.
“What happened was we put up an ad on the Internet … and a lot of our responses were from UCLA students,” said 3Ball Productions’ D.J. Feldman, casting director for the show. “A lot of people (were) requesting us probably because they’d seen the show, they related to a lot of the guys at that point in their life, or they wanted to better themselves socially so they could enjoy the college experience.”
After deciding to target UCLA as a recruiting location, recruiters from “The Pickup Artist” came to a few campus events, their goal being to simply let students know they were there and looking to cast.
“We want to make sure that everyone knows about it that might be interested in the show,” said Feldman. “It could (involve) approaching people with a really good look, telling them about the show, if they’ve heard about it, or asking them if they know about somebody.”
The show is based on the popular book “The Game” by Neil Strauss, which teaches men mechanisms for attracting and interacting with women. Considering that the show is looking for a select demographic (young men who are having trouble dating), recruiting tactics include referrals, online, newspaper and radio advertisements, making announcements at events, or physically approaching people who look the part.
“You look for somebody who has the characteristics that are fun ““ ultimately, it is a TV show ““ so you want people that you’re going to root for in one way or another: somebody you’re going to like, somebody that maybe wants to transform themselves or get better,” said Feldman.
“Some people think they have to be over the top or out of the ordinary to get on, which is not the case. Reality is based on real people and their personalities, and that’s what makes it successful.”
The UCLA campus may just be one of the many stops on the show’s recruitment trail, but the student response has been positive thus far. It seems the next pickup artist could be one of our very own Bruins.
“(College campuses) seem to kind of show a good demographic of guys who are in the dating age. And it’s a good kind of sampling of the United States at the college campus. You get a little bit of everything,” Feldman said. “There’s a lot of people in one spot there, so it’s a good place to get the word out.”