Here is the e-mail that has been circulating regarding the MTV greek experience:
Hello all. Thanks so much for your e-mails. My name is Anneka and I'm casting our new documentary series, "First Year." We are
getting TONS of e-mails from college students interested in MTV documenting their sorority
or fraternity experience. The next step is getting all the proper clearances, which is the hard part. If you are prospective member
or a current member of a sorority or fraternity, you can help by getting some initial feedback from your chapter, your chapter's national office, and your school administration. We will then follow up with formal requests. Many national offices are hesitant about opening their Greek etter organization up to media coverage for fear of negative publicity.
While we understand their concerns, we would like the opportunity to better explain the kind of documentary we're doing. MTV News & Docs is developing a new documentary series chronicling the diverse informative eexperiences of young people. We will follow a group of unconnected young people as they each embark on an experience that promises to
change their lives. However different their individual experiences may be, their
stories can be woven together to tell one universal story about our hopes for change and the rites of passages we undergo to become the people we want to be. This kind of long-term cinema verite documentary series is
unprecedented for MTV. We want to document people's lives for up to a year
because of how long it takes to really see someone going through a life-changing experience.
We are following young people through a variety of experiences, one of which
we hope will be joining a sorority or fraternity. This is about being a fly-on-the-wall for the first year of something new,exciting, and intense. It is not about doing an investigative report on
hazing or binge drinking! We do our best to produce non-judgmental documentaries --unlike
some of the more heavy-handed network news magazines -- by letting people tell their own stories, warts and all.
We're looking for schools and sororities/fraternities that would allow us
to follow a student through the rush/pledge process then through the first semester or two as a pledge/member. (We work with small
production crew and would not shoot 24-7!)
Since open access is crucial, we may not have the necessary approvals in time to document Spring rush. We will shift our production
schedule to shoot in the Fall if necessary. This may mean that we cannot document
YOUR story, but you can help ensure that we document Greek life at your school by
beginning the approval process for us.
If you email me, please include all previous correspondence so I can keep track of your story. I look forward to hearing from you
soon.
Thanks
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