By: Cadence Wright
Reality shows are the most popular shows on TV. The Kardashians is the longest running reality show. It’s about Kim Kardashian and her rich family. The Little People of Atlanta follows the life of short people. The Hello Newmans Show on YouTube is about a family of basketball players. While watching these shows, I never thought I would be on a reality show, but I am now.
Me, my brother, and my dad have been filming a show for a few months… It’s about our family and the fun things we do together. My dad pranks me and my brother a lot, and we also prank him. I think being on YouTube is cool, but it is hard work. It is much harder than I thought when my dad first asked us about doing the show. When most people see television, they just assume people stand in front of the camera and that’s it. It is way more than that. Sometimes we film for hours and it gets hot. You get hungry and tired but you have to suffer through it. I have a hard time remembering what I’m supposed to do because I play a lot.
It’s fun being on a TV show because we do new things all the time. One thing I forget is, I always look at the camera. You’re not supposed to look directly at the camera. The directors want it to appear natural. I do it all the time and we have to start all over again. Then, everybody gets mad at me. When we do the interviews, I have to try not to touch the microphone. It’s hard because the mics are hidden and it’s easy to forget where they are hidden. I always seem to touch the microphone.
When we film, people ask if they can stand on the side and watch. Somebody is always trying to video us with their cell phone while we film. My dad has to ask them not to video us. Some people ask, can they be in it too? We have even had people to volunteer to hold a camera or a light just to be part of what we’re doing.
The interviews are the main part of the show. That’s when we have to narrate what happened on the show. It’s hard because you have to remember everything that happened during the scene and explain how you felt about it when it happened. Most times by the time we get to the interview, I forget what happened during the scene. My dad stays up all night, reviewing what happened so he can be prepared for what he’s going to say. It takes me like an hour to do it, because I always play. I constantly mess up my words in the interviews and everybody gets mad at me! We have to break the scenes down piece by piece.
My dad wanted us to do the show because he feels it may make me and my brother consider acting one day. He will do anything to keep us from sitting at home all day playing games. He says you should “get out of your comfort zone.” So, we go places together when he is home and do things we normally wouldn’t do. Our show is called, This Is How We Do It, and it airs on Congo TV Network’s YouTube page. Dad wants to show that there are Black fathers who do spend time with their kids. Many of the things people say about Black men are not true. Our show proves that there are positive shows out there and that there are many good fathers in the world.
