- . Digg It
- . Sphere It
- . E-mail This
- . Save to del.icio.us
- . Permanent Link
Reality Travel
Our correspondent is corrupted by a shoot in Jamaica
The prospect of being on TV corrupts people who suddenly find that their regular little lives are candidates for prime time. I speak from experience, having just completed a reality TV show pilot about travel writers, randomly shot in Jamaica.
I am not a passive partner in this debacle, having helped a friend conceive of the idea based on my frequent participation in organized press junkets. Junkets or press trips are all-expenses-paid group trips where several journalists on assignment for different publications travel together to some exotic locale. The group can be as small as two or as large as 100. On average, the group is from five to 10 people, plus one or two public relations representatives from either the destination or resort that's footing the bill.
The trips can be as simple as a weekend in Key West or as complex as two weeks trekking through South Africa, but they always mean days on end with strangers, on a forced march that no matter how many sumptuous meals or spa treatments or other amazing moments, ends up completely wearing you down. Needless to say, with a group as competitive and opinionated as travel writers, there is always friction. Sometimes that's good, sexy, and fun; other times, dark, heavy, and dangerous.
Combine that dynamic with all of the many stresses and unpredictable situations traveling always entails, and it makes for high drama (think aspects of The Amazing Race mixed with Big Brother). Which is why this friend and I thought it would make for a fantastic reality TV show.
But this was something we wanted to make happen four years ago. The idea died an unceremonious death after my friend pitched the show to the obvious outlets, and they all turned it down flat. Apparently, travel writers were thought to be unlikeable and unrelatable — spoiled and entitled snobs with nothing to offer the average traveler. Plus, what PR person or property would play along, when the show would expose the questionable excesses of our business and, potentially, any weaknesses of their product?
I am not a passive partner in this debacle, having helped a friend conceive of the idea based on my frequent participation in organized press junkets. Junkets or press trips are all-expenses-paid group trips where several journalists on assignment for different publications travel together to some exotic locale. The group can be as small as two or as large as 100. On average, the group is from five to 10 people, plus one or two public relations representatives from either the destination or resort that's footing the bill.
The trips can be as simple as a weekend in Key West or as complex as two weeks trekking through South Africa, but they always mean days on end with strangers, on a forced march that no matter how many sumptuous meals or spa treatments or other amazing moments, ends up completely wearing you down. Needless to say, with a group as competitive and opinionated as travel writers, there is always friction. Sometimes that's good, sexy, and fun; other times, dark, heavy, and dangerous.
Combine that dynamic with all of the many stresses and unpredictable situations traveling always entails, and it makes for high drama (think aspects of The Amazing Race mixed with Big Brother). Which is why this friend and I thought it would make for a fantastic reality TV show.
But this was something we wanted to make happen four years ago. The idea died an unceremonious death after my friend pitched the show to the obvious outlets, and they all turned it down flat. Apparently, travel writers were thought to be unlikeable and unrelatable — spoiled and entitled snobs with nothing to offer the average traveler. Plus, what PR person or property would play along, when the show would expose the questionable excesses of our business and, potentially, any weaknesses of their product?
What People Are Saying…
Leave a Comment