Bunim-Murray casting process finds candidates who’re “just ‘crazy’ enough.”
What does it take to be cast on a reality TV show? Salon’s Benjamin Wallace sits in on the casting for The Rebel Billionairer, and finds that “Many of the questions in this vetting process, therefore, are aimed at determining not whether a candidate is too crazy, but whether he’s just ‘crazy’ enough.” Produced by Bunim-Murray, that show was cast by Sasha Alpert, the woman who “pioneered the casting methods now standard to the industry.” She says her “model is World War II movies–you know, the hayseed, the urban kid from Brooklyn. This is the opposite of everyone from the same family. It’s everyone from a very different family.” Salon also gets Mike Darnell to admit that when he casts, “I want the crazy bitch, the nice guy, and as much conflict as is humanly possible.” For those wanting to fake their way on to a reality show, Survivor casting director Lynn Spillman says that it’s all about “consistency: ‘They need to be a bitch on tape, a bitch on their application, a bitch on their answering machine.'”