I thought I was the last person in the world who would willingly volunteer to be on a reality TV show. I have no desire to have my 15 minutes of fame, I’m an awful actor and prefer not to air my dirty laundry to the world (although my clean laundry actually did make it on camera — literally). But when we put our house on the market because we are moving to a different part of the city, we were contacted by the producer of a new HGTV show (not on the air yet) to see if we were interested in participating.

The show features a mother-daughter team of realtors who offer advice on how to make the house more attractive to buyers. Since we are selling the house ourselves, we thought it would be useful and might offer some additional promotional opportunities (“as seen on TV!”). [Note to brokers reading this: Please, no missives about how we need an agent! We’ve done it before successfully and know what we are doing.] And besides, I figured being on a reality show would be an interesting and useful experience just for my own knowledge of the process. Sadly, they do not provide a makeover budget with which to make the changes, but they keep our own budget in mind when providing their recommendations.

The initial screening process involved a producer-type person from the show coming to our house for a video tour and interview (which the production team watched and reported that they thought my husband and I were “cute”). From there, we scheduled the one-day taping that happened on Thursday.

The crew — a producer, cameraman, sound guy and make-up artist — arrived at 8:30 that morning and started setting up. I had my make-up professionally done and was amazed at how I could have so much make-up on but at the same time look like I wasn’t wearing any (most of my make-up application knowledge comes from reading Seventeen magazine when I was about that age). They shot all the interiors and exteriors of the house, then some goofy B-roll footage of my husband and I walking down the street together and the kids playing outside. We then did an interview with the producer where we provided all the background about the house.

The hosts arrived around noon, and once they were dressed and make-upped, we taped the meat of the episode, which was the tour of the four pre-selected rooms where we received their advice about what to change. After having to do about five takes of the “opening the door and welcoming them into our home” sequence, we filed from room to room over and over again having to remember what order we left the last room and where our marks were to be framed correctly for the camera. As the four of us were talking, we had to be sure that our bodies were facing the camera, and as we were basically in a line shoulder-to-shoulder, there was a lot of awkward head swiveling.

While the hosts already knew what points they wanted to make based on the initial video they had seen of the home, my husband and I had no preset lines, but basically reacted to what they said. It was spontaneous the first time, but with each additional take it felt more like acting, which does not come naturally to me. Since it is TV, they tried to be outrageous and somewhat confrontational, though in a nice way. My office “looked like an office supply store had exploded in it.” The wallpaper in our master bedroom made one host feel like she “was being attacked by a flower garden.” And don’t even ask what they said about our garage, which is our all-purpose storage space.

Before we left each room, we also had to shoot close-up reaction shots of each person (basically emoting on cue), and then “hold for tone,” where we all held our breath and didn’t move for a moment of silence so the sound guy could capture the ambient room sound for later use in editing. To minimize extraneous noise, we had to keep the air conditioner off (which meant more work for the make-up gal) and turn the refrigerator off as well (which they remembered to turn back on by leaving a set of car keys inside – a neat trick!).

So what did we learn? I won’t bore you with their recommendations specific to our house (though I knew before we even started that they would focus on getting rid of clutter). It was more the overall concept about marketing the house. When someone comes into a home for sale, they want to be able to imagine themselves and their stuff inside. So, as much as we love the antique map print wallpaper in the dining room and the baby grand in the living room, these very personal design decisions can make it harder for a potential buyer to picture themselves at home there. We had just assumed that people would have enough imagination that they could look past the superficial, easily changed elements of the house, because that’s exactly what we do when we look at houses. Apparently people like us do not comprise the bulk of the target audience, so we need to consider changing some of the features of the product to appeal more.

We had been focused on the promotional pieces of the marketing strategy — a blog, Craigslist ads, print classifieds and more — and assumed that the product would sell itself once the customers saw it. What we think of as quaint and homey touches, other people see as “not us.” We’ve got a lot of work to do on building the emotional side of the brand beyond assuming that the great features of the product are sufficient.

On a social marketing side note, I spent some time before the filming thinking about how I could use this opportunity to do some healthy or prosocial product placement, given that I completely control the “set” (though not what will ultimately make it onto the show). So I put a bowl of fresh fruit on the table. We showed the kids taking part in physical activity outside. Other things are just part of our house — lots of books, a pool fence, smoke detectors, musical instruments… Our small part in building the social norms.

The episode could air anytime between May and July, but they don’t know yet. Sorry, I’m not telling you the name of the show or the airdate when I find it out. I don’t mind if millions of anonymous strangers see my cluttered house, but somehow having people who “know” me seeing the intimate details of my home feels strange.

Photo Credit: dmb272

Technorati Tags: reality TV, television, marketing, house