HOW ABREGO SOLD THE SURREAL LIFE

摘要

THE BIGGEST CAREER break for Endemol Shine's Cris Abrego was the breakout of The Surreal Life, which became a hit for The WB and VH1. In his memoir, Make It Reality: Create Your Opportunity, Own Your Success, Abrego tells the story of how the show came to be: "To this day, the pitch for Surreal Life is still one of the best I've ever taken out. It was so fresh, so different, so damn fun. We dispensed with the usual sizzle reel....[T]his was such a forward and new idea that there was no way to present a sizzle reel without casting, which we couldn't do without a deal. We had to figure out how to pitch what no one had ever seen or conceived of before-iconic celebrities living in a Hollywood mansion somewhere and fixing their own breakfast, brushing their teeth, even making their own beds-without showing the famous individuals themselves.