Reality TV Watch and make a decision!

Of all the producers who have applied for the implementation of the "Doctor Life" TV reality series, Professor Nazaraliev chose him. As he explained later, for one simple reason: "He does not obey the standards, that is, he has a strong personality."  In this Muscovite, the doctor saw an odious, extreme guy who can take certain risks. What difficulties he had to face while working, what was left behind the scene, and will there be a second season, Andrei Ershov talks about it in the interview.

What was your job before "Doctor Life"? There was information that your workplace was a channel NTV. Did you leave that place? Someone influenced you? Perhaps some changes on the channel?

- Before "Doctor Life" I've already done some freelance projects. I left NTV in April 2011, before the shakeup began. They did not affect me in any way. In total, I worked there for about 8 years at the prime Directorate broadcasting.

What is so interesting in the project that you have decided to quit your job in Moscow and come to Kyrgyzstan for almost three months? What motivated you? Especially, it is known that previously you never dialed with the drug addiction problem.

- I've been doing individual projects, films, when this offer came up. And as we discussed and planned everything, I finished all my work and began to work on the reality show. I cannot say that I sacrificed something. I have decided that I'm interested. This is the first such kind of project in the world. You can call it an inner prestige: I did it for my own satisfaction and of course, crazy experience. You form a team, before I never had to do it on such a big scale.

What were the main difficulties you had to face during the work? How did you coordinate the filming and montage in parallel?

- Our cameras strongly brought us down, and we had to work in quite a crisis situation. Ideally, all should look like this: we get the information from the cameras, then immediately through the network, it is sent to the editing room where the episode of the reality is made. But we had a huge problem with sync sound, which was written separately from the video. It took a lot of time for synchronization. We couldn’t build a working system right away. At first it was very hard. Those cameras we had expected were without those functions that have been declared. This caused all the difficulties.

I remember that in the beginning you were planning to minimize your contact with the participants and try not to influence the process as much as possible? Why there was a need for debriefing with the Italian, where you have provoked general anger?

- When you start a project, you try to plan it, but you understand that not everything can go according to the plan. Initially, we didn’t plan to communicate with the patients, but it happened that all the participants acted as a team. We did not expect their solidarity and mutual assistance, and this made us to change the tactic. Why it came to the debriefing? This was necessary for one simple reason. Each participant of the reality was supposed to be aware of his responsibility for himself. We wanted to recall that they came here to save their own lives in the first place - and this is important. What the Italian had done, in general, is a "honeypot” and doctors in any other case, immediately would kicked him out of the clinic for it. Each participant was warned: under no circumstances should they touch the drugs. If you do it - it's your choice, with this the treatment will stop. The Italian’s act demonstrated that the patients considered the law of the clinic somehow carelessly, thinking that there's nothing to worry about. At this point, it was necessary to heat the situation to such an extent that they would understand that their treatment was in jeopardy! That is why I started the hype. Roughly speaking, I did it to scare them, in order to provoke more alive reaction, so that to strengthen their internal desire to be treated. Initially we thought that the reality will have a leader, someone who will be betweenthe team guys and the audience. Then this idea was abandoned, but I decided to experiment sometimes on the field to more clearly understand the tactics of working with people of this kind. And, if there will be the second season, I would choose the anchorman that meets our objectives. Meanwhile, it was an experiment, and decisions were made in the course of filming, depending on what was happening in the clinic.

Why did not you give the participants a chance to comment on current events? For the entire project, we have heard not so many views of the participants.

- In fact, we gave them to comment on current events, and more than once. But the interviews were not included in the final montage because they did not represent any dramatic interest to the reality. Patients were concentrated on the sensations of the treatment, and these feelings were quite similar, besides, the reality sowed them more colorful. But these interviews provided valuable materials for our future work: now we would select a consistent enrolment of groups of 5 people, so that later these groups would face each other. The participants, who came before and passed a certain course, would meet with "rookies." There is a need to give them more opportunities at the stage of treatment to socialize and communicate with other people. Here, by the way, was another challenge: on the second floor of the clinic at the time of filming, the other patients were treated there, with whom our heroes communicated well, there were many interesting moments. But we could not show it, because the consent was given for the shooting only 8 people. And we had no right to film patients without their consent. 99% of the addicts do not want people to know that they are addicted and being treated. In addition, those people have paid for the treatment in the clinic, for our participants the treatment was free.

How "real" was the project? How do you evaluate its success?

- If not dissemble, the project turned out quite soft, because in the reality the situation was somewhat tougher. We've had a great "pleasure" to see people, who were recently dreaming to get rid of their addiction, forgot about it and started wondering whether there is, for example, karaoke… They are not focused on the treatment only, and it is wrong. We all know that in many other reality projects, the main thing is to survive, the participants do not have any opportunities for vocation. If they need to do some mission or task, then they do it. There are certain conditions. And the clinic also had these conditions, but sometimes the participants forgot about them. It was hard to doctors, who had to work at gunpoint of the cameras for the first time. And many had a stereotype that everything must be humanely at all times. Even when there is a need of rough action for the intensity of emotions in the reality and positive results of treatment, they are not always ready to perform. This, in their opinion, is inhumane. And we had to consider it.

More attention and episodes were given to the first phase of treatment, what is the reason? Because there was skewness, and it seemed that the project got stuck on the seventh-eighth episodes.

- This is caused by the course of treatment. Medicamental phase lasts three weeks longer than the other two. This is a whole life. And we had to see how the patients are no longer get high.

The last episode of the reality show is to be presented this week, does it mean that you work is done?

-The work is not done yet, because we will be meeting with the guys in their hometowns, and observe how they will rehabilitate and enter the society. Most likely it will be stories. Promotion and perhaps broadening of the project is being planned. Of course, we are looking for the people who could sponsor the project. So that in future, those who are financially not able to pay for their treatment will get this opportunity. And we would be able to conduct more complex selection of the participants, based on the psychological analysis and not only.

Did you sympathize to any of the participants? Whom did you believe in?

- It is not a secret, that the brightest participants were Tolik and Andrey. I worried about them the most. I have an intricate attitude towards Ira. She is an introvert. It seems that she does not need support from anyone, and does not let anybody in her life. When I interviewed her in Moscow, I tried to take part in her problem, but she flatly rejected my support even on non-verbal level. I respect Tolik because he showed that he is a real man. Kroshanov is a very kind guy. He is just got into a mess. May God help him to pull through!

Of course, many things were left behind the scene. Could you please tell the audience about such moments and why they were not shown?

-Intimate scenes between Tolik and Katya. What for? This is their privacy. There were no cameras in the bathrooms and shower rooms, although it would be interesting for many to see specifically these scenes.  But I really did not want to use the fact that people trust you. There were no fights in the project. The participants did not have anything to fight for. Human development – that is what was very interesting. 

Did you gain something on the professional level?

- An experience of supervising a big team. I had to do various things: to be an editor and a builder at the same time. I got involved in many things… What is more, for the first time in my life, I got to know the drug addicts closely. Because until this problem touches you directly, you never think about it.

If you would be offered to launch another such project, would you agree and why?

- What do you mean another one? It is necessary to develop this project. If I can be involved in it, then why not?! Besides, there are plans about the development of the project.  And we will try to realize them, it is very important. While we can do good, we must do it.