Reality TV Producer career: Blake Nadilo shares the behind-the-scenes details of the career and how to become one | Exclusive interview

Ever since Blake Nadilo was a child, he knew he wanted to work in television.

At university he studied international journalism and started working as a producer on breakfast television.

Nadilo says that although he loved the work, six years later he decided to take a huge risk.

“At some point I realized there are so many other ways to tell stories,” he tells nine.com.au.

“I thought, ‘You know what, and I love reality TV, who doesn’t?’ And I thought this was just a more compelling, interesting way to tell a story.”

So Nadilo decided to leave his full-time, well-paid career behind and take on a junior role on a freelance contract.

The job was as an associate producer for six weeks Farmer wants wifeand at the end of the contract, Nadilo had made a decision: this was exactly where he needed to be.

“It was one of those moments where I got there and I thought, ‘Oh, I should have been doing this all along,’” he recalls.

However, it was not an easy transition. Nadilo remembers feeling like he had to prove himself every time he started a new contract and started working with a new team.

“It’s exhausting. It’s not for the faint of heart,” he says.

“It was hard and you don’t have job security, so you have to hustle a bit to get noticed. But if you’re good at it, people will notice.”

Now he has a full-time job as a reality TV producer, joking that he has become “part of the furniture” in his workplace.

But as much as he realizes this is what he was always meant to do, Nadilo credits his six years in breakfast television with the skills that were “indispensable” to his success in the industry.

“What I realized quite quickly when I made the transition to reality TV is that it is actually a form of journalism,” he explains.

“It’s the same thing. You look at something unfolding in front of you and figure out what the most interesting part of this story is, what the most important parts of this are, and then turn that into a story.”

Over the years he has worked on some major reality hits including Australian Idol, The Amazing Race, My Reno Rules and of course Married at first sight. But no matter the show, he says no two days on set are the same.

“On a shoot day they usually start quite early… you’re checking on the participants, making sure everything is OK, making sure everyone had a good night, making sure there isn’t an important story that happened overnight that we missed,” he explains.

“And if that’s the case, we have to figure out how we can tell that story too… then you’re just filming in blocks all day, twelve hours a day.”

He says the schedule for the day usually “goes out the window” by 10 a.m.

“You start a day without any idea how it will end. And that is scary for some people, but very exciting for others,” says Nadilo.

“It’s not a job that everyone can do. If you’re someone who needs structure and routine and doesn’t go with the flow, then this isn’t for you.”

Although he remembers times when he felt like he wanted “the ground to swallow you whole” while witnessing something like an awkward fight or a breakup between a couple, he says the difficulty of the role never compares to what he did as a journalist.

“There were times when you were with someone sorting through the rubble of their house that had just burned down and asking if they wanted to be on TV the next morning. Those are difficult, uncomfortable, difficult conversations to have with people,” he recalls.

“So when I was thrown on reality TV… it was tough, but nothing is tougher than what I had just done.”

While it may not be that difficult in that sense, Nadilo says there are some annoyances that come with working in reality TV – especially the naysayers who claim it’s all fake.

“Our job would be so much easier if we had a script,” he laughs.

“If we had a script, we wouldn’t end a dinner party at 3 a.m. Everyone would be home at 5 p.m.

‘There are so many skeptics who say that [it’s scripted]and it’s just not true. It really isn’t. Things happen that you couldn’t write in your dreams. No one could imagine that.

“As a reality TV producer, our job is to get the truth out of someone; we don’t make it up.”

He says it’s difficult to pin down exactly what a reality TV producer’s role is because his job is essentially to wear multiple hats at once.

“It’s managing people, it’s being a psychiatrist, it’s being a friend, it’s someone who holds them accountable when they behave badly,” he says.

But really, it all comes down to building trust with the participants.

“I think producing 101 for reality TV builds a bond with someone. If someone doesn’t trust you, if you don’t share any part of yourself with them, they’re not going to open up to you,” Nadilo explains.

“We need to get the truth out of someone, not make it up. The only way to do that is if someone trusts you. And in order for them to trust you, you also have to share a part of yourself with them.

“I can’t expect someone to cry about their life during an interview and open up to me without knowing anything about me.”

While people who choose to go on reality TV are often poorly received on social media and in the press, Nadilo acknowledges that it “takes courage” to put yourself on the national (sometimes international) stage.

“It takes courage to be vulnerable, to be open with someone and to share your story with the world. That’s scary,” he says.

And ultimately, it’s not his job to write what the participants say, or to manage budgets and schedules; it is to ensure that he tells the story of what is happening in front of him.

“We’re storytellers. That’s what we do for a living. We watch something unfold and figure out what the most interesting part of that story is,” he says.

“People come on the show and say ‘that’s not who I am’ or ‘they made me do this’ or whatever, none of that is true because reality TV doesn’t change who you are, it reveals who you are.

“And it’s our job to make sure we tell that story of who you are. That’s all.’

Produced in collaboration with CareerOne.