The original concept for Jenn2.0 involves following around Jenn Van Grove, a very talented real life person.  We would be capturing both the real situations that she deals with and also the intriguing and edgy community of friends around her.  We wrote a treatment and included a sample episode of fictional situations that we thought would be similar to what we might capture.  Then came the hard part.

When we met with NAS, Darren, myself, and Jenn discussed exactly how to create this reality show and what would be required.  We had to consider locations, individual privacy, getting model releases from friends, etc.  And, on top of that the fact that on many occasions everyone’s life is actually quite boring to watch (Well, except for Snoop Dog).  So we decided that we could pull off a “reality based” show where we followed Jenn around on scheduled events and we injected some of our own fictional situations.  It seemed like a good idea and we all parted the meeting with heads buzzing.

Then came the script rewrites.  We had to script what to shoot.  And trying to create a relevant and entertaining show that operates on the same schedule as a real life busy person was tricky.  What we wound up with was a completely fictional episode for the pilot.  We initially thought this might still work as “based on reality” because we could fit the drama into the events of Jenn’s real life.  Who were we kidding?  In an attempt to create a compelling show that could help launch Jenn’s brand, we would actually be screwing with her life and potentially setting her up for failure.  Imagine going to a meetup and witnessing your friend in an argument on camera, reacting to the event as it happens only to later find out it was staged.  You might feel silly.  You might feel used.  Maybe you’d be drawn to the potential limelight and hang around more often… but, maybe you wouldn’t.  We didn’t want to take that chance.

Understanding the above, we all decided to create a fictional show with fictional characters.  We would be more free to explore complex situations and alter the course of the characters lives in near real time (TV time that is).  Jenn continues to make this all possible by guiding us through the social networking scene, consulting on web technologies, and helping to make a relevant and informative show about a bright young woman in San Diego.  Bingo!  We got it!