Greek Life Producers Contacted My Sorority
 

Hey everyone. This is my one message that I write once in a blue moon when something strange, yet exciting happens. I was recently contacted by the producers of MTV's Sorority Life. Our President is out of town this summer on vacay, and so our Rush Chair has been the one talking to them (the President does know about this).

Just curious if some of you other locals have been contacted since they apparently are only interested in the local sororities. Also, I haven't seen the show yet, but will today -- what do you think about us or even your org doing this? Would it bring more harm than good?

oops --- the heading should read "sorority life producers . . ."
it's a wednesday!

Just. Say. No.

I agree with 33girl!!! Don't do it!!!

You know, if I were in a local, I might talk to MTV, just to see what they would offer us... not do it, but I want to know how far they would go to get a sorority to do it...

TG

Unless you want to worry about women joining your sorority just to be on TV, pledges being portrayed as shallow party girls, and MTV editing everything that goes on to try and make an entertaining show, I would strongly advise against it.

I would say not to do the show just becuse I do not think it is bringing a positive image of the Greek System. Also, from what I have been told from my brother who is in a Fraternity at Davis, MTV switched around a lot of things in the sosority to make it look more "MTV" like adding a pledge house. I do not think MTV is even showing the Sigma house for what it really is, but instead hey are causing problems in the house.

But if you do, or any other local groups do decide to do a season of sorority life do not let MTV change how you always have done things. It does not matter if your organization has been around for 5 years or 125 years, tradition is still tradition, and the only way to continue to grow is by keeping that tradition and not letting an outsider tell you what to do. If you really want MTV to spot light your house thell them you want your house depiced how it really is, as a group of girls/guys who share a common bond! But that is just my opinion, I do nt think that the Sigma house did anyhig wrong for having MTV spend a semester with them, however as I look at the show and hear wht my brother says I feel like MTV tried to manipulate a group of girls who are still trying to figure out how everything in their house should work.

don't do it. don't even give them the time of day. they'll try to woo you with fancy stuff, but they're just going to destroy you, your house, and your reputation. If you don't believe me, check out the sorority life message board on MTV (if it's still up, i heard a rumor that MTV took it down)

Take time out of your week and watch the show.

(edited to add)

The message board is down temporarily.

Well . . . do it if you want to . . . just be aware that you won't control the complete outcome as in the final show.

I wouldn't let the well-meaning advice of the people on here dissauade you from assessing the pros and cons of the situation as applied to you.

The opionion that the "sky is falling" that seems to have been expressed time and time again on here in regards to the MTV sorority show doesn't seem to be bearing out.

If anything the show isn't that exciting because it isn't going out of its way to be unrealistic, and the drama from something like the real world isn't there, where MTV got to pick the most conflicted cast possible. Puck is still a poster child for the Real World.

But by all means see what kind of negotiations MTV will let you do. For example, would they be willing to rent a house big enough for all the pledges? Or even the pledges and the actives? Maybe ask them to include whatever philanthropy you actually do as a stipulation int he contract .. . etc. Maybe even call the Sigmas lol and see what they might have done differently.

Very good advice.

I would have loved to be a fly on the wall just to hear some of the
early conversations the producers must have had with the NPC
sororities (or with NPC itself - I can just imagine).

The bad news is that this is a sign that the show is a hit and they
are trying to do another season. Nothing is more reliable in the
media biz than this: If something is a hit people will want to clone
it and milk it for as long as possible.

On the other hand, we haven't heard anything from the handful of Sigma
AEPi's who use this message board saying that opening up to MTV was
all that bad of a thing. I mean, take a look at this:

http://www.pbase.com/betastar/crew

Seems like the girls got kind of chummy with the MTV staff. So for
all the drama it ends up being just another college memory... No harm
done.

"Hit" is a relative term in the reality show biz. These shows are so cheap to produce that it doesn't have to be a top 10 show to make money. They don't need to hire actors, writers, makeup people etc.

Even with buying the pledge house and paying the girls for "story rights" (which I believe is a very nominal sum) the cost of this show is a FRACTION of what it costs to put on a regular drama or comedy. Plus look at all the product placement - MTV's raking in the $$$ from that.

To prove my point: Big Brother 3. Who the hell even watched BB1 or BB2? But it's super cheap, and the network can pass it off as new summer programming.

Along the lines of what James said, if you guys have a philanthropy, make a stipulation of your group doing the show that MTV will donate some cash to your philanthropy! I'd definitely talk to them...no harm in that.

Before you even call the MTV Producers back I would contact SigmaAEPi and see what their reaction is. I would contact them again after the series has completed and they are through with fall rush. Has this series helped or hurt them? May be it helped them to expand to another campus, or maybe they can’t get any girls that are serious about their sorority to rush. Only they will be able to tell you what has happened.
If you keep contacting MTV and eventually decide to do the show make sure you have a lawyer go over everything with you as well as your Greek advisor. And I wouldn’t ask for larger pledge house for all the pledges. If MTV wants to call the series sorority life it should focus on the sisters in the sorority and not the pledges who are learning about it. But thats just my opinion.

Words of caution...
 

I worked at the Assistant to the Director of Greek Affairs at my school and I am VERY familiar with the people over at MTV. They kept calling me because they wanted to come in and tape our sorority recruitment activities and follow a PNM through the week. I had to firmly tell them no and still they came onto campus and started contacting individual houses.

Basically, I got the feeling that the people I was talking with were uniterested in portraying Greek Life as it is in reality. Obviously they wanted to create a show that would prey on that stereotype, as seen in their twisted truth with the Sigmas.

They tried to gain sorority support with emails (I know this because I was chapter president at the same time) that said things like 'Do you like to party? Do you like frat guys? MTV would like to tell your story!'. It gave me a really bad feeling.

Just some things to be aware of as your chapter decides if this is something you really want to do - just keep in mind that dramatic interpretation sells - Hell, look at the Real World??? Not so real to me......

Love & AOE from the Pacific Coast :cool:

Make sure you have lawyers on your side and that the university/college is okay with it.

What do you hope to get out of doing it? Be prepared to expect new lows from the producers, if you do do it. If you think they've gone as low as they can, think again.

They contacted our sorority yesterday. I told the President of my sorority to ""RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN!!"

That's a great point - what is there to gain by doing this? Air time on TV?
It seems like the end result would just be broken friendships and a bad reputation.

CIAO
:cool:

And a bunch of people like us talking about what a bitch you are and how bad your hair looks.....and a bunch of pledges who lose sight of the ultimate purpose, which is not just to get in...

I was visiting New York this past weekend and some girls I met that are in a local said that the shows producers contacted them saying that they have been watching the sororities website and wanted to talk to them. From the way these girls were talking about it, I don't think that they thought it was a bad idea. I just wish I could find the website that they have! Anyone heard of Phi Kappa Pi?

I said this was a bad idea when the original threads started a year or more ago. I said it was a bad idea when the threads about SAEPi started. It's still a bad idea.

The present show proves it. Or do you think that's the ways Greek Life really is. If so, heaven help us.

MTV will portray anyone anyway it wants -- good or bad. This is a "lose/lose" situation for any chapter who gets involved.

I guess they contacted my sorority again and asked our webmaster to put our photo page back online so they could look at it (it is being updated right now). Our President is trying to get back to them to tell them that we are not interested! I enjoy watching the show now but I don't want to see my sorority as the subject of it!