Bunim/Murray Productions (BMP) is credited with creating the reality genre as we know with, among many others over the past 25 years, Real World (30 seasons to date) for MTV in 1991, Keeping Up with the Kardashians (10 seasons so far) for E! and Project Runway (14 seasons so far) for Lifetime. In his international formats keynote at this year’s ContentAsia Summit, Gil Goldschein, BMP’s chairman/CEO, spoke about building brands, story, casting, keeping the pioneering spirit alive, the next big hit, and how much crazy is really necessary for great reality TV.

“I don’t believe in one-offs, I believe in building franchises. I believe in building brands.”

"The second we sell a show, yes, there’s some excitement, but it doesn’t end there. That’s just the beginning. For me, it’s a matter of how we keep that show on air, how we work with our network partners to make sure that it gets the promotion and the love and everything that goes into making sure that it can sustain.”

“There are two main tenets of Bunim/Murray... Everything that drives the company, drives me, drives our people, is pioneering, trying to take the genre to the next level and trying to think what’s next. And the other one is storytelling. Because we’re in an industry that’s all about the story.”

Are Asians too nice to make good reality TV? “We work with plenty of nice cast members... it really comes down to the story.”

"The success of [the Kardashians] is the fact that the family really puts it out there. They are vulnerable. You see the good times, you see the bad times, you see the ups and downs... what resonates with the audience is the relatability... and, at the same time, they’ve also brilliantly been able to leverage off of that television show and build an empire”.

“I absolutely believe in celeb-reality... and when I say celebrities I’m not just talking about television celebrities or movie celebrities.”

“I’ve been in different territories over the years pitching buyers, broadcasters, [talking to them about how they] should be doing their local version of the Kardashians, and they laugh and say, ‘We don’t have people like that in our country.’ And yes, [the Kardashians are] unique, but... There are lots of unique families. There are lots of sisters, and maybe mixed marriages. The truth of the matter is doing the work on the front end, on the casting side, and finding that family.”

"The great thing about our industry is you never know where the next great format is going to come from... I believe they can come from anywhere... whether it’s Korea or anywhere, it’s just a matter of time where something [from Asia] is going to pop.”

Is crazy a requirement for good reality entertainment? “Some of these relationships or different things people deal with on a day-to-day basis – whether it’s wealth, power, fashion – are universal themes. Not everything is about being vulnerable. Yes, you have to be willing to be on television, for there to be a camera in your face, but once you get over that, I don’t think people have to be worried that they have to be so crazy. There are certain shows within the genre or certain formats that lend themselves to being crazy, but the reality genre as a whole has evolved so much. There are so many different aspects of doing it where it doesn’t.”

"Reality is here to stay... it’s going to continue to evolve but it will always be a part of the programming strategy.”

This article originally appeared in ContentAsia's print issue published on 20 October 2015.